Experimente unter dem Milgram-Paradigma

This paper discusses the origins of Stanley Milgram’s experiments and presents an overview of the results of all experiments which were either carried out by Milgram himself or in replications done in accordance with Milgram’s paradigm between 1960 and 1985. After determining the general obedience rate of destructive commands, the impact of the following situational factors on behavior is examined: a) the proximity of the victim, b) the institutional and the personal power of the authority exercising an influence, c) the influence of groups in the framework of which the test subjects act and/or of behavioral models with which he or she are confronted. It is demonstrated that a) the victim’s proximity represents the strongest determinant of behavior, b) the power of the institutional authority has hardly any influence and that the power of the personal authority has only little, c) pressure to conform that is exerted by groups or behavioral models co-determines behavior under authoritative influence independently of the pressure type. Finally, an assessment is made analyzing whether personal factors can be identified distinguishing obedient from disobedient persons. It is shown that the experiments do not give any indication showing that factors such as sex or age have a significant influence on obedience.     

Das deutsche System der Corporate Governance zwischen Persistenz und Konvergenz

We discuss the development of German corporate governance in light of the hostile takeover of Mannesmann by Vodafone. The paper criticizes the stability hypothesis of Thomas Heinze in KZFSS 4/2001 and demonstrates the deep changes within German corporate governance, which we describe as hybrid convergence. Given trade-offs between corporate growth and profitability, the preferences of German management have changed towards greater emphasis on shareholder returns. This change is evident in the implementation of new profitability targets, end of cross-subsidization and concentration on core competences. Through incremental changes throughout the 1990s, the importance of market mechanisms has increased and been internalized within corporations. German corporate governance is moving toward a U.S. market model through hybrid processes of institutional layering and conversion.     

Das Weltsystem des Erdöls

This is an attempt at formulating, on a theoretical and empirical basis, construction principles and patterns of change of the “world economy of oil”. This term refers to a loose and variable configuration of nation states, multinational corporations, the “Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries” (OPEC) and a set of market regulations related to the production, distribution and consumption of oil on a worldwide scale. The main argument links together four interrelated and partially overlapping functional processes: (1) capitalism as a profit-oriented, innovative and expansive economic principle; (2) incorporation of the external oil deposits by the governments and corporations of the central industrial nations; (3) the emergence of countervailing power within the peripheral, oil-exporting countries in order to gain control over their oil resources and to change the unequal exchange relations with the capitalist centers; (4) change of the integration mode of the “world-economy of oil” based on a new balance of interests between centers and peripheries following severe economical and political crises. The analysis is concluded with a functional-cyclical model of the world economy of oil.     

The Shareholder Value Principle: The Governance and Control of Corporations in the United States

In recent decades, maximization of shareholder value has been a dominant business principle in the United States. This article reviews sociological accounts about the emergence, diffusion, and reality of the shareholder value principle. Although mainstream research in law and economics on corporate governance embraces the shareholder value principle and provides theoretical justifications for it, sociologists consider the shareholder value principle to be a product of specific economic, political, and ideological environments. Based on sociological research that reveals normative and political foundations of the shareholder value principle, I argue that the shareholder value principle is far from hegemonic in the contemporary United States. Indeed, faced with shareholder primacy, corporations and top executives have adopted various strategies, such as perfunctory conformity and symbolic acquiescence. The result is a highly volatile and contested system of corporate governance today.     

Die neue Rolle des Projektmanagements – mit dem richtigen Projektmanagement-Assessment zu Wettbewerbsvorteilen

Companies are facing new challenges. Project management can help to address these challenges. But this requires an extended interpretation of project management. This article presents such an extended interpretation in form of project management as a management approach. On this foundation a continuum of project management is being deducted and the new goals, tasks and methods of project management are outlined. In addition this extended interpretation of project management imposes the responsibility on management to ensure the existence of the required project management competences and the need to bring them alive in daily project business. This usually requires the establishment or further development of situational project management competences on corporate and on individual level. The execution of a project management assessment can identify which project management competences are required and to which extent they are already available in the company. But the extended interpretation of project management also imposes new requirements to the assessment model. Those requirements are being described in this article. Furthermore COACH PM, an exemplary realisation of this new type of assessment model, is being introduced to demonstrate how the application of such an assessment model can improve the company’s capability for self-reflection significantly.     

Shareholder Value and the Transformation of the U.S. Economy, 1984–20001

Using data from 62 U.S. industries for 1984–2000, this article explores the connections between shareholder value strategies, such as mergers and layoffs, and related industry‐level changes, such as de‐unionization, computer technology, and profitability. In line with shareholder value arguments, mergers occurred in industries with low profits, and industries where mergers were active subsequently saw an increase in layoffs. Industries with a high level of mergers increased investment in computer technology. This technology displaced workers through layoffs and was focused on reducing unionized workforces. Contrary to shareholder value arguments, there is no evidence that mergers or layoffs returned industries to profitability.