This is indeed no small accomplishment - but I doubt that that's what people have in mind when they say Germany's economy is an example to follow. It seems to have become a popular meme in the US (has been for a long time in Europe media), but it has little rationale. Generally, it goes around Germany exports a lot, and Germany has not followed the model of shareholding as much as the US (or UK).

Those ideas are extremely popular in general, and even more so in Europe, I think partly because it can reinforce anti-americanism (the US became a symbol of companies owned by shareholders instead of families, supposedly more geared toward long term).