The future of Rhineland capitalism across the Polish‐German border

Abstract

Purpose -This paper aims to look at the past development and potential of the Rhenish capitalist governance "model". The paper aims to discuss the origins and nature of the model. The main focus is on the model's in crisis and its specific role within the transformation processes of Central-Eastern European economies. East-Central Europe is where, it is contended, Rhineland capitalism's future will be decided. Design/methodology/approach -Drawing on archival research (including current writings) the paper draws out two salient features of the Rhenish capitalist model which would be relevant to explore bank customers perceptions of bank governance and practice in the Polish-German city of Zgorzelec-Görlitz. The experience of Dresdner Bank is stressed and the fact that the local people not long before lived under a Socialist regime. Findings -The paper contends that the abandonment of the social harmony structured into the Rhineland model would be a great pity, since the 100 years of effort it took to create it would go down the drain. Originality/value -The paper ascertains the presence of German management traditions as opposed to Anglo-American approaches to management in the context of retail bank markets in a border region.

Evolutionary Game Analysis of Abandoned-Bike-Sharing Recycling: Impact of Recycling Subsidy Policy

“…The reason is that during the seven years of development of China's bike-sharing industry, its market model has gradually evolved from one that follows Anglo-Saxon capitalism to one that follows Rhineland capitalism. Competition for market share among bike-sharing companies has shifted from competition to maximize production and lower prices through brutal launches [49,50] to competition for service quality with converging rental prices [51,52]. Hence, we also need to consider the impact of resident satisfaction on the behavioral decisions of companies and governments [30][31][32][33][34][35]53].…”

Learning from the past to envision the future: a five-year review 2005-2009

“…In comparison, the Anglo-American capitalism model values return on investment and managerial rights, equity markets and marketing which give it an edge in the technology-charged global markets. We shall see how the Rhenish model will adapt to a changing environment (Bátiz-Lazo et al, 2008). Shen's (2008) article explained how labor disputes in China may be attributed to changes in the economic ownership of firms.…”

Transferring Rhineland capitalism to the Polish‐German border

“…Transcripts of two similar in depth interviews with executives of Allied Irish Banks (AIB) were also available. They provide basic information about major areas of concern for commercial banks (see further Wood, 1999, 2003;Bátiz-Lazo et al, 2008).…”

“…The co-existence of the Rhenish and the Atlantic models has always been an uneasy one because of co-determination. This co-existence extended to not too subtle pressure against the adoption of relevant legislation by members of US occupation forces after the second world war (see further Bátiz-Lazo et al, 2008). American private business for its part openly and actively opposed co-determination between 1954 and 1975 (see further Locke, 1996).…”

“…The literature comparing banking practices in Anglo-Saxon and German markets is vast (e.g. Keltner, 1995;Keltner and Finegold, 1996;Yavas et al, 2004) and will not be rehearsed here in detail (see also Bátiz-Lazo et al, 2005, 2008. Instead, research in this article is novel as it compares historical developments in the organization, practices and governance of banks against current trends in retail financial markets.…”