The clean room at Trumpf, a family-owned lasermaker that relies on the euro zone for nearly 50% of its revenue.
Europe has officially entered the longest recession since the creation of its single currency in 1999. But you wouldn't know it in Stuttgart, Germany. A birthplace of the automobile, and the heart of Germany's export engine, this is a prosperous city of rolling green hills, bustling luxury boutiques and tidy white homes occupied by many an affluent engineer and thrifty hausfrau. Per capita GDP is a whopping $84,000, more than double that of Berlin. In Stuttgart, Germany's famous Mittelstand firms the term commonly used to denote small and midsize family-owned export companies churn out top-notch auto components,...
