Act 9, 3-7 (parte II)

Parte I.
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Acerca de ver a luz e descobrir o truque alemão para competir, apesar de uma moeda forte (parte I a V, parte VI), este interessante artigo da revista The Economist sobre as Mittelstand "Mittel-management - Germany’s midsized companies have a lot to teach the world". O artigo também cita Hermann Simon e os Campeões Escondidos, a imensidão de anónimos, não os maiores exportadores (PIN lovers'):
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As Mittelstand "90% of them operate in the business-to-business market and 70% are based in the countryside.
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They focus on market niches, typically in staid-sounding areas such as mechanical engineering rather than sexy ones like software. ... This strategy helps them avoid head-to-head competition with global giants (“Don’t dance where the elephants play” is a favourite Mittelstand slogan). It has also helped them excel at what they do. (Moi ici: Os elefantes competem no mercado do preço, as Mittelstand apostam e nichos onde o preço é um order qualifier não um order winner)
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Mittelständler have not only focused on sophisticated niches that are hard to enter. They have thrown their energies into building up ever more powerful defences. They constantly innovate to stay ahead of potential rivals. They are relentless about customer service. Their salespeople are passionate about their products, however prosaic, and dogged in their determination to open up new markets. Mr Simon’s “hidden champions”, mostly German Mittelstand firms, typically have subsidiaries in 24 foreign countries, offering service and advice. Many get the bulk of their revenues from service rather than products.
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The second criticism has more substance. Germany has a poor record at generating start-ups or at quickly turning smallish firms into giants. (Moi ici: Contraproducente o querer crescer até ser um gigante. Os gigantes competem no mercado do volume, do preço, das margens apertadas, os gigantes não competem em nichos. Por que é que as Mittelstand deviam abandonar o terreno onde ganham as batalhas?)
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First, you do not need to try to build your own version of Silicon Valley to prosper; it is often better to focus on your traditional strengths in “old-fashioned” industries. Second, niches that appear tiny can produce huge global markets. (Moi ici: Calçado, têxteis, mobiliário, vinho, metalomecânica, ...)

The third lesson is that Western companies can preserve high-quality jobs in a vast array of industries so long as they are willing to focus and innovate. Theodore Levitt, one of the doyens of Harvard Business School, once observed that “sustained success is largely a matter of focusing regularly on the right things and making a lot of uncelebrated little improvements every day.” That is a lesson that the Germans learned a long time ago—and that the rest of the rich world should take to heart."