ABSTRACT
Baden-Württemberg, for example, prided itself on its small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which bodies like the Steinbeis Foundation existed to aid, but this was different from the ‘microcapitalism’ of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. The health of the SMEs depended on the fact that the Land had become the world headquarters of Daimler-Benz, Porsche, Robert Bosch, and the European headquarters of Kodak and IBM. ‘Tüfteln’ (widget-making) and its innovatory consequences resulted from the Land government encouraging multis to ‘out-house’ the production of components, as a means of massaging its Mittelstand supporters (artisans, shopkeepers and the self-employed) (Esser 1989:100).
