Leipzig's 'new' City Hall. The 'old' Renaissance City Hall, dating from 1557, is now a museum. German companies voted Leipzig, in former East Germany, the country's most business-friendly city


FRONT PAGE
SiteSearch
About us
Directories


Best European business cities
Trade fairs in German cities
German local elections 2009
Real estate Europe
Cologne's China Offensive
German population
Business stress worldwide
Business locations
World's top shopping streets
Mayor or Munich
Mayor of Cologne
EIU: Most expensive cities
Mercer: Most expensive cities
UBS: Most expensive cities
Europe's richest cities


City Mayors reports news from towns and cities around the world. Worldwide | Elections | North America | Latin America | Europe | Asia | Africa | Events |


Mayors from The Americas, Europe. Asia, Australia and Africa are competing for the annual World Mayor Award. More


City Mayors ranks the world’s largest as well as richest cities and urban areas. It also ranks the cities in individual countries, and provides a list of the capital cities of some 200 sovereign countries. More


City Mayors lists and features urban events, conferences and conventions aimed at urban decision makers and those with an interst in cities worldwide. More


City Mayors reports political events, analyses the issues and depicts the main players. More


City Mayors describes and explains the structures and workings of local government in Europe, The Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. More


City Mayors profiles city leaders from around the world and questions them about their achievements, policies and aims. More


City Mayors deals with economic and investment issues affecting towns and cities. More


City Mayors reports on how business developments impact on cities and examines cooperation between cities and the private sector. More


City Mayors describes and explains financial issues affecting local government. More


City Mayors reports urban environmental developments and examines the challenges faced by cities worldwide. More


City Mayors reports on and discusses urban development issues in developed and developing countries. More


City Mayors reports on developments in urban society and behaviour and reviews relevant research. More


City Mayors deals with urban transport issues in developed and developing countries and features the world’s greatest metro systems. More


City Mayors examines education issues and policies affecting children and adults in urban areas. More


City Mayors investigates health issues affecting urban areas with an emphasis on health in cities in developing countries. More


City Mayors examines the contributions history and culture make to urban society and environment. More


City Mayors describes the history, architecture and politics of the greatest city halls in the world. More


City Mayors invites readers to write short stories about people in cities around the world. More


City Mayors questions those who govern the world’s cities and talks to men and women who contribute to urban society and environment. More


City Mayors profiles national and international organisations representing cities as well as those dealing with urban issues. More


City Mayors reports on major national and international sporting events and their impact on cities. More


City Mayors lists cities and city organisations, profiles individual mayors and provides information on hundreds of urban events. More

Companies vote Leipzig the most
business-friendly German city
By James Monaghan

5 May 2004: The prestigious Bertelsmann Foundation has followed up its survey of the relative attractiveness to business of German states with a second survey comparing the perception among the business population of how business-orientated the 25 largest German cities are. Leipzig, in former East Germany, was voted the best German business city, while Germany's traditional economic power houses, Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne and Berlin, will need to do better as far as German business is concerned.

The study is a cooperative venture between Bertelsmann, the business magazine Impuls and the international utility corporation, RWE. The actual study was carried out by the Allensbach Institute (Institut fuer Demoskopie), one of Germany’s leading opinion research institutes. The findings are based on a poll of 2,556 company CEOs in the cities concerned. The business people were asked to rate cities, their facilities and institutions on a scale from one to six, with ‘one’ representing the top score and ‘six’ the lowest mark. The one-to-six scale is based on the German school marking system where

1 = very good
2 = good
3 = satisfactory
4 = sufficient
5 = deficient
6 = insufficient
(Five and six are failure marks.)

In the study of the states, the performance of the former East German states and the cities of the northern plains was relatively disappointing. Now, a change seems to be taking place.

Firstly, Leipzig has grasped the opportunity of reunification to top the poll. It has always been famous for its international fair (Leipziger Messe) and was bidding to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. In second place, Bremen and Karlsruhe are on equal points, followed by Gelsenkirchen, Duesseldorf and Wiesbaden. Out of the first six, Bremen, Gelsenkirchen and Duesseldorf are cities from former West Germany while Leipzig is from former East Germany.

In the survey, Leipzig is particularly impressive in the way it promotes business and in the performance of the city administration.

At first glance, the poll gives the impression that all the cities are relatively business-friendly, but the real situation can be seen in direct comparison between the cities. The top city, Leipzig, with a total of 2.73 over all the six assessment criteria, is only a few tenths ahead of the bottom city, Berlin, with a total of 3.19.

However, on closer examination, there are significant differences. In Leipzig, the promotion of enterprise with 2.47 and the city administration with 2.87 were both best among all the 25 cities studied.

In addition, the employers in Leipzig rated the politicians with 2.13 and the town council with 2.87 very much more business-orientated than the test average of 3.06 and 3.21, respectively.

In comparison, Berlin’s business leaders scored the city’s promotion of industry, with 2.79, and the city administration, with 3.64, significantly lower. Since all the other service institutions questioned in Berlin mostly scored below average, the bottom rank was justified. The Berlin banks came bottom, the city council 24th, the trades council and the employment exchange 22nd.

The 25 most business-friendly big German cities
Rank
City
Score
1
Leipzig
2.73
2
Bremen
2.77
3
Karlsruhe
2.77
4
Gelsenkirchen
2.81
5
Düsseldorf
2.82
6
Wiesbaden
2.83
7
Bonn
2.87
8
Bochum
2.88
9
Dortmund
2.88
10
Stuttgart
2.89
11
Möchengladbach
2.90
12
Münster
2.90
13
Dresden
2.93
14
Essen
2.93
15
Bielefeld
2.94
16
Mannheim
2.95
17
Hamburg
2.96
18
Nuremberg
2.97
19
Wuppertal
2.97
20
Duisburg
2.98
21
Hanover
3.06
22
Frankfurt
3.09
23
Munich
3.09
24
Cologne
3.15
25
Berlin
3.19



World Mayor Nominations