{"id":7883,"date":"2026-03-13T11:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T11:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/its-all-about-the-middle\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T11:37:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T11:37:02","slug":"its-all-about-the-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/its-all-about-the-middle\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s all about the middle!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Not a day goes by without an article about the \u2018state of health\u2019 of Germany\u2019s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Everyone in society, politics and business has come to realise just how important SMEs are for our country and for Europe. Whether it comes to competitiveness, innovation, the labour market or social security systems \u2013 it is always SMEs that bear the brunt of the burden. This is nothing new. People were already aware of this importance back in Ludwig Erhard\u2019s day.
<\/p>

What is new, however, is the dynamic of change that is having a particular impact on this group of companies. Alongside economic transformation, there is a social dimension and \u2013 certainly since Trump came to power \u2013 an unprecedented geopolitical dimension, including trade tariffs and the like. This is having a fundamental impact on the rules of the economic game. And it is the economy\u2019s most important cross-sectoral industry \u2013 transport and logistics \u2013 that is being affected above all.
<\/p>

The ability to adapt quickly thus becomes a key prerequisite for survival. In all cross-cutting issues \u2013 such as the skills shortage, energy price trends or digital sovereignty \u2013 courage and decisiveness are required across the board. And it is precisely these qualities that are part of the DNA of SMEs. They have both feet firmly planted in their markets, know their customers well, and stand out for their innovative strength and willingness to embrace change. And that is the stuff of future-proofing: market and customer knowledge, reliability, quality and the pace of innovation. <\/p>

This will be a summit <\/a>without empty rhetoric, bullshit bingo or ego trips. We\u2019ll be providing practical guidance with a clear, consistent focus, delivered in a variety of formats and featuring speakers who really have something to say. <\/p>

The guiding principle: \u201cTransformation as a competitive lever\u201d \u2013 with clear, actionable takeaways.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not a day goes by without an article about the \u2018state of health\u2019 of Germany\u2019s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Everyone in society, politics and business has come to realise just how important SMEs are for our country and for Europe. Whether it comes to competitiveness, innovation, the labour market or social security systems \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-7883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nIt's all about the middle! - DVV Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It's all about the middle! - DVV Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Not a day goes by without an article about the \u2018state of health\u2019 of Germany\u2019s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Everyone in society, politics and business has come to realise just how important SMEs are for our country and for Europe. Whether it comes to competitiveness, innovation, the labour market or social security systems \u2013 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DVV Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-13T11:32:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-13T11:37:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c16163c05350bf3a0b68eb3598556a69\"},\"headline\":\"It’s all about the middle!\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-13T11:32:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-13T11:37:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":309,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/\",\"name\":\"It's all about the middle! - DVV Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-13T11:32:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-13T11:37:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":960},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/die-mitte-machts\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It’s all about the middle!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"DVV Media\",\"description\":\"DVV Media\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"DVV Media\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/csm_dvvmediagroup_weiss_1b71a3ec8c.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/csm_dvvmediagroup_weiss_1b71a3ec8c.png\",\"width\":190,\"height\":94,\"caption\":\"DVV Media\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c16163c05350bf3a0b68eb3598556a69\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dvvmedia.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It's all about the middle! - DVV Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It's all about the middle! - DVV Media","og_description":"Not a day goes by without an article about the \u2018state of health\u2019 of Germany\u2019s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Everyone in society, politics and business has come to realise just how important SMEs are for our country and for Europe. Whether it comes to competitiveness, innovation, the labour market or social security systems \u2013 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/","og_site_name":"DVV Media","article_published_time":"2026-03-13T11:32:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-13T11:37:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c16163c05350bf3a0b68eb3598556a69"},"headline":"It’s all about the middle!","datePublished":"2026-03-13T11:32:07+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-13T11:37:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/"},"wordCount":309,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg","inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/","url":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/","name":"It's all about the middle! - DVV Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-13T11:32:07+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-13T11:37:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/260209172_dvz_mittelstandsgipfel_1920x536_v5_std_DVV_1920x960.jpg","width":1920,"height":960},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/die-mitte-machts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It’s all about the middle!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/","name":"DVV Media","description":"DVV Media","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#organization","name":"DVV Media","url":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/csm_dvvmediagroup_weiss_1b71a3ec8c.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/csm_dvvmediagroup_weiss_1b71a3ec8c.png","width":190,"height":94,"caption":"DVV Media"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c16163c05350bf3a0b68eb3598556a69","name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7885,"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883\/revisions\/7885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7883"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dvvmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=7883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}