The article highlights a split in global business sentiment: SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region are growing more confident about trade, logistics, and cross-border expansion, while European SMEs — especially in major economies like Germany — remain hesitant. APAC companies are increasingly leveraging digital tools, e-commerce, and supply-chain diversification, whereas European firms cite high energy costs, inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty as reasons for their caution. According to a recent poll initiated by FedEx, APAC’s agility is giving it momentum, while Europe risks falling behind unless it accelerates digitalisation and strengthens supply-chain resilience.
Germany’s Mittelstand finds itself exactly in this position — squeezed by rising costs, a continued economic slowdown, and a global market moving faster than Europe’s regulatory and logistical environment. The contrast with APAC underscores Germany’s broader competitiveness challenge: German SMEs must adopt digital logistics, diversify suppliers, and adapt to a more volatile trade landscape if they want to remain competitive. The piece echoes wider concerns about Germany’s sluggish productivity, slow bureaucracy, and dependency on fragile supply chains — issues the government is now trying to address through major investment and industrial policy shifts.
Read the article in detail on SupplyChaindigital.com.