What would your region be without your company?
The value a company brings to a region often goes unseen. Yet regional value is created every day, everywhere — through jobs, investment, and local training opportunities. The Regional Value Creator Index helps make that value visible.


The Regional Value Creator Index
What would your region be without your business?

38 percent of self-employed people in Germany have considered leaving the country over the past two years. That figure is alarming. But for me, it raises another question: Do we actually know what a business is worth to its region?


The 2026 Self-Employment Report paints a picture that gives reason for concern.

Thirty-eight percent of respondents have considered leaving Germany, and nearly six percent already have concrete plans to do so.

41.6 percent cite bureaucracy as a possible reason for emigrating, while around 38 percent point to the tax burden. More than 89 percent feel that policymakers show them little or no respect and do not adequately represent their interests.

There is plenty to debate politically: taxes, bureaucracy, regulation, and the overall business environment.

But as a business and marketing consultant, I am interested in another question as well.

What do we actually lose when a business disappears?

A business is far more than revenue, profit, and local business taxes.

It creates jobs and apprenticeships. It buys from other businesses. It hires tradespeople, service providers, and suppliers. It invests. It brings knowledge and innovation to a region.

Many businesses also support local clubs, events, social institutions, cultural initiatives, and volunteer organizations.

And sometimes it is the butcher shop, the manufacturing company, the skilled trades business, or the specialized midsize company that has been part of a community for generations and has become part of its identity.

When you build and grow a business, you are always helping shape your region as well.

I believe this is an important dimension of entrepreneurial achievement that we talk about far too little.

 
 
 
 


We talk about labor shortages. But what about a shortage of entrepreneurs?

Germany and its regions invest considerable effort in attracting and retaining skilled workers, promoting economic development, and marketing themselves as business locations.

And rightly so.

But just as important is the question of how we treat the people who have already built businesses here and who take on entrepreneurial risk every single day.

Because when they become discouraged, decide not to continue their businesses, postpone investments, or actually leave, a region does not simply lose a local company.

It loses regional value creation.

And that cannot be measured in dollars and cents alone.



Economic diversity is a competitive advantage for a region

A resilient region needs more than just a handful of large employers.

It needs a diverse business landscape: skilled trades and manufacturing, retail and services, established family businesses, self-employed professionals, startups, and hidden champions.

This kind of economic diversity creates stability, opportunity, and independence.

That is why we should not wait until businesses are gone to recognize their value — when storefronts go dark, apprenticeship opportunities disappear, or the next contract is suddenly awarded outside the region.

We should recognize their value before that happens.

 

Your region is you.

This idea has been on my mind for quite some time and is also the title of one of my speaking concepts:

“Your Region Is You.”

Because regions are not “developed” in the abstract.

They are shaped anew every day by people who take action — people who start businesses, create jobs, invest, buy locally, train young people, develop ideas, and take responsibility.

And for me, that also defines a role for modern business consulting.

Not just to ask:

How can we sell more?

But also:

What role does this company play in its community? What makes it especially valuable? Where does it create regional impact? And how can we make that value visible to customers, employees, and the public?

I call my concept the Regional Value Creator Index.

It combines business strategy, positioning, and communication with the question of a company’s contribution to regional value creation.

Not as another sustainability label. Not as a polished image claim.

But based on what a company actually contributes.

Because especially in challenging economic times, companies should know what they stand for, what value they create, and how to communicate that value convincingly.

We should not have to wait until a company is gone to realize how much it was worth to its region.

 

Would you like to strategically reposition your company, sharpen your market positioning, or identify the value your business creates for customers, employees, and its region?

Then we should talk — because this is exactly where my expertise lies.

→ Learn more

Sources: 2026 Self-Employment Report, WISO MeinBüro/VGSD. Online survey of 2,684 self-employed professionals.

 

About the author:

Katja Peteratzinger, International Business Administration graduate (University of Applied Sciences), specializing in marketing; consulting expert on the RKW Hessen business consulting team of RKW Hessen GmbH; entrepreneur and publisher. Creator of the Regional Value Creator Index and driving force behind the powerregions initiative.

All rights reserved. Images: AI-generated.

 

Contact:

Hof Gnadenthal 3
65597 Hünfelden, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)6438 91097

Email: GXJ4bXN4WWl8bXxreG1jcHd+fGs0aWx7dXBqcXB3fjd9fA@nospam

 

Websites:

www.peteratzinger-publishing.de
www.powerregionen.de
www.katjapeteratzinger.de

Disqus requires your consent to work!

The Nest Is Getting Uncomfortable – On Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurship

17.08.2026

Selbstwirksamkeit: Warum nicht jedes Hindernis aus

Why an uncomfortable nest can sometimes be exactly what we need: about self-efficacy, entrepreneurship and personal responsibility – and why we grow when not every obstacle is removed from our path, when we learn to trust in our own abilities and those of others, and that powerful experience, that moment of realizing: "I can do this".

read more

The Regional Value Creator Index - What Would Your Region Be Without Your Business?

15.08.2026

Was wäre diese Region ohne dein Unternehmen?

Many self-employed people in Germany have considered leaving the country in recent years. That is alarming. The 2026 Self-Employment Report paints a concerning picture: 38 percent of respondents have considered emigrating, and nearly six percent already have concrete plans.
But do we actually know how much a business is worth to the region it calls home?
That is exactly why we created the Regional Value Creator Index.

read more

How a Dutch Inventor Turned Nothing but Hot Air into a Billion-Dollar Idea

30.06.2026

Fred van der Weij erfindet den Airfryer

Not long ago, telling someone they were “full of hot air” was an insult. Then a Dutch engineer came along and turned nothing but hot air into a billion-dollar idea.

His invention—the Airfryer, or hot air fryer—has become one of the most successful kitchen appliances of our time. The man behind it was Fred van der Weij. Yet although millions of people use his invention every day, very few know the name of this remarkable European innovator.

read more
empty