Boom and gloom in Germany

Restructuring in German business is beginning to pay off

Apr 3rd 1997|BERLIN

JUICY profits, increased investment, lean, more competitive workforces, flexible management: any sentient beings lurking inside the Hale-Bopp comet would, if interested in earthlings' business affairs, be rather impressed with the recent performance of Germany's leading companies. Unfortunately, that detached optimism is not remotely shared by Germans themselves. Poll after poll shows that they remain resolutely downcast about their country's economic future, and preoccupied by its 4.3m unemployed. Who is right?

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Boom and gloom in Germany”