Family Constellation — A Therapy Beyond Words

Family Constellation, a psychotherapeutic approach associated with the name Bert Hellinger, has become a popular yet also controversial form of systemic therapy in the German‐speaking therapy community. ‘Family Constellation’ (Familienstellen) means the individual client's physical‐emotional positioning and re‐positioning of substitute family members in relation to each other, with help of a therapeutic group. Family Constellation is a one‐session approach that addresses family‐of‐origin issues. The therapeutic process is highly experiential, utilising multiple sensory modalities. Hellinger locates his model within phenomenology, and his practice has roots in several therapy schools. His model offers complementary therapeutic techniques in our ‘languaged’ world of family therapy.     

Comparing customer satisfaction across industries and countries

Although aggregate satisfaction measures continue to proliferate, their value in making broad-based comparisons remains unclear. This study uses arguments from the economics, psychology, sociology and marketing domains to predict systematic differences in aggregate customer satisfaction across both industries and countries. These predictions are tested using a database created from three broad-based national satisfaction surveys in Sweden, Germany and the United States. The results reveal that, across countries, satisfaction is highest for competitive products, lower for competitive services and retailers, and lower still for government and public agencies. However, the differences vary by country. Satisfaction is also predictably lower in Sweden and Germany compared to the US, and shown to change systematically in Sweden over time. Methodological differences do not appear to limit the comparability of the aggregate satisfaction measures. Overall the study supports the use of national indices for making meaningful comparisons of satisfaction on a broad scale.     

Notwendigkeit und Instrumente eines ganzheitlichen Risikomanagements für Mittelständler, Gewerbe-treibende und Freiberufler

Zusammenfassung  Bei inhabergeführten Unternehmen besteht eine enge Verknüpfung zwischen privaten und gesch?ftlichen Finanzen. Die isolierte Betrachtung eines der beiden Bereiche führt notwendigerweise zu Fehlsteuerungen. Als Gegenma?nahme muss das Risikomanagement das Zusammenspiel der gesch?ftlichen und privaten Seite des Unternehmens vollst?ndig abbilden. Neben dem Eigenkapital als verm?gensbildender Substanz ist dabei vor allem die private und gesch?ftliche Risikosituation des Unternehmers von zentraler Bedeutung. Die zwischen beiden Bereichen auftretenden Interdependenzen begründen die Notwendigkeit eines ganzheitlichen Risikomanagements. Es zeigt sich, dass neben dem Schutz des Privatverm?gens die integrierte Beratung durch Finanzinstitute von entscheidender Bedeutung bei der Schlie?ung der Lücke in der Eigenkapitalausstattung von Mittelst?ndlern ist.

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Integrated risk management for owner-managed companies — Necessity and instruments

Summary  In owner-managed companies, there usually is a strong connection between private finances and those relating to business. Consequently risk management has to take into full consideration the interaction of private and business matters. Therefore not only equity in its function as risk capital but also the private and business risk situation of the entrepreneur become subjects of major importance. The interdependencies between both problem sets establish the necessity of an integrated risk management. Apart from the protection of private capital the integrated consultation by financial institutions is of crucial importance when it comes to closing the existing gap in the equity endowment of medium-sized businesses.

     

Stellungnahmen zum Fall Andrej H.

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Parent‐Child Value Similarity: The Role of Zeitgeist

Reporting a study of German 2‐child families, the article focuses on a neglected issue in value transmission studies: contemporaneous societal context. Parent‐child value similarity depends not only on family characteristics but also on zeitgeist, the modal value climate of a society. To evaluate the role of zeitgeist in value transmission, differences in parent‐child value similarity between families agreeing and disagreeing with the zeitgeist are studied, focusing on a core value of modern societies: hierarchic self‐interest. Results show a weak general zeitgeist effect. A family’s relative position vis‐à‐vis the societal value climate, however, is shown to strongly influence intergenerational similarity in hierarchic self‐interest, families distant from the zeitgeist showing a much higher intergenerational value similarity than families close to the zeitgeist.     

Guaranteed Renewability with Group Insurance

This paper investigates a multiple-period level premium insurance policy equilibrium in a model in which loss probabilities increase for a fixed time period for a set of persons buying insurance in a group. We show that a level-premium sequence which induces risk averse persons to become and remain members of the group exists. We also show that the availability of the Medicare program can prevent the emergence of optimal level-premium private group insurance, but that a system of bonuses for remaining in the group can permit optimality to be retained.     

Unkonventionelle Politische Partizipation Im Zeitverlauf

A turning away from politics is bemoaned from different sides in democracies. Did the educational reforms in the 1960s, which included the aim of promoting political engagement and educating people to politically mature citizens, failed in this attempt? The paper deals with the question, if educational expansion actually led to a political mobilisation that is characterized by a rising importance of unconventional political participation. By use of cumulated ALLBUS data-sets (1988–2000), at first background mechanisms that are behind the link between education and political participation will be explored to analyze unconventional political participation in temporal perspective. Longitudinal analyses will be carried out including a simultaneous estimation of age, period and cohort effect. Results show constant effects of the educational level. There is evidence indicating a political mobilisation. The more-highly educated people turn out to be the main supporter of this process, whereas the less educated people kept their distinction regarding a low participation level over time.