Aufsätze (Articles):

Hans-Christoph Seidel, Bergbauelite und Parteielite. Der Rücktritt Ernst Brandis vom Vorsitz der Bezirksgruppe Steinkohlenbergbau Ruhr im Juni 1937, S. 3-30

Heike Knortz, Die Entwicklung des modernen Begriffs von der Arbeitsproduktivität. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Betriebswirtschaftslehre, S. 31-51

Alberto Rinaldi, The Rise of a District Lead Firm: The Case of Wam (1968-2003), S. 52-81

David T. Goodwin/Roger G. Johnson, The Demise of Digital Equipment Corporation: Downsizing – Cause or Cure, S. 82-99

ABSTRACTS:

Hans-Christoph Seidel, Mining Elite and National Socialist Elite. Ernst Brandi´s Resignation from the Chair of „Bezirksgruppe Steinkohlenbergbau Ruhr“ in June 1937

So far little is known about Ernst Brandi´s resignation from the chair of the «Bezirksgruppe Steinkohlenbergbau Ruhr», which was the compulsory organization for the Ruhr mining industry during the Third Reich. The only matter of common knowledge is that the resignation could be traced back to the declared intention of NSDAP-Gauleiter in Essen and Oberpräsident of the Rhine Province, Josef Terboven. Therefore regional historiography takes Brandi´s withdrawal as an argument for both the growing distance between NSDAP- and mining-elites and the rapidly decreasing influence of the once powerful mining organizations. The article reinterprets Brandi´s resignation describing its detailed circumstances for the first time. It will be argued that the mining organizations managed to keep a high degree of self-government even under political pressure.

Heike Knortz, The development of the modern concept of labour productivity. A contribution to German Business Economics History

The starting point of this article is the reduced output in German factories in the early 1920s, which employers attributed solely to workers’ efficiency. This was possible because of the long standing lack of a common definition for productivity, particularly in the German-speaking area. This again was not even a result of historicism, but of an absence of interdisciplinary and international response by German Business Economics. After World War II international research then provided an unambiguous definition related to a clear concept: that capital is of vital importance for productivity and that therefore a unilateral relationship between output and workers’ efficiency is non-existent.

Alberto Rinaldi, The Rise of a District Lead Firm: The Case of Wam (1968-2003)

In recent times one major evolution in several industrial districts in Italy has been the emergence of new hierarchical structures that led to the rise of lead firms. These are firms that – contrary to canonical district firms which tend to remain small – pursue size grow, invest in marketing, distribution and R&D, reorganize their subcontracting networks, and become international by establishing commercial subsidiaries and production facilities abroad. However, lead firms’ histories remain largely unexplored. This article contributes to filling this gap by examining the case of one of such lead firm: Wam, a company set up in 1968 in the mechanical engineering district of Modena, which at the beginning of the 21st century had become the world leader in the production of bulk material handling and dust filtration machinery. The article focuses in particular on the strategy of growth and internationalization that this company has pursued and its effects in both the host nations and in the Italian industrial district it originated from.

David T. Goodwin / Roger G. Johnson, The Demise of Digital Equipment Corporation: Downsizing – Cause or Cure

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was founded in 1957 by two MIT engineers who had worked on the Whirlwind program, Kenneth Olsen and Harlan Andersen. By 1988 it had grown to be the world’s second largest computer corporation. From this heady height it took a mere ten years for the company to disappear completely. Olsen implemented a corporate culture of benevolence to its employees creating a family atmosphere and as such it was generally considered to be a job for life with a no redundancy policy. In an unprecedented action for the company, it began to lay off people in the early 90’s and followed this with a number of rounds of downsizing over the next few years. Downsizing was introduced as a reaction to the perceived problems the company had in terms of income per employee and an unfavourable stock market valuation. It had always been able to charge a premium for its products and, as the computer hardware moved towards commodity pricing, was caught unawares and had to react to counteract excessive costs. This paper looks at the way the downsizing activity was handled at DEC both in manufacturing and in the field organisations and asks whether this activity had a positive or negative impact on the future of the company. It argues that the downsizing caused anxiety amongst those employees that remained and created an air of tension and resentment within the company. Many of those that were left were dazed but often managed to get alternative employment with competitors and took with them essential skills and, even worse, customers. Those that stayed were always fearful of the next ‘round’ of cuts essentially causing stagnation of innovation. Downsizing, in effect, communicated to potential customers that the company was in trouble and so sales were lost as a result.

