Politicians frequently emphasize the importance of Mittelstand firms for the economy, thereby particularly referring to their enormous engagement in training apprentices. However, there is yet almost no empirical evidence on the question whether Mittelstand firms are in fact excessively active...

Die mittelständische Firma gilt seit jeher als Erfolgsmodell der deutschen Wirtschaft. So wird dem deutschen Mittelstand eine entscheidende Rolle im Rahmen des deutschen Wirtschaftswunders nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, bei der Bewältigung der deutschen Wiedervereinigung und der weltweiten...

Nach einhelliger Meinung zeichnen sich mittelständische Unternehmen vor allem dadurch aus, dass hier Eigentum und Leitung der Unternehmen in einer Hand liegen. Aber in der empirischen Mittelstandsforschung sowie beinahe allen Berichten, die sich mit der tatsächlichen Größe und der Bedeutung...

This paper analyzes in how far immigration affects firm formation at the regional level. For this purpose, we exploit a placement policy in Germany in the 1990s for immigrants of German origin from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Our panel regressions suggest that immigration had a...

Despite of the deeply rooted belief of politicians from all over the world in the important role of Mittelstand firms, there has been surprisingly little empirical research on this issue, yet. This article contributes to the literature by studying whether the relative regional importance of...

Germany’s comparatively good economic performance throughout the Great Recession of the years 2008/2009 is often attributed to the business model of the German Mittelstand firm. Somewhat surprisingly, this claim has never been backed by empirical evidence. In this paper we use micro panel data...

In a globalized world with high international factor mobility, crises often spread quickly over large parts of the world. Politicians carry a vital interest in keeping crises as small and short as possible. Against this background we study whether the type of company of owner-managed SMEs, in...

Successful innovation is a precondition for economic prosperity. While various potential determinants of innovative activity have been considered, little empirical evidence is yet available for the influence of firm governance issues. This paper aims at filling this gap in the literature by...

Successful innovation is a precondition for economic prosperity. While various potential determinants of innovative activity have been considered, little empirical evidence is yet available for the influence of firm governance issues. This paper aims at filling this gap in the literature by...