MittelstandsWiki

For the fifth time already the renowned BestPersAward will be confered this year. The event is organized by the Institut für Managementkompetenz (imk) and the Personalmagazin. The BestPersAward is confered for outstanding and successful concepts in personnel management of small and medium-sized entities. +++

For small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) it is much easier now to find the most recent invitations for public tender. On www.vergabe24.de companies will find any invitations for public tender which are published officially in the Federal Laender and which amount to more than 250.000 each year. Only a co-operation between the official tender agencies of the Laener and the Deutsche Ausschreibungsblatt made it possible to set up this new internet site which is now the most important public tender portal in Germany.

In order to sooth the repercussions of the US mortgage crisis on the US economy the Federal Reserve lowered the most important key interest rate by 0.5% to 4.75%. Another key interest rate was lowered by 0.5% to 5.25%. Back in August, this latter key interest rate had already been lowered by half a percentage point. +++

More than 60 German chambers of commerce and industry (IHK) will organize an information day on September 20th giving information and advice on the issue of company succession. What happens if the boss of a company meets with an accidence? Who will lead the company, if the boss is ill for a longer period of time? Who takes the helm of the company, if the boss of a family-owned company retires? The issue of dealing with the problem of handing over a company to a successor is one of the major challenges faced by small and medium-sized companies in Germany. +++

According to the majority of small and medium-sized entities (SMEs), the cyclical economic upturn is going to continue in 2008 even though at less pace than in 2007. A survey commissioned by the impulse economic magazine which was recently conducted among 238 companies being a member of the “Die Familienunternehmer-ASU” association revealed that 61% of directors of family-owned businesses expect the economy to grow less next year. Just 1% forecast the economy to develop even better than this year. +++