Niemieckie małe i średnie przedsiębiorstwa a handel zagraniczny
German small and medium sized enterprises and international trade

Summary/Abstract: This paper has been devoted to the presentation of the results of the analysis of the export intensity of German companies with particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This goal is important because of the large proportion of SMEs in the German economy and their unique competitive advantages on the international scale. Among the analyzed companies, particular attention was put on the entities referred to as the Mittelstand. The research is based on the quantitive approach using a sample of German companies. The advantage of using this approach is the ability to identify the additional features of the units, and thus deliver more insightful conclusions. The key conclusion of the analysis is that the export intensity rises with the size of an enterprise. There is a significant gap between the largest companies and a group of small and medium-sized enterprise. A large difference also occurs between SMEs and the smallest companies. The results of these studies are consistent with the theoretical assumptions regarding the export potential of enterprises. The second conclusion of the analysis was the higher intensity of the export observed in typically German enterprises.

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