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The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the development of industrial relations (IR) in Germany since the end of the Second World War and discusses the current challenges posed by economic globalisation und European integration.

Combining a political economy, identifying Germany as a coordinated market economy (social market economy), and actor-centred historical institutionalism approach, outlining the formation and strategies of the main social actors within a particular institutional setting, the paper draws on the broad range of research on IR in Germany and its theoretical debates, including own research in the field.

The legacy of the key institutional settings in the post-war era – primarily the social market economy, co-determination at supervisory boards, works councils and sector-based non-ideological unions with their analogously organised employer counterparts, as well as the dual system of interest representation – has shaped the German IR and still underlie the bargaining processes and joint learning processes although trade unions and employers’ associations have been weakened because of loss of membership. In consequence the coverage scope of collective agreements is now somewhat reduced. Despite being declared dead many times, the “German model” of a “conflictual partnership” of capital and labour has survived many turbulent changes affecting it to the core.

The paper presents an original, theoretical informed reconstruction of the German IR and allows an understanding of the current institutional changes and challenges in the light of historical legacies. Additionally the theoretical debates on path dependence and learning processes of collectivities are enriched through its application to the German case.

Examines the pressures on the German co‐determination system in the context of the introduction of total quality management (TQM) in a German steel company. The case is a particularly interesting research site because the German steel industry is regulated by the most extensive co‐determination laws in Germany and the German company in question is French‐owned, enabling comparisons to be drawn with the introduction of new management methods in France. Outlines the positions of the works council and labour director towards TQM and the difficulties that they experienced when it was introduced. Concludes by portraying two possible scenarios of the effects of new management techniques on German co‐determination.

This book is a policy proposal aimed at the democratic left. It is concerned with gradual but radical reform of the socio‐economic system. An integrated policy of industrial and economic democracy, which centres around the establishment of a new sector of employee‐controlled enterprises, is presented. The proposal would retain the mix‐ed economy, but transform it into a much better “mixture”, with increased employee‐power in all sectors. While there is much of enduring value in our liberal western way of life, gross inequalities of wealth and power persist in our society.

The paper argues in favor of reestablishing sociological or social economics as a legitimate discipline of economic science. Conspires toward undertaking analyses of the social co‐determination of economic behaviors, variables and systems. Suggests the need for incorporation of sociological/social economics in the existing semi‐official (JEL) taxonomy of economic fields and subjects. The argument for sociological economics can be made on two grounds: ontological or empirical‐historical and epistemological or theoretical‐methodological ones. The article bases the argument for sociological economics on the former, i.e., the empirical‐historical social co‐determination of the economy. The relations of sociological economics to sociology of economics are specified and the implications of sociological/social economics for modern economic science are also discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the past development and potential of the Rhenish capitalist governance “model”. The origins and nature of the model are to be discussed. The aim is to focus on its specific role within the transformation processes of Central‐Eastern European economies. East‐Central Europe is where, it is contended, Rhineland capitalism's future will be decided.

Using a survey questionnaire, customers' perceptions of bank governance and practice in the Polish‐German city of Zgorzelec‐Görlitz are explored. The experience of Dresdner Bank is stressed and the fact that the local people not long before lived under a Socialist regime. A control group in London is used to ascertain the presence of German management traditions as opposed to Anglo‐American approaches to management in the context of retail bank markets. In total there were 210 participants in the survey (all equally divided between the three cities).

German and Polish respondents mostly rejected co‐determination and favored top‐down management. Germans seem to make trust and loyalty a major factor in their retail banking decisions while Polish seemed more open to American style marketing. The findings support the hypothesis about the long‐term viability of Rhinish capitalism.

The paper ascertains that the presence of German management traditions as opposed to Anglo‐American approaches to management in the context of retail bank markets in a border region is dominant.

The paper examines the work and interactions of staff councils in German municipalities and the power resources the staff councils have at disposal. The paper also discusses the relationship between staff councils and trade unions and suggests a modification of the prominent concept of the “dual system of interest representation” to a “trimorphic system of interest representation” for the public sector.

The paper draws on case studies of staff councils in municipalities and administrative districts, relying on semi-structured interviews, group discussions and document analysis.

Staff councils operate in an extensively regulated field. The major task of staff councils is to monitor that employers follow collective agreements and the law. Staff councils' existence and co-determination rights of staff councils are provided by law; however, staff councils not only use institutional, but also organisational and – occasionally – political power resources, whereas structural and societal power resources are rarely actively used. The relationship between staff councils and trade unions often plays an important role and is in many cases characterised by mutual support.

Although staff councils are a widespread and a very interesting type of representation because staff councils represent both employees and civil servants who are employed in two distinctly different employment systems, staff councils are widely under-researched. This paper enriches empirical knowledge about labour relations and introduces the notion of a “trimorphic system of interest representation”.

Throughout the industrialised democracies new organisational structures and systems of human relations are being developed. In Western Europe there is a movement from a capitalist towards a more socialist economy under the influence of political pressures of labour parties and trade unions — the movement called “democratic socialism”. The “democratic” aspect appears in the form of co‐determination and tripartism. In North America there is no or little parallel shift in the politico‐economic system, and co‐determination has gained hardly any foothold. Instead there is a strong humanist movement, based upon the cultural idiom of individualism, with accent upon motivation and the quality of working life: “human relations” are to be improved (although none of the experts on the subject even define human relations). It is all very sincere but empirical; there is no coherent philosophy such as that in Europe.

Looks at the unique way Germany’s trade unions work, by the use of workers’ participation with elected representatives, which uses works councils in conjunction with management. Briefly sketches the structure and function of these very different and apposite ends of the spectrum.

The 1990s brought a strong dominance of the US model of corporate governance, setting the continental European model at a disadvantage. Due to the financial crisis, the shareholder dominated Anglo‐American model has lost much of its evidence. The purpose of this paper is to try to come to terms with this development.

The paper compares the American model of corporate governance shaped by the idea of the capital market as the market for corporate control and the Continental European model shaped by the idea of consensual decisions and co‐determination of stakeholder groups. The paper uses as the main parameters the dominant features of both models, the capital market orientation in the case of the American and the consensus orientation in the case of the Continental European model and demonstrates the strengths and shortcomings of both models. It analyses the idea of the purpose of the firm and its impact on the formation of the legal and ethical rules of the corporation.

The paper finds that different concepts of the firm's purpose lead to different concepts of the firm, to a shareholder or a stakeholder concept of the firm. Basic models of philosophical theory like purpose, agency and consensus are used to describe foundational ideas of the theory of the firm.

The philosophical foundational concepts of the firm discussed in the paper add new insight to the discussion about corporate governance and allow a better understanding of the underlying models of corporate governance. They make the differences and the common features of the American and European models visible.

“All things are in a constant state of change”, said Heraclitus of Ephesus. The waters if a river are for ever changing yet the river endures. Every particle of matter is in continual movement. All death is birth in a new form, all birth the death of the previous form. The seasons come and go. The myth of our own John Barleycorn, buried in the ground, yet resurrected in the Spring, has close parallels with the fertility rites of Greece and the Near East such as those of Hyacinthas, Hylas, Adonis and Dionysus, of Osiris the Egyptian deity, and Mondamin the Red Indian maize‐god. Indeed, the ritual and myth of Attis, born of a virgin, killed and resurrected on the third day, undoubtedly had a strong influence on Christianity.