Streaming knowledge

de Jeffrey R. Fear, Harvard Business School. Division of Research

This article uncovers a virtuous circular network of people and ideas, between the theories of the Schmalenbach Society and the management practices of the so-called Dinkelbach School that created one of the most influential impulses for post-1945 German political economy and business management. This group remained exceptional for their time, but broke the ice and, over time, paved the way for postwar consensus regarding codetermination (labor representation on supervisory boards). Codetermination has become one of the most important, unique aspects of German political economy and corporate governance. On one hand, this network of people formed an autonomous German management tradition, which introduced allegedly American methods into German business prior to Americanization after 1945. On the other hand, this network of people begins the hidden history of employer acceptance of codetermination-in the heart of the reactionary Ruhr. Although most recent literature demonstrates a profound continuity of bourgeois figures and values with the prewar period, the shattering of the war experience also opened a path for a new, non-bourgeois, and Catholic group of individuals dedicated to reinventing German business. As such, the article examines the software of German capitalism rather than its hardware.