MittelstandsWiki

Turnover is generated solely by the sales department! Despite its importance, however, the sales department quite often scrapes a very modest existence within companies. Nevertheless an optimal market absorption is only possible if adequate distribution channels are used. “Benefiting from an optimized sales process and motivated employees using all possible distribution channels any company will be able to improve its results” says Dr. Jürgen Kaack, consultant, writer and managing director of the STZ consulting group in his latest “M´BlogDocument 0611 – The optimum sales process – a competitive edge“. +++

The Plansecur financial consulting company has come up with a markedly less optimistic assessment of the prospects of the German economy as compared with those given by other German economic institutes which base their evaluation on the development of the GDP (see our entry from Monday). According to Plansecur the growth reflected by recent GDP figures is based on non-recurring effects such as the coming VAT increase rather than on a sustained recovery of the German economy. +++

As compared with the respective quarter of the previous year the gross domestic product (GDP) has grown by 2.4 percent in the Eurozone and by 2.6 percent in the Europe of the 25 in the second quarter of 2006. Thus, compared with the first quarter in 2006 the GDP has increased by 0.9 percent in the Eurozone and the EU25. In Germany the GDP has grown from 1.7 to 2.4 percent in the second quarter which represents the average increase in the Eurozone. These are the findings of a rapid estimation by Eurostat, which is the Statistical Office for the EU. +++

The Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (BSI) today issued a warning against undesired emails currently going round with the sender being “Germany Online Consult” or “Consult-Online-AG”. The purpose of these emails is the spying out of account details and signatures in order to obtain illegal debit entries. +++

Whereas in Europe the market for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) is currently being extended by operators providing premium services tailored to special target groups, there is – according to a recent study by the Strategy Analytics market research institute – a first consolidation already taking place on the US market. MVNOs such as Helio or Mobile ESPN, which over the last two years tried to gain attention by carrying out large-scale advertising campaigns, were not able to win enough customers in order to prevail over their competitors. According to Sara Harris, author of the study, this was mainly due to an insufficient target group adaptation. +++

On the 9th of August the German government has passed the draft of a second law on the modification of the Transformation Act. In future it will be easier for German public limited companies to merge with companies from other countries in the EU. But also in the opposite direction mergers by foreign companies with German companies are facilitated by the new law. +++

A seminar on the 14th of September in Frankfurt/Main provides German business people with the opportunity to find out how to communicate successfully with French business partners and how to avoid misunderstandings due to cultural differences. The seminar is organized by the German-French Chamber of Commerce (Chamber for Foreign Trade, AHK) and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) in Frankfurt upon Main. +++

West German industrial companies had to spend 27.87 Euros per labour hour in 2005. Only in Norway (29.45 Euros) and Denmark (28.33 Euros) industrial labour cost were still higher. On the other hand, the major competitors on the world market such as Italy, Japan, the United States, Great Britain and France only had to pay between about 18 and 21 Euros per working hour in wages and social benefits. East German companies in the processing industry incurred 17.37 Euros per labour hour thereby at least presenting a cost advantage of about one third as compared to companies in West Germany. +++

Slowing down a little bit – in part due to a few working days less in the month of June – a very successful development over the first half of the year has come to an end for the German export industry. Imports keep being at a high level too, said Mr Anton Börner, chairman of the Association of German Wholesale and Foreign trade (BGA) who expressed himself on the situation of the German foreign trade in the first half of the year. +++

Since there is no good business without relaxation here a brief recommendation to golf sports fans among our MittelstandsBloggers: The Ontario tourist association has just published a marvelous “Golf Ontario Style 2006″ golf guide in PDF format (8MB) which in addition to publicity also contains a lot of information on the golf scene. The guide is available for download here.