The EY Attractiveness Survey from 2015 shows that Germany is highly appreciated as a very promising investment location. It is one of the top three locations worldwide after China and the United States. This is due to a number of excellent location factors such as the infrastructure, the good qualification level of employees, the social climate and the stability of the social environment. Within Europe Germany is actually the most attractive investment location with a wide lead over competitors such as Great Britain and France. In the survey 42% of all participants answered the question: “Which country is in your point of view the most attractive investment location in Western Europe?” with Germany.
In the year 2014 the number of FDI increased by 9% compared to the previous year and created 11.327 new jobs. The countries which invested the most of money in Germany as a location are: 1. USA with a number of 156 FDI’s, 2. China with a number of 79 FDI’s and 3. Switzerland with 73 FDI’s. According to the study the following industries will become the main key growth driver in the coming years: transport- and automotive industry (44%); pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology; energy/utilities (22%). More than half of the persons surveyed said that they believe in an increase of Germany’s attractiveness. In the survey the participants were asked if they can imagine to establish their business or a business unit in Germany. 25% of them answered the questions with yes. The most of them are planning to invest in an enlargement (56%), acquisition (10 %), joint venture (8%) or relocation (8%). The types of project which are planned are distribution and marketing (33%), production (29%) as well as research and development (15%).
From an investor’s point of view, the major needs for reform in Germany are the improvement of initial and continuing education in the field of new technologies (30%), tax incentives for investment strong companies (25%), reduction of bureaucracy (21%), creating an environment which promotes innovation and creativity (21%) and the reduction of taxes (21%).
The major competitors for Germany concerning the attractiveness for investors are according to the survey of EY: USA (23%), China (16%) and Great Britain (11%).
In summary, it can be said that Germany is perceived as a premium location for investors due to its high qualification level of employees, the good infrastructure and its benefits in innovative and pioneering products.
Source: http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-neuer-schwung/$FILE/ey-neuer-schwung.pdf