Only a myth? Business goals of the Mittelstand put to the test

The Mittelstand is generally regarded as a particular group of companies which personalized management is characterized by family ownership and control as well as strong regional roots and commitment to the local community. However, it is not exactly known to which extent Mittelstand companies set them apart from non-Mittelstand companies. Utilizing German survey data, this paper therefore investigates how far the personal and business goals of Mittelstand entrepreneurs and companies differ from non-Mittelstand companies. The results confirm that non-financial business goals play a more important role in Mittelstand companies, while financial business goals can come to the fore if corresponding personal goals are sufficiently important. Moreover, companies are generally more likely to attribute greater importance to non-financial business goals if they also feel they belong to the Mittelstand. Especially for future research analyzing the transferability of the German Mittelstand model to other countries, we suggest the study therefore as one further reference point.