Beitrag zur Theorie des individuellen Sparens

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Transforming an industrial giant. Interview by Thomas A. Stewart and Louise O'Brien

In his 12 years at the helm of Siemens, CEO Heinrich von Pierer designed and directed a major transformation. Taking this German icon from a technically superb but slow-moving industrial giantto a disciplined yet nimble multinational has posed enormous challenges. Since 1992, Siemens has revamped its portfolio of businesses, expanded its reach into 192 countries, and created a more local-market-driven culture, gaining recognition as one of the best-managed and most competitive companies in the world. In this edited interview with HBR editor Thomas A. Stewart and consulting editor Louise O'Brien, von Pierer describes the requirements for transformation and culture change and how he broke down historical barriers at Siemens. He shares his insights about portfolio restructuring, his lessons from competing with GE, and the pros and cons of being based in Europe versus America. He reflects on the true start of globalization after the fall of the Berlin wall and on how dramatically the company needed to change in order to counter the resulting pricing pressures across all of its businesses. He talks, too, about the biggest challenge on his successor's desk-"the particular challenge of China;" he says. Amid all these topics, von Pierer reiterates the importance of people: "We all talk about people as our most important resource, but as a matter of fact, who's really taking care of people?... We need [their] backing. We can't afford to run into a situation where people no longer accept what we do."     

Shifting the growth path to achieve employment intensive growth in South Africa

‘Employment intensive growth’ has become a centrepiece of government policy and implies that at any given level of growth, the economy needs to become more labour absorbing. State intervention (or the lack of it) is examined in two areas that are important for employment – agriculture and manufacturing. In the case of agriculture, it is argued that declining and ineffective state support has accelerated the rationalisation of commercial agriculture and failed to regenerate agriculture in the former Bantustans. With regard to the manufacturing sector, we argue that since 1994 the government has set a multiplicity of objectives but, de facto, there has been a surprising level of continuity in the overly generous assistance for heavy, capital-intensive industry. This paper argues that the negative impact of previous ‘distortions’ requires much more than a levelling of the playing field via market-based reforms. Pro-employment policies have to be placed at the centre of the policy agenda.     

Euro-Rettung gerettet?

The systemic weaknesses of the euro and crisis management activities have not only left traces in political programmes and the political landscape in Germany, but were and are still the subject of constitutional legal disputes. Some important disputes were recently addressed by the judgment of the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court. The Karlsruhe Court remains partial with the continuity of its “Yes, but” decisions that affirm the compatibility of the bailout policy with the Basic Law in principle, but this is linked to compliance with certain provisos. With regard to the ECB’s OMT programme, the judgment contains legal and economic contradictions.     

Grundlagen einer reinen Kostentheorie

Ohne ZusammenfassungFortsetzung und Schluß     

Grundlagen einer reinen Kostentheorie

Ohne ZusammenfassungSchluß folgt.