Fact 7: German SMEs do business for the long term

When turnover and profits are on the rise, SMEs traditionally place great value on building up financial "buffers" for leaner times. That enables them to budget for the long term and offer relatively secure jobs. Having a commonsense financial reserve helps them to withstand losses due to economic fluctuation, for example, or even to invest using their own capital. The good news is that among German SMEs, the proportion of equity in relation to total share capital has been rising for years. They even carried on doing sound business during the financial and economic crisis. The bottom line: these companies often show great business stability.