German Industry Research Articles

FEDERAL SPENDING PLANNING IN GERMANY: MAIN STRUCTURAL CHANGES

The article examines changes in the structure of the expenditure part of the German federal budget. Data on the execution of annual budgets in 2017–2021 and of a five-year financial plan for 2022–2026 are analysed. Comparison of structures is carried out according to a cross-classification that combines a functional classification (divided into ten sections in accordance with the classification of the International Monetary Fund) and an economic classification (divided into two sections – current and capital expenditures). The author identifies the areas with a key role in the spending hierarchy, highlights the main factors of the expected dynamics in the next five years, and also considers the features of three periods (2017–2019, 2020–2021 and 2022–2026) in terms of speed and contradictoriness of the structural changes that have taken place and are planned. Based on the analysis, the article concludes that there have been significant and rapid structural changes that have taken place during the pandemic, and that the most important «pre-Covid» indicators (primarily an increase in the share of current expenses on social protection) are planned to be restored. This restoration, however, may be hindered by the implementation of a large-scale «protective umbrella for the economy» – a set of measures developed, but not yet included in the financial plan, to support the German industry, which suffered from a jump in gas prices

Industry 4.0: Options for Human-Oriented Work Design

This contribution deals with the diffusion of Industry 4.0 technologies and their consequences for work. Additionally, design options for work in Industry 4.0 are discussed. The following are outlined: First, since there are as yet no concrete future prospects for digital work, different development perspectives can be envisioned. Second, the development of Industry 4.0, therefore, has to be regarded as a design project. One theoretical basis for this is the “sociotechnical systems” approach. Third, this approach enables criteria for the design and implementation of human-oriented forms of digitized work to be systematically developed. The empirical basis of this contribution derives from research findings on the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies and the development of digitized work in German industry. The research results are based on qualitative research methods such as company case studies and expert interviews.

Determinants of union strategies towards the twin digital and green transitions in the German and Belgian automotive industry

This article examines union strategies towards the twin digital and green transitions, comparing the German and Belgian automotive industries. The drive towards net-zero and more digital economies is manifested through the move from fossil fuel-powered cars to electric cars, engendering a reorganisation of production, work and employment among car manufacturers. We identified two strategic union response patterns. While German unions are developing proactive strategies and proposals to influence and shape the ongoing transition of the automotive industry, Belgian unions are more passive, reacting primarily to management proposals and focusing narrowly on employment and working conditions without a broader strategy on how to influence the transformation of the automotive industry. We explain the observed cross-national differences by two factors: the importance of national institutions, i.e., the varying integration of labour into management decision-making, and the role of union knowledge regimes. The latter refers to internal union organisations and structures such as research departments, research institutes and foundations tasked with providing own research and funding external research on change topics from a union perspective, publishing studies and developing programmatic agendas, and disseminating the knowledge to union members through training, workshops and conferences.

Managerial capabilities as facilitators of digital transformation? Dynamic managerial capabilities as antecedents to digital business model transformation and firm performance

Digital business model transformation (DBMT) necessitates new managerial capabilities, yet the existing literature lacks an empirical understanding of managerial capabilities as antecedents to strategic change and firm performance. This paper builds on dynamic managerial capabilities theory to argue that managerial human capital—composed of leadership and entrepreneurial skills—is a critical facilitator of DBMT and resultant firm performance. Further, the research model proposes that managers' social capital and cognition positively moderate the relationship between human capital and DBMT. The study's findings from a sample of German Industry 4.0 firms provide new insights into the significance of managerial capabilities in a digital economy. This study advances management literature by demonstrating that the benefits of managers' human capital for DBMT are contingent on its form: entrepreneurial skills facilitate digital transformation integral for firm performance, while leadership skills have no impact on firm performance—neither directly nor indirectly through DBMT. Thus, this study provides strong evidence of the importance of entrepreneurial skills in driving DBMT to increase firm performance. Further, the findings offer a nuanced account of the interrelationships between dynamic managerial capabilities, revealing that higher levels of social capital and lower levels of cognition increase the positive effect of entrepreneurial skills on DBMT. This study altogether reaffirms the significance of managers' dynamic capabilities for strategic change enabled by DBMT and their performance benefits, yet it reveals that the effect mechanisms differ from those found in nondigital research settings.

НІМЕЦЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКА СПІВПРАЦЯ: ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ ФОНДУ «ПАМ’ЯТЬ, ВІДПОВІДАЛЬНІСТЬ ТА МАЙБУТНЄ»

The article examines the transformation of the activities of the Fund "Memory, Responsibility and Future" (germ. “Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft”) of the Federal Republic of Germany and German-Ukrainian cooperation in the cultural and educational sphere. The experience of interaction between former enemies during the Second World War is considered in relation to extremely painful issues of historical memory in Ukraine and Germany in order to overcome historical traumas. During the Second World War, Ukraine was one of the main regions for the export of Ostarbeiters to Nazi Germany. For a long time, a large proportion of forced laborers were not subject to the German compensation law. Only at the end of the 20th century, the German and international public raised the issue of payments to former forced laborers. In 1998, the Bundestag decided to create a fund to pay compensation with financial participation from German industry. The fund paid one-time compensation primarily to former concentration camp prisoners and deported civilian workers from Central and Eastern Europe. Out of the total amount of compensation of 4.4 billion euros, Ukraine received more than 400 million euros. In 2010, the payments were completed, but the fund continued and expanded its activities. Today, the fund supports the implementation of international projects aimed at strengthening partnership and cooperation between Germany and countries that suffered from the consequences of National Socialism. The fund's annual reports show that Ukraine is the undisputed leader among the partner countries in the implementation of these projects. Such fruitful cooperation became possible thanks to the activities of Ukrainian organizations, unions and funds regarding comprehensive support and assistance from the state and society to the victims of Nazism. The active partners of the German fund "Memory, Responsibility and Future" are the Ukrainian Union of Prisoners-Victims of Nazism and the Ukrainian Cultural Fund. Among the products of this international cooperation are an online archive and an online educational platform that can be effectively used for scientific and educational purposes. Thus, the fund became a kind of expression of the political and moral responsibility of the German state for the damages caused by the National Socialist regime, and a cultural and educational bridge between the former irreconcilable enemies.

A Semi-Automatic Approach for Asset Administration Shell Creation from Heterogeneous Data

Heterogeneous data sources and inconsistent interfaces between different engineering disciplines pose a tremendous challenge in creating a virtual representation of a real-world product or plant. To enable the interoperability between all partners in the value chain, the Plattform I4.0, consisting of German academia and industry, proposed the Asset Administration Shell (AAS), a standardized concept of digitally representing of the asset. Unfortunately, the creation of a product or process AAS implies huge manual effort in collecting and structuring information pieces from diverse engineering and operation data by hand. This work proposes a semi-automatic approach to extract engineering information from documents of the data types PDF, STP, XML, XML/AML, URDF and a method to execute AAS creation and merging. We analyze the information structure in engineering files and map it to the meta-model of the AAS. We propose a Python implementation that semi-automatically generates AASs from engineering documents and merges them into an integrated AAS representing the asset. By using the demonstrator xPPU and two industrial use cases of gear assembly and robot control, we discuss the possibilities and limitations of our proposed approach.

Creating Value Out of Waste: The Transformation of the Swedish Waste and Recycling Sector, 1970s–2010s

This article examines the growth of the waste and recycling sector in Sweden since the 1970s and seeks to identify the conditions for market growth and underlying business dynamics. The article identifies a slow growth pattern at aggregate level in the 1970s, while a major shift toward higher growth rates took place only in the mid-1990s. Resembling the findings of existing studies of German and US industry counterparts, Swedish recycling companies grew larger in the 1970s and more knowledge-intensive from the 1980s. Our study concludes that the growth of the Swedish recycling industry has been driven not only by government policies addressing household waste but even more so by large manufacturing firms that have increasingly demanded more complex recycling services over time.

Can Industry Keep Gas Distribution Networks Alive? Future Development of the Gas Network in a Decarbonized World: A German Case Study

With the growing need for decarbonization, the future gas demand will decrease and the necessity of a gas distribution network is at stake. A remaining industrial gas demand on the distribution network level could lead to industry becoming the main gas consumer supplied by the gas distribution network, leading to the question: can industry keep the gas distribution network alive? To answer this research question, a three-stage analysis was conducted, starting from a rough estimate of average gas demand per production site and then increasing the level of detail. This paper shows that about one third of the German industry sites investigated are currently supplied by the gas distribution network. While the steel industry offers new opportunities, the food and tobacco industry alone cannot sustain the gas distribution network by itself.

