Placement Report Master Placement

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UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN FACULTY OF ARTS

Placement Report

Master Placement

Author: Ana Nakrst Vidic Student number: 4076826

Address: Lehrer-Köhne-Straße 1, 26871 Papenburg, Germany Phone number: 00386 40 138 712

Ma Placement Coordinator: drs. Cécile A.M. Wagstaff

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TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Me at the Meyer Werft... 5

Figure 2: Papenburg ... 6

Figure 3: The Shipyard ... 8

Figure 4: “Blummenschau” 2019 ... 9

Figure 5: Citylauf in Papenburg ... 9

Figure 6: David Guetta performing in Papenburg ... 10

Figure 7: The Venice of the North ... 10

Figure 8: The Meyer Werft is the pride of Papenburg. ... 18

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank to everyone, who made my internship possible and who supported me while writing this placement report.

I would like to thank to the company Meyer Werft for offering me the opportunity to become the part of it at least for a short time; for me this was an incredible experience. Furthermore, I would like to say thank you to all the interviewees, who shared their perspectives with me and made this report not just more interesting, but especially valuable. Last but not least, I would certainly like to thank to my placement coordinator from University of Groningen for all her time, for her understanding, support and work she invested into my internship.

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1. INTRODUCTION

When I moved to the beautiful German city called Papenburg one year ago, the first thing I realised was the fact, that it reminded me of Venice. This city is literally floating on water, the small canals and the mighty Ems river are present everywhere. This explains, why in such a small city, one of the biggest shipyards in Europe is located. It is called Meyer Werft and it was my placement in March 2020. Everything which usually happens in such multinational enterprises during the period of 50 years happened during my placement in just a couple of weeks. From this perspective, this has been the most educative internship experience I could possibly get, as it took me on the “bumpy ride” from working in the most successful company in the region, celebrating another finished ship to one of the biggest crisis, which the shipyard has faced in all its history caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, there is no doubt that during my placement I have been experiencing on one hand less than I expected skills-wise, but all in all it has certainly been one of the most interesting periods of my studying and working career.

One of the biggest shipyards in Europe and the most important employer in the German region of Emsland has an immense impact on the part of the country where it is located. It employs thousands of people, organises and sponsors cultural, social and sports events in the region and most importantly, prevents high degree of emigration of the local residents from the region, which would be without the Meyer Werft extremely unattractive to live in. However, in the end of March 2020 the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic became stronger than the company. Covid-19 has impacted international economy, labour, transport, health and education, which are extremely important fields of interest and operation for the Meyer Werft. Therefore I am dedicating significant part of this placement report to how Covid-19 influenced not only the present, but especially the future of one of the most successful German enterprises.

Because the coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing situation, there has not been any reliable sources written on it. Therefore, I gathered all empirical data on my own. I conducted the interviews with the people, who are employed in the Meyer Werft in order to add the perspective of the workers to the analysis of the impacts, which the Covid-19 has on the company. In addition, I used interviews as the method also to add the perspective of the local residents to the problem analysis. Furthermore, I conducted analysis of the interviews and statements of the owner and the main managers of the Meyer Werft in order to present the situation from the perspective of the employer as well. In addition, I conducted also analysis of secondary sources,

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5 especially the books written about the city of Papenburg and the Meyer Werft. I analysed also some of the biggest events, which were taking place in Papenburg and connected them to the Meyer Werft. Last but not least, I explored the whole city in person and research the impacts, which Meyer Werft has on some parts of the city.

In this placement report, which is divided into seven content sections, I am first of all writing about the city of Papenburg, following by the chapter in which I am presenting the company Meyer Werft. There I am describing the shipyard in general, discussing its impact on Papenburg and its influence on international community. In the fourth chapter of this placement report I am analysing the impacts, which the Coronavirus pandemic has on the shipyard, following by the description of my personal experience in the company. I am concluding this placement report with some final thoughts about the placement and the policy advice, which the company could use from the student of international political economy.

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2. PAPENBURG

Papenburg is a German city, located in the region of Lower Saxony in the North West of Germany. The official language, which is spoken there is German, however while walking down the streets all different languages can be heard. The reason for this is, that over 30 percent of the population living there is foreign. All together there are around 40.000 people living in Papenburg, most of them are Germans, followed by Dutch citizens, Romanians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Bosnians and the people from some other countries, especially from the Balkan area. The explanation behind this is, that Papenburg is located just on the Dutch border, which makes it attractive for some Dutch citizens. Furthermore the population of Papenburg is older in comparison to some bigger German cities, therefore the foreign workforce is needed. For this reason labour migrants from all over the world, but especially from the Balkans are moving to Papenburg in order to work there (Marklein, 2019).

The city is known especially for its maritime industry, as one of the biggest European shipyards Meyer Werft, which employs over 10.000 workers is located there. In addition also the service sector, especially tourism services and nursing, is well developed in Papenburg.

The city is historically relatively young, as the first time the name Papenburg was mentioned was in 1250. Interestingly, an important part of the history of the city is connected to the shipyard Meyer Werft (Wagener, 2012).

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3. THE MEYER WERFT

The third chapter of this placement report is divided into three major subchapters. In the first one the Meyer Werft is presented with some general characteristics together with some interesting facts about the shipyard. The second subchapter is analysing the impacts, which the company has on the city of Papenburg and the whole region, adding the reasons why Meyer Werft is the most important employer in the region and presenting the socially responsible actions of the company. Last but not least, the third subchapter is extending the importance of the Meyer Werft on the international trade, cooperation and migration.

The methods I am using in this chapter are the analysis of secondary sources, more specifically the books, which were written about the company and the webpages edited by the company. Furthermore, I conducted analysis of majority of sport and cultural events, which are taking place in the city of Papenburg and connected them to the Meyer Werft. In addition I explored the whole city in person and researched how the company is influencing some parts of the city.

