The Mess in Europe -- Keeping SMEs On Their Toes!

March 4, 2014

European growth is in jeopardy! Politicians when do you learn?

When politicians, regardless their nationality, do something, usually SMEs and citizens take the hit!

Before the crisis in Ukraine many companies including SMEs considered the country as a very attractive region for business partners and were actively investing into the country.

Ukraine has a well-educated and skilled work force and a good industrial base, so starting up a business branch or greenfield operation in Ukraine was not such a big challenge.

Due to this crisis in Ukraine the SMEs are forced to consider options to Ukraine. Some of them have left the country already and some contemplating similar measures.

Setting up a production or taking it back from Ukraine back to home base does not happen over night and is not for free.

Apparently European politicians are fighting for growth in Europe since several years and now this mess! Congratulations, life can’t get more exciting with you politicians!

About the Author

R. Paul Vuolle Blog | CEO

R. Paul Vuolle's blog "The SME's Guide to European Manufacturing," has moved. You'll find his latest ideas and commentary on SME European Manufacturing on IndustryWeek's IdeaXchange.

You'll find more articles written by Paul at http://www.industryweek.com/blog/smes-guide-european-manufacturing .

R. Paul Vuolle, CEO of Bellevue SME Advisors GmbH in Switzerland and Germany, works actively with small and medium (SME) size manufacturing companies in Europe in SCM/Outsourcing, logistics, turnaround and restructuring, market expansion, as well as succession planning and financing. He also frequently supports technology start- ups in building up their business.

Paul has over 20 years operational industry experience in engineering, electronics, industrial automation, building automation, investment goods like electrical drives, automatic test & measurement systems, HV Transformer production systems. During his career he has worked in manufacturing industries in supply chain management, outsourcing, logistics, production, R&D and successfully selling to international large key accounts. Paul has also run a sizeable amount of M&A transactions in numerous countries around the world.

He has built up his experience working in various leadership positions and functions in large corporations, such as ABB, and having executive positions in medium-size family companies and as a technology entrepreneur.

Paul is MSc. E.E. from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich as well as BSc.E.E. from Helsinki Institute of Technology.

Paul is a long time member of IEEE and of its Industrial Applications Society.