Німецькі концерни: повоєнне відродження та роль у відбудові економіки

The article is concerned with studying of the role of the role of big business in the post-war reconstruction of the German economy after the Second World War. The purpose of the article is to study the role of concerns in the post-war recovery of the German economy to extrapolate this experience in the development and implementation of the reconstruction plan of Ukraine. The main features of the German corporate sector in the post-war years are characterized based on the scientific analysis of historical and economic literature. As a result of the study, the largest concerns in traditional German industries were determined and the features of preserving the country's military-industrial potential were identified. The dual nature of the decartelization of German industry, which provided for the fight against monopoly and at the same time contributed to the preservation of large industrial enterprises, was determined. It is established that the rapid revival of industrial empires was made possible by a combination of skillful business management, favorable market conditions and the preservation of long-standing business connections from pre-war times. The importance of diversification of the activities of large enterprises in the post-war period in order to adapt to new conditions in the domestic and international markets is emphasized. The feature of German business such as family ties in family businesses which were important for post-war recovery is determined. The results of research are important for understanding the ways and methods of recovery of big business and the economy in general after the war, and also show that there are effective forms of combining the interests of the state, business and society, which ensured the rapid revival of Germany after the Second World War.

Industriestandort Deutschland droht struktureller Verlust an Wettbewerbsfähigkeit

AbstractThe current energy crisis poses major economic growth risks for the German economy as a whole and for German industry in particular. It also represents an enormous structural challenge for Germany as an industrial nation. A comprehensive deindustrialization in Germany across all sectors is unlikely. One argument against this is the adaptability of German industry. The prospects for some industrial sectors have become significantly gloomier, however, as a result of the acute energy crisis and higher gas and energy prices in the medium term.

Energiewende steht für die Chance auf Re-Industrialisierung, nicht für De-Industrialisierung

AbstractRussia’s war against Ukraine and China’s reactions have decisively changed the general conditions for industry in Germany. Industry is facing major changes in the context of modernization, decarbonization and localization. The energy transition offers an enormous economic opportunity for German industry. Instead of de-industrialization, re-industrialization is possible through a forced expansion of renewable energies and improved energy efficiency. This strengthens resilience and promotes sustainability and encourages innovation and enhances competitiveness.

From Old Regime to Industrial State: A History of German Industrialization from the Eighteenth Century to World War I

From Old Regime to Industrial State: A History of German Industrialization from the Eighteenth Century to World War I

Peter Weiss and Others

Peter Weiss and Others

I would if I could: Passing through VAT reductions in the german rail industry

Germany’s state-owned train operator Deutsche Bahn made a credible pledge to completely pass through a VAT reduction to passengers. Using a price observation dataset, we find that pass-through rates for fixed-price tickets are indeed 100%, whereas pass-through rates for tickets with revenue-management-based prices can differ significantly from 100%. They vary over purchase-timing periods, departure weekdays, departure timeframes, and price levels, thereby indicating that revenue management systems can cause unequal pass-through to different customer groups. We also provide theoretical insights into the price-setting considerations of offering these two ticket types, and derive the monopoly pass-through rate for ad valorem taxes.

Competitive Options for Bio‐Syngas in High‐Temperature Heat Demand Sectors: Projections until 2050

AbstractGermany aims to accomplish climate neutrality by 2045. Thus, it is important to take actions, especially to decarbonize the industrial heat sector. In this study, competitive options for bio‐syngas as substitute for natural gas in the German industry sectors with high‐temperature heat demand were projected until 2050 by integrating selected gasification technologies into the existing BenOpt (BioENergyOPTimisation) model for energy system modeling. The results showed that the integration of heat production from selected technologies is still not competitive for large‐scale applications, but other existing biomass technologies have the potential to become competitive. Methanation can be a possible option to tailor bio‐syngas quality for specific high‐temperature industrial applications.

