The question of whether firms gain competitiveness through local networks and clusters becomes more relevant than ever as globalization proceeds. This is particularly true for traditional and craft-based clusters, districts and business networks. A central question emerging for these types of...

The varieties of capitalism approach (VoC) and the related research assume that German firms adopt an internal flexibility profile that corresponds with the national institutional framework. Recent empirical studies, however, have found substantial diversity in realized firm-level strategies....

Criticism of the compensation practice of bonus payments was a key element of the public debate concerning the causes and consequences of the global financial crisis (GFC). Along with the criticism of bonuses in the financial and banking sector, the validity of the performance principle as a...

This paper considers how companies use their own mass communication media to create, with the aid of metaphors, a legitimizing image of their practices. The analysis is based on the example of two banks, both of which undertook massive staff and cost reductions between 2001 and 2003. Downsizing...

In 2001 the employee's right to reduce working-time according to their own preferences was implemented in Germany. This legal title hardly effects the slowly but steadily growing number of part-time jobs. Nevertheless, data from the socioeconomic panel suggest that about 25% of employees wish to...

This article introduces a model of productive leadership structures. It is based on the idea that structures should stimulate dialectical processes which activate functional and simultaneously restrict dysfunctional behavioural tendencies of the management team. The structural dialectics are...

Prejudices and stereotypical beliefs about the role of women in society often limit their chances of reaching top leadership positions. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the socio-economic structure and the gender pay gap in managerial positions in Germany building on a review from a...

The paper analyses the change of job stability and its determinants in the course of time by presenting some empirical evidence from Germany. Drawing upon event history data from the German Federal Labour Office insurance accounts and employing Cox Proportional Hazard Rate Models, we test six...

This paper investigates changes in collective bargaining policy in the German cleaning industry in recent years. It uses the Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP) to survey employees on employment conditions and expert interviews with key members of the industry to look at possible new paths of...

This article concerns itself with the effects of dismissal protection on personnel management behaviour within companies. The basis of the empirical analysis is 41 expert interviews conducted in 2006 as well as information available from a standardised survey of 750 personnel managers which was...