Southern European here have worked with Nothern European companies and southern European ones. I can attest that management is the greatest difference. It is part due to HR how the hire and check people for management position ( it is loosely a series of questions + his CV) while even for the Junior developer role you can have developer programming tests plus theory question. It is more reliable, and I have seen time and time again bad management that his hired due to the cv and it is just bad professional, can't organize anything doesn't take decisions etc etc and the problem is that it can't be fired.
But also Capital accumulation, when you start from a good starting point where you have the capital to invest in IT. The earnings are exponentially greater, so the effects on Germany from the IT revolution should be greater then in Southern Europe.