Germany’s premier drug store chain “Schlecker” has deemed its corporate structure too ineffective to continue in the changing German market. In 2004, with its overwhelming share of the drug store market crumbling, a restructuring of a large number of small stores seemed to be too great a burden for Germany’s largest drug retailer leading, instead, to the closure of around 1000 outlets. Recently Anton Schlecker, the owner of the drug-store chain, stated in Manager Magazine that a complete overhaul of Schlecker’s business structure is once again needed.

Since the start of its downfall in 2004, the company has experienced mostly Continue →

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s current Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor, announced his plans for the future should the Social Democrats win the general election in September. Steinmeier introduced, as the main aspect of this so-called “Germany Plan”, a concept which would generate a job wonder by creating four million new jobs by 2020, thereby leading to full employment in Germany. While political competitors criticized the plan as being unrealistic, economists and representatives of industry and trade welcomed the concept.

Steinmeier expects to generate a job boom by Continue →

Germany’s two largest car parts suppliers seem to be heading for a showdown. It recently became public that Continental’s banks want to stop merger talks with Schaeffler in order to gain more control of the company through a capital increase. The move is seen as an assault on Continue →

The debt-ridden sports car maker Porsche scheduled an extraordinary supervisory board meeting for 23 July 2009 to debate two rival rescue plans for the company: either a possible investment by the Qatar Investment Authority or the sale of a 49 % stake in Porsche to Volkswagen.

The move came after Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking agreed with Qatar on an outline plan under which Continue →

Yesterday, the German economics ministry reported a growth in orders for German industry of a surprising 4.4 % in May 2009 over April 2009. Steel industry companies and medium-sized entities are also in a good mood at the moment. The job market and state budgets, however, remain problematic.

While orders from inside Germany grew by 3.9 % compared to April, foreign orders Continue →

Yesterday, 30 June 2009, the German Constitutional Court rejected two challenges, brought by groups of right- and left-wing parliamentarians, against the German legislative act which would ratify the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty saying there were “no decisive constitutional objections to the act approving the Treaty of Lisbon”. Horst Köhler, the German president, had refused to sign the ratification act until after the court’s ruling.

Although the German Constitutional Court rejected the claims Continue →

The global economic crisis is hitting Germany, the so-called ”world export champion“, hard. German exports experienced a downturn of 21.9 % in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the first quarter of 2008. In fourth quarter 2008 the slowdown was only 6 %. Continue →

Deutsche Bank recently answered a catalogue of questions posed by the data-protection authorities of the Federal State of Hessen, where its headquarters is located, handing in a 9-page paper in response to accusations that it spied on members of both its board of directors and its supervisory board.

Deutsche Bank had previously admitted having problems in its company group security which led Continue →

Arcandor, the German retailer which owns the German department store chain “Karstadt” as well as a major stake in the UK travel group “Thomas Cook” told the German government on Tuesday that it would file for insolvency if it did not obtain assurance of state aid.

The German Economic Minister, Theodor zu Guttenberg, told media on Monday that the German government would be careful in handing out state aid if not even the company’s owners were convinced of the company’s chances at recovery. However, the government Continue →

The German president, Horst Köhler, has been re-elected for a second five-year term. The 66-year-old Köhler, a former director of the International Monetary Fund, obtained 613 of the 1,223 ballots cast by the Federal Assembly (the parliamentary body that elects the German head of state), which is the minimum required for re-election. The Financial Times called the re-election a symbolic victory for chancellor Angela Merkel, since she is to launch her own re-election bid in only four months.

The election is, however, not without a certain aftertaste: Continue →