STUDY OF THE IMPORTANCE OF SMES FOR THE GERMAN MARKET AND THEIR CURRENT CHALLENGES

This paper describes the changes of SMEs in Germany and their importance for the German and European market. The development of SMEs in Europe will be analysed and the current burdens and challenges will be defined. This paper will further describe the support of the German government and European Union for the SMEs. The objective aimed at was to describe the current situation and analyse the importance of SMEs for the German and European market. We analysed the available data of the European Commission and Institut fur Mittelstandsforschung to compare the strength and weaknesses of German SMEs with the European average. The research showed, that the German SMEs are a big strength for the Germany economy, but have lost their leading role compared with the European average in supporting entrepreneurship and reducing the administrative burdens for the SMEs. The study highlights the past and current support of the European Union with the Small business act and the national support of the German government. A description of the planed further actions of the European Commission and the German government will be given at the end of this paper.