Insights & Perspectives

There is currently hardly a statement from company representatives that does not contain a complaint about the lack of skilled workers and managers. While politicians are endeavouring to make Germany more attractive to qualified people from all over the world, the consequences of the shortage are becoming increasingly noticeable. For experts and business representatives, it has long been one of the biggest obstacles to growth in our country. “Lamenting doesn’t help, we have to take matters into our own hands”, is the credo of enomyc author Wolfram W. Hackbarth. No sooner said than done. He has developed a training programme for his SME customers that prepares career changers for their tasks as specialists and managers in a short space of time.

New kitchen, new bed, new desk: during the pandemic, but also afterwards, Germans have invested heavily in their own four walls. "My home is my castle" has also taken on a new meaning as a result of the home office boom. Furnishing has long been about more than just living, but also about table and chair height or optimal lighting for the home workplace. In the meantime, the good mood has faded. In this interview, Marc Fahrig, sector & retail expert at enomyc, explains the background to the turnaround and explains how retail and industry can meet the challenges.

Forecasts are difficult, especially when they concern the future. What sounds so flippant and easy is often a great burden in everyday business life, as most decisions have to be made under great uncertainty. Nobody knows what the future holds and which decision will turn out to be the right one in the end. In their article, our enomyc authors Stefan Frings and Mario Trapp show how modern business intelligence and business analytics solutions can also help SMEs to make better-informed and therefore sounder decisions.

enomyc has reason to celebrate: what began as a two-man operation in an office with a view of the Elbe has developed over the past 20 years into one of the leading management consultancies for SMEs. Due to the company's expanding service portfolio, the team has expanded and enomyc now has seven locations at home and abroad. The new brand identity also makes it clear that a lot has changed. How did this beginning, now 20 years in the past, transpire? What did the founders learn in the following years, and what are they planning for the future? A conversation with Martin Hammer and Uwe Köstens about difficult beginnings, the power of mindset and sweeping out one's own doorway.

Sustainable corporate governance, also known by the abbreviation ESG, at first seemed to be a topic that mainly concerned large corporations. However, it has been clear for some time that, beginning in 2025, many medium-sized companies will also have to report on sustainability in accordance with the requirements of the so-called Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, or CSRD for short. What exactly will be expected of companies then? Can sustainability be measured at all, and if so, in what form? The enomyc ESG experts Jennifer Höpfner and Carla Dausend answer the most important questions and show how a company‘s ESG conformity can be checked using an example from consulting practice.

Rarely does anyone experience people and companies in such a state of emergency as those individuals involved as reorganisers and restructurers. Corporate crises often reveal the abysses, fates and characters of all parties involved. The financial expert Ralf Ehret could write books about it. Over the past 30 years, he has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs get back on track. His career began in banking in the early 1980s. Later, he spent fourteen years as the head of major client restructuring at Hypovereinsbank in Munich and London. Since July, Ehret has been both a partner and the Head of Debt Advisory at enomyc. For someone as passionate as Ehret, numbers are more than just mere figures: they are entire areas of tension. Sure, those between acute corporate crises and stakeholder conflicts, financial law and operational restructuring. However, he is much more interested in the areas of tension between chaos, despair and new beginnings. Why? What makes good debt advisors? And how is it possible - when your back is against the wall - to develop the "growth mindset" that he speaks of so fondly? A conversation about problems as logical life tasks and opportunities for personal growth.

Following an unprecedented boom, the real estate industry is facing what is probably the biggest challenge in its history. Project developers in particular are being hit hard. News of ailing companies has dominated the headlines for months; several industry giants have already filed for insolvency. Rising construction costs, delivery bottlenecks and the sharp rise in interest rates before the previously historically low level have caused their calculations to collapse like a house of cards. enomyc author and distressed real estate expert Janina Elisa Buchholz explains how it came to this, what options for action now remain for the companies and for whom the crisis also offers opportunities.

During a corporate crisis, many things change, including the relationship between the company and its financiers. Internal regulatory requirements lead to changes vis-à-vis lenders' engagement strategies and new contacts. Communication requirements also increase in many respects. Those who fail to recognise this risk a communicative downward spiral and thus potential existential consequences. Why is correct crisis communication so crucial for a successful restructuring? And how does it work exactly? Ralf Ehret, enomyc Partner and Head of Debt Advisory, looks at five typical pitfalls of communication with financing partners - and how you can avoid them.

Nine out of ten companies are victims of data theft, espionage or sabotage. Practically any company can become a victim, from a small tax consultant to a major international corporation. The extorted ransoms reach ever more dizzying heights and lead many a company into insolvency. Which actors and structures are behind the cyberattacks and, above all, how can one protect oneself? That's what we asked Andreas Persihl. He is owner of Hamburg-based CAPERIUM GmbH, which specialises internationally in crisis analysis, prevention and defence.