The current business climate index published by Creditreform shows a mixed picture: Although the sentiment index for German SMEs improved slightly in autumn 2025, the situation remains tense. Many owner-ed Mittelstand companies report declining earnings, stagnant demand, and growing equity weaknesses. According to Creditreform, 17.6% of businesses stated that they had reduced staff – and this despite existing liquidity. At the same time, high energy and labor costs as well as persistent bureaucratic burdens are weighing heavily on companies. The impression is clear: The business model of many Mittelstand firms is caught in a double bind – operational pressure and structural weaknesses at the same time.
Why This Pressure Situation Is Dangerous
When earnings fall and investments are postponed at the same time, a critical situation emerges. Competitiveness erodes, modernization is delayed, and technological or organizational obsolescence becomes a real risk. Many companies are experiencing this directly – especially due to rising costs and uncertainty about future markets or supply chains. At the same time, the shortage of skilled workers intensifies the situation: Less staff or overloaded managers mean that strategic issues are pushed aside by day-to-day operations. The trap of “business as usual” is tempting, but dangerous. Those who fail to act now risk competitive disadvantages, loss of market share, and increased vulnerability to external shocks such as energy price fluctuations or international trade conflicts.
Building Resilience – The First Lever
In a business context, resilience does not mean eliminating all risks, but remaining capable of taking action despite uncertainty. This includes making decisions more quickly, breaking down silos, and setting clear priorities. Mittelstand companies that structure their organizations to react flexibly and with focus gain a real advantage. This does not require substantial investment – but it does require structural clarity and consistent management. Those who do not wait for large programmes but first create orientation can achieve immediate impact.
Sustainable Transformation as a Strategic Advantage
While resilience stabilises short-term room for manoeuvre, sustainable transformation ensures that the business model remains robust in the long term. In this context, sustainability means targeted cost and risk reduction, new market opportunities, increased efficiency, and more resilient value chains. Studies such as those by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering show that companies combining sustainability and digitalisation gain clear competitive advantages.
The DZ Bank confirms this trend: A majority of Mittelstand companies expect improved image, product innovations, and cost reductions from sustainable transformation; 38% explicitly see it as an opportunity to win new customers.
A vivid example is the J. Schmalz GmbH from Glatten in the northern Black Forest. The family-owned company with around 1,200 employees consistently focuses on resource-efficient processes, in-house renewable electricity generation at its headquarters, and a future-oriented product strategy in the field of sustainable automation technology. Schmalz demonstrates that sustainability is not just an ecological ambition but a value-creating driver of business strategy.
How Mittelstand Companies Can Act Now
Getting started begins with a clear analysis: Where are the vulnerabilities of the business model – for example dependence on individual customers, structural cost blocks, or rigid processes? This is followed by prioritising the most effective levers. These may include focusing on a particularly profitable product with service expansion potential or optimising a resource-intensive process. In parallel, the sustainable component can be integrated – for example through efficiency improvements, a differentiating service model, or a pilot project in circular economy. This creates a double effect: The organisation becomes more resilient and the business model more future-proof. A pragmatic approach is crucial – start small, learn quickly, adapt flexibly. Large programmes can follow once the foundations are stable.
Conclusion
Operational and structural pressures on the Mittelstand are increasing – but this is no reason for resignation. Companies that now set up their organisation with resilience and view sustainability as a strategic lever have the opportunity to emerge stronger from this phase. The crisis can thus become not only a burden but a turning point – if companies act consistently and strategically. Those who take the first step today secure their ability to act and lay the foundation for a sustainable competitive position.
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