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Copyright of Soziologische Revue is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Studies in economic geography on the film industry often focus on the impact of social relationships and informal institutions, like habits, norms and conventions. However, the role of formal institutions has so far received only little attention. To exemplify the role of governments and formal institutions shaping the film production networks a social network analysis is carried out. The results essentially show three patterns of interventions: Firstly, governments are active players within the networks through state‐owned or public film production companies. Secondly, (especially in the case of China) governments act as regulators through formal institutions by restricting market access for international films and at the same time enabling the rapid market growth of the Chinese film market through opening policies after 2002. Thirdly, they act as promoters through direct financial means (e.g. public film subsidies in Germany) or through support measures by the cultural and creative industries in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural and creative sectors (CCSs) in Germany from March to the end of July 2020. It reviews the responses by Germany (federal, state and city level), grouped into three phases. The country has made explicit reference to the importance of arts and culture in the crisis. Germany has a high level of arts and culture funding, but in the last years the cultural and creative scene has changed. The article looks at these changes and reviews state responses as well as new initiatives from the cultural sector itself. Against this background, some tentative conclusions, with an eye on the near future, are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how the structure of the German cultural landscape shapes the self-understanding and positioning of philanthropic foundations that engage in art and culture. The contribution undertakes a mapping of the different forms of roles and relationships that foundations use to gain impact in this field of activity. The main argument is that in a field characterized by a high multiplicity of actors with partly overlapping and sometimes competing competencies that enable manifold possibilities for complementary partnerships and relatively high, but still scarce financial resources, the durability of foundations becomes their most important characteristic. As a result, cultural foundations take a more conservative approach than foundations in other fields. Typically set up with rather small endowments and with an operating focus, they are built to serve niches of cultural supply and demand that gives them versatile manifestations that have in common the goal of preserving tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I analyze how recent calls to internationalize publication behavior affect research practices at an automotive engineering department in Germany. Automotive engineering is a field with traditionally rather scarce publication activity and strong connections to industry. Substantial authority to define suitable research problems and ways of organizing knowledge production on a daily basis was therefore reserved for local academic elites as well as corporate partners. However, as engineers are increasingly expected to prove their performance through publishing in international peer-reviewed journals, the judgment as to what should be considered “interesting” or “robust” research is partly relegated to a gradually globalizing community of academic peers. This generates a variety of tensions with established ways of coordinating epistemic work at the department studied here. For example, the thematic interests of journals tend to exert a disruptive centrifugal pull in the context of an otherwise highly modular research culture, and possibilities to publish in international venues are unequally distributed across individual research projects. But while department members agree that there is a lack of fit between current practices and new expectations towards their publishing behavior, their opinions about the conclusions that should be drawn differ significantly. Some researchers argue that profound organizational changes are necessary to foster the academic rigor of German engineering research. Others believe that evaluation criteria should simply be adapted. This situation is arguably characteristic for research areas with a traditionally strong orientation to local stakeholders, and it suggests a need for more deliberative, participatory approaches to research evaluation in such fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GAIA: Ecological Perspectives for Science & Society is the property of Oekom Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Managers predict the sales of new entertainment products prior to their release using comparables, such as similar books from the same author or movies with the same actors. In this study, the authors analyze whether diffusion models for media products provide helpful support in the management task of predicting prelaunch sales of the first distribution channel for three different product categories. They compare the performance of predictions based on (a) simple success factor regressions (OLS) and (b) diffusion models against real management predictions. Based on samples covering the German music, film, and the literary market, we show that model-based forecasts outperform the forecasts of management teams for the majority of the products. In contrast, management is superior in forecasting top sellers. This is due to unobserved factors arising from more management attention attached towards super stars. The authors do not find substantial prediction differences between simple success factor regressions and more complex diffusion models. Thus, managers interested in total sales estimates can easily rely on OLS based success factor predictions. Advertising and product differentiation factors with respect to quality (e.g., star power, critics, or country of origin) are across all 3 industries highly relevant for sales predictions, whereas others variables (e.g., price, distribution power, season, or competition) differ across industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyses the impact of the creative sector on total employment and on the creative sector's employment growth in Western Germany's regions from 1977 to 2004. For the analysis, the definitions of the creative sector follow a technologically and culturally oriented definition and, alternatively, Florida's creative class (2002). These approaches are contrasted with a skill-based approach. Using a fixed-effects panel model with time lags, the results support the view that the creative sector fosters the regional growth rate of total employment. The results suggest, moreover, that an initially large share of regional creative professionals pushes the regional concentration of those professions in agglomerated regions further. The driving force behind the concentration of creative professionals is local amenities—measured by bohemians—and it is assumed that knowledge spillovers—possibly accelerated by diversity and close proximity—contribute to this polarization. These results are also confirmed for highly skilled agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how event organizers with an eye towards shaping the evolution of organizational fields enact a situation of disruption in Germany's popular music industry. We find that the organizers of three new industry event series experimented with alternative event formats, modeled alternative value chains, and embedded events regionally to stage alternative possibilities for the field's future. Thus, they provided temporary, yet recurring arenas for testing out new field boundaries and practices. We argue that organizing and situating events in a field's wider event landscape is a form of cyclical proto-institutional work that gives direct impulses for field reconfiguration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the dramatic increase in theatre and performances enacted in urban spaces for the years 2007 to 2013 in Germany and Switzerland. A discussion on the meaning of a city in relation to people and life, the definition of public sphere in terms of its relationship with people and spatial configuration, and the influence of a public sphere is also provided. The author also discusses the city as an open-ended system that promotes diversity and affective structures.

