sueddeutsche.de Betreuungsgeld Von der Leyen soll eingeknickt sein - Deutschland
Kehrtwende im Familienministerium: Das von der CSU geforderte Betreuungsgeld für häusliche Erziehung beurteilte Ministerin von der Leyen bislang als "bildungspolitische Katastrophe" - nun soll sie es trotzdem in ihren Gesetzentwurf aufgenommen haben.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
FT.com / Columnists / Wolfgang Munchau - Germany is homing in on better times
FT.com / Columnists / Wolfgang Munchau - Germany is homing in on better times
Germany is homing in on better times
By Wolfgang Munchau
Published: October 28 2007 20:26 | Last updated: October 28 2007 20:26
When I first came to live in London about 25 years ago, Germany was widely considered a more advanced economy than the UK. In the mid-1990s these perceptions began to reverse. During the course of the next decade, I would expect to see yet another reversal – in favour of Germany.
No, I am not going to leap to a defence of the Rhineland model. I remain sceptical about Germany’s long-term economic performance. The country relies too heavily on manufacturing exports. It lacks a modern service economy and is committed to an antiquated financial sector.
But while Germany has its fair share of structural problems, so does the UK, and these are likely to become evident in the next five years. Perhaps the biggest structural problem of the UK is an over-reliance on personal debt and a built-in tendency towards speculative housing bubbles. Britain has owed much of its 15-year spell of good economic growth to an unprecedented credit and housing binge that has lasted abnormally long. While the economic policy regime has undoubtedly improved since the UK’s exit from the European exchange rate mechanism in 1992, it has been helped greatly by global disinflation since then.
In a note for the Policy Exchange think-tank, Oliver Marc Hartwich, Brian Lipson and Holger Schmieding take a critical look at the UK’s economic performance and conclude that it has been strongly influenced by rising debt, rising property prices and a progressively loose fiscal policy.
From 1992 to 2006 the real growth in UK gross domestic product was 49 per cent, they write, while personal debt, in real terms, rose almost three times faster than real GDP growth. Another important factor was home equity withdrawals, which totalled £256bn in today’s prices between 2001 and 2006, according to their study.
While the UK enjoyed a house price boom on an unprecedented scale, Germany suffered from a decline in real house prices, which started a few years after unification. By the middle of this decade, property prices in Germany had bottomed out and begun slowly to rise again. Compared with most capital cities in the western world, Berlin has almost unbelievably low house prices. For the price of one house in London, you get about five in Berlin.
While German prices have started to rise again, UK prices have begun to fall in some regions. I would expect a real decline in UK property prices on a scale similar to the US, where prices are falling fast. All the important UK housing indictors, such as rent-to-value ratios and income multiples, suggest that UK properties are unsustainably overvalued.
As Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, has reminded us in a recent survey on house price bubbles in Europe, housing cycles are very long – long enough even for rational people to form irrational expectations. The boom was driven by cheap money and abundant credit and it was sustained by an irrational belief that prices would rise for ever in real terms. The downturn is driven by the same process in reverse: expensive money, a credit squeeze and an equally irrational belief about how far prices can drop.
People who lived in the UK during the late 1980s and early 1990s may remember how a period of exuberant optimism quickly turned into economic defeatism. I suspect we may be at a similar junction.
The house price bubble is, of course, not a specific UK problem. There are also bubbles in Spain and Ireland, though both countries have been running persistently strong fiscal surpluses, unlike the UK, and are in a better position to compensate for the coming housing downturn.
An interesting chart produced by Mr Gros shows that, in spite of the lacklustre performance of German property, the housing market in the eurozone as a whole has grown almost as much as US house prices over the last 15 years. Because Germany accounts for about a third of the eurozone economy, this suggests that house price inflation elsewhere in the eurozone must have been extreme. And so it was. The real dividing line is not between the Anglo-Saxon and continental European economies, but right through the eurozone itself.
The reversal of economic fortunes, between Germany on the one side, and the UK, Spain and Ireland on the other, tells us little about the long-term performance of these countries. Germany will still need substantial economic reforms and will not be able to rely solely on its recent competitive improvements. But in the medium term, Germany will benefit from having a housing depression behind it. In the UK, Spain and Ireland, it is only just starting. For the UK in particular, the next few years look pretty grim.
Send your comments to munchau@eurointelligence.com
Germany is homing in on better times
By Wolfgang Munchau
Published: October 28 2007 20:26 | Last updated: October 28 2007 20:26
When I first came to live in London about 25 years ago, Germany was widely considered a more advanced economy than the UK. In the mid-1990s these perceptions began to reverse. During the course of the next decade, I would expect to see yet another reversal – in favour of Germany.
