The establishment mode choice of German multinational enterprises in Brazil: A comparative approach

We examine the drivers behind the establishment mode choice of German multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the sectors of Automotive, Chemicals and Mechanical Engineering in Brazil for the years 1993-2013 using a novel sample of primary data obtained directly from German MNEs. Based on prevalent theories found in the literature, we test the most common hypotheses on our sample. Firms with high R&D activities and firms with prior market knowledge in Brazil in from of previous sales offices are more likely to enter Brazil by a Greenfield investment. We also show that it is the specific private ownership of the German so-called hidden champions that drive those specific SMEs to enter Brazil by Greenfield, a sneaking suspicion that has been made before. Finally, we show that the establishment mode choice between Brazil and the USA only deviates to a low extent, with German MNEs preferring to enter Brazil by Greenfield and the USA by M&A. Thereby, we provide valuable insights for future research in this field.

Do the psychological impacts of war cause poverty?: Evidence from Mozambique

This paper evaluates the extent to which war-related psychological distress causes poverty. The endogeneous nature of mental distress is addressed by using exposure to the civil war in Mozambique as an instrument. It is found that exposure to war has a significant and positive long-lasting impact on mental distress. Furthermore, the causal impact of war-related psychological distress on income and wealth is shown to be significant, negative, and nonnegligible. One standard deviation increase in mental distress decreases income by half a standard deviation. These findings are robust to alternative specifications, including the use of an alternative database on the incidence of PTSD in Mozambique.

Espírito Santo Saúde: The bidding war

This case study describes the current situation of Espírito Santo Saúde, which involved an eventful takeover process. The company initially went public on February 2014 and later that year, due to the financial situation of its holdings it had to be sold. The bidding war began in August 2014, after Ángeles announced the first offer. Other participants who also pitched bids include José de Mello Saúde, UnitedHealth and Fosun. Furthermore, the potential projects Espírito Santo Saúde was considering implementing prior to the sale and the current situation of the healthcare industry in Portugal, will also be analysed.

An internationalisation research project into the German market for the Portuguese canned seafood company COFACO.

This project is aimed to analyse the German market of canned fish, in order to find out if there is potential of entering the market for the Portuguese canned seafood company named COFACO. The purpose of this foreign market research, carried out for COFACO, is to highlight the main key aspects of the current German seafood market, founded out through a deep analysis. Moreover, the work project is also aimed to give the company suggestions regarding the Brand, the Product and the Distribution strategy to implement in order to succeed, once considered the opportunity to enter the market.

The quest for growth in the German organic food retail market: Historical trends, current strategies, and future outlook

This paper aims to provide strategies for the organic supermarket chain “Alnatura” to shape the demand and its market share of the organic food & beverage (F&B) market in Germany within the next five years. Through the historic evolution and the current market assessment of Germany, compared to a benchmark country (US), as well as prospective trends in Germany, reasons and opportunities for market growth are evaluated. In addition, an industry attractiveness, competitor and company analysis is executed. Based on those findings and a conducted survey, suggestions to adjust Alnatura´s current business strategies are deduced and finally examined on its risk and feasibility.

Shoes closet- Entering the German market

The purpose of this project is to prepare and help ShoesCloset company for international business activity, namely in Germany. After having a careful study on the core foundation of the company I conclude that ShoesCloset has indeed potential to succeed by offering what the target segment is looking for in footwear. Nevertheless, the firm still has to improve in areas such as marketing, management operations, distribution channels and internal structure. In relation to the German market and according to my studies the best mode of entry is through direct exports, which would be under the supervision of the CEO. Moreover, it is imperative to increase the productive capacity in order to satisfy both national and international expected demands

The relationship between the education level of successor's and the firm performance in German publicly listed family firms- an empirical analysis

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how far the education level of the second or third generation of publicly traded German family firms affects the post-succession firm performance. By conducting a correlational and regression design, the aim is to examine how several variables influence the performance of family firms. Performance measures, for example ROA and Tobin’s q and variables, like Education level and succession periods, examine analytically that a positive succession trend will occur. However, with the used model, only a less rigid model shows empirical evidence.

Les juifs et l'idée de Bildung dans l'Allemagne de culture protestante : chronique d'un mésamour à travers le long XIXe siècle

