Germany´s Profile

PONTIFICAL CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF ECUADOR

SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION LINGUISTIC AND LITERATURE

LEAI

INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT

Daniela Villacís
September, 13, 2011
Joan Gavey

GERMANY

BACKROUND

Germany, as Europe's largest economy, is a key member in the development of the whole continent. Looking through history, the country was part of two devastating World Wars in the firsthalf of the 20th century. After losing the war the allies occupied the country and Germany was divided in two states: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). In 1990 as a necessary step for German unification and in parallel with internal German developments, the two states, the United States, U.K., France, and the Soviet Union negotiated toend Four Power reserved rights for Berlin, in that way the country was unified again, and on December 2 of the same year elections were held for the first time in the country since 1933. Another important step for Germany was given in 1999 when Euro was introduced as its official currency

Nowadays Germany is known for its high standard of living and its well established social security system,thanks to its prosperous economy

ECONOMY AND GLOBAL PERFORMANCE

According to statistics Germany is the largest economy in the European Union; it constitutes 20 percent of Europe's GDP, and is home to 16 percent of the total European Union (EU) population. Additionally in the world the German economy ranks 4th in terms of nominal GDP and 5th in terms of purchasing power, is the world’s secondlargest trader both in terms of imports and exports. Furthermore is a focal point of global scientific and technological developments.

One of its main advantages is large group of talented work force that has lead Germany to dominate the ranking exportation in vehicles, machinery, chemicals and household equipment vertical across the globe. In fact Germany's competitive television market is thelargest in Europe, with some 34 million TV households.

According to BBC News, Germany's export-dependent economy was initially hit hard by the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, which caused the worst recession since 1949. Thanks to its exports and the strong and productive work force, by 2010 the country recovered more successfully than most other EU members.
Even in these years,the German economy managed to stay stable as the world sixth largest country in terms of GDP. However, because of the recession, was impossible to stop the contraction of economy at -5% in 2009. Fortunately by 2010, the economy experienced a great dynamic, the GDP grew 3.6 percent. The trend is supposed to continue in 2011 for which the German government forecasts a GDP growth of 2.3 percent.Germany, depends heavily on its exports to drive the economy, in fact its exports have grown by around eight percent each year. Germany overtook the United States to become the world export leader for six years straight. In 2008, German trade figures marked a high point in Germany’s trade history.

We can say that Germany´s economy is one of the most strongest and important in the world, not onlybecause it faced successfully recession but also because its entire system is based on solid policies, where each cent is spent in the best way, actually we can say that German people don’t waist they invest in themselves and their country, that combined with hard work has been the key to succeed

ECONOMIC IMPORTANT INDICATORS |
GDP (2010) | $3.5 trillion |
Annual growth rate (2011,2010,2009) | 2.6%, 3.6%, -4,7% |
Per capita GDP (2010): | 40.631 |
Inflation rate (april 2011) (2010) | 2.4%, 1,1% |
Agriculture (0.9% of GDP in 2010) | 0.9% of GDP in 2010 |
Industry | 26.8% of GDP in 2010 |
Exports (2010) | 1.28 trillion dollars |
Exports major markets | France, U.S., Netherlands |
Imports (2010) | 1.079 trillion dollars |
Major Suppliers | China, France, Us,...