No, I am not going to leap to a defence of the Rhineland model. I remain sceptical about Germany’s long-term economic performance. The country relies too heavily on manufacturing exports. It lacks a modern service economy and is committed to an antiquated financial sector.
But while Germany has its fair share of structural problems, so does the UK, and these are likely to become evident in the next five years. Perhaps the biggest structural problem of the UK is an over-reliance on personal debt and a built-in tendency towards speculative housing bubbles. Britain has owed much of its 15-year spell of good economic growth to an unprecedented credit and housing binge that has lasted abnormally long. While the economic policy regime has undoubtedly improved since the UK’s exit from the European exchange rate mechanism in 1992, it has been helped greatly by global disinflation since then.
In a note for the Policy Exchange think-tank, Oliver Marc Hartwich, Brian Lipson and Holger Schmieding take a critical look at the UK’s economic performance and conclude that it has been strongly influenced by rising debt, rising property prices and a progressively loose fiscal policy.
From 1992 to 2006 the real growth in UK gross domestic product was 49 per cent, they write, while personal debt, in real terms, rose almost three times faster than real GDP growth. Another important factor was home equity withdrawals, which totalled £256bn in today’s prices between 2001 and 2006, according to their study.
While the UK enjoyed a house price boom on an unprecedented scale, Germany suffered from a decline in real house prices, which started a few years after unification. By the middle of this decade, property prices in Germany had bottomed out and begun slowly to rise again. Compared with most capital cities in the western world, Berlin has almost unbelievably low house prices. For the price of one house in London, you get about five in Berlin.
While German prices have started to rise again, UK prices have begun to fall in some regions. I would expect a real decline in UK property prices on a scale similar to the US, where prices are falling fast. All the important UK housing indictors, such as rent-to-value ratios and income multiples, suggest that UK properties are unsustainably overvalued.
As Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, has reminded us in a recent survey on house price bubbles in Europe, housing cycles are very long – long enough even for rational people to form irrational expectations. The boom was driven by cheap money and abundant credit and it was sustained by an irrational belief that prices would rise for ever in real terms. The downturn is driven by the same process in reverse: expensive money, a credit squeeze and an equally irrational belief about how far prices can drop.
People who lived in the UK during the late 1980s and early 1990s may remember how a period of exuberant optimism quickly turned into economic defeatism. I suspect we may be at a similar junction.
The house price bubble is, of course, not a specific UK problem. There are also bubbles in Spain and Ireland, though both countries have been running persistently strong fiscal surpluses, unlike the UK, and are in a better position to compensate for the coming housing downturn.
An interesting chart produced by Mr Gros shows that, in spite of the lacklustre performance of German property, the housing market in the eurozone as a whole has grown almost as much as US house prices over the last 15 years. Because Germany accounts for about a third of the eurozone economy, this suggests that house price inflation elsewhere in the eurozone must have been extreme. And so it was. The real dividing line is not between the Anglo-Saxon and continental European economies, but right through the eurozone itself.
The reversal of economic fortunes, between Germany on the one side, and the UK, Spain and Ireland on the other, tells us little about the long-term performance of these countries. Germany will still need substantial economic reforms and will not be able to rely solely on its recent competitive improvements. But in the medium term, Germany will benefit from having a housing depression behind it. In the UK, Spain and Ireland, it is only just starting. For the UK in particular, the next few years look pretty grim.
Send your comments to munchau@eurointelligence.com
Saturday, October 27, 2007
sueddeutsche.de Literatur Schriftsteller Martin Mosebach erhält Büchner-Preis - Kultur
sueddeutsche.de Literatur Schriftsteller Martin Mosebach erhält Büchner-Preis - Kultur
Der Frankfurter Schriftsteller Martin Mosebach ist mit dem Georg-Büchner-Preis ausgezeichnet worden, der als der bedeutendste deutsche Literaturpreis gilt. Die Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung würdigte Mosebach als "glanzvollen Stilisten".
Der Frankfurter Schriftsteller Martin Mosebach ist mit dem Georg-Büchner-Preis ausgezeichnet worden, der als der bedeutendste deutsche Literaturpreis gilt. Die Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung würdigte Mosebach als "glanzvollen Stilisten".
sueddeutsche.de Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller ''Die Firma sitzt ständig mit am Familientisch'' - Wirtschaft
sueddeutsche.de Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller ''Die Firma sitzt ständig mit am Familientisch'' - Wirtschaft
Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, Chefin des Maschinenbau-Unternehmens Trumpf, über den Generationswechsel, den Kodex der Familie und die Lehren von Erich Kästner.
Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, Chefin des Maschinenbau-Unternehmens Trumpf, über den Generationswechsel, den Kodex der Familie und die Lehren von Erich Kästner.
sueddeutsche.de Kanzlerin kritisiert Wirtschaft Merkel will mehr Top-Managerinnen - Deutschland
sueddeutsche.de Kanzlerin kritisiert Wirtschaft Merkel will mehr Top-Managerinnen - Deutschland
Die deutsche Wirtschaft muss nach Ansicht von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel mehr Frauen in Führungspositionen bringen. Auf dem Bundesdelegiertentag der Frauen-Union forderte die Kanzlerin mit Nachdruck mehr Möglichkeiten für junge Frauen.
Die deutsche Wirtschaft muss nach Ansicht von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel mehr Frauen in Führungspositionen bringen. Auf dem Bundesdelegiertentag der Frauen-Union forderte die Kanzlerin mit Nachdruck mehr Möglichkeiten für junge Frauen.
sueddeutsche.de Kurswechsel der SPD Bebel! Brandt! Beck. - Deutschland
sueddeutsche.de Kurswechsel der SPD Bebel! Brandt! Beck. - Deutschland
Aus Furcht vor dem drohenden Parteisterben hat SPD-Parteichef Beck sich für einen Kurswechsel entschieden, der Risiken birgt. Trotzdem darf eine SPD, die sich um eine neue Sozialpolitik müht, stolz sein.
Aus Furcht vor dem drohenden Parteisterben hat SPD-Parteichef Beck sich für einen Kurswechsel entschieden, der Risiken birgt. Trotzdem darf eine SPD, die sich um eine neue Sozialpolitik müht, stolz sein.
Friday, October 26, 2007
sueddeutsche.de Vor dem SPD-Parteitag Die Kunst des Chamäleons - Deutschland
sueddeutsche.de Vor dem SPD-Parteitag Die Kunst des Chamäleons - Deutschland
Während der Streit mit Vizekanzler Müntefering die öffentliche Debatte dominiert, hat Parteichef Beck hinter den Kulissen fast unbemerkt eine Korrektur des SPD-Grundsatzprogramms erreicht: Die Sozialdemokraten sollen wieder sozialer sein.
Während der Streit mit Vizekanzler Müntefering die öffentliche Debatte dominiert, hat Parteichef Beck hinter den Kulissen fast unbemerkt eine Korrektur des SPD-Grundsatzprogramms erreicht: Die Sozialdemokraten sollen wieder sozialer sein.
Kommentar zum SPD-Parteitag: Vorwärts Genossen, es geht zurück! - Politik - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten
Kommentar zum SPD-Parteitag: Vorwärts Genossen, es geht zurück! - Politik - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten
Die SPD wird auf ihrem Hamburger Parteitag die Agenda 2010 zurückdrehen. Vielleicht kann sie damit sogar politisch Boden gut machen. Kurt Becks Rolle Rückwärts ist dennoch keine linke Antwort auf die Probleme in Deutschland.
Die SPD wird auf ihrem Hamburger Parteitag die Agenda 2010 zurückdrehen. Vielleicht kann sie damit sogar politisch Boden gut machen. Kurt Becks Rolle Rückwärts ist dennoch keine linke Antwort auf die Probleme in Deutschland.
SPD-Parteitag: Boss Beck menschelt wieder - Politik - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten
SPD-Parteitag: Boss Beck menschelt wieder - Politik - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten
Standing Ovations, Blumen, Jubel - mit übergroßer Mehrheit wurde Kurt Beck als SPD-Chef wiedergewählt. Doch auch nach dem Triumph im parteiinternen Machtkampf mit Vizekanzler Müntefering bleiben Zweifel. Seine Rede zur Zukunft der SPD enttäuschte, der Kurs bleibt unklar.
Standing Ovations, Blumen, Jubel - mit übergroßer Mehrheit wurde Kurt Beck als SPD-Chef wiedergewählt. Doch auch nach dem Triumph im parteiinternen Machtkampf mit Vizekanzler Müntefering bleiben Zweifel. Seine Rede zur Zukunft der SPD enttäuschte, der Kurs bleibt unklar.