3.1. ABOUT THE COMPANY

The Meyer Werft GmbH&Co.KG is one of the biggest and most important shipyards in Europe. With employing over 3.400 workers directly and all together over 10.000 people, and cooperating with and being active in more than 20 countries, it qualifies also for the biggest multinational corporation in the region of Emsland. For maritime industry Meyer Werft is the same as for example BMW, Mercedes or Volkswagen for the German car industry. The headquarters of the company are in Papenburg on the river Ems, however other important production and strategic facilities are located also in Finish city of Turku and the city of Rostock in the North of Germany (Wildberg, 2020).

Even though nowadays Meyer Werft is internationally known as one of the biggest constructors of the luxury cruise ships, it gained its reputation through the construction of different ferries, tankers and container ships. Especially because its versatility, the shipyard overcame all economic crises, wars and other events, which influenced the maritime industry (Witthöft, 2005).

The history of Meyer Werft goes back to 1795, when Willm Rolf Meyer founded a small company for building small wooden sailing boats. This means that in 2020 the shipyard is

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8 celebrating its 225th_{“birthday”. The primary small shipyard was located in the centre of the city} of Papenburg (Meyer Werft, 2019a)., where even nowadays plenty of ships are staying in the canals as the exhibition of the importance of the maritime industry for the city.

Since the early beginning in the end of the 18th century over 700 ships had been built at Meyer Werft. Eight out of ten world’s largest cruise ships had been built there as well. Another interesting fact about Meyer Werft is that its "Dockhalle 2" is the third largest shipbuilding hall and the building with the fifth-largest usable space in the world (ibid.).

Another important focus of the company Meyer Werft is environment. As the local environment is extremely important for the Meyer Werft, the company is constantly balancing economical profits and environmental benefits, which means that every business decision taken, considers also its impacts on environment. If the risk for environment is too big, the decision has to be made again. Also the solar panels at the roof of the large building dock generate renewable energy and reduce company’s CO2 emissions. Together with its partners, the Meyer Werft is working also on introducing a 100 percent ecologically friendly ship, which should be reachable until 2050. All of above makes Meyer Werft not only one of the biggest shipyards in Europe, but also the most eco-friendly one (Meyer Werft, 2019b).

Figure 3: The Shipyard

3.2. THE IMPACTS OF THE MEYER WERFT ON PAPENBURG

Meyer Werft has an immense impact on Papenburg not only because it is the biggest employer in the whole region, but especially, because it is highly involved with the local community.

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9 Company Meyer Werft is namely active in several areas, such as promoting the healthy lifestyle, providing the career opportunities for younger generations in order to prevent high level of emigration of the local youth and it is the most responsible for organizing some major cultural and sports events in the city of Papenburg.

In summer 2019 Meyer Werft was one of the sponsors of the biggest event of the year “Blummenschau”. Thousands of people between July and September 2019 visited the exhibition of flowers, trees and animals from all over the world.

Figure 4: “Blummenschau” 2019

The next example of an event, which was sponsored by Meyer Werft is the so-called Citylauf, which has been taking place every year in April. This is the biggest recreational running event in the city, which should have happened already 11th time in a row this year.

Figure 5: Citylauf in Papenburg

The biggest event ever organised by Meyer Werft, was taking place in September 2018. This was the NDR 2 Festival, where also the world’s most famous DJ David Guetta performed. It

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10 does not happen often, that he has concerts in such small European cities like Papenburg, but the Meyer Werft managed to make this possible.

Figure 6: David Guetta performing in Papenburg

In addition Meyer Werft is also cooperationg with football and other sport clubs, local educational institutions and especially promotes the tourism in the city.

Last but not least, the canals of the city of Papenburg are full of the old ships, which are presenting the importance of the maritime industry and also the Meyer Werft for the city. This is also, what enables the city of Papenburg international recognition for being “the Venice of the North”.

Figure 7: The Venice of the North

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3.2.1. THE MOST IMPORTANT EMPLOYER IN THE REGION

With employing over 3.400 workers directly and over 7.000 workers indirectly, Meyer Werft is the biggest and the most important employer in the region. Through cooperation with over 2000 suppliers, Meyer Werft is all in all responsible for employment of more ten thousands of people (Meyer Werft, 2020).

To keep the reputation of being one of the most modern shipyards in the world, Meyer Werft has been since decades constantly involving with the local educational institutions. For extremely complex construction of the ships, only qualified workforce is needed, therefore for Meyer Werft good education and vocational training of the local students is very significant. Also for the employees Meyer Werft is constantly organizing training courses and all different kind of seminars in order to provide constant development of every employee. This philosophy is in the company Meyer Werft called “Focus on Employees” (ibid.).

In addition the salaries of the employees at the shipyard are higher than the average salary in Papenburg, therefore Meyer Werft is responsible also for improving the standard of living in the city. Last but not least, also the working hours in the company are “family-friendly” oriented, which means that they are flexible. Meyer Werft is giving to the employees opportunity to choose the exact time, when they want to start their working day (it can be between 6.30 and 8.30), as well as the time, when they want to finish it. The most important is, that in the end of the week each employee is working approximately 40 hours.

3.2.2. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

In 2011 Meyer Werft won an award for the most family friendly employer in the region. The company built the Nautilus day care centre, which is the kindergarten for the children of the employees. It is open every day from 6.30 in the morning until 18.00 in the evening, which is giving the parents the opportunity to successfully combine their family life and career.

However, offering the day care for children is not the only socially corporate action of the Meyer Werft. The company is closely cooperating with the local fitness and health centres, in order to offer the employees monthly trainings and advices on the healthy life style. Also different kind of courses, such as coping with stress, relaxation etc. and counselling are offered to the employees every month.

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12 At the shipyard also a medical station is located, where the employees can get medical support and the help from the health consultants.

In 2007 also the association for the retired Meyer Werft employees was founded, which is helping the elderly people to stay connected with the company. The association is organising different kind of trips, entertaining evenings and cultural events for all retired employees (Meyer Werft, 2020).

