ARD Story: Economy under stress test
ARD, 12/17/2025
Wed, Dec. 17, 2025 | 11:05 p.m.
ARD
The economy under stress
A year among small and medium-sized enterprises
They manufacture precision technology in Waldbrunn, Balingen, and Lübeck, fire porcelain in Thuringia, and harvest wine in the Palatinate. Some of their companies have been family-owned for generations. Compared to large corporations, medium-sized companies receive less attention from politicians, even though they are considered the backbone of the German economy. And in 2025, they faced the same challenges both at home and on the world market: low morale, if not outright criticism at home, coupled with a murderous tariff war with the US under President Donald Trump, their most important foreign market.
ARD reporter and Grimme Award winner Klaus Scherer accompanied and observed five CEOs in Germany and abroad through the crisis year 2025: Simone Mosca from packaging specialist Mosca, Andreas Kraut from scale manufacturer Bizerba, Sebastian Pohl from plant manufacturer GREIF-VELOX, Daniel Jeschonowski from porcelain manufacturer KAHLA, and Philipp Lucas from the Lucashof winery in the Palatinate. During those months, they all had to respond to an unusual number of external circumstances, from the international ups and downs of threatened and subsequently agreed US tariffs to skyrocketing energy prices and the promised turnaround in domestic sentiment, which never materialized.
How has this turbulent year affected them and their companies? How do you cope with such a year of uncertainty? Negotiate harder with customers? Reduce profit margins? Or rather find replacement markets? What are hard facts and what is more psychology and sentiment? And how does Katherina Reiche (CDU), Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, who Klaus Scherer interviewed exclusively for the film, view all this?
Klaus Scherer's new film visits locations around the world in difficult times, getting up close and personal with decision-makers and those affected. The Munich-based ifo Institute provides the latest figures on this topic.
The “ARD Story: Economy under stress: A year among small and medium-sized businesses” is a production by NDR and HR.