About Innovation

According to Hollenback (n.d.), more than 731 billion individuals from various countries make up the economy of Europe. The richness of Europe's nations varies, just like that of other continents, yet the continent's least wealthy nation is far ahead of other continents in terms of living standards and GDP. The gap in wealth is a result of the cold war rift, which was breached by several nations, including Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, and the Czech Republic. The nominal GDP of Europe as of 2010 was $19.920 trillion, or 30.2% of the global GDP. Germany is the most prominent economy in Europe followed by the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, and Spain. In 2015, the PPE market in Europe was worth $38 billion and had been growing at 7.3% from 2013 to 2016 due to increasing employees’ concern, as well as the high number of industrial mortalities in unregulated areas (Hollenback n.d). With regard to these remarks, this research paper seeks to conduct analysis for EU market preferably Germany and France.

Research carried out by Wieland (2015), indicate that in 2015 Germany’s economy produced $3.841 trillion as measured by the GDP. This makes it the world largest economy after China, United States, India, and Japan. Wieland (2015) further indicates that the GDP for Germany as at 2015 is growing at 1.5% compared to 0.4% in 2013. These statistics are small compared to that of the United States, which records a GDP growth of 2.4%. This implies that the GDP per capita for Germany as at 2015 was $46,900, which is a bit lower than that for in the United States ($55,800). However, before the 2008 financial crisis, the economic growth in Germany was less than 1% per year owing to the modernization of eastern Germany, high unemployment rates (9.5%) and the ageing population (20% of its population are over the age of 65), and its budget deficit (Wieland 2015).

Despite having these promising statistics, German living standards is Germany is quite high that most Germans are optimistic about the future. With a disposable income of €46,509 as at 2016, Germans have been forced to limit their spending on discretionary goods and services to cut down their expenditures. Nonetheless, they still take advantage of low-interest rates that will result in steady growth in home ownership in the future.

Just like Germany, Mays (2015), indicates that France has a high disposable income of about €46,379 as at 2016 with the majority of its consumers prospecting that the spending might remain for 2017. Contrary to Germany, France consumer embraces online shopping that has shown some increase of 56% in the retail value between the year 2012 and 2016. Research conducted by GCT (2015) indicates that most consumers embrace the online shopping owing to low prices and free shipping on products and services.

When it comes to demographics, the age group of 30 to 40 hold the largest population of the consumer but expected to decrease in the future due to low birth rates. Nevertheless, the decline will not be that dramatic since they currently constitute 19% (12.3 million) of the entire population and by 2030, it is prospected to drop to 17.4% (11.8 million), which will be a reduction of around 0.5 million people. Mays (2015) further indicate this is the primary age group that does look to purchase homes in the sub-Saharan and rural areas (Mays 2015).

In this manner, it is worthwhile to note that the key operating competitor in both Germany and France is the Silverline. It is one of the most famous companies that offer employment opportunities. Their products are affordable and do not provide the level of protection that recoil does (Shukla and Laghate 2016). Planam, Mil-Tec, and Kniepolster are the other competitor in the customer-oriented websites. The common similarities among these firms in the fact that all of them produce affordable products that consumers quickly find it convenient to purchase their products.

Therefore, it can be said that the market trend and analysis for both Germany and France are similar and mainly attributed to legislation that looks into the health and safety of its citizens. For instance, in Germany, the health and safety at work standards are based on European and international legal standards as dictated by the European law (Council of Europe 2016). The same way, in France the national legislation about the PPE is coordinated at the European level.

References

Council of Europe. (2016). Reconciling labour flexibility with social cohesion: Ideas for political action Concilier flexibilité du travail et cohésion sociale: des idées pour l'action politique.

Hollenback, C. (n.d.). Industrial Hygiene and Safety Auditing, Second Edition. Industrial Hygiene and Safety Auditing, Second Edition, 1-80.

Shukla, S., & Laghate, K. (2016). Silverline Technologies: fight for revival. International Journal of Technology Marketing, 5(1), 44.

Wieland, C. (2015). Germany’s dual vocational training system: Possibilities for and limitations to transferability. Local Economy, 30(5), 577-583.