Bund - Politik - FAZ.NET - Wiedergewählt mit 95,5 Prozent: SPD schart sich um Beck
Bund - Politik - FAZ.NET - Wiedergewählt mit 95,5 Prozent: SPD schart sich um Beck
26. Oktober 2007 Der SPD-Bundesparteitag in Hamburg hat am Freitag Kurt Beck mit großer Mehrheit als Vorsitzenden wiedergewählt. Der rheinland-pfälzische Ministerpräsident erhielt 483 von 506 gültigen Stimmen. Es gab 6 Enthaltungen, 17 votierten gegen ihn. Das entspricht einer Zustimmung von 95,5 Prozent.
26. Oktober 2007 Der SPD-Bundesparteitag in Hamburg hat am Freitag Kurt Beck mit großer Mehrheit als Vorsitzenden wiedergewählt. Der rheinland-pfälzische Ministerpräsident erhielt 483 von 506 gültigen Stimmen. Es gab 6 Enthaltungen, 17 votierten gegen ihn. Das entspricht einer Zustimmung von 95,5 Prozent.
sueddeutsche.de SPD-Parteitag Standing Ovations für Altkanzler Schröder - Deutschland
sueddeutsche.de SPD-Parteitag Standing Ovations für Altkanzler Schröder - Deutschland
Mit Grußworten des Hamburger Spitzenkandidaten Naumann und von Altkanzler Schröder hat der dreitägige SPD-Bundesparteitag in Hamburg begonnen. Die Partei scheint mit ihrem alten Chef versöhnt.
Mit Grußworten des Hamburger Spitzenkandidaten Naumann und von Altkanzler Schröder hat der dreitägige SPD-Bundesparteitag in Hamburg begonnen. Die Partei scheint mit ihrem alten Chef versöhnt.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
sueddeutsche.de SPD-Streit zum Arbeitslosengeld I Müntefering zweifelt an Finanzierbarkeit - Deutschland
sueddeutsche.de SPD-Streit zum Arbeitslosengeld I Müntefering zweifelt an Finanzierbarkeit - Deutschland
Wenige Tage vor dem SPD-Parteitag gehen die Diskussionen um Veränderungen an der Agenda 2010 weiter. Vizekanzler Müntefering knüpft die Umsetzung eines verlängerten Arbeitslosengeldes I an die Finanzierbarkeit - die Hessen-SPD stellt derweil bereits weitere Forderungen auf.
Wenige Tage vor dem SPD-Parteitag gehen die Diskussionen um Veränderungen an der Agenda 2010 weiter. Vizekanzler Müntefering knüpft die Umsetzung eines verlängerten Arbeitslosengeldes I an die Finanzierbarkeit - die Hessen-SPD stellt derweil bereits weitere Forderungen auf.
sueddeutsche.de Tokio Hotel Mehr als ein Phänomen - Leben & Stil
sueddeutsche.de Tokio Hotel Mehr als ein Phänomen - Leben & Stil
Französische Kinder lernen die deutsche Sprache, um die Texte verstehen zu können, die Band wird für zwei Awards bei dem MTV-Awards nominiert. Tokio Hotel hat sich etabliert - zu Recht.
Französische Kinder lernen die deutsche Sprache, um die Texte verstehen zu können, die Band wird für zwei Awards bei dem MTV-Awards nominiert. Tokio Hotel hat sich etabliert - zu Recht.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - Beck erklärt ALG-I-Streit für beendet
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - Beck erklärt ALG-I-Streit für beendet
Der SPD-Vorstand hat sich im Streit über das Arbeitslosengeld I mit großer Mehrheit hinter Parteichef Kurt Beck gestellt. Geht es nach Beck, ist die wochenlange parteiinterne Diskussion damit beendet. Aber die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Koalitionspartner steht noch bevor.
Der SPD-Vorstand hat sich im Streit über das Arbeitslosengeld I mit großer Mehrheit hinter Parteichef Kurt Beck gestellt. Geht es nach Beck, ist die wochenlange parteiinterne Diskussion damit beendet. Aber die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Koalitionspartner steht noch bevor.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Gespräch mit Andrea Nahles ''Das ist ein bisschen wie Almauftrieb'' - Deutschland - sueddeutsche.de
Gespräch mit Andrea Nahles ''Das ist ein bisschen wie Almauftrieb'' - Deutschland - sueddeutsche.de
Andrea Nahles, designierte SPD-Vizechefin, über das Gute und das Schlechte an der Agenda 2010, die neue Macht von Kurt Beck, Aufschwung für alle, den Parteitag und Schulspeisungen.
