Economic Structure and Regional Performance in Germany, 2002-2007
Alexander Kubis, Matthias Brachert, Mirko Titze
European Planning Studies,
No. 2,
2012
Abstract
This paper explores the impact of industrial clusters on regional growth at the German labour market region level using a regional convergence model. Based on the results of an exploratory study of the geography of German industrial clusters, we are able to differentiate the impact of industrial clustering from a horizontal and a vertical perspective while taking regional convergence into consideration. The results indicate that in addition to an all-German process of convergence, a specific East German one can be identified. The different types of industrial clusters show mixed effects within this framework. While vertically isolated industrial clusters have a negative impact on regional growth in this period, positive growth effects can be identified when industrial clusters show an intra-regional vertical interconnectedness.
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Die Entwicklung der Corporate Governance deutscher Banken seit 1950
R. H. Schmidt, Felix Noth
Bankhistorisches Archiv,
No. 2,
2011
Abstract
The present paper gives an overview of the development of Corporate Governance of German banks since the 1950s. The focus will be on economic analysis. The most striking changes in Corporate Governance occurred with the ownership structure of commercial banks, in particular with the major joint-stock banks. In addition to that, the capital market has become a core element of Corporate Governance in all major German banks, which have replaced their prior concentration on the interests of a broadly defined circle of stakeholders by a one-sided concentration on shareholders’ interests. In contrast, with savings banks and cooperative cooperative banks, Corporate Governance has remained unchanged for the most part. Exceptions to this are the regional state banks: in their case, after they had turned away from traditional business models and in particular following the discontinuation of the guarantee obligation, the problems of their Corporate Governance, which were already discernible beforehand, became quite obvious. If you include the financial crisis, beginning in 2007, in the analysis, it becomes evident that it was precisely a Corporate Governance unilaterally geared to shareholders’ interest and the efficiency of the capital market that materially contributed to the evolution and widening of the crisis.
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Regional Entrepreneurial Opportunities in the Biotech Industry: Exploring the Transition from Award-winning Nascent Entrepreneurs to Real Start-ups
H. Wolf, Claus Michelsen, Michael Schwartz
Abstract
Knowledge of factors that determine the transition from nascent entrepreneurship into real entrepreneurship is of major importance for policies aiming to effectively stimulate start-ups. Whereas scholars concentrated on person-specific factors to explain transition probabilities, environmental characteristics have been fairly neglected. Given that entrepreneurship is a strongly localized phenomenon, this paper argues that regional entrepreneurial opportunities are a driving force behind the transition from nascent entrepreneurship to new venture creation. Based on unique data on 103 nascent entrepreneurs in the German biotechnology industry, we empirically assess the importance of regional entrepreneurial opportunities on transition probabilities. Further, we introduce a new
approach to measure nascent entrepreneurship by capturing individuals that actively participate in start-up competitions and have won at least one competition. Controlling for technology and individual characteristics, we find strong support for our hypotheses relating to the significant impact of general regional opportunities, specific regional opportunities and the entrepreneurial environment for the probability of transition from award-winning nascent entrepreneurs to real start-ups.
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Finance and Growth in a Bank-Based Economy: Is It Quantity or Quality that Matters?
Michael Koetter, Michael Wedow
Journal of International Money and Finance,
No. 8,
2010
Abstract
Most finance–growth studies approximate the size of financial systems rather than the quality of intermediation to explain economic growth differentials. Furthermore, the neglect of systematic differences in cross-country studies could drive the result that finance matters. We suggest a measure of bank’s intermediation quality using bank-specific efficiency estimates and focus on the regions of one economy only: Germany. This quality measure has a significantly positive effect on growth. This result is robust to the exclusion of banks operating in multiple regions, controlling for the proximity of financial markets, when distinguishing different banking sectors active in Germany, and when excluding the structurally weaker East from the sample.
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de-industrialisation and re-industrialisation. Is the East German industry a stability factor of regional economic development?
