Future of industry in Germany: There is hope after all.

The results of my survey

I recently started an experiment on LinkedIn. I wanted to know: How optimistic are the producers in my network when it comes to the future of Germany as an industrial location in the next five years?

If you read the daily press, there is little reason for optimism:

• The number of bankruptcies is 46% higher than the average for the pre-Corona years 2016-2019. The manufacturing sector is particularly badly affected.
• There are particularly high numbers of unemployed people in July. 550,000 more than before the pandemic.
• The Ifo Institute reports that in July 40% of companies complained about a lack of orders.

I now wanted to know: Is the mood in my network similarly sobering?

At least 73 people from my network who work in and on German production voted:

The result surprised me. The ratio between optimists and pessimists is 44% to 56%. If you follow the press reports, I would have expected a much more negative picture. Admittedly, my survey is not representative. But for me it is an opportunity to understand how the sometimes very positive and sometimes very negative assessments come about. What drives people?

I immediately contacted those who voted and sought an exchange. I wanted to find out what factors led to the votes. I received so many messages that I had to summarize and cluster them in order to keep track of everything.

read more on Lukas Morys' blog