Stable inside, uncertain outside.

Most business surveys ask companies. The Mittelstandspuls asks the people who run, advise or finance mid-sized companies, and it asks the same people again every quarter. Respondents receive the results before anyone else.

Three findings stand out. The situation is stable rather than good: half of all respondents say stable, and the margins are shifted downwards compared with other surveys. Expectations describe a plateau, not an upswing: seven out of ten expect no change over the next six months. And the perspectives differ in a way that matters in practice: owners see their problem in the market, while advisers and investors see it in the cost structure. On succession, one in three owners says it is unresolved, while only 8 percent of their advisers believe so.

The survey is a network survey by Phalanx GmbH and makes no claim to be representative. It was analysed in cooperation with the University of Reading and the University of Siegen. The full report, including methodology, confidence intervals and significance tests, is available in German.