Papers presented by Hartmut Berghoff since 2019

2024 Providence, Rhode Island

"Turbulent Growth. On the Volatile History of the Air Cargo Industry since the 1990s"

Abstract:

Air cargo is one of the driving forces of globalization. With the increasing division of labor in the world, the share of high-value and time-sensitive goods in the rapidly growing foreign trade increased, so that the global volume of air freight more than doubled between 1997 and 2019. Expensive and perishable goods, such as flowers or fruits, biotechnology materials, or urgently needed spare parts, were increasingly transported by air. Air freight can be the safest and most cost-effective option for certain goods, as storage costs and waiting times are eliminated or minimized. This paper deals with the air cargo industry’s rapid growth since the 1990s which coincided with enormous economic problems of those who provided the transport services and were the potential beneficiaries of this growth. However, economic results remained mixed. Unpredictable variations in costs and demand as well as fierce competition plagued the industry. Many airlines went bankrupt while other operated on relatively small margins. This paper focuses first on the response of the airlines who sought to improve their profitability through rationalization and cooperation, esp. airline alliances. The second part deals with the establishment of global cartel structures that stabilized the industry between 1999 and 2006. The result was the largest prize-fixing cartel in the history of civil aviation. The paper analyses the cartel’s mode of operation and its dissolution as well as the sanctions of law enforcement agencies around the world. Penalties amounted to more than 2 billion dollars. By making use of leniency programs and handing over evidence to the authorities, Lufthansa as one of the cartel’s founding members avoided sanctions in Europe and the US. The following is an outlook of the industry’s development in subsequent years until the present time.

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2022 Mexico City

"Varieties of Family Capitalism: Results of a Comparative Project on Germany and the United States"

Abstract:

Family businesses play an important economic role on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to some parallels, there are also significant differences between Germany and America in terms of corporate and family cultures as well as the institutional environment for, and the lifespan of, family businesses. This project has investigated the differences and similarities between the development of family businesses in Germany and the United States from the mid-19th to the early 21st century. It analyses the causes and effects of the different corporate landscapes using a long-term, historical view. The focus is on the position of family companies in the two countries and the legal, structural, political and cultural environments. At a general level, the study concludes that the institutional fabric in Germany favored the development of multigenerational family businesses, while that of the United States tended to promote the dynamism of young companies, whose owners sold off all or part of them after relatively short periods of ownership. German family businesses are, on average, much older than their US counterparts and more often focus on achieving intergenerational continuity. The study has among others looked in detail at the history of inheritance law, which for a long time was substantially less advantageous for family-business owners in the United States than for their German counterparts. It has also compared the financing models and the political environment of family firms in both countries.

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2020 Charlotte, North Carolina

"Varieties of Family Capitalism: Results of a Comparative Project on Germany and the United States"

Abstract:

Family businesses play an important economic role on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to some parallels, there are also significant differences between Germany and America in terms of corporate and family cultures as well as the institutional environment for, and the lifespan of, family businesses. This project has investigated the differences and similarities between the development of family businesses in Germany and the United States from the mid-19th to the early 21st century. It analyses the causes and effects of the different corporate landscapes using a long-term, historical view. The focus is on the position of family companies in the two countries and the legal, structural, political and cultural environments. At a general level, the study concludes that the institutional fabric in Germany favored the development of multigenerational family businesses, while that of the United States tended to promote the dynamism of young companies, whose owners sold off all or part of them after relatively short periods of ownership. German family businesses are, on average, much older than their US counterparts and more often focus on achieving intergenerational continuity. The study has among others looked in detail at the history of inheritance law, which for a long time was substantially less advantageous for family-business owners in the United States than for their German counterparts. It has also compared the financing models and the political environment of family firms in both countries.

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