Advances in Production Technology
This edited volume contains the selected papers presented at the scientific board meeting of the German Cluster of Excellence on “Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries”, held in November 2014. The topical structure of the book is clustered in six sessions: Integrative Production Technology, Individualised Production, Virtual Production Systems, Integrated Technologies, Self-Optimising Production Systems and Human Factors in Production Technology. The Aachen perspective on a holistic theory of production is complemented by conference papers from external leading researchers in the fields of production, materials science and bordering disciplines.
Advances in Data Mining : Applications in E-Commerce, Medicine, and Knowledge Management
Presents papers describing selected projects on the topic of data mining in fields like e commerce, medicine, and knowledge management. The objective is to report on current results and at the same time to give a review on the present activities in this field in Germany. An effort has been made to include the latest scientific results, as well as lead the reader to the various fields of activity and the problems related to them. Knowledge discovery on the basis of web data is a wide and fast growing area. E commerce is the principal theme of motivation in this field, as companies invest large sums in the electronic market, in order to maximize their profits and minimize their risks. Other applications are telelearning, teleteaching, service support, and citizen information systems. Concerning these applications, there is a great need to understand and support the user by means of recommendation systems, adaptive information systems, as well as by personalization.
Market Entry Strategies in Eastern Europe in the Context of the European Union : An Empirical Research into German Firms Entering the Polish Market
The preparations for market entry in a foreign country include various aspects and are influenced by factors inside and outside the firm. Based on face to face interviews with decision makers of 16 German firms Michael Klug analyses the applied strategy and the motivation for market entry and investigates different strategy theories like Porter's market based view for their suitability to explain the firms' strategy abroad. The author discusses the operational design including forms of market presence and marketing mix to realise a chosen strategy and shows the influence of the European Union as an institutional arrangement for firms preparing a venture abroad.
Local Heroes in the Global Village : Globalization and the New Entrepreneurship Policies
The book contributes to the debate what role public policies play in stimulating national and regional economic growth. With a better understanding of the complexity and variety of existent entrepreneurship policies in the U.S. and Germany the reader of this volume will be able to formulate best practice, hands-on strategies which aim to promote nations as well as regions in an "entrepreneurial economy".This volume brings together conference contributions of leading academics and policy advisors from the United States and Europe,The volume has the virtue of both providing solid empirical analysis and theoretical underpinning from leading economists,social scientists as well as a fresh perspective on the myths and realities concerning the operation of the U.S
Lean Brain Management : More Success and Efficiency by Saving Intelligence
Intelligence is wasted on problems that themselves have been caused by an excess of intelligence. Lean Brain Management strives toward uncompromising Lean Brain Quality. Lean Brain stands for consistent economization of intelligence in all realms of life: Intelligent systems will only be operated by unskilled workers. Education, universities, and schools would become obsolete. A week of training would be enough for virtually any job. ("You are now the physician for the measles in the State of Ohio. In response to phone calls, send this prescription.") Lean Brain is not aimed at dumbing down! Lean Brain can survive on just a very small amount of central intelligence. Potential savings amount to trillions! This is demonstrated using Germany as an example. With this book, Dueck presents a radical suggestion for world improvement. The desire to laugh infinitely about it will eventually segue into a collective rude awakening. The book contains concrete advice for managers to economize on intelligence, and is thus--in keeping with the theme--written in an easy-to-read fashion.
Competence of Top Management Teams and Success of New Technology-Based Firms : A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis Concerning Competencies of Entrepreneurial Teams and the Development of Their Ventures
In his book, Jan Brinckmann develops a comprehensive competence concept for new technology-based firms. It is grounded in competence-related literature combining insights from entrepreneurship and management research. The competence concept comprises three domains: general entrepreneurial competencies, social competencies, and functional competencies in technology, marketing, and financial management. A measurement model is developed to specify the contents of each sub-domain and to facilitate self-assessment of these competencies. In an empirical study, 212 executives of German NTBFs assessed their team’s competencies. This data is analyzed using structural equation modelling to identify the most relevant competencies for new venture success.