Last but not least, Meyer Werft is one of the few companies, who accepted their own Code of Conduct, Meyer Werft Social Charter and the Corporate Social Responsibility plan, which all have to be fulfilled and respected also from all suppliers. For this reason a special department in the company, which is taking care, that all the principles are respected from the suppliers, was created recently.

3.3. INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF THE MEYER WERFT

As Meyer Werft is building cruise ships for international shipping companies, some big companies from other countries are strongly dependent on it. Since decades at Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg the ships for Norwegian Cruise Line, AIDA, Disney and British P&O Cruise haven been constructed and built. Yearly with the ships, which are built in Meyer Werft over 1 million people are travelling, which is giving the shipyard from small Papenburg global importance.

In addition, Meyer Werft is extremely important for Finland and Finish maritime industry as well. It is the owner of one of the biggest shipyards in Finland, Neptun Werft, which is located in the city of Turku. There Meyer Werft provides jobs for thousands of employees, therefore it is also in Finland extremely important and well known employer.

Last but not least, company Meyer Werft plays an important role in the field of international migration and trade. Thousands of labour migrants are moving to Papenburg, Turku and Rostock in order to work at the shipyards. This is making these small cities on paper, international and big in the real life. Also big amount of remittances are coming to the home countries of the workers, which is significantly improving standard of living in some Romanian, Moldavian, Croatian, Bosnian and other cities, where the employees of Meyer Werft are coming from.

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4. THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 ON THE MEYER WERFT

4.1. THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY

The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19), which is causing the biggest crisis after the financial crisis 2008 worldwide. The outbreak of the virus dates back to December 2019, when the first case of the coronavirus was identified in China. Until the 12th of May 2020 over 4,17 Million cases of the coronavirus have been reported worldwide, over 286.000 of which resulted in deaths (UNIDO, 2020).

Some of the sources even claim that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the biggest global recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most of the sporting, cultural, political and religious events were not only postponed, but also cancelled. Furthermore, the international trade and cooperation were highly impacted by the virus, as most of the countries worldwide closed their borders. These interruptions of the international trade highly impacted the supply chains all over the world. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization even announced “that the world economy is facing the most serious challenge of the post-war era due to the sudden halt in economic activity in both advanced and developing countries” (UNIDO, 2020). Furthermore the World Trade Organization stated that a negative growth rate could be as high as nine percent in 2020, which could result in one of the biggest economic crises in history (WTO, 2020).

One of the industries, which has been impacted by the coronavirus the most is also the cruise industry the important part of which is the Meyer Werft. Due to the travel restrictions and closed ports worldwide, are at the moment all 400 cruisers existing in the world anchored. The predictions are for this industry very pessimistic, as it is very questionable whether the cruisers are going to operate in 2020 or not at all. For now, only all summer cruises are cancelled, but it is almost certain that also in the autumn and winter cruises on the big ships are not going to be possible, as also the big hotels have to remain closed. Because the companies, which are offering and organizing the cruises had to cancel or postpone them, their financial situation is far from good. This is also the reason, why they cannot afford to buy new luxurious cruisers even though they ordered them in advance (Ship Technology, 2020). This results in the significant financial and organizational problems of the shipyards such as the Meyer Werft.

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4.2. THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE MEYER WERFT AND THE

REGION

One of the biggest and the most modern shipyards in the world, Meyer Werft and its operations are highly influenced by the coronavirus pandemic. Because the Meyer Werft is the most important employer in the whole region, also Papenburg and some other smaller cities in the Emsland region are going to face difficulties due to the coronavirus.

First of all it is certain that the unemployment rate is going to become higher, not only because the Meyer Werft is going to be forced to cancel some of the working contracts due to reduced amount of work, but also because the company already announced that in the next couple of years it will be difficult to employ any new employees. Until May 2020, the Meyer Werft shipyard in Turku already fired over 450 workers. In addition the company reduced the amount of its suppliers, which consequently means that also a lot of workers, who do not work directly for the Meyer Werft but for its suppliers, are losing their jobs. Because the amount of work at the shipyard dropped for around 40 percent, at the moment over 3600 people, who work directly for the Meyer Werft work just part time together with over 5000 additional workers, who work at the shipyard, but are not employed directly by the Meyer Werft (NDR, 2020).

Also the fact that the minister of economy of the Lower Saxony, Bernd Althusmann, identified the case of the Meyer Werft as the priority on all working agendas of the ministry proves, how important the shipyard is not only for Papenburg, but also for the whole state. Even though the current situation for the Meyer Werft is very critical, the fact that the ministry promised to provide the financial help in order to help the company to overcome the corona crisis is bringing some optimism to the whole situation.

4.3. THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE EMPLOYER

Because of the current critical situation at the Meyer Werft, I was not able to interview the managers and the owner of the company, however their views and opinions on the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the shipyard have been very present in the local media lately, therefore I analysed already existing interviews in order to add the perspective of the employer to my final paper.

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15 The owner of the Meyer Werft, Bernard Meyer, admitted that the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic is certainly the biggest crisis, which the shipyard has faced, not only since he has managed it, but also in general. He is aware of the fact, that worldwide not a lot of luxurious cruisers will be needed in the future. He predicts, that constructing one or two cruisers instead of three per year is going to result in more than 40 percent less work and consequently workers at the shipyard. Another prediction of Bernard Meyer is that it is unrealistically to expect that the whole cruise industry is not going to overcome the crisis at least until the year 2030. Therefore in the future ten years every decision is going to have an important impact on the shipyard. This is the reason, why he does not want to react too fast, but is rather meeting the decisions wisely and slowly (Hallo Niedersachsen, 16.4.2020). For now his most important decision was that from May on all the employees are working just part time not only because there is less work to be done at the shipyard, but also because it is important to keep as many workers as possible employed in order to lower the negative consequences for the city and its economy. Bernard Meyer is worried especially because the demand for the luxurious cruisers is the lowest in the history. For example the cruiser Iona should leave the shipyard in March, but the British cruising company which ordered the ship still has not pick it up. The problem is that only 20 percent of the payment was paid in advance, and for the 80 percent of it is the Meyer Werft still waiting, however it is not even clear what is going to happen with the luxurious cruisers, which no one even needs at the moment. It can also happen that the Meyer Werft will need to keep Iona if the British buyer will not be able to pay for it anymore. This is the lost capital for the Meyer Werft, which also has to gather the financial resources in order to pay their workers and suppliers (NDR, 8.5.2020).

