Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
global aufgestellte Mittelständler
English translation:
Small and midsize businesses with global reach
German term
Germany
Responsive with well-rounded knowledge
Native in: German (Variant: Germany) 
Works in: English to German, German to English, Spanish to German, and 5 more.
global aufgestellte Mittelständler
Modernste Technologie und höchste Ansprüche an die eigene Arbeit, garantieren unseren Kunden – ***global aufgestellte Mittelständler und weltweit operierende Konzerne*** – eine stetige Steigerung Ihrer
Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.
Medium-sized businesses and corporate groups operating worldwide?
| 3 +6 | mid-size companies with global reach |
Michael Martin, MA
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| 4 +4 | globally positioned/active SME |
Teresa Reinhardt
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| 3 | globally active medium-sized companies |
Wendy Streitparth
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Sep 1, 2014 17:13: Sebastian Witte changed "Field (specific)" from "Economics" to "Business/Commerce (general)"
Sep 1, 2014 17:13: Sebastian Witte changed "Field" from "Tech/Engineering" to "Bus/Financial"
Sep 3, 2014 05:51: Sebastian Witte changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/60654">Sebastian Witte's</a> old entry - "global aufgestellte Mittelständler"" to ""small and mid-sized companies with global reach""
Proposed translations
United States
Creativity wins in the long run
Native in: German (Variant: Germany) 
, English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English
mid-size companies with global reach
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Note added at 4 hrs (2014-09-01 21:31:27 GMT)
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I'd change this slightly to "mid-sized" companies as that form is more widely used.
No doubt many German Mittelstand firms have a global reach whether they produce in loco or not. That’s hardly a secret considering the international financial press has been singing their praises for years and the whole German economy is largely export-oriented anyway... Consider the following statement: “Dirk Albersmeier, head of German M&A for JP Morgan, said: “Chinese companies have been looking beyond technology and brand names in Germany and are now looking more and more for high-quality German mid-sized companies with well managed international operations, but I do not expect to see a big wave of deals.” http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2013-09-09/germany-merge...
| "With global reach" is thus far by far the better phrasing from a marketing perspective, but then there is also the question of nuances of meaning inherent in the German. Global aufgestellt seems to mean something like ready to face the global competition invading the traditional safe heavens of economic peace and money-making stability like Central Western Europe rather than actually branching out from these and/or to delivering from there to overseas destinations. Nevertheless, I find this thus far the best suited solution for a text that needs to sell a product rather than analyze, let alone explain the world. On a side note, Mittelstand = SMALL AND MEDIUM-sized companies. |
| I meant to say safe havens |
| agree |
BrigitteHilgner
: Yes - there is no mention of small enterprises in the original.
29 mins
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| agree |
Björn Vrooman
: (see discussion) Because the US has such a wobbly definition of what SMEs are (how many employees they actually have), I guess SMEs would be the better term.
2 hrs
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| agree |
David Hollywood
: I would go with this
7 hrs
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| agree |
dkfmmuc
: Great contribution and link.
16 hrs
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| agree |
gangels (X)
1 day 37 mins
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| agree |
oa_xxx (X)
: re. asker's comments - as it's marketing, I would be very surprised if any other nuances of meaning were intended here
1 day 5 hrs
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United States
Known for top notch work, on time
Native in: German (Variant: Germany) , English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English, English to German, English, and 1 more.
globally positioned/active SME
{gut} aufgestellt is Austrian German, but am seeing it more and more, maybe also as a literal rendition of well-positioned
| agree |
Steffen Walter
: No, "(gut) aufgestellt" has been around for ages in 'German' German, too. / Sebastian's (asterisked) context refers to globally active SMEs/SMBs and major multinational corporations, so the provider in question apparently caters to the needs of both.
2 mins
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Thanks, Steffen, but "for ages": not in my neck of the woods ;-) It used to be "steht gut da"
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| agree |
Uta Kappler
: siehe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_and_medium_enterprises & http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelstand
3 hrs
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Thanks, Uta!
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| agree |
Ramey Rieger (X)
: globally active
16 hrs
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| agree |
oa_xxx (X)
: would also go for active
1 day 6 hrs
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Germany
45 years experience
Native in: English (Variant: British)
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 2 more.
Discussion
http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/smbs-small-and-midsize-bu...
http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/partner_with_cisco/cpp/res...