Chinese Railways : Reform and Efficiency Improvement Opportunities
Although being huge by any measure, Chinese Railways are a bottleneck for economic growth in China. The state-owned enterprise returns a small profit but is severely capacity constrained and burdened with inefficiency. A comprehensive reform and efficiency improvement program needs to be developed in order to enable Chinese Railways to support further GDP growth in China. Application of industrial economics to the case of Chinese Railways suggests that moderate deregulation of e.g., the freight business could make Chinese Railways fit for future growth. Operational improvements need to complement this development, such as a redesign of the schedule or the introduction of value added services in the freight business. Based on interviews with Chinese experts, benchmarking with railways in the US, Germany, Russia, and Japan as well as broad coverage of Chinese-language sources, the book makes detailed recommendations on how to design a comprehensive turnaround program for Chinese Railways.
CGE models and capital income tax reforms : The case of a dual income tax for Germany
The book suggests a novel way how the effects of tax reforms especially in the field of capital income taxation can be measured by means of dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) models.
Building a Future with BRICs : The Next Decade for Offshoring
In 2003, Goldman Sachs published a startling report on the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) region: These four countries would be larger than the G6 economics within 40 years, muscling their way to economic dominance over the coming decades, and powering past developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. This book focuses on the technology and technology-enabled services that underpin this social and economic revolution. The editor analyses the reasons why these four countries are in a unique position to lead a 21st century growth in international services. He then features 12 chapters written by the most important chief executives from the BRICs service economy. Indian technology leaders, such as Nandan Nilekani (Infosys), Shiv Nadar (HCL), and Rajendra Pawar (NIIT), feature alongside their peers from Brazil, Russia, and China outlining their views on the next decade for offshoring.
Banks and shareholder value : An overview of bank valuation and empirical evidence on shareholder value for banks
In the German banking sector, management is continually increasing its focus on shareholder interests. This can be seen in the ambitious profitability targets set by management in this sector. Some municipalities are also putting increasing pressure on Landesbanks and saving banks, as members of the largest German banking group, to create greater financial value.
Automotive production systems and standardisation : From Ford to the case of Mercedes-Benz
The introduction of the Mercedes-Benz Production System (MPS) is exemplary of a trend within the automotive industry: the creation and introduction of company-specific standardised production systems. This book contributes to the debate about production systems by examining the social and economic implications of the role of standardisation in production systems. In this context it addresses three core issues: First, the driving forces behind the changing forms and functions of standardisation and the role of institutions therein. Second, the impact of standardisation on the evolution of automotive production systems. Third, based on the author's own empirical research conducted over a three year period at the Mercedes-Benz plant Stuttgart-Untertürkheim/Germany, the book examines the influence of standardisation on the work of actors on the shop floor in terms of organisational learning processes and the regulation of work.
A Stakeholder Rationale for Risk Management : Implications for Corporate Finance Decisions
Ordinarily, only the interests of shareholders, debtholders, and corporate management are taken into account when analyzing corporate financial decisions while the interests of non-financial stakeholders are often neglected. Gregor Gossy develops a so-called stakeholder rationale for risk management arguing that firms which are more dependent on implicit claims from their non-financial stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, and employees, prefer conservative financial policies. In order to perform panel data analyses of the determinants of corporate financial decisions, the author uses data from Austrian and German industrial companies. He shows that variables for a firm’s most important non-financial stakeholders explain the firm’s capital structure and cash holding decisions. His findings suggest that a firm’s choice of accounting standards have a moderating effect on the determinants of corporate finance decisions.
