Chrysanth Herr – författare

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Law - Civil / Private, Trade, Anti Trust Law, Business Law, grade: A-, New York University School of Law, course: US corporate and commercial law, language: English, abstract: American company law traditionally offered a group of businessmen in quest of profit only two choices of business associations: a corporation or a partnership. Both forms have their advantages and disadvantages that depend upon various factors: the size of the envisaged business, its riskiness, capital requirements, need for a separation of ownership and management, liability, desired life of the venture, and transferability of share interests. The partnership has generally been used for smaller enterprises associated with less risk and capital requirements. The corporate form gives businessmen the opportunity to conduct risky business affairs with respect to potential tort liability as well as default risk without being exposed to unlimited personal liability because only the assets of the corporation can be used to satisfy claims. The benefit of limited liability came at the price of disadvantageous double taxation because, unlike a partnership, a corporation has been viewed as an independent entity and its income has consequently been taxed on the corporation's as well as the shareholders' level. This has driven smart entrepreneurs to conduct their business affairs in form of a hybrid entity, a combination of a partnership and a corporation, the limited partnership with a corporate general partner. In that form a corporation is the (sole) general partner of a limited partnership which results in limited liability for the owners and managers of this hybrid entity and the advantage of the preferential tax treatment of a partnership. Thus, this entity allows combining the benefits of a corporation and a partnership while reducing their shortcomings. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the development of the limited partnership with a corporate general partner in the United States over the past four decades and to analyze its advantages and disadvantages. The paper centers on the two main factors that have shaped this form the recognition of limited liability for its managers and the tax treatment of the limited partnership. For this purpose, the law of the limited partnership including its tax treatment will first be described. Secondly, the development of the hybrid form will be illustrated by means of the pertinent cases and statutory provisions. In the last chapter, I will elaborate on factors that have contributed to the relative unpopularity of the hybrid form in the United States.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,3, European Business School - International University Schlo Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Seminar Retail Banking, language: English, abstract: German banks have come under pressure for their disappointing profitability. Indeed, rankings of developed nations along profitability indicators place Germany at the end of the scale. Critics attribute that situation mainly to the German banking system being overbanked and overbranched. The purpose of this paper is to analyze that notion and to examine the German market and competitive landscape of the retail banking industry. The analysis contains four sections. The first section compares profitability ratios and indicators of German banks to their peers performances. The study produces surprising results. Despite the ostensibly high branch density, Germany s banks operate very cost efficiently. Yet it is their inability to generate sufficient income that results in the sluggish net earnings. Consequently, in the second section, the authors examine the German banking system and portray and compare its peculiarities in order to find out if the income problems are inherent to the system. More than in any other country, public banks dominate the market and, together with the cooperative banks, do not follow the economic principle of profit maximization. Moreover, the public banks have also received unjust government subsidies in the form of the maintenance and guarantee obligations. Thus, one presumes that private German banks operate in a very difficult system. The third section then takes a closer look at the market and analyzes the bank density, branch density and competition which the system produces. In the past, waves of intra-group consolidations have occurred. Similarly, branch networks have been thinned out especially by the private banks in an effort to cut costs. The result is that the current situation does not appear overly overbanked when put into perspective to the population, area, productivity and customer business. However, the German banking market is very competitive, and calls for further consolidations aim at decreasing competition rather than realizing synergies. In the fourth and last section, an appraisal of the current system is presented. Customers benefit from the current structure as it allows for easier access to credit compared to other countries, offers banking services to everybody at low costs and appears to be inherently stable. Thus, Germany is overbanked in the sense of high competition which negatively impacts bank profitability. Yet good companies should also be profitable in a competitive environment.