Buchbesprechungen (Reviews):

Peter Kramper, Neue Heimat. Unternehmenspolitik und Unternehmensentwicklung im gewerkschaftlichen Wohnungs- und Städtebau 1950-1982 (VSWG-Beihefte, Bd. 200) (Kim Priemel)

Tino Jacobs, Rauch und Macht. Das Unternehmen Reemtsma 1920 bis 1961 (Benjamin Obermüller)

Manfred Overesch, Bosch in Hildesheim 1937-1945. Freies Unternehmertum und nationalsozialistische Rüstungspolitik (Benjamin Obermüller)

Stadt Friedrichshafen (Hg.), Zeppelin 1908 bis 2008. Stiftung und Unternehmen (Hartmut Knittel)

Helmut Braun, Aufstieg und Niedergang der Luftschifffahrt. Eine wirtschafts- und technikhistorische Analyse (Roman Köster)

Günter Bayerl/Klaus Neitmann (Hrsg.), Brandenburgs Mittelstand. Auf dem langen Weg von der Industrialisierung zur Marktwirtschaft des 21. Jahrhunderts (Cottbuser Studien zur Geschichte von Technik, Arbeit und Umwelt, Bd. 33) (Jörg Lesczenski)

Hans H. Lembke, Die schwarzen Schafe bei den Gradenwitz und Kuczynski. Zwei Berliner Familien im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Christoph Kreutzmüller)

Oliver Konrads, Die Mittelstandsförderung der Sparkassenorganisation – Anspruch und Wirklichkeit. Eine Analyse der Jahre 1948-1963 unter Beachtung von Wettbewerbsaspekten (Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe 5: Volks- und Betriebswirtschaft, Bd. 3260) (Peter Gleber)

Bernd Rudolph, Geschichte der Sparkassenbetriebswirtschaft (Sparkassen in der Geschichte, Bd. 21) (Eckhard Freyer)

Werner Abelshauser, Ruhrkohle und Politik. Ernst Brandi 1875-1937. Eine Biographie (Christian Marx)

Susanne Saygin, „Eine Idee ist nur gut, wenn man etwas daraus macht“. Fritz Müller – Eine Unternehmerbiographie (Petra Boden)

Gerd Hardach, Kontinuität und Wandel. Hessische Wirtschaft seit 1945 (Schriften zur hessischen Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensgeschichte, Bd. 7) (Jürgen Nautz)

DB Museum Nürnberg (Hg.), Go easy Go Bahn. 200 Jahre Eisenbahn und Werbung (Begleitbuch anlässlich der Ausstellung „Go easy Go Bahn – 200 Jahre Bahn und Werbung“ im DB Museum Nürnberg, 27.11.2007 bis 30.03.2008) (Hartmut Knittel)

Verkehr und Wirtschaftsentwicklung – Transport et développement économique (traverse. Zeitschrift für Geschichte – revue d’histoire, Bd. 15) (Reiner Ruppmann)

Christoph Mauch/Thomas Zeller (Hrsg.), Rivers in history. Perspectives on Waterways in Europe and North America (Christian Henrich-Franke)

Wolfgang Lehmann/Ruprecht Vondran/Klaus M. Wagner (Hrsg.), Für ein weltoffenes Deutschland – 50 Jahre Tönissteiner Kreis 1958-2008 (Werner Bührer)

Jill Jepson, Women's Concerns. Twelve Women Entrepreneurs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Christiane Eifert)