MittelstandsWiki

In the year 2006 the German industry invested 49 billion Euros which is 3.4 billion or 7.4% more as compared to 2005. Back in 2005 investment had even decreased by 4.9%. Thus, according to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2006 the highest investment volume in five years was registered in the German industry. +++

Tchibo, Aldi, Ikea and dm are Germany´s most important retail brand names. In a cross-sectoral ranking of 80 trade companies carried out by the BBDO Consulting management consultancy, Tchibo came first with a brand name index of 7.62 (on a scale from 1 to 10) followed closely by the Aldi discounter (7.54) and the Swedish company Ikea (7.51). +++

Four universities from Germany, France, Great Britain and Hungary have initiated a European project which makes employees of small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) familiar with the EU´s economic structure and which confers upon them a Master´s diploma on the successful completion of the course. +++

At the end of September 2007, German processing companies with at least 50 staff employed almost 5.3 million people. According to the Federal Statistical Office this corresponds to an increase of 98.000 people or 1.9% as compared to September 2006. The number of hours worked, however, fell by 0.4% to 673 million as compared to September 2006. +++

The budget committee of the Lower House of German Parliament recently set the course for more intensive research in the German aircraft industry. Research funds are to be increased by 150 million Euros to a total of 401 million Euros for the period from 2009 to 2013. One objective is to leave the light metal era behind and to enter that of synthetic materials in order to be competitive in the context of international technological competition. +++