Germany's Mittelstand: "Counterpoint to a singular focus on shareholder value and dispersed investor-orientated shareholding."

Bavarian Fairy Tale is a video by ABC Australia (2012). Though probably too good to be true overall, this assessment of the Southern German economic miracle offers a collection of useful points scattered among savory beer hall vistas.

The overarching point is the Mittelstand, which is an untranslatable concept referring to mid-sized manufacturers ... and, perhaps, a way of thinking.

German lessons: Many countries want a Mittelstand like Germany’s. It is not so easy to copy, at The Economist

GERMANY’S midsized manufacturers, collectively known as the Mittelstand, are often praised as a group for providing the backbone of the world’s fourth-largest economy. Individually, they are world leaders in hiding their light under a bushel. They tend to be family-owned, tucked away in small towns and familiar only to the businesses that buy their specialised machinery and components. “We are not digging for gold,” says Joachim Kreuzburg, the boss of Sartorius, a maker of laboratory equipment. “We are selling shovels to the gold-diggers.”