Special aspects of negotiating with German medium-sized businesses for French investors

Both France and Germany have a long industrial tradition with a strong focus on entrepreneurship. Contrary to German businesses, French corporate structures are often arranged in a pyramid shape, with shorter decision-making paths and a more “top-down” than “bottom-up” approach. It is therefore important that French enterprises that consider taking over a German business are aware of different decision-making paths from the sociocultural perspective and take these into account when making structural changes.

First of all, they should create an atmosphere of mutual trust that will help respect arrangements made at all stages of negotiations. For example, issues that have already been negotiated should not be renegotiated, as this can quickly undermine the atmosphere of trust that has been created. German SMEs usually have a long family history going many years back and any change to the company's structure should take this history into account and be included in negotiations.

 

Of course, a high degree of professionalism and accuracy is also expected in negotiations. And this requires methodical preparation and thorough knowledge of the company's background (market, product, strategy, human resources, etc.).