Suchergebnisse

Abstract
The German Mittelstand (small to mid-sized family-owned firms) has rightly been called the backbone of the German economy. Less well examined is how some of these firms have transformed themselves into micromultinationals with production and sales subsidiaries in key regions around the world. The article examines the regeneration and internationalization of seven firms in order to derive some general propositions about the internationalization of medium-sized firms and identify major challenges facing the German Mittelstand since the 1970s. It argues that the "pull" of global market opportunities rather than the "push" of poor industrial location transformed such businesses. The 1993/94 unification crisis proved a major turning point. Unlike larger businesses, this internationalization was largely client and service driven, based on a narrow niche strategy, opportunities were often serendipitous, but the execution of internationalization was often strategically planned.

Die Rüstungsindustrie im Gau Schwaben wurde in den Kriegsjahren von 1939-1945 vom Autor diesbezüglich ihrer strukrurellen Veränderungen untersucht. Als Datenbasis dienten ihm die Akten des Rüstungskommandos Augsburg, daß als Mittler zwischen übergeordneten Planungsstäben und Rüstungsbetrieben fungierte. Eine Auswertung dieses Materials ergab, daß sich durch den Rüstungsboom die Industriestruktur im Gau Schwaben radikal veränderte. War hier früher die Textilindustrie dominant, so führte der Krieg zu einer Vormachtstellung der metallverarbeitenden Industrie. (TK)

American and German accountancy took different paths in the early part of the twentieth century. In Germany, a persistent disconnect arose between relatively sophisticated managerial accounting practices for insiders and the methods used in public financial accounting. The "equity revolution" America experienced—an enormous shift in the number and expectations of shareholders—prompted new demands for financial statements designed to help evaluate the future earning power of companies. In contrast, the effects of World War I retarded equity–market development in Germany. Political frictions reinforced the Germans's; discomfort with equity markets and increased their resistance to revising accounting principles. Banks, tax law, courts, and lawyers, instead of professional accountants, became the primary source of accounting principles. Only in past decades, under pressure from the European Union and global capital markets, have the accounting systems begun to reconverge.

In contrast to widespread assessments that family enterprises lack sufficient resources and capabilities to go global, many family companies are competing successfully in an increasingly globalized business environment. Worldwide, a large number of thriving multinationals are still family-owned and/or under family control. While there is abundant literature on the phenomenon of globalization from many different disciplines, neither the literature on multinationals nor the growing field of family business studies have systematically investigated family multinationals yet. This volume is one.