IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v52y2019i2d10.1007_s11187-018-0095-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The German Mittelstand: antithesis to Silicon Valley entrepreneurship?

Author

Listed:
  • André Pahnke

    (Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn)

  • Friederike Welter

    (Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn
    University of Siegen)

Abstract

While internationally, the Mittelstand in Germany is admired and many countries try to emulate it, the current debate in Germany praises the Silicon Valley model of entrepreneurship, contrasting the Mittelstand as low growth, low-tech and non-innovative—in short, as a hindrance to Germany’s economic future. We therefore ask whether the Mittelstand actually is the antithesis to Silicon Valley entrepreneurship. We show that Mittelstand is about more than just small and medium enterprise size, identifying as its distinctive features the identity of ownership and management and a sense of belonging. In this regard, we also discuss the influence of historical paths and current institutional settings of the Mittelstand. Asking to what extent the Mittelstand is distinctive, we address its diverse contributions to economy and society. We suggest that the Mittelstand is an excellent example of everyday entrepreneurship and a vibrant segment of the economy which is also competitive, innovative, and growth-oriented, albeit in different ways compared to Silicon Valley entrepreneurship. In conclusion, we outline ideas for future research and implications for policymakers. In our view, future research and policies should stand back from dichotomies such as “Mittelstand versus Silicon Valley entrepreneurship” and acknowledge the vibrant diversity and heterogeneity of entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • André Pahnke & Friederike Welter, 2019. "The German Mittelstand: antithesis to Silicon Valley entrepreneurship?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 345-358, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:52:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11187-018-0095-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-018-0095-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-018-0095-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-018-0095-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wagner, Joachim, 1994. "The Post-entry Performance of New Small Firms in German Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 141-154, June.
    2. Acs,Zoltan J. & Audretsch,David B. (ed.), 1993. "Small Firms and Entrepreneurship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521431156, September.
    3. repec:cup:buhirw:v:80:y:2006:i:02:p:263-295_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Jahn, Vera, 2015. "The Importance of Mittelstand Firms for Regional Apprenticeship Activity - Lessons for Policy -," Working Paper 158/2015, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg.
    5. Pahnke, André & May-Strobl, Eva & Schneck, Stefan, 2014. "Die Einkommenssituation von Selbstständigen und die Inanspruchnahme staatlicher Leistungen auf Basis des SGB II," IfM-Materialien 226, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    6. James Harold, 2008. "Family Values or Crony Capitalism?," Capitalism and Society, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-30, June.
    7. Alina Sorgner & Michael Fritsch & Alexander Kritikos, 2017. "Do entrepreneurs really earn less?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 251-272, August.
    8. Hermann Simon, 2009. "Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-0-387-98147-5, December.
    9. Michael Berlemann & Vera Jahn, 2016. "Regional Importance of Mittelstand Firms and Innovation Performance," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(11), pages 1819-1833, November.
    10. Block, Joern & Spiegel, Frank, 2011. "Family Firms and Regional Innovation Activity: Evidence from the German Mittelstand," MPRA Paper 28604, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Logue, Danielle M. & Jarvis, Walter P. & Clegg, Stewart & Hermens, Antoine, 2015. "Translating models of organization: Can the Mittelstand move from Bavaria to Geelong?," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 17-36, January.
    12. Friederike Welter & Ted Baker & David B. Audretsch & William B. Gartner, 2017. "Everyday Entrepreneurship—A Call for Entrepreneurship Research to Embrace Entrepreneurial Diversity," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(3), pages 311-321, May.
    13. Carolin Decker & Christina Günther, 2017. "The impact of family ownership on innovation: evidence from the German machine tool industry," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 199-212, January.
    14. David B. Audretsch, 1995. "Innovation and Industry Evolution," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262011468, April.
    15. Servaas Storm & C.W.M. Naastepad, 2015. "Crisis and Recovery in the German Economy: The Real Lessons," Working Papers Series 10, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    16. Schlömer-Laufen, Nadine & Lamsfuß, Christoph & Große, Jutta & Chlosta, Simone, 2014. "Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung großer Familien- und Nichtfamilienunternehmen: Eine Bilanzdatenanalyse für den Zeitraum 2008 bis 2012," IfM-Materialien 235, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    17. Josh Lerner, 2013. "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Innovation Policy and Entrepreneurship," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(1), pages 61-82.
    18. Schneck, Stefan & May-Strobl, Eva, 2014. "The economic contribution of start-up firms in Germany," Working Papers 02/14, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    19. Berghoff, Hartmut, 2006. "The End of Family Business? The Mittelstand and German Capitalism in Transition, 1949–2000," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(2), pages 263-295, July.
    20. Suprinovič, Olga & Schneck, Stefan & Kay, Rosemarie, 2016. "Einmal Unternehmer, immer Unternehmer? Selbstständigkeit im Erwerbsverlauf," IfM-Materialien 248, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    21. David B. Audretsch & Max Keilbach, 2004. "Does Entrepreneurship Capital Matter?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(5), pages 419-430, September.
