Teaching activity
Long-term Strategy & The Mittelstand - Sennheiser

15th August 2016
The Mittelstand - Germany's group of thousands of privately-owned and often world-beating companies - is often used as an example of the benefits of long-term business thinking.
This short video about a business that will be familiar to many students - Sennheiser- is a great example of the kind of businesses that make up the Mittelstand.
Lots of evidence in the video about the common characteristics of Mittelstand companies that adopt a very different approach to a "short-termist" strategy that is more focused on short-term financial performance.
- Mittelstand companies are said to typically exhibit:
- Family ownership or family-like corporate culture
- Generational continuity
- Long-term investment focus & focus on R&D
- Fierce independence
- Investment into the workforce
- Flexibility in how they respond to a changing external environment
- Lean organisational hierarchies
- Focus on innovation and customer service
- Take corporate social responsibility seriously
Which of these characteristics can students pick up just from the video?
You might also like

A2 Business Aims and Objectives - Suggested Lesson Plans
6th September 2013
Marketing Objectives (Revision Presentation)
Teaching PowerPoints
Porters Generic Strategies (Revision Presentation)
Teaching PowerPoints

Long-term Strategy Eats Fashion for Lunch
20th November 2015
The Strategic Audit
Study Notes

Lego's Long-term Strategy for Success
7th March 2016
Simon Sinek is talkin’ ‘bout your generation!
8th January 2017
Business Objectives (Introduction)
Topic Videos
Daily Email Updates
Subscribe to our daily digest and get the day’s content delivered fresh to your inbox every morning at 7am.
Signup for emails