Gerhard Heimpold
Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung im Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (Hrsg.), 20 Jahre deutsche Einheit – Zwei Dekaden im Rückblick. Informationen zur Raumentwicklung, Heft 10/11,
2010
Abstract
Im Beitrag wird die Entwicklung der Industrie in den ostdeutschen Regionen seit Beginn der 1990er Jahre untersucht. Zentrale Frage ist, ob sich der industrielle Sektor zu einem wirtschaftlichen Stabilitätsfaktor in den ostdeutschen Regionen entwickelt hat. Obwohl sich die Industrie in Ostdeutschland bis zum Beginn der Wirtschaftskrise im Jahr 2008 – gemessen am an der Entwicklung der Bruttowertschöpfung – zu einem Wachstumsmotor entwickelt hatte, weisen die intra-industriellen Strukturen in den meisten Regionen Ostdeutschlands weiterhin Defizite in Form unterdurchschnittlicher Anteile technologieintensiver Branchen und hochwertiger Dienstleistungsfunktionen auf. Demzufolge wird weiterer Strukturwandel notwendig sein.
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Die Photovoltaik-Industrie in Sachsen-Anhalt – Entstehung, Entwicklung und Perspektiven
Christoph Hornych, Matthias Brachert
RegioPol – Zeitschrift für Regionalwirtschaft,
2010
Abstract
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IWH-Industrieumfrage im September 2010: Geschäfte florieren – Stimmung steigt weiter
Cornelia Lang
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 10,
2010
Abstract
Im Verarbeitenden Gewerbe Ostdeutschlands laufen die Geschäfte zurzeit sehr gut. Die Ergebnisse der IWH-Industrieumfrage vom September zeigen, dass das dritte Quartal nach Einschätzung der befragten rund 300 Industrieunternehmen positiv abgeschlossen wird. Ihre Geschäftslage bewerten die Unternehmen 13 Saldenpunkte besser als im Juli. Die Geschäftsaussichten liegen zwei Saldenpunkte unter den Werten der vorangegangenen Umfrage, aber auch diesmal äußern acht von zehn Unternehmen positive Erwartungen für die nächsten sechs Monate.
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Political Institutionalisation and Economic Specialisation in Polycentric Metropolitan Regions – The Case of the East German ‚Saxony Triangle‘
Peter Franz, Christoph Hornych
Urban Studies,
2010
Abstract
The rising focus of politicians as well as scientists in the EU on the large urban agglomerations as centres of economic growth is accompanied by political efforts to identify and to demarcate such agglomerations under the label ‘metropolitan regions’. This study develops a theoretical framework broaching the issue of cooperation between municipalities from the perspective of regional economics as well as political science. The framework is applied to the empirical case of the polycentric metropolitan region of the ‘Saxony triangle’ in east Germany. The results show that various intervening factors prevent intense co-operation between the actors in the region. Policy implications and conclusions for future research are discussed.
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Analyzing Innovation Drivers in the German Laser Industry: the Role of Positioning in the Social and Geographical Space
Muhamed Kudic, Peter Bönisch, Iciar Dominguez Lacasa
Abstract
Empirical and theoretical contributions provide strong evidence that firm-level performance outcomes in terms of innovativeness can either be determined by the firm’s position in the social space (network effects) or by the firm’s position in the geographical space (co-location effects). Even though we can observe quite recently first attempts in bringing together these traditionally distinct research streams (Whittington et al. 2009), research on interdependent network and geographical co-location effects is still rare. Consequently, we seek to answer the following research question: considering that the effects of social and geographic proximity on firm’s innovativeness can be interdependent, what are the distinct and combined effects of firm’s network and geographic position on firm-level innovation output? We analyze the innovative performance of German laser source manufacturers between 1995 and 2007. We use an official database on publicly funded R&D collaboration projects in order to construct yearly networks and analyze firm’s network positions. Based on information on population entries and exits we calculate various types of geographical proximity measures between private sector and public research organizations (PRO). We use patent grants as dependent variable in order to measure firm-level innovation output. Empirical results provide evidence for distinct effect of network degree centrality. Distinct effect of firm’s geographical co-location to laser-related public research organization promotes patenting activity. Results on combined network and co-location effects confirms partially the existence of in-terdependent proximity effects, even though a closer look at these effects reveals some ambiguous but quite interesting findings.
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