The chairman of the works council, Nico Bloem, is emphasizing the importance of the Meyer Werft as the most important employer in the region. He is strongly aware of the fact that the company cannot afford to pay all their workers, but especially cannot afford to cancel the working contracts of too many domestic workers, which would cause the high unemployment rate in the region. He is adding also that the Meyer Werft is responsible for their workers and their families, but cannot guarantee that it is going to put a lot of effort in saving the jobs of the foreign workers. The workers from Papenburg are in this situation highly prioritized by the Meyer Werft (Hallo Niedersachsen, 16.4.2020).

To conclude, the perspective of the employer is that the future of the Meyer Werft is not going to be easy and that the crisis caused by the covid-19 is not going to be simple to overcome, but

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16 the company is going to put a lot of effort in saving not only the shipyard, but also the local workers and consequently also the economy in the region.

4.4. THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE WORKERS

In order to add the perspective of the workers employed at the shipyard, I conducted interviews with ten employees of the Meyer Werft. Five of them were Germans, who were born in Papenburg and the other five of them were foreign workers, who moved to Papenburg in order to work for the Meyer Werft. Each of the participants I asked four questions, the answers to which enabled me to analyse their perspective about the situation. I realised that the experience of the foreign and the domestic workers, and the people, who are employed in the offices and the ones, who work directly on the ships is different, which I find extremely interesting. First of all I asked the participants about their position at the shipyard and the changes in their working career caused by the covid-19 pandemic. The employees, who are normally working in the office are now working part time and from their home offices, which means that the risk of getting infected by the coronavirus is minimal. On the other hand the employees, who are constructing the ships are still working at the shipyard every day together with hundreds of other workers, which makes the risk of getting infected by the covid-19 higher. Majority of them are even scared of this, because they live in Papenburg together with their families. Another change, which was caused by the covid-19 pandemic and highly influences their family lives is their working hours. The interviewees told me that they all work part time in two shifts; the first one is from 5.00 in the morning until 11.00 in the morning and the second one from 14.00 until 20.00. For the workers this means, that they do not earn as much as before as they are just working part time and especially that they are barely able to spend some quality time with their loved ones, which would give them the motivation for working further.

This brings me to the third question, where I was asking the workers about, how are those changes impacting their lives and working career. The foreign workers feel the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on their lives much stronger as the domestic workers. The first difference is that the domestic workers are getting the help and support from their families, as they all live in Papenburg or close to it, but the foreign workers have a lot of problems not only financial, but also strategic ones, for example they often do not have anyone who could take care of their children while they are working etc. Another difference is, that most of the foreign workers are

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17 constructing the ships, therefore they are constantly living with the fear of getting infected by the coronavirus and infect their family members as well. On the other hand, most of the domestic workers have the ability of working from the home offices, which makes their lives even more comfortable than before. However one of the biggest differences is the financial situation of both workers. In the families, which originate from Papenburg both parents are employed and in the foreign families normally just men are working, as the women are taking care of their children and are usually not able to find the work because they do not speak the language. This means that working part time and consequently receiving lower salaries is influencing the lives of the foreign workers way stronger. All foreign interviewees explained, that even though they have not lost their jobs yet, they are considering moving back to their home countries, because they cannot afford to live in Germany and support their whole families anymore. In addition, they are all for example welders or ship constructors, which means that they are specialized for the needs of the Meyer Werft. Therefore, they are scared that in case they would lose their jobs in the future, they will not be able to find new jobs and support their families further. In contrast the domestic workers are all positive that their jobs are still safe and that they are going to be able to find other job in Papenburg in case their working contracts would be cancelled. To sum up, the current situation and the future of the domestic workers is much more optimistic than the future of the foreign workers.

Last but not least, I asked the employees of the Meyer Werft about their opinion about the future of the shipyard. They all agreed that saving the shipyard is extremely important for the life in Papenburg in the future, however it is hard to guarantee that the Meyer Werft is going to overcome this crisis as successful as it overcame the crisis in the past. All employees are aware that the number of the employees is going to be reduced. For most of them is also clear that the company is going to try to enable majority of domestic workers to keep their jobs, therefore the first to lose their jobs are going to be the foreign workers. Most of the employees share similar opinion about their salaries in the future, which should get a bit lower than before. Another interesting perspective is that the Meyer Werft is going to focus more on tourists and attracting the people to visit the shipyard, as this could be one of the sources from which the company could finance itself until the demand for the luxurious cruisers is going to become higher again. To conclude, the predictions about the future of one of the most modern and successful shipyards in Europe are not the brightest, however the employees have the hope and the will to safe not only their jobs and careers, but also the Meyer Werft and Papenburg, which shows their loyalty to their employer and its home town.

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4.5. THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE LOCAL RESIDENTS

In order to add the perspective of the local residents on the impacts, which the coronavirus has on the Meyer Werft and Papenburg I conducted interviews with ten people, who are living there. Each of the participants I asked four questions, the answers to which enabled me to analyse their perspective about the situation. I interviewed especially the owners of the restaurants, bars and other local businesses, who are highly influenced by the covid-19 as well, therefore they answered the questions in a very honest, straight-forward and critical way. First of all I asked the local residents, how they would describe the Meyer Werft. It seemed like this question was extremely easy, as I gathered very clear and fast answers. Most of the participants describer the Meyer Werft as the pride of the city and the rest of them described it as the heart of Papenburg. This is proving, how connected the local community is to the shipyard. Interestingly, one of the participants even owns a trailer with the photo of one of the ships, which was constructed at the shipyard and is proud to show it wherever he travels with it. He explained that he travels all over Europe and that he is very often asked a question about the photo to which he always answers that this ship originates from his home city Papenburg, which is making the city and the shipyard known also in foreign countries. Furthermore, one of the interviewees painted the picture of one of the cruisers of Meyer Werft on his house in order to show his support to the company and in order to thank to the Meyer Werft for improving the quality of life in the city. He explained that every day, when he comes home the picture of the cruiser reminds him of how lucky he is to live in Papenburg. Especially these two stories are proving that the Meyer Werft is not only headquartered in Papenburg, but also that the whole local community identifies itself with the shipyard.