Des années 1780, quand surgit la question de l'émancipation des juifs, à la Première Guerre mondiale, qui dément l'optimisme de la perfectibilité du genre humain cultivé par la Bildung, le « long » XIXe siècle est la scène sur laquelle se déploient les efforts d'intégration des juifs dans la société et la culture allemandes, où la Bildung, intimement liée à l'esprit du protestantisme allemand qui l'a profondément marquée de son empreinte, tient lieu de médiation. Fil conducteur de ma recherche, la Bildung me permet de montrer en quoi son idéal est devenu un élément constitutif de l'identité des juifs allemands, en même temps qu'il cesse, sous les effets de la nationalisation d'une culture allemande devenue un outil au service d'un peuple particulier, d'être le projet, certes d'une communauté donnée, mais porteur d'universalisme. De fait, tout en adhérant à sa définition originale, les juifs ont su réinterpréter l'idée de Bildung en désamorçant l'alliance entre culture, germanité et nationalisme, afin de construire une nouvelle identité judéo-allemande qui réponde aux enjeux et aux exigences de la modernité ainsi qu'aux évolutions du temps, tout en visant à la reconnaissance des valeurs et du statut du judaïsme. Dans la mesure où cet idéal de la Bildung, sous les coups du nationalisme allemand, a perdu sa portée universelle pour, dans un processus de germanisation, devenir un instrument au service du projet nationaliste, les juifs vont progressivement se voir exclus de la nation allemande, quand bien même ou précisément parce qu'ils se sont identifiés à tel point au projet initial de la Bildung qu'ils en sont devenus les garants. From the 1780s, when the question of the emancipation of the Jews emerged, until World War I-a disappointment for those who were optimistic about cultivating a perfected humanity through Bildung (education)-the "long" nineteenth century is the stage on which the efforts to integrate the Jews into German society and culture took place. In this context, Bildung, which was decidedly bound to and profoundly marked by the German Protestant spirit, served as mediation. The underlying theme of Bildung in my research enables me to show how its ideal became the constitutive element of German Jewish identity. Concurrently, under the effects of the nationalization of German culture that became a tool in the service of a specific folk, the ideal of Bildung ceased to be a project that conveyed universal meaning. In fact, although the Jewish people agreed with its original definition, they succeeded in reinterpreting the idea of Bildung by neutralizing the alliance between culture, being German, and nationalism in order to elaborate a new German-Jewish identity in reply to the challenges and requirements of modernity and the evolution of society while still recognizing the values and status of Judaism. Inasmuch as the ideal of Bildung lost its universal significance for serving the nationalist project under the influence of German nationalism, the Jews were gradually excluded from the German folk, which took place despite, or precisely because, they identified to such an extent with the original aims of Bildung that they became the guarantors for it. Das ,,lange" 19. Jahrhundert bildet die Kulisse der Integrationsbemühungen der Juden in die deutsche Gesellschaft und Kultur, von den 1780er Jahren, als die Frage nach der Judenemanzipation zutage kommt, bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg, der den Optimismus der menschlichen Verbesserungsfahigkeit durch die Bildung widerlegt. Die mit dem Geist des deutschen Protestantismus eng verbundene Bildung dient hier als Mediation. Der rote Faden der Bildung ermöglicht mir zu zeigen, inwiefern ihr Ideal wesentlich für die jüdische Identität geworden ist. Zur gleichen Zeit hat das Bildungsideal, unter der Wirkung der Nationalisierung der deutschen Kultur, die zum Werkzeug eines eigenartigen Volkes gemacht wurde, sein universales Wesen verloren. In der Tat, obwohl die Juden dem ursprünglichen Bildungsideal zustimmten, haben sie die Bildung neu interpretiert, indem sie die Verbindung zwischen Kultur, Germanentum und Nationalismus entschärft und eine neue deutsch-jüdische Identität gebildet haben, die den Herausforderungen und den Ansprüchen der Moderne sowie dem Gesellschaftswandel entsprach und gleichzeitig darauf abzielte, die Werte und den Status des Judentums zu anerkennen. Insoweit, als das Bildungsideal seine universale Geltung unter dem Einfluss des deutschen Nationalismus verloren hat, um den nationalistischen Absichten zu dienen, wurden die Juden nach und nach vom deutschen Volk ausgeschlossen, selbst wenn oder gerade weil sie sich dermassen mit dem ursprünglichen Zweck der Bildung identifiziert haben, dass sie ihre Garanten geworden sind.

Validation of the German version of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and its relation to orientations to happiness and work stress

Career adapt-ability has recently gained momentum as a psychosocial construct that not only has much to offer the field of career development, but also contributes to positive coping, adjustment and self-regulation through the four dimensions of concern, control, curiosity and confidence. The positive psychology movement, with concepts such as the orientations to happiness, explores the factors that contribute to human flourishing and optimum functioning. This research has two main contributions; 1) to validate a German version of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS), and 2) to extend the contribution of adapt-abilities to the field of work stress and explore its mediating capacity in the relation between orientations to happiness and work stress. We used a representative sample of the German-speaking Swiss working population including 1204 participants (49.8% women), aged between 26 and 56 (Mage = 42.04). Results indicated that the German version of the CAAS is valid, with overall high levels of model fit suggesting that the conceptual structure of career adapt-ability replicates well in this cultural context. Adapt-abilities showed a negative relationship to work stress, and a positive one with orientations to happiness. The engagement and pleasure scales of orientations to happiness also correlated negatively with work stress. Moreover, career adapt-ability mediates the relationship between orientations to happiness and work stress. In depth analysis of the mediating effect revealed that control is the only significant mediator. Thus control may be acting as a mechanism through which individuals attain their desired life at work subsequently contributing to reduced stress levels.

Berlin, colonel Reinhard au centre, auteur de la phrase Jewish flag for the new German colours [il a comparé le nouveau drapeau allemand à un torchon juif] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 58631