Macroenvironmental Analysis of the German Solar Panel Industry

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: 1,7, University of applied sciences, Munich, language: English, abstract: Introduction: The 20th century is marked by the industrial growth of all nations around the world. As a result the global energy demand is tremendously rising and most likely this will increase the threat of global warming. Mankind must therefore find a way to feed the energy hunger of the growing nations. Due to this international development and the fear of nuclear plants1 the leading political parties of Germany have decided to focus on a nuclear free energy mix composed of renewable energy. This mix is seen as the problem solver and solution for the world wide energy demand. To push the development of the renewable energy sector a system of direct and indirect subsidies was therefore established by the leading political parties. Problem Definition: As stated before, the German approach is to push the renewable energy sector by direct or indirect subsidies. The photovoltaic sector in particular is very highly subsidised. So far everything looked smoothly for the development of this plan. However, the last months have been dominated by press releases regarding German solar panel producers going bankrupt, like Solar Millennium, Solon, Solarhybrid and Q-Cells. Objectives: This development is raising the question: What has happened in the solar panel industry sector and what has lead to this development? To answer this question it is necessary to analyse ¿the macroenvironment¿ of this industry. With these analyses it is then possible to determine the driving and influencing factors and forces in this industry sector. The findings of the analyses will be used to evaluate the attractiveness of the German solar panel industry. Finally it should be possible to answer the question. Methodology: Companies which are acting in an industry sector or ¿macroenvironment¿ are influenced by the economy at large; population demographics; societal values and lifestyles; governmental legislation and regulation; technological factors; and closer to the companies of an industry sector, the competitive surroundings in which the companies are acting. Therefore, to answer the main question of the thesis, the macroenvironment of the German solar panel industry needs to be analysed from the market point of view,covering the before described factors and forces.