Figure 8: The Meyer Werft is the pride of Papenburg.

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19 The second question of the interview was, why the shipyard is so important for Papenburg. The most common answer was, as I expected, that the Meyer Werft employs significant number of the local workers. I find it very interesting, that one of the interviewees proudly told me that more than every second person in Papenburg works directly or indirectly for the Meyer Werft. In addition, the locals explained that the people, who are working at the shipyard earn higher salaries than the other workers in Papenburg. This is especially for the owners of the restaurants, bars and other local business very positive, as it means that the people can also afford and spend more money, which consequently supports the local economy. In addition, the Meyer Werft is one of the few companies in the city which is attractive for the high-skilled and highly educated workers and it furthermore prevents that these workers would emigrate away from the city. Last but not least, the Meyer Werft is important for Papenburg, because it is making the city attractive not only for the foreign workers, who are moving there, but also for tourists from all over Europe. The participants explained that most of the tourists are visiting Papenburg only to see the shipyard and not because the city would be attractive to visit.

In the third question of the interview I was asking the participants, how has the coronavirus impacted Papenburg. The answers I got were very similar, as all the participants agreed that they do not remember, which crisis or general situation impacted the life in the city more than the covid-19 pandemic. Luckily not a lot of people there got sick and only one person died, but the consequences for the economy in this region are going to be present for long time. The owners of the restaurants and bars, who I interviewed told me that people simply do not order food as often as before and they do not come to the restaurants. It is not clear whether they cannot afford it anymore or they are just saving money on purpose, because they learned from the current situation that it is always useful to have some savings in case of losing the job or just working part time. The second option is what worries the business owners in Papenburg the most, as they are asking themselves when the people are going to afford more and therefore help them to overcome the current crisis. In addition the interviewees are realising also that while the restaurants and bars were closed for more than a month, the people in Papenburg got used to cooking at home not only because of financial situation, but also because they finally have time for that. The interviewees described also the obligation of wearing masks as extremely problematic for the local business. If the customers have to wear the mask and take care of the minimum distance between them while shopping or visiting the local restaurants, they simply cannot enjoy it anymore as much as they did before. Even though the interviewees described all of the above as completely understandable, they are extremely worried about the

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20 future of not only their businesses, but especially the city as a whole. Last but not least I found it very interesting that the interviewees also made me aware of the fact that in the last couple of weeks there is more criminal in the city than before. In their opinion the higher unemployment rate results in the higher amount of robberies. After I got this information from the local residents, I started with the research of the online news from the last ten weeks and found the information that in the “corona times” there have been approximately five times more petty thefts committed in Papenburg than usual. This is certainly the reason, why especially from the Meyer Werft as the most important employer a lot of effort is going to be needed in order to prevent the higher unemployment rate there.

In the last question of the interview I was interested in, what do the local residents think about the future of the Meyer Werft. Most of the answers to this question were far from optimistic. Even though all local residents are extremely proud of the shipyard, they also agree that the city became too dependent on it. This is the reason, why after the covid-19 pandemic not only the existence of the Meyer Werft, but also the existence of the whole city is questionable. The prediction of the interviewees is that significant amount of workers is going to lose their jobs and what is even more worrying is that also in the future the shipyard is not going to employ new workforce anymore. This means that the young and talented people are going to move away from the city, therefore its population is going to be even older than it is and for the economy this is certainly problematic. Another problematic fact is also that the crisis of the Meyer Werft does not influence only its employees, but also most of the other local companies, which cooperate with it, therefore the prediction of the local residents is that also most of the local companies are going to bankrupt without doing business with the Meyer Werft. To conclude, the existence and success of the shipyard means also the success of the whole city, which is going to be in the future extremely questionable and difficult to achieve.

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5. MY PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE

When I first visited the Meyer Werft in February 2019 as a tourist, doing my internship there was just a dream, which became a goal in June 2019. At that time I moved to Papenburg and I became fascinated by the fact, that the people who live there are all extremely proud of this company. It was the first time in my life that I did not hear any bad words about the employer or the impacts which the company has on the city. For me it was difficult to imagine, how it is possible that the whole city literally worship this company, therefore I started my research on it. Luckily the local bookshop was full of photos of the ships constructed at the Meyer Werft shipyard and one of the bookshelves offered me plenty of books about the importance of the company for the region of Emsland. After reading about the history and the present of the Meyer Werft, I decided to apply for the summer job there, but unfortunately with only my bachelor degree I did not have the competences to get it. However I did not give up, but rather apply once again, this time for doing my internship at the company. In November 2019 I got the news that Meyer Werft is going to be my master placement provider from the beginning of March until the beginning of June 2020, which made my dreams come true. For me it was more than exciting to finally start the career in the multinational enterprise, which was for me an absolute wonder. I was excited to become a part of the working team and to use all the theory I learned at university and specifically about the company in practice. I think that even my placement coordinator could feel the excitement inside me, when I announced the big news that I am going to start my placement at the Meyer Werft.

