To be a Gold Seeker or a Shovel Supplier?

On 9th November 1989 the world history took a turn. In a peaceful revolution, the Berlin Wall was pulled down.

Germany’s Black Forest area is famous for its scenic beauty, Black Forest cake and Cuckoo’s clocks.

The above is the title of a book by the visionary businessman, and founder and former CEO of Intel – Andy Grove.

In August 2018, in a first of its kind of action, the German government blocked the Chinese takeover of German toolmaker Leifeld Metal Spinning AG through Yantai Taihai Group. It has been a watershed moment in the recent German industrial history - in a country which believes in free economy with minimal government interference. Since the introduction of investment auditing in Germany in 2004, no investment had been prohibited. But that was about to change.

“How did I survive before the advent of the World Wide Web?” - many of us, not-so-young, will ask today? Google Doodle woke us up today with the information that World Wide Web has turned 30.

After I wrote an article on the Severe Shortage of Skilled Labour in Germany a few months ago, we conducted a survey of young Indian professionals and German SMEs (Mittelstand companies). The study - conducted together with ProRecognition of Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC), and titled “Openness and Attractiveness of German SMEs for Indian Professionals” gave enormous insights for both - Mittelstand companies as well as Indian professionals and students in Germany aspiring to be the future industry leaders. Though interviewed professionals were primarily from India – the results are equally representative for foreign professionals in general.

The Global Tsunami

By 2007, digitization and globalization had reached a decent level that the whole world was interconnected.

In a few days from now, on 15th September, we will remember the demise of the investment bank Lehman Brothers.