4 ms·
Some members of my extended family own a company (actually a small family of companies) in that category, and of course it's in Swabia. They are market leaders
by biztos 7y ago
Some members of my extended family own a company (actually a small family of companies) in that category, and of course it's in Swabia.
They are market leaders in some very high-margin things most people never think about, and interestingly they sell a lot in Asia, where one might expect them to be more vulnerable to competition. German Quality is a huge brand worldwide.
I also have a friend in Berlin who's sort of inheriting the family business, manufacturing something so random I always forget what it is. Involves rubber I think. High margins, privately-held family business, etc.
I really think a lot of these companies, if they were in the US, would either go public (the bigger ones) or be sold up to a bigger concern. But in Germany you'd have to pay a really big premium to get your hands on someone's multi-generational family business. As long as there are kids to inherit the factories then that's what they're gonna do.
- usrusr 7y agoAnother way how this kind of company would likely fail to continually thrive in the US, even when it's not sold: those niche markets are so small that even when completely dominated the profits would be insufficient to get date-in-Hollywood rich or groom-yourself-for-presidency rich. So if you have bigger ambitions than the niche allows you'd hand over the reins to a "maintenance manager" and focus on something more promising. Those small niche specialist businesses reach excellence through a loyalty to whatever field that made them big that is fueled by limits to ambition. (I think I already posted this idea on some other HN that) (and the businesses tend to be filled with a weirdly self-contradicting mix of nationalistic hybris and massive imposter syndrome)
- DraftDodger67 7y agoTherein lies the problem - the current fertility rate for German mothers is only 1.42. How long until there are no more Germans left to run these companies?
- lispm 7y agoFertility rate in Germany is currently at 1.57.
- DraftDodger67 7y agoThat rate is inflated by foreign mothers. The rate for German mothers is much lower: https://theatlas.com/charts/S1TgULGJe https://theatlas.com/charts/S1TgULGJe Its the same throughout Europe, the fertility rates for native women are much lower than for migrant women. Countries with high migrant populations like Sweden, Germany, France, UK have misleading total fertility rate statistics.
- lispm 7y agoYou have old numbers. We have now 2020. German numbers include only people with German nationality. The concept of 'native' German mothers is bogus and was last used under Adolf Hitler. There is also no reason why migrants or their children can't lead companies. See Steve Jobs, Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, ...
- dang 7y agoPlease keep flamewar talking points off HN. This place is not for that. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html