“Transformation means change. Change means often consolidation. Companies need to shrink in order to be able to invest and develop new technologies,”

...“Fratzscher” is Marcel Fratzscher, President of The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW).

Marcel Fratzscher, despite his no doubt impressive economic qualifications, has misunderstood the situation.

The Germany companies aren’t “disappearing” redundant parts of their businesses, they are relocating them to Asia. If those business activities were truly no longer useful, they would disappear worldwide.

When kerosene replaced whale oil for heating and light in the 1860s, companies didn’t relocate their whale industry to other nations to cut costs, they got into the mineral oil business – or were rapidly annihilated by those who did.