Heading for Industry 4.0?

Mergers and Acquisitions in German Industry
IW-Trends
German Economic Institute
Heading for Industry 4.0?
The merging of companies contributes enormously to the dynamics of the corporate landscape and is normally coupled to the business cycle. Since the financial crisis of 2009, however, mergers and acquisitions involving German companies have become uncoupled from the state of the economy. This is particularly surprising due to the prevailing weakness of investment in Germany and may be partly explained by the high prices put on companies. Additionally, in the German economy as a whole there is a perceptible trend towards diversifying by merging with firms in other sectors. By contrast, the data for the most important industries suggest that in recent years companies have preferred to consolidate, with comparatively few mergers with, or acquisitions of, companies outside the sector. In view of this, the hypothesis that manufacturing firms are increasingly acquiring the knowledge necessary for the development and implementation of industry 4.0 applications by merging with, or taking over, IT companies cannot be confirmed. Rather, the IT sector is itself going through a period of consolidation.

Vera Demary / Matthias Diermeier: Fusionen und Übernahmen in der deutschen Industrie
IW-Trends
German Economic Institute
More on the topic

Germany as a Business Location after the Grand Coalition
The demands of digitalisation and climate protection are creating an additional need for fundamental renewal of Germany’s capital stock.
IW
Competition in the Digital Economy: An Analysis of Gatekeepers and Regulations
The Digital Age saw the rise of several rapidly growing digital platforms with substantial market shares. Europe is a large target market for these globally operating platforms, although the majority of the most successful platforms come from the USA or Asia.
IW