Markus Gühl, chairman of the Aktionsgemeinschaft Wirtschaftlicher Mittelstand initiative (AWM), on the occasion of a committee hearing in the Lower House of German Parliament has called for the powers of the standard control board for cuts in bureaucracy to be extended in order for the board to work effectively. »The standard control board needs the power to be able to evaluate any drafts by the government and parliament on their effects on bureaucracy«, demands Mr. Guhl. »The muzzle planned by the government such as for job legislation matters prevents any true political discussion on the consequential costs of any political acting«. more…

A warning by the German consultancy Eurospace against the use in companies of the Internet telephony software (VoIP service) »Skype for Business« currently causes some confusion. At first sight, the main reproaches that firstly Skype was a security risk and that secondly it did not make use of accepted standards seem to be justified from a technical point of view. »Skype is easy to use, a clever solution and temptingly inexpensive. But it is a proprietary service and represents a huge risk being a potential weak point which is aimed at by attacks from the Internet.«, cautions the Eurospace managing director, Mr. Vincent Ohana, in a press statement conveyed by Pressetext.deutschland (also see “Skype uses proprietary P2P protocol”). more…

The consumption behaviour of German consumers has again substantially improved in May. This is the finding of the May 2006 consumer climate study prepared by the GfK institute. There is an anticipation of economic development which is as positive as it was for the last time five years ago. The indicator of the propensity to purchase is as high as never before. The expectations of salary rises have also slighty increased, though only in the Western federal states. The overall good development of the single indicators has also had a positive effect on the consumer climate: Whereas the overall indicator was 5.8 points for May, the value forecast for June is 6.8 points. more…

Otto Kentzler, chairman of the Federal association of German craft companies (ZdH), in an article published in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung magazine calls upon SMEs to take on more apprentices. In view of the looming lack of qualified young workers, Kentzler urges “to make a better use of the momentum gained by the economy” and to recruit more apprentices in order to be prepared for the future. more…

A clever solution to the problem of funding gaps in supply companies is described by Mrs. Marlene Brockmann in an article published in the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD). The author deplores that in particular suppliers more and more often have to struggle with financing problems. Although these companies benefit from increasing outsourcing by their customers, they also have to bear the risks and preproduction costs until the product has been supplied. According to the author, quite often development costs are covered only when new products are paid or licence revenues flow in. Until then the preproduction costs weigh heavily on the balance sheet and therefore also on the financial rating of these companies. If the worst comes to the worst, there would even be a liquidity gap threatening the very existence of the company. more…

IT staff are paid higher salaries in 2006. In particular employees of small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) and experienced personnel earn more money. This is one of the findings of a recent study by the Computerwoche magazine on salaries of IT staff working in SMEs, which was presented on Sunday. more…

German companies have to face increasing competition by new competitors from low-wage countries, in particular from Asia. This is the alarming finding of a study carried out by the consultancy The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which presents the “100 new global challengers” from China, India, Brasil and Mexico who are about to conquer Europe. more…

In the latest issue of the “Der NRW-Mittelstand” magazine Mario Ohoven, chairman of the Federal Association of SMEs (BVMW), deplores the fact that the traditional forecasts on economic development are merely based on the existing economic structures and do not take into account structural changes. One such structural change currently taking place is the fact that plants in the East of Europe not only offer labour-intensive products any more, but also engineering, distributional and marketing solutions. more…

The Federal Supreme Court (BGH) has annulled the trade mark protection claimed by the FIFA for the wordings “Fußball WM 2006″ and “WM 2006″. “Thanks to the BGHs verdict not only all producers of visual displays or notebooks, but also any building centre or pizza baker are entitled to promote their businesses by means of the football world cup without having to fear dissuasions and injunctions”, reports among others the new magazine for ITK marketing”target:IT” which is available in paper form and as PDF for download. According to the magazine, the sponsor protection promised by the FIFA has failed. The BGH judges ruled that the linguistic marking of the sports event cannot be regarded as a trade mark since it lacks the necessary characterizing and distinguishing features (also see “Zur Fußball-WM drohen Abmahnungen und Lizenzkosten” as well as “WM-Übertragungen in Unternehmen sind umstritten“).

As was reportet by the Handelsblatt magazine, according to the estimates of the Federal Association of German financial holdings (BVK) there will still be numerous IPOs by small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) in 2006. The »IPO 2006 survey« by the association revealed that the portfolio of German financial holdings comprises many numerous listable companies. Reason for this is said to be an improvement of the general framework by the setting up of the »Entry Standard« market segment on the Frankfurt stock exchange last year. Half of the companies eligible to being listed are financed by means of private equity (⇒ Wikipedia). more…