Essays on strategic interactions, corporate structures and behavioral accounting

Enhancing the firm value is one of the main goals of business strategies. These strategies often include strategic modifications of corporate structures by using the latest findings both from practice and science. Apart from mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as the obvious corporate restructuring, trends regarding changes in the corporate structures evolve every now and then. However, even if these trends are popular, they are not necessarily well fitting for each firm. To use the full potential of these corporate restructurings, the employees' incentives and strategic decision bases have to be considered in an appropriate manner. This cumulative work focuses on strategic interactions and the choice of a value-enhancing change of the corporate structure dependent on different underlying conditions. It is examined under which conditions the trends regarding changes of corporate structures are as beneficial as they are claimed to be. In two of the three papers, non-monetary utility aspects or other issues from behavioral accounting are part of the analysis. In particular, the first essay analyzes whether and if so, under which conditions a self-organized team formation as a part of the 'New Work Style' is beneficial for firms under consideration of psychological proximity among employees. Teams can be formed either by the employer or by the employees, the latter one is representing self-organized team formation. If psychological proximity is considered, it can shape the teams' performances and hence, the team formation decision. The second essay analyzes whether the trend of implementing a Center of Excellence (CoE) is as beneficial as it is claimed to be, in particular with regard to expected profits, effort and compliance issues. A CoE is a centralized business unit which adopts and pools processes that are needed by more than one division. Finally, the third essay examines whether a retention bonus can mitigate the negative effect of a merger announcement on the voluntary turnover rate and thus, the firm value. As the employees' turnover decisions are mainly shaped by their expectations to be retained in the merged firm, the impact of one decision-maker who is biased towards retaining the own employees on their voluntary turnover rate and its interaction with a retention bonus is the main part of the analysis

Graduation Day

This paper covers the making of the film Graduation Day and the aesthetic choices made along the way. Its focus is on the steps of the process and the obstacles each step created. Graduation Day is the story of student who has rapped his way through his final oral exam and is in danger of not graduating. He meets with his academic advisor and, through a rhythmic beat and speech pattern, convinces the advisor to see the fun in rapping. He eventually steals the cap and gown and goes on to graduation

Characterization of reflected light from the space power system

Sunlight reflected off large space structures is examined. To assure that this illumination does not exceed the irradiance tolerances of the eye, reflections from these satellites must be controlled by vehicle orientation and surface specifications. The components of various space power system vehicles to determine the reflectances which will significantly contribute to the ground illumination are evaluated. Calculations of reflected solar intensity from various satellite system elements requires description of the elements and of the geometry potential reflectance paths. Surface intensity and the conditions under which it will illuminate a portion of the Earth are also determined

Corrosion Stability of Metallic Materials in Dentistry as Studied with Electrochemical Impedance Measurements

The corrosion susceptibility of selected metallic materials frequently employed in prosthetic dentistry has been examined with electrochemical methods. Results have been compared with data derived from breakthrough potential measurements performed with these materials before. Mostly agreement and/or close correlation were found, discrepancies are discussed and tentatively assigned to the different experimental conditions

The making of the healthcare self : State metamorphoses, activation, responsibilisation and red-green alliance’s healthcare reforms in Germany

The coalition government in Germany (1998-2005) of the social democrats and the greens instituted several healthcare reform measures marking a paradigm shift and thus setting the direction of reform for subsequent governments’ healthcare politics. Agreeing with governmentality studies perspectives on recent transformations of govern-ing western democracies that have been analysed as ambiguously offering new opportuni-ties (= more freedom) and bringing new disciplinary measures (= more force), it can be shown that many measures are geared towards the activation and responsibilisation of insurants. In doing so, they produce what we call a “healthcare self”. This is characterised by a feeling of personal responsibility for one’s health, knowledge of options to obtain health, a high degree of reflexivity in health issues and willingness to pay for healthcare costs, because they are seen as an investment in one’s own prosperity. This is founded in a moral discourse and an institutional restructuring, which we consider a sign for a basic metamorphosis of the concept of the state into what we call a new state arrangement

Autonomous light-weight heliostat with rim drives

Several approaches for cost reduction of heliostats, which fit well to each other, are combined to a new heliostat concept to achieve the current challenging cost objectives: The wind loads are reduced by appropriate manipulators which reduces weight and cost of the heliostat structure and the ground anchor foundation. Laminated mirror facets are of high reflectivity and shape accuracy and of low weight. The low weight is advantageous for the dimensioning of the bearings and regarding energy consumption. Energy consumption is further reduced by a highly efficient drive train. Thus, small capacity of the wireless energy supply of the autonomous heliostat is sufficient which reduces significantly its cost. By the combination of horizontal primary axis with rims and winch wheels a cheap and precise solution for the drives was found. Ray tracing calculations show that the losses due to the compromised angle range are negligible. With the new heliostat concept the current cost goals seem to be achievable

Second International Workshop on Linked Data-driven Resilience Research 2023

In the face of continuously changing contextual conditions and ubiquitous disruptive crisis events, the concept of resilience refers to some of the most urgent, challenging, and interesting issues of nowadays society. Economic value networks, technical infrastructures, health systems, and social textures alike need to unfold capacities to withstand, adapt, recover, or even refine and transform themselves to stay ahead of changes

(How) media environ: Medienbildung and the glimpse under the hood

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich aus einer bildungstheoretisch-strukturalen Perspektive mit den gegenwärtigen gesamtgesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung oder der digitalen Revolution. Es wird dazu auf den Medienbegriff des kanadischen Literatur- und Medienwissenschaftlers Marshall McLuhan zurückgegriffen, der Medien als Erweiterungen des Menschen in die Welt begreift und den Fokus in den 1960er-Jahren erstmalig und unter grosser öffentlicher Resonanz auf mediale Umgebungen gelenkt hatte. Mit dem Begriff der digitalen Medialität nach Jörissen wird eine Modernisierung dieses Konzeptes vorgestellt, die insbesondere die digitalen Medien der Gegenwart in den Blick nimmt. Ziel ist es, einerseits die mcluhansche Rhetorik als pädagogisch motiviert zu lesen, andererseits damit für eine Strukturanalyse von Medienformen zu plädieren, die als empirischer Ansatz einen zentralen Beitrag dazu leisten kann, unsere Medienumwelten systematisch in den Blick zu nehmen.The article intends to address the current social challenges for but not limited to educational science brought forth by societal processes of digitization and the digital revolution. It argues from a theoretical perspective of structural Bildung as a formative educational process and formal structures of media that constitute media environments. Therefor the media theory of Marshall McLuhan is introduced, by which media are understood as extensions of humans into the world. With this approach McLuhan popularly focused on media environments and their effects in the 1960s pretty much for the first time. The concept is modernized through the term of Digital Mediality established by Jörissen and is used to look at current digital media environments. The overall goal is to read McLuhan’s rhetoric as a fundamentally educationally motivated project and to also plead for structural analysis of media forms as an empirical approach of looking at media environments in a systematic way