A Contingency-Based View of Chief Executive Officers' Early Warning Behaviour : An Empirical Analysis of German Medium-Sized Companies
Organizations need to identify risks and chances of environmental changes in order to adapt to or possibly even to influence them. Early warning which comprises scanning and interpretation plays an important role in this process. Whereas the traditional contingency approach considers early warning as a part of the organizational structure, the extended contingency theory assumes the additional influence of an individual’s personality on early warning. Andreas Kirschkamp empirically analyses the early warning behavior of Chief Executive Officers in German medium-sized companies. First, he presents the design variables of early warning, then the influencing contingency variables. On the basis of the scholarly research on psychological and contingency theory, the author deduces hypotheses and tests them. The results show that early warning behavior is not only influenced by traditional contingency variables but also by personal attitudes.
Architectures of festival in early modern Europe : Fashioning and re-fashioning urban and courtly space
Draws on up-to-date research by a Europe-wide group of academic scholars and museum and gallery curators to provide a unique, intellectually-stimulating and beautifully-illustrated account of temporary architecture created for festivals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, together with permanent architecture pressed into service for festival occasions across major European locations including Italian, French, Austrian, Scottish and German.
Marine Eutrophication in Perspective : On the Relevance of Ecology for Environmental Policy
Is ecological knowledge relevant for environmental policy and if so, to what extent and in what way? These are some of the basic questions addressed in this book. Triggered by a series of oxygen depletion events in German, Danish and Swedish coastal waters at the beginning of the 1980s, international policies to reduce inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus to the North Sea were agreed upon by the North Sea states. The book provides a critical analysis of the role, scientists and scientific information, as well as civil servants, have played in the formulation and implementation of these decisions.
Lone Parenthood in the Life Course
Provides a comprehensive portrait of lone parenthood at the beginning of the XXI century from a life course perspective. The contributions included in this volume examine the dynamics of lone parenthood in the life course and explore the trajectories of lone parents in terms of income, poverty, labour, market behaviour, wellbeing, and health. Throughout, comparative analyses of data from countries as France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, and Australia help portray how lone parenthood varies between regions, cultures, generations, and institutional settings. The findings show that one-parent households are inhabited by a rather heterogeneous world of mothers and fathers facing different challenges.
Logischer empirismus, lebensreform und die deutsche jugendbewegung : Logical empiricism, life reform, and the German Youth Movement
Investigate the roots of Logical Empiricism in the context of the Life Reform and the German Youth Movements. Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach are the key protagonists; they both belonged to the German Youth Movement and developed their early philosophical views in this setting. By combining scholarly essays with unpublished and hard to access manuscripts, letters, and articles, this volume recasts our understanding of the early years of Logical Empiricism
Junge Perspektiven der Türkeiforschung in Deutschland = Young perspectives of Turkey research in Germany
This volume creates an interdisciplinary forum for contemporary Turkey research in Germany. It presents research results from young scientists who are characterized by a fresh view of Turkey, methodological diversity and interdisciplinary approaches. The volume thus contributes to a better understanding of the society, politics, economy, history and culture of the country, which is playing an increasingly important role both regionally and in the European context.
IUTAM Symposium on Multiscale Problems in Multibody System Contacts ; Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held in Stuttgart, Germany, February 20–23, 2006
The investigation of multiscale problems in multibody system contacts is an interesting and timely topic which has been the subject of intensive research. This proceedings volume summarizes contributions of many authors active in the field and gives insight in very different areas of this fascinating research.
Comparative Corporate Governance : Shareholders as a Rule-maker
It is fairly easy for a Finnish Jurist to understand German Company law. On the other hand, UK Company law seems very confusing. What is even more confusing is that the UK corporate govemance model is often regarded as one of the best in the World. Clearly German law cannot be as bad as it is often said to be. This books results from these kinds of thoughts and an interest in comparative law, Company law and securities markets law. I wanted to find out whether the functional method would give anything new to say about the regulation of corpo rate govemance in Germany and the UK. As I have been lecturing on Company law and corporate govemance myself, I also wanted to write a book that I could use as a textbook in my courses. For this reason, I focused on one of the key questions in corporate govemance: the regula tion of shareholder activism.



















