| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (26 min. 59 sec.) ; 162751708 bytes |
| Summary |
If Europe's going down the gurgler why are the good burghers of Bavaria singing, dancing, laughing and toasting their good fortune over a litre of beer or six? Well, they have a secret. They even have a word for it that only Germans really understand. It's called Mittelstand and it's made many of the businesses in this uber enterprising part of the world solid, successful, optimistic and fearlessly forging into the future. Germans have another word for how that makes them feel about the many of their basket-case neighbours in Europe: schadenfruede - a kind of delicious pleasure at the misfortune of others. If only they didn't have to prop them up.You can make yourself seasick watching the daily rocking and the reeling in Europe. Will Greece cop another dose of austerity and get a another financial lifeline or will they squabble, default on Olympus sized debt and drag the rest of Europe into a mighty financial funk? Are Italy and Spain indebted beyond redemption? Will the European Union hang together? Will the Euro survive?If the rest of the world is absorbed by this slow-motion car wreck unfolding hourly, daily, then why aren't Bavarians also on the edge of their seats? Come to think of it why are they having such a conspicuously good time? Aren't they worried they'll go down with the ship?'No ship is sinking, there's no earthquake, there's no flood. We're living in paradise.The beer is tasty and the food as well. (Bavaria is) better than anywhere in the world'. - Helmut Zankel, Munich residentFact is Bavaria is the richest state in Germany and Germany is now the richest country in Europe. And while much of the rest of Europe is mired in the financial quicksand of a sovereign debt crisis, business in Bavaria is booming, exports are rising and unemployment is at a 20-year low.How come? Well the Germans have got a word for it and only they know what it means. Mittelstand! It's the very German secret to the success of modest family enterprises all the way to the global domination of the local auto-giants like Audi.Foreign Correspondent's Eric Campbell goes in search of the meaning of Mittelstand and why Germans remain resolutely allergic to debt, committed to hard work and dedicated to the perpetuation of business beyond one or two generations. If only their profligate neighbours living beyond their means, piling up debt and avoiding tax could take a leaf out of the Mittelstand handbook - if there were a such a thing.Anton Kathrein, Industrialist: These countries! They have to not spend too much money. They have to earn money!Eric Campbell: They have to be more like Germans?Anton Kathrein: Or Bavarians! 'No wonder there's growing discontent among Germans about propping up the rest of the Eurozone.Grab the lederhosen and get out the beer steins - we're heading to Bavaria! |
| Event |
Broadcast 2012-02-14 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Capital investments -- Planning.
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Germans -- Economic conditions.
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Industries -- Economic aspects.
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Small business -- Management.
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Germany -- Bavaria.
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Streaming video
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| Author |
Campbell, Eric, host
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Gergianakis, George, contributor
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Gergianakis, Georgia, contributor
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Kathrein, Anton, contributor
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Meindl, Lukas, contributor
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Meindl, Markus, contributor
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Schwarzenbauer, Peter, contributor
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