MittelstandsWiki

A Europe consisting of many national markets would be economically unthinkable today. Yet, the history of the European single market is just half a century old. Not always did everything go smoothly, but besides justified criticism about the administrative insuffiencies achievements and merits are often forgotten. The Treaties of Rome, which are the basis of the European market, will be celebrating their 50th anniversary on March 25th. For this reason the EU commission publishes an anniversary brochure containing comprehensive information on the history of the EU.

Poor customer service has always and everywhere led to a damaged image. As was demonstrated by a survey conducted by the internet provider Easynet, German customers are particular sensitive in this respect. If there are problems with their service providers, 55% of Germans will inform their colleagues about these problems. +++

The EU is looking for research projects in the field of information and communications technologies (ICT). Proposals should be submitted no later than May 8th 2007. This year the projects in question will be sponsored by the EU Commission with 1.2 billion Euros. According to the Commission this year´s tender to contract (TTC) is the greatest so far in the history of EU research sponsorship. +++

In addition to yesterday´s ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court (we reported on this) there is an interesting figure published by the Federal Statistical Office: the inheritance and gift tax base amounted to 3.8 billion Euros in the year 2006. Almost half of it came from North Rhine-Westphalia (851 million Euros) and Bavaria (838 million Euros). +++

In the long run family-owned enterprises generate more revenue and are more profitable than companies owned by many individual shareholders. This is a fact confirmed by a competent source: it is the finding of a recent study conducted by the Credit Suisse bank. According to the study, the shares of European companies, which are owned by more than ten percent by their founding families, have outperformed their economic environment since the year 1996. The annual outperformance of these shares amounted to eight percent on average. Similar results were obtained in the USA. +++

As of today small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) may apply for the Innovation Prize 2007 endowed by the Initiative Mittelstand. The competition is to identify those innovative products which distinguish themselves by a particular usefulness and high functionality for all kinds of small and medium-sized entities. Winners will be awarded with numerous prizes relating to marketing or PR. +++