Verteidigung: Bedingt abwehrfähig – Mittelstand ist auf Ernstfall nicht ausreichend vorbereitet

A recent survey by German management- and IT-consultancy firm MHP and Berlin Quadriga University's Center for Sustainable Transformation reveals that only 3.1% of German small and medium-sized enterprises (Mittelstand) are fully prepared to contribute substantively in the event of a defensive or war scenario. While 86% of these companies are willing to provide capacity for national defense, a significant gap exists between their readiness and capabilities.

MHP partner John Eisenhauer, who leads the defense and public sector sector, warns that the companies' self-assessment is overly optimistic and the real preparation by management does not reflect this.

The hypothetical scenario of a military invasion by armed forces without a national flag into Estonia would trigger a series of consequences. The Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) stated that without a capable civilian base, military strength would be ineffective. The survey of 1,000 business executives with annual revenues ranging from 50 million to 5 billion Euros found that while 93% recognized their industry as critical for supply security, only about 3% met all the basic requirements to handle crises and shocks such as the defensive situation.

Only 4 out of 10 companies had fully identified their possible role in defense situations. A major weakness for many businesses is IT resilience, as criteria such as offline backups, multi-factor authentication, and regular emergency drills were not met. Three-quarters of companies could only bridge a complete IT system failure for up to 3 days.

Industries such as transport and logistics showed significant deficiencies in this area, as these sectors rely heavily on Germany's ability to provide defense. The president of the German Business Safety Association (VSW) Johannes Strümpfel noted that many companies are hesitant to even turn off and restart their data centers in case of production downtime, highlighting the lack of preparedness in this sector.