Andrea Nahles, designierte SPD-Vizechefin, über das Gute und das Schlechte an der Agenda 2010, die neue Macht von Kurt Beck, Aufschwung für alle, den Parteitag und Schulspeisungen.
Lissabon EU-Reformvertrag steht - Ausland - sueddeutsche.de
Lissabon EU-Reformvertrag steht - Ausland - sueddeutsche.de
19.10.2007
Lissabon
EU-Reformvertrag steht
Der EU-Reformvertrag steht: Nach sechs Jahren des Ringens haben sich die Staats- und Regierungschefs der Europäischen Union in der Nacht zum Freitag auf einen Vertragstext verständigt. Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel bezeichnete die Einigung, die beim Gipfel in Lissabon erzielt wurde, als "großen Erfolg".
19.10.2007
Lissabon
EU-Reformvertrag steht
Der EU-Reformvertrag steht: Nach sechs Jahren des Ringens haben sich die Staats- und Regierungschefs der Europäischen Union in der Nacht zum Freitag auf einen Vertragstext verständigt. Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel bezeichnete die Einigung, die beim Gipfel in Lissabon erzielt wurde, als "großen Erfolg".
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Business in Germany | Locusts in lederhosen | Economist.com
Business in Germany | Locusts in lederhosen | Economist.com
Locusts in lederhosen
Oct 18th 2007 | FRANKFURT
From The Economist print edition
German bosses are learning from private equity
TWO years ago Germany was gripped by a fierce debate over whether aggressive private-equity investors—dubbed “locusts” by a politician—were good or bad for the country. An activist fund from London blocked Deutsche Börse's bid for the London Stock Exchange and caused the departure of its chief executive, Werner Seifert, and its chairman. Mr Seifert wrote a vitriolic book, “Invasion of the Locusts”, catching the mood of the time. Since then, however, German bosses have learned from the locusts. They are making their own raids and using private-equity techniques to ginger up German companies.
Next week the European Court of Justice is expected to order the German government to abolish the Volkswagen law of 1960. This limits the voting rights of any single VW shareholder to 20%, protecting Germany's biggest carmaker from being taken over. Lifting this cap will allow Porsche, which already owns 31% of the shares, to win control.
Wendelin Wiedeking, chief executive of Porsche, began building a stake in VW two years ago. He plans to put the two carmakers under the same holding company, called Porsche Automobil Holding. In doing so, he would dilute the power of VW's workforce. Co-determination, the practice of giving workers a big say in the management of German firms, is probably the oddest feature of the country for foreign investors. Only three members of the merged company's 12-strong supervisory board would represent VW workers, compared with ten out of 20 at VW now.
Mr Wiedeking's strategy is the most obviously locust-like among German executives, but there are other examples. Eckhard Cordes, a former executive at DaimlerChrysler, a car firm, is riding roughshod into Metro, a retail group. He has the backing of the company's biggest shareholders—and these are not scary private-equity firms but two wealthy German families. Thomas Middelhoff, chief executive of Arcandor, another retailer, executed a private-equityish restructuring two years ago, loading the firm with debt then flogging assets to pay it off. Now he is in the mood to buy bits of other retail companies. Last year Manfred Wennemer, chief executive of Continental, a car-parts supplier, successfully repelled some potential private-equity buyers but seems to have learned a thing or two from them. This year his firm took on a pile of debt to buy Siemens VDO, an auto-electronics firm, for €11.4 billion ($16.2 billion).
More change is on its way. Nine of the 30 biggest listed German companies which make up the DAX stockmarket index have recently changed their chief executive or will do so soon. The new bosses are expected to shake things up. At Siemens, a giant engineering company, Peter Löscher will streamline the conglomerate's nine divisions into three. At BMW, Norbert Reithofer is expected to start a new brand of car to add to the group's BMWs, Minis and Rolls-Royces. At RWE, a power company, Jürgen Grossmann is likely to make use of the acquisition expertise he gained buying a division of Klöckner, a steelmaker, in 1993.
A new corporate structure, the Societas Europaea (SE), which has been adopted by Porsche Automobil Holding, could help German companies break further away from co-determination. Big firms must now have not only a management board but also a supervisory board of 20 members, half of them workers' representatives. Changing to SE status allows firms to negotiate a cut in workers' representation or even to do away with a supervisory board altogether. Allianz, a big insurer, was the first big company to move to the new structure, followed by Fresenius Medical Care. BASF, a chemicals company, plans to make the change next year.
