Europe on the rebound

After six years of crisis, Europe is back; slowly so, but back. The euro has survived, the first structural measures have been implemented, the economic indicators are showing a light growth for next year and trust is quietly recovering. Not that all is now resolved, but…

The situation in the fast-growing emerging countries is not what many businesses from these markets were hoping for either. First, because these markets also need time for their development; second, because they too have to consolidate their growth; and third, there as anywhere else, is not all just about free trade. In short, there as well, all that glitters is not gold.

In the so-called BRIC countries, and for a series of reasons, any kind of production is not exactly made simple: trade barriers, poor quality of produced goods, just-in-time delivery made unrealistic by long delivery channels, some corruption, and last but not least, cultural barriers which greatly raise costs and do not match the immense expectations of the end client. As a result, many businesses are find themselves attracted again by Europe’s relative political and economic stability. On these grounds, Europe is considered the lesser evil.

Simultaneously America’s economy is rising; a country which has always been closer to Europe for cultural reasons, trusts more its institutions and also prefers to build on the long-standing connections with the Old Continent.

Even the Asian economy is leaning more towards Europe, in part conditioned by weakened exchange rates – like in India’s case – and in part by strategic reflections. This demonstrates that some of the old European industries are still setting the standards for the rest of the world. However, Europe also shows a divide, especially in regards to investors.  On the one side, there are solid industries, infrastructures and reliable institutions in Central Europe, on the other side, you see weakening states with less productivity, mostly in the South.

In our context of shrinking margins and higher cost pressure, these arguments weigh twice as much. That leads, in my view, to a London-Frankfurt-Zürich axis, where and which determines the central decisions and which the non-European investors also have to turn to. We will have to face these changes, whether we like it or not.

Yes, I do believe that Europe is coming back but I also think that so will the crisis if we don’t push for more reforms. Unfortunately at the moment, Mrs. Merkel is setting a rather poor example. For all that, and as a precaution, I am preparing myself for a long-lasting crisis, that is, for lasting and quick changes in the market circumstances.

One Response to Europe on the rebound

  1. Lieber Marc,
    meinen Glückwunsch zu Deiner treffenden Beschreibung einer klar erkennbaren Tendenz hin zur Besinnung auf die soliden Werte des alten Europas! Bei der Aufzählung der Städte in der Achse London-Frankfurt-Zürich könntest Du getrost Wien hinzufügen, denn die österreichische Wirtschaft hat bewiesen, dass sie auf einem dem Land entsprechenden Niveau ungemein kräftig und innovativ geworden ist. Außerdem besitzen die Österreicher dank ihres historischen Erbes als europäische Zentralmacht eine hohe interkulturelle Kompetenz, was bei internationalen Geschäften von großem Vorteil ist.
    Was den, wie Du schreibst, schwächelnden Süden Europas betrifft, bin ich der Auffassung, dass die dort weiterhin maßgeblichen, auf den Interessen überkommener Clans und nicht auf Leistungsfähigkeit beruhenden Machteliten den Aufbau neuer und wettbewerbsfähiger Strukturen erheblich behindern. In dieser Situation bleibt dem ausländischen Investor eigentlich nur die Möglichkeit, mit Brückenköpfen ähnelnden, kompetenten Organisationen zusammenzuarbeiten, um die eigenen Interessen abzusichern und dennoch lokales Know-how einkaufen zu können.

    Es entsteht neuerlich die Gewissheit, dass sich die auf Grundwerte und Geschichtsbewusstsein gegründete Leistungskraft Europas durchsetzen wird, wobei wir uns immer wieder am Prüfstein unser Innovationsfähigkeit werden messen lassen müssen.

    Mit Gruß zum neuen Jahr 2014
    Johannes K. Wortmann

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


5 + 2 =

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>