Seemingly never-ending battles at Volkswagen-Porsche and Continental-Schaeffler have been a poor advert for corporate Germany. Family feuds at Porsche and the ousting of popular executives at Conti may have made for plenty of headlines – but they have done little for international regard of Germany’s corporate governance.

“It looks very strange. The headlines of recent weeks reflect badly on the German system,” says Hans Hirt, head of European corporate governance at UK investor Hermes. A chief executive of a large German company says: “It is embarrassing. And it’s almost unbelievable.”