    22. Maaß, Frank & May-Strobl, Eva, 2016. "Der Stellenwert nicht-technologischer Neuerungen im Innovationsgeschehen der mittelständischen Wirtschaft," IfM-Materialien 250, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    23. Welter, Friederike & May-Strobl, Eva & Holz, Michael & Pahnke, André & Schlepphorst, Susanne & Wolter, Hans-Jürgen & Kranzusch, Peter, 2015. "Mittelstand zwischen Fakten und Gefühl," IfM-Materialien 234, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    24. Behrens, Vanessa & Berger, Marius & Hud, Martin & Hünermund, Paul & Iferd, Younes & Peters, Bettina & Rammer, Christian & Schubert, Torben, 2017. "Innovation activities of firms in Germany - Results of the German CIS 2012 and 2014: Background report on the surveys of the Mannheim Innovation Panel Conducted in the Years 2013 to 2016," ZEW Dokumentationen 17-04, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    25. H. Berghoff & R. Möller, 1994. "Tired pioneers and dynamic newcomers? A comparative essay on English and German entrepreneurial history, 1870-1914," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 47(2), pages 262-287, May.
    26. Wolter, Hans-Jürgen & Werner, Arndt & Schneck, Stefan, 2015. "Zur Entwicklungsdynamik neugegründeter Unternehmen: Eine Längsschnittanalyse auf Basis des Umsatzsteuerpanels," IfM-Materialien 238, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    27. Welter, Friederike & Levering, Britta & May-Strobl, Eva, 2016. "Mittelstandspolitik im Wandel," IfM-Materialien 247, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    28. Audretsch, David B & Elston, Julie A, 1997. "Financing the German Mittelstand," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 97-110, April.
    29. Storm, Servaas & Naastepad, C.W.M., 2015. "Crisis and recovery in the German economy: The real lessons," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 11-24.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pahnke, André & Welter, Friederike, 2019. "The German Mittelstand: Antithesis to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurship model?," Working Papers 01/19, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    2. Welter Friederike, 2018. "The Mittelstand: a Specific Entrepreneurial Profile of the Social Market Economy," Journal for Markets and Ethics, Sciendo, vol. 6(1), pages 99-106, June.
    3. Heider, Anne & Gerken, Maike & van Dinther, Nicolas & Hülsbeck, Marcel, 2021. "Business model innovation through dynamic capabilities in small and medium enterprises – Evidence from the German Mittelstand," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 635-645.
    4. André Pahnke & Friederike Welter & David B. Audretsch, 2023. "In the eye of the beholder? Differentiating between SMEs and Mittelstand," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 729-743, February.
    5. Anja Ströbele & Patrick Brecht & Lisa Kurz & Carsten H. Hahn, 2023. "Conceptualization of a Cooperative Company Builder for Systematic Transfer of University Research and Innovation in the German Mittelstand," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 9(4), pages 401-428, October.
    6. Michael Berlemann & Vera Jahn & Robert Lehmann, 2022. "Is the German Mittelstand more resistant to crises?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1169-1195, October.
    7. de Groote, Julia & Soluk, Jonas & Laue, Sarah-Larissa & Heck, Marius & Kammerlander, Nadine, 2023. "How can family-owned Mittelstand firms use their unique resources to master the digitalization age? The role of family historical, venture, and collaborative capital," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 133-152.
    8. Giebel, Marek & Kraft, Kornelius, 2020. "R&D investment under financing constraints," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-018, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Welter, Friederike & Schlepphorst, Susanne & Schneck, Stefan & Holz, Michael, 2020. "Der gesellschaftliche Beitrag des Mittelstands: Konzeptionelle Überlegungen [The societal impact of German Mittelstand: Conceptual considerations]," IfM-Materialien 283, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    10. Pahnke, André & Welter, Friederike & Audretsch, David B., 2021. "Im Auge des Betrachters? Warum wir zwischen KMU und Mittelstand unterscheiden müssen," Working Papers 04/21, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    11. Dienes, Christian & Pahnke, André & Wolter, Hans-Jürgen, 2018. "Investitionsverhalten von kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen," IfM-Materialien 268, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    12. Audretsch, D.B. & Thurik, A.R., 2000. "What's New About the New Economy? Sources of growth in the managed and entrepreneurial economies," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2000-45-STR, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    13. Matthias S. Johann & Jörn H. Block & Lena Benz, 2022. "Financial performance of hidden champions: Evidence from German manufacturing firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 873-892, October.
    14. Daniel Fackler & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2013. "Establishment exits in Germany: the role of size and age," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 683-700, October.
    15. David B. Audretsch & Martin A. Carree & Adriaan J. Van Stel & A. Roy Thurik, 2002. "Impeded Industrial Restructuring: The Growth Penalty," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 81-98.
    16. Josep-Maria Arauzo-Carod & Agustí Segarra-Blasco, 2005. "The Determinants of Entry are not Independent of Start-up Size: Some Evidence from Spanish Manufacturing," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 27(2), pages 147-165, September.
    17. Muhammad Naveed Iftikhar & Maha Ahmad & David B. Audretsch, 0. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship: the developing country context," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    18. Döpke, Jörg & Fritsche, Ulrich & Müller, Karsten, 2019. "Has macroeconomic forecasting changed after the Great Recession? Panel-based evidence on forecast accuracy and forecaster behavior from Germany," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Taner Akan & Tim Solle, 2022. "Do macroeconomic and financial governance matter? Evidence from Germany, 1950–2019," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 17(4), pages 993-1045, October.
    20. Claudius Gräbner & Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller, 2019. "Economic Polarisation in Europe: Causes and Options for Action," wiiw Research Reports 440, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:52:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11187-018-0095-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.