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/business-solutions/smb/index.html
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/erp-nav-overview.asp...
https://www.facebook.com/MidmarketIBM?_fb_noscript=1
M-W doesn't like the hyphen either.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/midsize
However, midsize(d) is mainly US. UK should be medium-sized, IMO:
https://www.gov.uk/medium-sized-business
Best wishes
"garantieren unseren Kunden – global aufgestellte Mittelständler und weltweit operierende Konzerne – eine systematische und gleichzeitig individuelle Projektvorgehensweise mit gesicherter Qualität für die Planungs- und Beratungsergebnisse"
http://ingenics.de/de/unternehmen/profil/index.html
On the References page, it says:
"Beratungs- und Praxiserfahrung in fast allen Branchen ist unsere Stärke und wichtiger Erfolgsfaktor für Ihre Projekte. In über 35 Jahren hat Ingenics zahlreiche Unternehmen, vom mittelständischen Produktionsbetrieb bis zu weltweit agierenden Großkonzernen, bei der Effizienzsteigerung und Zukunftsgestaltung unterstützt."
Now, that's a problem. The company's references do include "ordinary" SMEs (whether they are hidden champions I don't know) but they also include businesses such as the following one:
"Wir stehen Ihnen weltweit mit 6 Tochtergesellschaften und 43 Vertriebs- und Servicepartnern in 56 Ländern zur Verfügung"
http://www.zwick.de/de/unternehmen/support-weltweit.html
It's a mere GmbH that's part of a group (with global reach).
Consider that it doesn't say "gut aufgestellt" but "global aufgestellt". The only acceptable Duden defintions in this case are:
- Aufstellung nehmen [lassen]; postieren
- errichten, aufbauen
or
- zu einem bestimmten Zweck zusammenstellen, formieren
- sich (als Gruppe) so formieren, organisieren, dass man für zukünftige Aufgaben gerüstet ist
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/aufstellen
Both of the above-mentioned terms would actually boil down to companies who have at least offices or partnerships worldwide, irrespective of how big they are. It's not about whether you're a hidden champion, it's about your global presence in the literal sense.
First, we need to see whether the German term actually matches the English one.
A) SMEs cannot just be equated with KMUs (see post below).
B) Mittelstand has a very broad meaning. Compare:
""Derzeit bemerken wir verstärkt, dass global aufgestellte Mittelständler wie Symrise das Thema Talent Management strategisch angehen, die Prozesse optimieren und sie zusehends mit Softwarelösungen abbilden."
http://www.pressebox.de/pressemitteilung/lumesse/Symrise-ent...
And further down, it says:
"Mit einem Umsatz von € 1,57 Mrd. im Geschäftsjahr 2010 gehört das Unternehmen zu den Top 4 im globalen Markt der Düfte und Aromen. Das Unternehmen mit Sitz in Holzminden ist in mehr als 35 Ländern in Europa, Asien, den USA sowie in Südamerika vertreten."
Revenue-wise, that company is not going to be included in any SME definition.
It kind of reminds me of the definition of Mittelstand when it comes to business software. Some of these programs are only for the "gehobenen Mittelstand" (could well be 1000+ employees) because they're too expensive for smaller businesses - they get their own SME versions.
In addition, I did do some research: Google results for "globally active/positioned SMEs" look just as bleak. And I am not sure that we're thinking along the same lines here when it comes to "global aufgestellt".
I did agree with your SME suggestion but not because of the EU definition of SMEs (which probably doesn't fit here) but because of the American one: "The definition used for SMEs by SBA’s Office of Advocacy (SBA Advocacy) is the most straightforward, as it includes all enterprises with fewer than 500 employees. Census employs this definition to delineate its data by firm size across all sectors of the U.S. economy (using NAICS categories), which include both manufacturing and service enterprises."
http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4125.pdf
It's just one of many.
I'm going to try and delineate what "global aufgestellt" actually means because I think that there has been some misunderstanding here.
Besides, I don't understand how you equate "global reach" with "has offices everywhere"? The web extends your global reach just as much. Just an example:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/...
Or the title of the OECD document: "Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Local Strength, Global Reach"
http://www.oecd.org/regional/leed/1918307.pdf
I see no difficulties in adapting Michael's solution to your requirements.
Marketing is as much about stylistic choices as it is about content.
The sentence "global aufgestellte Mittelständler und weltweit operierende Konzerne" simply required the same number of words in "global aufgestellt" as in "weltweit operierend" before "Mittelständler" and "Konzerne", respectively.
Also: If you're global aufgestellt, it means you are actually already present</B> all over the world. I've never seen these words used to describe what you were trying to explain to Michael.