Germany's trump card during times of economic expansion - foreign exports - has proven its major liability during the global recession, framing a comparably dispassionate attitude about business growth prospects in the early part of 2010. Unemployment remains high in Germany, and employed executives are motivated to consider a career change only if the new employer can guarantee better job security than one's existing employer.
There is, however, an opportunity for German companies to strengthen their organisations by attracting the cream of the crop from a deep and available pool of management talent. Companies that have done their homework in good times can now aggressively try to win new executive talent from weaker competitors.
In Germany and its German-speaking neighbors, Switzerland and Austria, there have been steady strides made in the assessment of leadership potential and succession planning. The number of diversity candidates has grown rapidly, especially on the female and international side. This has enabled many corporations to grow their market shares internationally. I do foresee that this trend will be stronger for the years to come.
The prospects for business growth in Germany in 2010 have most managers' eyes focused squarely on performance in the third and fourth quarters of the New Year. The German economy, because of its continued reliance on the strength of its exporting market, will continue to watch as the global economy moves beyond the troubling specter of recession and closer to the resumption of business as usual. But it is essential that German employers not lose sight of the difficulties they have been forced to experience for more than the past year, and the tough lessons they have learned during that period.
It is of paramount importance that investments in new people though executive search, new technologies and new products be strengthened to constantly position the German-speaking markets - which are labor cost intensive markets - so they can maintain their technological leadership for years to come.
The EMEA region is poised for better days in 2010, but critical challenges remain. In the calm after the storm of a worldwide economic dislocation and one of the severest downturns, industry leaders are cautiously optimistic as they look forward to the twin promise of better economic times and growth.
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