The German miracle keeps running: How Germany's hidden champions stay ahead in the global economy

Bernd Venohr and Klaus Meyer

No 30, Working Papers from Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB)

Abstract: Despite mediocre macro-economic performance of the German economy, German companies are successful players in global trade. This article explores the strategies of one of the pillars of this export success, the Hidden Champions, Our empirical analysis focuses on leading medium size companies identified by Hermann Simon in the early 1990s, and investigates their long-term progress over one decade. We show that these companies continue to prosper with family ownership combined with professional external management, strategies of market leadership in global niches and a persistent focus on operational effectiveness. Scholars and business leaders, in particular of companies based in other high-cost countries, therefore ought to consider German companies as source for lessons on how to succeed in the global economy.

Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:imbwps:30

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