Small and Medium-Size Companies in Germany

choi

Jack Ewing, Eluding the Debt Trap; A risk-averse strategy helps German business weather the troubles of the euro zone. New York Times, Aug 14, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/1 ... ntrys-strength.html

Quote:

"Her company, Christian Bollin Armaturenfabrik, belongs to the country’s vast swath of small and medium-size companies that are known as the Mittelstand and account for 60 percent of German jobs. Most feel no nostalgia for the days when they and their customers had to keep an eye on the value of a dozen European currencies

"More than most, the Mittelstand has benefited from the euro, which has made it easier for small companies to behave like multinationals.

"While companies like BMW and Siemens spring to mind when people think of German business, the Mittelstand is arguably the soul of the German economy, and also reflects many of the values that Germany is known for.


Note:
(a) The German surname Bollin is composed of Middle High German boll ‘rounded hill’ + the suffix -lin.
(b) About the company name Christian Bollin Armaturenfabrik .
(i) German: armatur (noun; feminine): "instrument"  (-en is its plural form)
(ii) German: fabrik (noun, feminine): "factory"
(iii) The report later explains, "Christian Bollin Armaturenfabrik [was] named for Ms Bollin-Flade’s grandfather, who founded the maker of specialized valves in 1924."
In other words, Ms Bollin-Flade's grandfather was Christian Bollin.
(iv) married and maiden names
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Married_and_maiden_names
(section 1.8 Germany)
(v) Further down, the report talked about her husband Bernd Flade.
(c) The report predicts, "Data scheduled to be released Tuesday is expected to show that the German economy continued to grow modestly in the second quarter of this year. * * * France may join Spain, Italy and several other euro zone countries that have experienced declining output."

The data was just released today (Tuesday): The GDP growth rate for 2Q12 (annualized) was Germany (1.1%, which Bloomberg reported in a report today titled German Growth Slowed Less Than Forecast in Second Quarter), France (-0.2%), Spain (-1.7%), Italy (-2.9%) and euro zone (-0.7%).

(d) Japan, followed by South Korea and then China, favor conglomerates. Not Taiwan. That is why I appreciates this report, which also surprised now that some Germans wants euro to endure.