Because what I heard and read about the shipyard, my expectations before my internship actually started were immense. First of all I expected that majority of the knowledge, which I’ve gathered in more than four years of studying is going to be finally transferred into practice. Of course I did not expect that I already learned enough to be capable of working in the company alone, but as I believed that being a part of the working environment is the best opportunity for learning, I expected that my co-workers are going to teach me even more than my professors already did. I expected also that I am going to achieve some more personal goals, such as how to be a part of the working team and especially how to cooperate within it. Because I knew that even though the company is German, at the shipyard are working the people from all over the world, my important expectation was to learn how the culturally diverse workplace functions, more specifically how to fit into such working team. With this is connected also my next personal goal, which was to learn how to work as a part of a team and not individually, as

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22 I was used to. This way I expected to improve my ability to listen to the others, my tolerance, creativity and presenting my ideas in front of the co-workers. I also hoped to learn some more about negotiating and last but not least, I expected to gain some strategic thinking skills. Even though I was aware that my expectations are immense, I strongly believed that during my internship at the Meyer Werft I am going to meet most of them.

The first day of my placement was the 2nd of March, when I together with over 10.000 other employees became the member of Meyer Werft. At 7.30 in the morning I arrived to the shipyard together with other internees, who were starting their placements at the same day. We spent one hour in one of the classrooms, where some other employees explained us some general facts about the Meyer Werft and presented us some of the rules and procedures connected to the safety at work and general safety at the shipyard. After the presentation was over, we met our mentors, who took us to our new offices. Mine was in the department for logistics and sales. I have to say that all my co-workers welcomed me extremely warmly, even far more than I actually expected. They all introduced themselves to me and explained, which tasks do they have in the company and how am I going to help them with my knowledge during my internship. I have to say that the atmosphere between the colleagues was really good, to me it even looked like they are not just working together, but that they are actually friends, who support each other also outside their office. In addition, I can say that the atmosphere was completely relaxed and that from all corners of the office I was able to hear some jokes and laughing. I also did not see any hierarchy between the co-workers, therefore it was difficult for me to recognize, who is the team leader and who of the people in the office are for instance assistants or internees. After I met all my co-workers, my mentor gave me a tour around the other offices and explained to me, what the tasks of different departments are and why are they important for the shipyard. After I got familiar with most of the departments, I got my very own office desk in the office, which I was sharing with 14 other co-workers in the department for logistics and sales. The main tasks of this department are to have the control over more than 2000 suppliers of the Meyer Werft, to manage the international cooperation, the risk management, the value chain management and the contact with the suppliers from all over the world. The working day of the employees of the department for logistics and sales starts between 7.00 and 9.00 in the morning and lasts approximately eight hours every day, however not every working day is in the office, because very often there the business trips to either other suppliers or the other shipyards of the Meyer Werft in Rostock or Turku are scheduled.

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23 However, my first week of placement finished earlier than it should, because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Even though in the beginning of March the pandemic was still at the early stage in Germany, the Meyer Werft prepared the plan on how to prevent the virus at the shipyard. Because I was visiting my family on the border between Slovenia and Italy in the end of February, I needed to stay at home for another week. My tasks for that time were to get familiar with the company, with their web page and with the foreign companies they work with. On Monday, 9th of March I returned to Meyer Werft more motivated than ever before. Some very important and difficult tasks were already waiting for me at the company. My first task was to prepare a list of all suppliers and sub suppliers of Meyer Werft, with the report on their nationality and financial ability to cooperate further even in the crisis. Even though this was completely new to me, I got very good instructions from my co-workers therefore I managed to successfully complete my task in three working days. In addition, one of my colleagues explained to me also, how the financial analysis of the company has to be done. I have to admit that even though I was learning that at the university, it was much more difficult to actually do it in practice. My first financial analysis I completed together with my colleague and the second one I managed to do completely on my own. Furthermore, my task was also to prepare the crisis plan in case, if coronavirus would get more serious for the Meyer Werft and especially their international transport and other operations. I completely on my own prepared around 50 questions for the suppliers and analyse their reactions in the potential risk or crisis situation. For me the most interesting part of my working days were the meetings on which I was allowed to participate. These were usually taking place in the special meeting rooms, where the employees of Meyer Werft were not only discussing with one another, but also via Skype talking to the ones working for the company from other countries. The main topic of the meetings was the coronavirus and the prevention of the crisis, which this virus might cause not only for the shipyard, but for international business in general.

Unfortunately the coronavirus actually caused immense problems for the Meyer Werft, therefore I had to finish my placement on the 17th of March instead of in the beginning of June. First of all it was said to me that I am going to be able to return to my workplace in the beginning of May, but then the true crisis for the shipyard just began. When I read in the news that the contracts of hundreds of workers were cancelled, it was crystal clear to me that I will not be able to continue with my internship either.

Even though my placement at the shipyard finished earlier, I gathered some skills for which I believe will be extremely useful for me and my career in the future. I have to admit, that the

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24 most important skills, which I am taking from this placement experience are different from the once I expected to achieve. However, they are in my point of view even more important. Even more than during my placement at the company, I actually learned afterwards while communicating with my employer from home. My placement experience definitely taught me that working environment can be very unpredictable and that the relationship between the employer and employee can change very quickly. Before I would say I was a sensitive person, but through the way in which my internship ended I learned, that giving up and being negative is not an option. Instead of being sad and desperate, I decided to be strong and bring my placement experience to an end in the most positive way possible. I did not show to the company, that the attitude they had towards me in the last couple of weeks hurt me, but I rather stayed professional and communicate with them without involving any emotions. I can really claim, that the most important skill that I learned is professionalism in communication with the employer, more specifically I learned exactly how important it is to separate the emotional aspect of an everyday life from the working environment and the career in general. I learned, that it is fine and completely normal to be disappointed at your workplace, but no matter what you have to keep your head up and try to learn something from those situations. In my opinion from the situations, which are seen as negative, such as ending an internship earlier because of the Covid-19, you can actually take the most useful lessons for your future career. And this is another important skill I am taking from my placement experience. Instead of giving up and being scared of being disappointed again in the future, I am very excited to see where my future career takes me, because now I know that I am actually well prepared for the “worst case scenarios” and that nothing can surprise me anymore. To sum up, even though I expected to learn how to transfer the theoretical knowledge into practice, how to function and work in the international team and how to improve the public speaking, I am not disappointed that I haven’t managed to fully equip myself with these skills yet. My placement at the company was simply too short to learn those things, however staying professional and positive in any situation you can face at your workplace, are certainly the skills which I am taking further to my future career. This placement experience I am finishing stronger, more professional and certainly very positive.

