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24 Law & Contemp. Probs. 208 (1959)
Co-Operatives As an Aid to Small Business in Germany

handle is hein.journals/lcp24 and id is 214 raw text is: CO-OPERATIVES AS AN AID TO SMALL BUSINESS IN GERMANY GERHARD WEissxa* AND BERTEL FASSNACHTf The problem of competition is the same for small business in West Germany as in all industrial countries with a competitive economy. Small firms feel the weak- ness of their bargaining power in competition with large firms in many industries and have, therefore, come to concentrate their activity more in fields of specialized production and services. There is, however, a difference in the attempts that have been made to overcome this weakness. These attempts have had some success and have, therefore, set a pattern for a number of other countries, notably in central and northern Europe. In describing them here, we are confining the discussion to manufacturing, handicraft, and trade, since agriculture has special problems in any industrial country. The traditional stronghold of small enterprise in Germany and its Mittelstand class of proprietors in Germany has been retailing and, with a stronger corporate tradition, handicraft. In these fields, small business has been able to retain con- siderable importance, even after a decline during the nineteenth century. Handicraft firms differ from small industrial firms not necessarily in their method of production or in size, but in the kind of training required of the artisan, in conditions of entry into the trade as regulated by law, and in enrollment at the Handwerkskammer-their corporate administration. Such attributes of status can- not, however, conceal the fact that artisans are embedded in a competitive economy, with little protection against its effects. Table one shows that the total number of artisan firms, which had increased from 792,ooo in 1939 to 864,0o0 in 1949, has fallen back to 752,ooo by x955, which is below the prewar level. At the same time, the number of persons employed in artisan firms has risen considerably, from 2,6ooooo in 1939 to 3,600,000 in 1955. The trend towards a higher average number of persons employed per shop has been fairly even in the different branches of handicraft, but some groups show a marked variation from the general pattern: in the metalwork- ing trades and in the glass, ceramic, and other trades (photography, musical instru- ment-makers, etc.), the number of artisan firms has shown an increase; whereas in woodworking and in textiles, clothing, and leather, the number of persons employed has decreased since 1949--in the case of the latter group, even to a figure below that of 1939. *Dr. rer. pol. 1923, University of Tilbingen. Professor of Social Policy and Co-operative Studies, Uni- versity of Cologne. Author, Foam UND WESEN DER EINZELWIRTsCHAPrEN (949), PRODUXTIVER EINGLIEDERUNO (1956). Editor, MORPHOLOGIE DER EINZELWIRTSCHAFTLICHEN GEBILDE (1947), ARCHiv FORE6FFENTLICHE tUND FREIGEMEINWIRTSCHAFTLICHE UNTERNEHMEN. t- Dipl.-Kaufmann 1956, University of Cologne; British Council Scholar, 1956-57, University of Birming- ham. Assistant, Department of Co-operative Studies, University of Cologne.

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