Schriftenreihe Des Esb Research Institute – serie

Der Begriff Humankapital ist in aller Munde – die PISA-Studie kritisiert das deutsche Schulsystem, Studenten demonstrieren für ihr individuelles Recht auf Bildung, Politik und Gesellschaft fordern Humankapitalwachstum als Quelle von Innovation und zukunftsorientiertem Wachstum für alle. Ist Humankapital der wundersame Schlüssel zu dauerhaftem wirtschaftlichen Wachstum? Welche Bedingungen müssen hierfür gegeben sein und welche Faktoren können den Wachstumsmotor Humankapital bremsen? Diese Fragestellungen diskutiert Cora Mezger in ihrer vorliegenden Untersuchung. Sie bietet auf der Basis bestehender Modelle Einblick in die Neue Wachstumstheorie und analysiert das „System Humankapital“ (Entstehung und indirekte Auswirkungen auf Wachstum) mit Hilfe umfangreichen empirischen Datenmaterials.

This study evaluates the value generation potential of private equity for German mid-cap companies. A discussion of the private equity industry and the analysis of the value generation levers serve as a basis to further explore private equity value generation in the German market. First, the special features of German mid-cap companies are examined with a special focus on their financing needs. Second, the German private equity market is introduced and its differentiating features are revealed. The comparison of the findings assesses the general suitability of private equity as a financing option for German mid-cap companies and suggests that many mid-cap companies are not (yet) suited for private equity investments. Finally, the applicability of the identified value generation levers on the German mid-cap segment is analyzed with the help of a conceptual framework in order to evaluate the value generation potential. The results show that the traditional value generation levers are applicable but have to be adjusted with respect to national differences. Private equity associations have to specifically address the strong social considerations in the German business culture and the traditional unity of management, ownership, and supervision in the mid-cap segment in order to realize high rates of return. Anecdotal and recent empirical evidence indicates the relevance of many theoretical conclusions.

With over 7,000 islands, the Philippines is the world’s largest group of islands. For hundreds of years, the beautiful Southeast Asian archipelago was fairly isolated from its neighbouring as well as western countries. Only since 2000, the Philippines began to open its business markets to foreign investors. In his book, Timo Priester scrutinizes the Philippine retail structure. He offers interesting insights about the organization of Manila’s (the country’s dominant capital) retail trade. The principal focus is on three different business markets: The Mobile, the Home Appliances and the Audio Visual Market.

Saturated markets, a decreasing valuation of fashion by a part of consumers paired with missing impulses by some companies has brought along a crisis in retail, especially in Europe. Changing consumer demand, customer sophistication, customer empowerment via the internet and rapid industry change are just a few challenges global retailers are facing today. The consequence is big pressure on prices and margins and a need for process excellence. As in the 1990s the American and European automotive industry struggled with similar challenges, a concept named lean production was imported from Japan. It helped some Western automotive companies, like Porsche, and big parts of industry to find their way back on the path of success. Is the route to success via lean production exclusive to industry? Or might retailers today benefit from lean production philosophy? In this book Simon Fauser approaches these questions by analysing lean production philosophy, extracting lean principles and applying these to retail and its challenges.