Reading suggestions

Bommes, Michael, Tacke, Veronika (eds), Netzwerke in der funktional differenzierten Gesellschaft [Networks in a functionally differentiated society]

VS Verlag, 317 pp, €29.95, ISBN 978-3-531-16095-5

Networks are peculiar social structures. They are ubiquitous, but at the same time run transverse to the structures of modern society, to their interactional, organizational and functional relationships. What does this mean in detail? Is functional differentiation, historically and systematically considered, the condition for the emergence of formal networks and the worldwide proliferation of networks? To what extent do networks relate to the processing of problems consequent upon functional differentiation? Do they form in all functional systems – such as politics, law, science, business or art – in the same way? Or do they primarily serve their structural coupling? The articles help to clarify this and other questions on the relationship between social networks and functionally differentiated society. Michael Bommes is Professor of Sociology at the University of Osnabrück. Veronika Tacke is Professor of Organizational Sociology at the University of Bielefeld.

Krüger, Wolfgang, Schubert, Bernhard von, Wittberg, Volker, Die Zukunft gibt es nur einmal [The future only comes once]

Gabler Verlag, 194 pp, €39.95, ISBN 978-3-8349-2497-1

Questions of sustainability are steadily becoming more important in times of global change and now take a central role in companies.The authors and editors – distinguished entrepreneurs and professionals from the world of associations, foundations, financial institutions and trade unions – call for an eco-social market economy with rules and standards that ensure stable and sustainable development. They describe their personal experiences with regard to sustainable management and suggest ways to change.

Rau, Fritz H., Merk, Peter (eds) Kapitalmarkt in Theorie und Praxis [The capital market in theory and practice]

Fritz Knapp Verlag, 456 pp, €85, ISBN 978-3-8314-0838-2

This book celebrating the 50th anniversary of the DVFA (Society of Investment Professionals in Germany) is a must for those interested in the history of the German capital market and its current issues. Easy to read, clearly and at the same time in-depth, more than 30 renowned experts from Küting to Strenger discuss the subjects that especially concern them. Küting, for example, deals with fair value, as only imprecisely determinable; Strenger with scorecard monitoring for better corporate governance. Kerl reports that he has empirically determined that sell recommendations by stock-market magazine journalists create value, while Mainert strikes a blow for active fund management, as being better. In addition, the interested reader can also find basic material, from Editor-in-Chief Doering to ethics professor Mittelstrass, for whom too few lessons have so far been drawn from the financial-market crisis.

Thießen, Friedrich, Opportunismus und Finanzmärkte [Opportunism and financial markets]

Gabler Verlag, 290 pp, €39.95, ISBN 978-3-8349-2482-7

This book is the first to use neurobiological findings to deduce financial-market events. It shows how human decision-making capacity is constructed and how the financial markets can be affected by it. Buyers can see why financial markets contain potential hazards, where they are, what strengths and weaknesses the human brain has in relation to them and what behavioural alternatives are available to them. The book describes, from reality, achievements and failures of financial markets that cannot be explained by usual financial-market models. Then the decision capacity of people on the biological level is shown, as developed by brain research. Friedrich Thiessen is Professor of Banking and Finance at TU Chemnitz.