Interview with Jörg Rocholl
- 00:01:37
- DW-World
Interview with Jörg Rocholl
In-studio Guest: Jörg Rocholl, European School of Management and Technology, Berlin DW-TV: Can you probably tell us why German IT is so less interesting to US companies? Jörg Rocholl: I think it mainly has to do with the strength of the US IT industry and the clusters that have developed over the last decades. So if we think of the Silicon Valley or the Boston area we have a huge cluster of say venture capitalists, suppliers and employees that know very well the industry and understand how to make an IT business grow. DW-TV: So how could German companies catch up, if at all? Jörg Rocholl: Well there are certainly lots of chances to learn and to see how things are practised in the United States. At the same time we have different strengths in Germany in different industries, say automotive or engineering industry, which have the same advantages in being clusters on their own. DW-TV: Now you lived in the US for about 8 years I believe, so you probably know the differences in way of life and way of work between the two countries very well. Which would you say is the main difference? Jörg Rocholl: I think it's always hard to nail down general differences between the US and Germany. At the same time what I always appreciated a lot in the US educational system is the target to implement and to apply theoretical concepts. And I think this may be an advantage for students when they later on go on the market and try to sell their products. DW-TV: Do you share the view, that Germans just don't like to change? Jörg Rocholl: I do not necessarily agree. When we look at the figures it is clearly the case that Germany has by far the highest number of patents each year, so Germany is very innovative. But it's also true that Germany has its traditional strengths. Not in the IT industry, but rather in more traditional industries such as automotive or engineering. DW-TV: So Germany is an interesting market, which is also confirmed by a study of the US chamber of Commerce, which says that Germany is the main target for US companies to invest? How come? Jörg Rocholl: I think Germany has had traditional strengths such as infrastructure, geographical location, education of the employees. But I think there is one more factor that comes into play, or that has come into play over the last couple of years which is only the moderate increases of wages in Germany, which also makes Germany more interesting from a cost perspective for foreign investors. DW-TV: But on the other hand, and one gentleman pointed it out as well, we also have a lot of red tape. Isn't that a problem? Jörg Rocholl: I think it's not so clear whether the red tape here is actually more severe, or more of a problem than in other countries. If we look at international statistics on red tape Germany is rather in the middle and by no means in any danger of becoming a top spot. DW-TV: Now we are in the midst of a global economic crisis. How could that effect the German-US relationship? Jörg Rocholl: I think the clear tendency around the globe is a tendency towards protectionism. At least there are some...look at the "Buy American" clause that at least has been discussed in the United States. So I think it's very important overall to protect the free markets, the free trade between countries, and thus to make sure that this protectionism doesn't become too persuasive. Interview: Heather DeLisle
DW-World | February 24, 2009
