Tendencies in the German industry - the effects of changed financing conditions and new I&C technology

The Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology asked the Ifo Institute to examine the relationship between the rapidly changing general business environment and the change of enterprise structure and strategy. The financial markets as well as information and communication technology were identified as key areas that essentially help explain the change in industry. As a third area, the central question of corporate governance was included in the study. In addition to the presentation of expected changes in industry, the development outlook for small and middle enterprises in particular were shown. The most important results of the study are briefly presented in this article.