In two years the names in the DAX could look very different, and not just because the initials AG (for Aktiengesellschaft) are replaced by SE. A big sell-out to foreign locusts is far less likely now, because German companies have learned to do the job themselves.
Copyright © 2007 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
Locusts in lederhosen
Oct 18th 2007 | FRANKFURT
From The Economist print edition
German bosses are learning from private equity
TWO years ago Germany was gripped by a fierce debate over whether aggressive private-equity investors—dubbed “locusts” by a politician—were good or bad for the country. An activist fund from London blocked Deutsche Börse's bid for the London Stock Exchange and caused the departure of its chief executive, Werner Seifert, and its chairman. Mr Seifert wrote a vitriolic book, “Invasion of the Locusts”, catching the mood of the time. Since then, however, German bosses have learned from the locusts. They are making their own raids and using private-equity techniques to ginger up German companies.
Next week the European Court of Justice is expected to order the German government to abolish the Volkswagen law of 1960. This limits the voting rights of any single VW shareholder to 20%, protecting Germany's biggest carmaker from being taken over. Lifting this cap will allow Porsche, which already owns 31% of the shares, to win control.
Wendelin Wiedeking, chief executive of Porsche, began building a stake in VW two years ago. He plans to put the two carmakers under the same holding company, called Porsche Automobil Holding. In doing so, he would dilute the power of VW's workforce. Co-determination, the practice of giving workers a big say in the management of German firms, is probably the oddest feature of the country for foreign investors. Only three members of the merged company's 12-strong supervisory board would represent VW workers, compared with ten out of 20 at VW now.
Mr Wiedeking's strategy is the most obviously locust-like among German executives, but there are other examples. Eckhard Cordes, a former executive at DaimlerChrysler, a car firm, is riding roughshod into Metro, a retail group. He has the backing of the company's biggest shareholders—and these are not scary private-equity firms but two wealthy German families. Thomas Middelhoff, chief executive of Arcandor, another retailer, executed a private-equityish restructuring two years ago, loading the firm with debt then flogging assets to pay it off. Now he is in the mood to buy bits of other retail companies. Last year Manfred Wennemer, chief executive of Continental, a car-parts supplier, successfully repelled some potential private-equity buyers but seems to have learned a thing or two from them. This year his firm took on a pile of debt to buy Siemens VDO, an auto-electronics firm, for €11.4 billion ($16.2 billion).
More change is on its way. Nine of the 30 biggest listed German companies which make up the DAX stockmarket index have recently changed their chief executive or will do so soon. The new bosses are expected to shake things up. At Siemens, a giant engineering company, Peter Löscher will streamline the conglomerate's nine divisions into three. At BMW, Norbert Reithofer is expected to start a new brand of car to add to the group's BMWs, Minis and Rolls-Royces. At RWE, a power company, Jürgen Grossmann is likely to make use of the acquisition expertise he gained buying a division of Klöckner, a steelmaker, in 1993.
A new corporate structure, the Societas Europaea (SE), which has been adopted by Porsche Automobil Holding, could help German companies break further away from co-determination. Big firms must now have not only a management board but also a supervisory board of 20 members, half of them workers' representatives. Changing to SE status allows firms to negotiate a cut in workers' representation or even to do away with a supervisory board altogether. Allianz, a big insurer, was the first big company to move to the new structure, followed by Fresenius Medical Care. BASF, a chemicals company, plans to make the change next year.
In two years the names in the DAX could look very different, and not just because the initials AG (for Aktiengesellschaft) are replaced by SE. A big sell-out to foreign locusts is far less likely now, because German companies have learned to do the job themselves.
Copyright © 2007 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
DIW: Wirtschaftswachstum bleibt robust | Wirtschaft | Deutsche Welle | 16.10.2007
DIW: Wirtschaftswachstum bleibt robust | Wirtschaft | Deutsche Welle | 16.10.2007
Das Wirtschaftswachstum in Deutschland bleibt Experten zufolge zwar auch in den kommenden beiden Jahren robust, fällt im Vergleich zu 2007 aber etwas ab. Ungewiss sei, wie viel von dem Boom bei Arbeitnehmern ankomme.
Das Wirtschaftswachstum in Deutschland bleibt Experten zufolge zwar auch in den kommenden beiden Jahren robust, fällt im Vergleich zu 2007 aber etwas ab. Ungewiss sei, wie viel von dem Boom bei Arbeitnehmern ankomme.
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