Deutscher Aufsichtsrat versus Schweizer Verwaltungsrat – Systematischer Abgleich und Evaluation der zentralen Kontroll- und Leitungsgremien im deutschsprachigen Versicherungsbereich

We compare the supervisory boards of Swiss and German companies and the special rules for the insurers in these two countries. While the regulation is comparable, the mandate of Swiss boards is more extensive. The Swiss regulatory guidelines, however, usually have a less binding character than the German ones and let the insurance companies act more freely. We evaluate the regulation of the board regulation using results from academic studies and conclude that the Swiss regulation seems to fit better and to be more effective. In addition we compare all legal forms insurance companies can choose from regarding the regulation of the supervisory board. Although the regulation for listed share companies is highest, in both countries differences are minor.     

Humankapital deutscher Fußballmanager

Based on the human-capital-theory we analyse the effects of managers’ characteristics on the sportive success of soccer-clubs. Relevant characteristics are a previous career as a player or trainer, an apprenticeship or academic study and the work experience as a manager. Over the last twenty years the proportion of managers with an economic education doubled. This general human capital affects success less complementarily than as a substitutive for sector- or club-specific human capital in terms of a previous career as a player. The work experience as a manager correlates positively with the teams’ league ranking. These results allow recommendations for recruiting new managers.     

Der Markteintritt multinationaler Unternehmungen in Märkte an der Basis der Einkommenspyramide

It has been widely accepted that poverty alleviation can’t be achieved without including the private sector. Especially, foreign multinational companies (MNCs) are highlighted in this context and are considered as a key to unlock the economic potential of low-income markets by linking them with more developed markets and facilitating the transfer of financial and technological resources. The international business literature, however, lacks of theoretical insights and systematic empirical evidence of MNCs entering low-income markets. Therefore, this study sheds light on the questions why MNCs enter low-income markets, how MNCs operate and how they gain knowledge in these markets. Using a multiple case study approach, we analyze MNCs with business activities in low-income markets by taking recourse to the internationalization process model of Johanson and Vahlne. The results reveal that companies develop knowledge by enlarging their mode of market commitment to a new level that exceeds investments of foreign manufacturing and production facilities.     

Netzausbauplanung unter Berücksichtigung probabilistischer Einflussgrößen

The present network expansion planning is performed by simulating extreme scenarios in order to proof the security of energy supply. This procedure is associated with high investment costs for equipment which is only needed a few hours per year. Planners have to consider uncertainties and prediction errors for the creation of the extreme scenarios due to the long economic life time of the equipment. The consideration of these influencing factors becomes very complex due to increased utilization of renewable energy sources and frequent changes in the unit commitment of conventional power plants. In contrast to classic load flow methods probabilistic load flow calculation considers the static behaviour of the loads, renewable energies and the power plants instead of only discrete values of nodal powers. These characteristics can be described by probabilistic density functions of load and generation mapped with a probabilistic load flow calculation into a probabilistic density function of the state variables of the energy system (as nodal voltages or line currents). This article presents an overview about existing methods of probabilistic load flow calculations and introduces a newly developed method. The characteristics and the applicability of these methods are verified and the computational burden is analysed exemplarily. Necessary extensions for the mapping of real energy systems and possible approaches for this are presented. The potential and the impact of probabilistic network expansion planning are discussed.