Capitalism, Protectionism, and Beer Wars in Rock Island, 1880–1900

Capitalism, Protectionism, and Beer Wars in Rock Island, 1880–1900

Global rivalries, corporate interests and Germany’s ‘National Industrial Strategy 2030’

This article asks how Germany could have pursued a far-reaching ‘National Industrial Strategy 2030’ despite the fierce opposition of German industry. To resolve this puzzle—which realist-inspired and institutionalist analyses struggle with—it deploys a critical state theory attuned to the uneven and combined development of global capitalism. The twin challenge of China catching up and the US forging ahead has not only prompted German officials to develop a ‘defensive-mercantilist’ response; new qualitative and quantitative evidence indicates that it has also deepened conflicts within Germany’s export industry. Small and large firms are divided over how to respond to the growing lead of US capital in the digital economy, and its major sectors have experienced Chinese inroads into high-tech manufacturing differently. I argue that the German state was/is able to advance its industrial strategy insofar as it reconciles these divergent interests. First, it has offered laxer EU cartel rules to big business and enhanced protection from digital oligopolies to the Mittelstand, in exchange for tighter foreign direct investment controls. And second, I suggest that it could win over the chemical and electrical industry, through selective state subsidies, to its plans to re-shore transnational value chains in the name of ‘technological sovereignty’.

Four Sides of the Coin: The Interplay of Interests in German and Polish Pension Industries

Pension reforms tend toward privatization of fund management, capitalization of savings, and redistribution of risk. An overview of reforms in the opening section identifies the course of the institutional change in Germany and in Poland, which can be broadly associated with Western European and Eastern European types of pension design, respectively. The second section offers a methodical insight in interests of four parties of the game, that is, the government, financial sector, nonfinancial companies, and trade unions, as well as prospective pensioners or actual retirees. The major section provides a review of arguments in favor of pension funding, drawing from media debates, and official announcements, with the aim to identify the rationale for pension funding. Next, it considers how this logical position is related to specific material interests. JEL Classification: B52, P16, P52

Decarbonizing the German industrial thermal energy use with solar, hydrogen, and other options–Recommendations for the world

This paper is based on a position paper of the German Industry Association Concentrated Solar Power e.V. to the German government and discusses options on how to decarbonize the heat demand of the domestic industry. Among other option, concentration solar collectors are a suitable option in Germany, which has not been expected by many experts. The paper derives requirements that are needed to ensure a quick and sustainable way to decarbonize industrial heat demand. They are considered to also be relevant for many other countries that follow the same ambition to become climate neutral in the next decades. They major statements are: • A mix of different renewable energy technologies in conjunction with efficiency measures is needed to ensure a secure, climate-friendly and cost-efficient heat supply for the industry • The different technology options for the provision of heat from renewable sources, through electrification and through hydrogen can and must be combined and integrated with each other. • In this context, concentrating solar thermal represents an important part of the hybrid supply portfolio of a decarbonized industry This requires: • The definition of an expansion target for process heat and the flanking measures • Ensuring the equivalence of renewable heat, renewable electricity and green hydrogen - also as hybrid solutions • The promotion of concentrating solar thermal reference projects as an impetus for market ramp-up in Germany • The launch of an information campaign for heat consumers and the establishment of a pool of consultants.

Carbon price floors and low-carbon investment: A survey of German firms

Introducing a price floor in emissions trading schemes (ETS) theoretically stabilizes expectations on future carbon prices and thus fosters low-carbon investment. Yet, ex post evidence on high carbon prices is scant and the relevance of carbon pricing for investment decisions is frequently contested. We provide empirical ex ante evidence on how a price floor in the EU ETS would impact the size and portfolio of energy firms’ investments. Analyzing survey responses of high-level managers in 113 German energy and industry companies, we find that the level of the price floor is crucial. A low price floor trajectory only provides insurance against downward price fluctuations and would leave investments largely unchanged except for industries receiving electricity price compensation, which reduce their investments. A high floor, significantly increasing the price level beyond current expectations, leads to higher investment by the majority of firms, especially by green firms, while investment in fossil energy would partially be abolished. Our studies implies that price floors can be important design components of ETS. However, policymakers need to ensure that they are at sufficiently high levels to affect investment decisions in a meaningful way.