German SMEs Affected by the World Crisis

Abstract. 2009 was one of the hardest years in the last decades for SMEs. The areas that had faced difficulties before the crisis felt sharply the negative effects, but those which had registered continuous progress until the crisis broke out have also been affected. 2010 was a year of reconsolidation, while the current year could mark off a progress for most SMEs, due to a very special evolution of the German economy as a whole (an economic growth of 3.6 % in 2010, much more over analyst expectations, and a forecast of 2.8% for 2011). Regarding the establishment of SMEs in the crisis period, an unexpected development has paradoxically been noticed in Germany: the interest of individuals in establishing a business, declining in the last years, began to grow