11–20 of 72 posts
the article was a bit long for me to read, but when i hear "mittelstand", i think "inherited wealth", regulatory capture leading to gatekeepting of access to the trades and crafts, and employees that are getting paid less than they would in larger industries in exchange for lofty blah blah about family friendliness (sitting in a weird contrast with crazy levels of bean counting when it comes to, e.g., flexible workin…
re: the crisis of the Mittelstand in competing VS China, I'm reminded of this tweet. It's a fictitious illustrative case not a serious study but I think it describes some of the root challenges of western industrial culture when it comes to competing against China https://x.com/AngelicaOung/status/1921364873444986888
Our MBAs have internalized the idea that you "win at capitalism" by buying out your competitors, making products shitty and expensive, and making shareholders filthy rich. Their MBAs believe that it means selling the best product possible at razor-thin margins, killing your competitors by being the better choice.
Everyone is always complaining about Chinese companies "stealing IP", "getting state subsidies", and "dumping products". No, they are just being better at capitalism! We bootstrapped their industry with outsourcing, and then killed our own subsidy system by retooling it to give free money to large shareholders. No wonder our companies aren't able to compete - we reward incompetence...
I was enjoying this until this signature sentence by Claude: >>Slowly but surely, it did, once again becoming a world-renowned brand, now separate from that of Thonet. The same town, the same factory, the same people—just a different name The moment I see this, the piece loses all of its credibility. I cannot take any of the factual informations I was enjoying as implicitly correct now, I just can’t. Authors should e…
> As a writer, LLMs should only be research helpers and used to check for typos and syntax mistakes. Authors, please, do better
I know professional writers that are definitely no longer just limiting themselves like that. I think that ship has sailed.
the article was a bit long for me to read, but when i hear "mittelstand", i think "inherited wealth", regulatory capture leading to gatekeepting of access to the trades and crafts, and employees that are getting paid less than they would in larger industries in exchange for lofty blah blah about family friendliness (sitting in a weird contrast with crazy levels of bean counting when it comes to, e.g., flexible workin…
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The article, rather than being a strictly historical treatise, is taking the bait to propagate some narratives about the motivations behind why these companies do business the way they do.
Reframe "family values" as "paying less" and see where you land on a critical appraisal.
Reframe "rooted in a region" as follows: Being a relatively large fish in a relatively small pond is often strategically preferable to being a relatively small fish in a relatively big pond, if your strategy involves regulatory capture of local government and the formation of a cartel with the handful of other Mittelstand employers in a region that otherwise doesn't have much going on.
Reframe "excellence in crafts" as "keeping out the competition".
I've seen all of these bullshit narratives getting spun, and all of these mechanisms at play, over the last 7 years, having lived in two separate such regions in Germany. It is a scent of bullshit that is very well known to me. When I see other people in danger of being misled, I will say something, just as I will say "watch out", when I see someone about to get hit by a car.
re: the crisis of the Mittelstand in competing VS China, I'm reminded of this tweet. It's a fictitious illustrative case not a serious study but I think it describes some of the root challenges of western industrial culture when it comes to competing against China https://x.com/AngelicaOung/status/1921364873444986888
I guess it depends on where you would draw the line with respect to what still constitutes "Mittelstand", but in the small-town circles where my family operated our company, outsourcing wasn't really a thing. Most of the companies were around 30 to 3000 employees, and mostly operated B2B for the automotive industry. There was exactly one company which got overly ambitious and started to emit shares. It was a big deal…
The point about concentric circles (of care) is true e.g. for workers. If you have ownership. Not corporate-speak ownership like you feel like you are invested in outcomes but real, legal ownership.
Maybe these are capitalist cooperative enterprises. Then you really have concentric circles.
I was enjoying this until this signature sentence by Claude: >>Slowly but surely, it did, once again becoming a world-renowned brand, now separate from that of Thonet. The same town, the same factory, the same people—just a different name The moment I see this, the piece loses all of its credibility. I cannot take any of the factual informations I was enjoying as implicitly correct now, I just can’t. Authors should e…
I think it's more likely model creators will up their game. I've been generating some copy for our company website. I'll be honest, not all of it is great and there are clear AI slop signs. However, you can use guard rails to limit this kind of thing somewhat. I've been doing that. But the good news is that there are pretty easy to spot patterns. And LLMs are actually really good at identifying those already. It seem…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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It was providing context which some people may find useful. The article, rather than being a strictly historical treatise, is taking the bait to propagate some narratives about the motivations behind why these companies do business the way they do. Reframe "family values" as "paying less" and see where you land on a critical appraisal. Reframe "rooted in a region" as follows: Being a relatively large fish in a relati…
Being in a place where you could help shape local politics seems like a good move, no?
What is the issue with "excellence in craft" as keeping "out the competion"? Why would anyone not want to beat the competion?
I was enjoying this until this signature sentence by Claude: >>Slowly but surely, it did, once again becoming a world-renowned brand, now separate from that of Thonet. The same town, the same factory, the same people—just a different name The moment I see this, the piece loses all of its credibility. I cannot take any of the factual informations I was enjoying as implicitly correct now, I just can’t. Authors should e…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess it depends on where you would draw the line with respect to what still constitutes "Mittelstand", but in the small-town circles where my family operated our company, outsourcing wasn't really a thing. Most of the companies were around 30 to 3000 employees, and mostly operated B2B for the automotive industry. There was exactly one company which got overly ambitious and started to emit shares. It was a big deal…
This seriously needs to be repeated again and again. It's not that Mittelstand got greedy. Neither did most other small and medium companies in Europe and US. They gradually became less competitive by overregulation, high input costs, and complete lack of state support. The last sometimes bordering on hostility.