One might easily gain the impression that the academic work of Professor Erich Guten-berg, whose centenary provides the occasion for this lecture, is outdated and has lost touch with contemporary economic theories of the firm. However, this impression would be wrong, as this paper demonstrates...

The paper discusses the role of various constituencies in the corporate governance of a corporation from the perspective of incomplete contracts. A strict shareholder value orientation in the sense of a rule that at any time firm decisions should be made strictly in the interest of the present...

The theory of the firm is dominated by two approaches: transaction cost economics and the knowledge-based view. While these theories have extended our understanding about the existence of the firm, they have considerable weaknesses concerning the motivationalassumptions.(...)

This paper discusses the problems of social dilemmas arising if intangible firmspecific pool resources have to be supplied. The problem is not treated adequately in the dominant theories of the firm, transaction cost economics and the knowledge-based theory.(...)