Last but not least, I would like to evaluate this short but interesting placement from my own perspective. With the major part of it I was satisfied. My expectation to learn how to work in an international team within such a big and important company was to certain extend met. I actually felt like the part of the team even though just for two weeks and I especially learned

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25 how to listen to advise, how to incorporate suggestion and comments into my work and how to present my own ideas to the others. Furthermore, this internship equipped me with the practical knowledge of how to make the financial analysis and the risk management plan, about which I learned before just in theory. This means, that also my goal to transfer my theoretical knowledge into practice was achieved. For achieving my other personal and professional goals which were set before my internship started, I unfortunately ran out of time. Even though some of my goals were reached and I was in general very satisfied with my tasks and working environment, I also have to express the critique. First of all, I felt like my mentor did not take enough time to comment on my tasks, to help me with them and to answer to my questions, as he was too busy with the unexpected coronavirus situation. Secondly and most importantly, I did not like the way in which my placement contract was cancelled. Over one month I was waiting at home for a mail or a phone call from the Meyer Werft with the hope that I can actually return to my workplace like it was said to me. In that whole time no one contacted me to check on me or to give me any updates on the situation. Just a couple of days before my internship should start again, I got a call from the office for personal management that my contract is going to be cancelled due to the unexpected situation with coronavirus pandemic. I have to admit that I was even a little bit hurt that none of my co-workers or my mentor from the department for the logistics and sales contacted me to at least let me know about what is going on, or to wish me successful finish of my studies and my future career and especially to say thank you for being the part of the team. In my opinion this belongs to the role of the mentor of the very motivated student, therefore unfortunately I have to say that in the end of the day I was not disappointed because I was not able to finish my internship, as I completely understand the current situation at the company, but especially I was and I am disappointed about the attitude and the way in which my placement finished.

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6. MY POLICY ADVICE FOR THE COMPANY

To begin with, it is extremely difficult to separate the policy advice on how to overcome the covid-19 crisis for the Meyer Werft and the same policy advice for the city of Papenburg, as they are so strongly connected. Therefore I decided to formulate the policy advice for both the shipyard and its home city.

Firstly, it is important to remember that the Meyer Werft successfully managed to overcome all crisis in the past, because the shipyard was able to focus on construction and production of different types of ships. For example, if there was an oil crisis happening in the world, the Meyer Werft did not focus on the construction of tankers like usual, but the company rather changed its focus to the construction of ferries. This is, in my opinion, exactly what the company should do in order to overcome the consequences of the covid-19. The virus strongly influenced international travelling, especially cruise lines as they all cancelled the summer season. Also their future is very uncertain, therefore the demand for the luxurious cruisers is the lowest in the whole history. It has never happened before that all 400 such ships in the world would not operate and that so many ports worldwide would be closed. For this reason the Meyer Werft should add the construction of other ships, such as container ships or ferries (as the international trade is already allowed), on its agenda. The production of those ships would of course lower the earnings, as the luxurious cruisers are sold for much more money, but it would at least bring some earnings to the Meyer Werft. On the other hand, the construction of some other ships is not as time consuming as the construction of the cruisers, which means that the shipyard could construct and sell more ships per year.

My second policy advice for the Meyer Werft is that the local workers in Papenburg certainly have to keep their jobs not only because the shipyard is not only the biggest and the most important employer there, but also because in the shipyard most of the finances are generated. This means that if the local workers would keep their jobs, they would be still able to afford, for example eating in the local bars or restaurants, which importantly supports the economy in the region.

Also my third policy advice is strongly connected to the second one. In my opinion it would be extremely important that the Meyer Group would focus on saving the shipyard in Papenburg not just because the Meyer Werft originates from there, but especially because the whole city depends on it. Most of the working population is employed there directly and the rest of the smaller and bigger local businesses are the suppliers of the Meyer Werft. For example most of

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27 the construction companies, furniture designers and producers and the cleaning and other services depend only on the shipyard and would probably, in case the Meyer Werft in Papenburg would not survive the crisis, bankrupt as well. This would be the worst case scenario for the economy of the region. On the other hand, are Rostock and Turku where the other two shipyards are located bigger cities with more than just one strong economic actors. In my opinion, the survival of these two cities without the Meyer Werft is more possible and realistic, than the survival of Papenburg, which is highly dependent on the shipyard.

What worries me in connection to that is, that it would be strategically smarter to keep the shipyards in Turku and Rostock, as they both have direct access to the sea, which makes the logistics and the transportation much easier. On the other hand, the transportation of the big and heavy luxurious cruisers from Papenburg is extremely difficult, because the shipyard is located on the river Ems and not directly at the sea. The river is sometimes barely deep enough for the needs of the Meyer Werft. Therefore I am worried, that the Meyer Werft is going to decide to save the other two shipyards, which are at the moment strategically more important.

To conclude, in my opinion is in this situation important to focus not only on saving the Meyer Werft as the brand and the company, but also to saving the city of Papenburg, which enabled the success of the shipyard. Last but not least, I hope that at least the shipyard in Papenburg is going to overcome the crisis and prevent the worst case scenario for the city without the Meyer Werft.

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7. CONCLUSION

The Meyer Werft was not only my placement provider in March 2020, but it is also one of the biggest and the most modern shipyards in Europe and the most important employer in the German region of Emsland. However, the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the shipyard as strong as the shipyard is impacting the city of Papenburg.

The covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of problems for the cruise industry in general, as none of the luxurious cruisers worldwide is active and will most likely not be active for the rest of the year. Because all cruises were cancelled or postponed also the demand for the cruisers dropped to the lowest level in history. For the Meyer Werft this resulted in the 40 percent lower amount of work as usual. This is the reason, why hundreds of working contracts have been cancelled already and even more of them are expected to be cancelled in the future months and even years. For the city of Papenburg this could mean that its future is not going to be bright. In the worst case scenario a lot of people are going to lose their jobs, which means that they will not be able to support the local businesses such as bars and restaurants anymore. In addition, this could also motivate the young people to search for job opportunities elsewhere and the labour migrants to choose some other destination, which would for Papenburg mean that the population is going to become old and less productive. All of these negative consequences of the covid-19 pandemic, which the Meyer Werft and Papenburg are facing and are going to face in the future, are going to have extremely negative impacts on the economy of the city and the whole region. The Coronavirus pandemic certainly impacted my future career as well. The impact, which the virus had on my placement equipped me with some important skills, such as professionalism and positivism. My placement experience showed me, that even the most unexpected situation can happen in someone’s career, this is why we always have to be prepared to adapt to those situations. In my opinion, I now experienced the crisis, which is the worst scenario for every company, therefore I am prepared for everything in the future. Rather than being scared what the future brings, I am very excited of it, because I know that after such crisis, which brought the companies to the lowest point, where they cannot offer any job opportunities to the people, the situation can just develop in a positive and a better way for me. I believe, that in the future every working experience of mine is going to be more positive and better, that the one impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. With this attitude I created my plan for the future. Because I am aware of the fact, that before I will be actually prepared and equipped for doing a permanent job in the sector of International Relations and International Political Economy, I will need to

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29 gather some more practical experience, I decided to do some short internships before I actually apply for a job. In order to gain some international experience I am planning to do an internship at the international department of the Barclay’s Bank in London in October 2020, followed by an internship in the international biotechnological company in Scotland. Even though both companies are in the Great Britain, I am positive that I am going to search for my first permanent job somewhere in Germany. During my internship I learned a lot about the country and its system, which made me aware of the fact that I want to pursue my career there. In the time of my placement I also realised, that my future is certainly in the multinational corporation, as I find the working environments of such companies extremely interesting and international, which is exactly what I am searching for. I also think, that with multinationals becoming the strongest actors in international relations, that is exactly where my career can develop in the most positive, successful and interesting way. More specifically, the goal I set for myself is to work as a risk and crisis manager of the multinational corporation, not only because I think that after the Covid-19 pandemic the demand for such positions is going to increase, but especially because I would like to help with my skills and work for the company not only at its best, but especially at its worst. In addition, I believe that the crisis points out and shows the best, who are actually the most successful managers and I have to thank to my placement experience, that this is exactly where I see myself in the future.

Last but not least, I would like to conclude this paper with a positive thought. The Meyer Werft and Papenburg are connected on such high level as no other company and city, therefore I believe that they will do their best to overcome this crisis, like they overcame all the crisis in the history of the shipyard, which is 225 years old. Because the local residents are aware of how important the Meyer Werft is for the city and especially because they are aware of how much the company did for improving the life there, they are prepared to invest all their power in rescuing the pride and the heart of the city. Even though I am not able to work for the Meyer Werft and I probably will not get the opportunity to work there again, I hope that I am going to be able to use the skills, which the Meyer Werft gave me, to be an important part of some other German company in the future.

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8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wildberg, R. (2020). Schiffbauer aus Leidenschaft. Hamburg: Planet C GmbH.

Marklein, G. (2019). Papenburg, Bilder einer Stadt. Oldenburg: Florian Isensee GmbH. Meyer Werft. (2019a). History; 225 years Meyer Werft. Available at

https://www.meyerwerft.de/en/company/company_history/index.jsp

Meyer Werft. (2019b). Sustainability.

Meyer Werft. (2020a). About Meyer Werft. Available at

https://www.meyerwerft.de/en/company/we_are_the_meyer_werft/index.jsp

Meyer Werft. (2020b). Corporate Social Responsibility. Available at

https://www.meyerwerft.de/en/career/corporate_social_responsibility/index.jsp

NDR. (2020). Interview with Bernard Meyer under the column Hallo Niedersachsen on the 16th of April. Available at https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Corona-Ab-Mai-Kurzarbeit-auf-der-Meyer-Werft,coronameyerwerft100.html

NDR. (2020). Beratungen über Finanz-Hilfe für die Meyer Werft, 8th of May. Available at

https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/Beratungen-ueber-Finanz-Hilfe-fuer-die-Meyer-Werft,ndrinfo5138.html

Ship Technology. (2020). Cautious sails: Coronavirus (Covid-19) measures and impact on the cruise industry. Available at https://www.ship-technology.com/features/coronavirus-outbreak-2019-ncov-impact-cruise-operators-measures-tourism/

UNIDO-United Nations Industrial Development Organization. (2020). Coronavirus: the economic impact. Available at https://www.unido.org/stories/coronavirus-economic-impact

Wagener, C. (2012). Papenburg, Neue Bilder aus alter Zeit. Thüringen: Sutton Verlag GmbH. Witthöft, H.J. (2005). Meyer Werft, Innovativer Schiffbau aus Papenburg. Hamburg: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft.

WTO. (2020). COVID-19 and world trade. Available at

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9. APPENDIX

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9.2. THE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE WORKERS

1.) For how long have you been working for the Meyer Werft and what exactly is your task at the company?

2.) What changed for you in the time of coronavirus pandemic?

3.) How are these changes impacting not only your working career, but also your life in general?

4.) What are your predictions for the future of the Meyer Werft as the most important employer of the region?

9.3. THE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE LOCAL RESIDENTS

1.) How would you describe the Meyer Werft?

2.) Why is in your opinion the shipyard important for Papenburg? 3.) How has the coronavirus pandemic impacted the city you live in?

4.) What are your predictions for the future of the Meyer Werft as the most important enterprise in the region?