Morning Briefing Podcast: Does the return of Deutschland AG really help companies?

Good morning, dear readers, a five-day journey through Asia with the German Chancellor has led technology chief Timotheus Höttges forward technologically, but emotionally into the past. Soon after his return, Höttges wrote on LinkedIn that while few might still yearn for the entangled past when a few dozen gentlemen steered the German corporate world until the turn of the millennium, he hadn't expected this sentiment.

Yet, Höttges' explanation is not without merit: Words that sound like a blend of a Sunday sermon and a cartel agreement have a serious background. Countries leading in future technologies practice such models. The chancellor's delegation recently visited South Korea, where the state has been supporting conglomerates and collaborations since the 1960s, particularly in chip and battery industries.

German author Konstantin Richter, who recently examined the history of Germany AG, also raises the question: Of course, a return to an opaque era of old boys' clubs, where compliance officers and women might have merely been an annoyance, would not be desirable. Rather, it would be more in line with a shared idea of progress.