Just like most dictatorships, the German National Socialist regime attempted to completely control sporting activities. To that effect, in the early years of war in the ‘Third Reich’, the Bavarian sporting official Karl Oberhuber called for a ‘revolution’ of the football game system. He was supported by several influential National Socialist politicians. Oberhuber pushed to put aggressive, extremely attack-oriented football on the agenda, initially in Bavaria and then in the entire German Empire. In his view, football should be transformed into an instrument for Hitler's warfare. This version of a true GermanBlitzkriegfootball was simultaneously conceived as an alternative to the allegedly defensive and unattractive English football. However, this initiative faced resistance from Sepp Herberger, the coach of the German national team. The present article deals with the conflict-ridden course of events surrounding the attempts to transform football along paramilitary lines, which ultimately failed. The author elaborates on how this dispute over the correct game system was linked to other discussions at the global level at that time, which also aimed to make football a more entertaining, high-scoring and thus financially lucrative affair. This was a chapter of German and European sporting history, which was entirely unknown until recently. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Inspired by new digital technologies, diverse actors in cultural and creative industries propagate conflicting visions of how to adequately innovate – or rather preserve and strictly enforce – copyright-related business models, which has resulted in substantial amounts of regulatory uncertainty. Looking at a decade of regulatory discourse at industry events in the popular music industry in Germany, we investigate how these actors make sense of and strategically shape this uncertainty in the process of industry transformation. Our longitudinal argumentative discourse analysis reveals cycles of regulatory propaganda of two discourse coalitions that do not engage in debate, but aim to find support for competing business models among regulators and the public. Organizing, canceling, and participating in industry events are discursive strategies used effectively to transport their claims by both industry lobbyists and challenging actors, but industry incumbents are failing to use these sites for testing out and introducing new business models. We conclude that regulatory struggles, not least at industry events, mediate between disruptive technologies and business model innovation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Due to its growing economic power, creative industries have climbed scholars' and policy-makers' agendas in recent years. However, in comparison with a high number of cluster studies on rather traditional industries, systematic research on knowledge production, innovation processes and competitiveness in creative industry clusters is still underrepresented. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the video game development industry in Hamburg, Germany, from a knowledge base perspective. The paper concludes that both the symbolic and the synthetic knowledge are the dominant elements that contribute to video game development in Hamburg. On a more critical note, it doubts whether the currently discussed knowledge base perspective is sufficient to explain the competitiveness of creative industries and proposes to analyse procedural knowledge in future research in order to be able to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Because of the complex structures characteristic of the arts sector and creative industries, it is often thought that external network ties of leading managers are critical to the success of their cultural enterprises. Based on research into entrepreneurship and promoters' activity, this study examines the influence of social network relationships on the success of cultural establishments in Germany. The regression analysis of data from 121 private arts and culture ventures presented here clearly shows that founders as well as managers can overcome numerous barriers through their engagement and activity in social networks, and thereby exercise to a significant degree a positive influence on establishing their enterprise. As expected, this effect is even stronger in cases of low sponsorship of cultural activities on the part of cities and communities. Contrary to expectations, the positive effect of intensive networking activities is not increased by a high intensity of competition; it is worth noting that the effect is strongest in situations of low competitive pressure. The results of this study demonstrate that successful networking expertise, as postulated by research into promoters' activity, is of great importance for overcoming significant barriers in the cultural sector, but that its effectiveness also has limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Anagramas is the property of Editorial Universidad de Medellin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This contribution discusses the hopes associated with the rise of the creative industries and gives explanations for the debates in politics, science and the media. In doing so, our underlying thesis is that the culture and creative economy is a virtual sector and that a uniform promotion—also by means of staged events that attract a lot of media attention—needs to be challenged. In a further step, the scientific implications will also be outlined on the basis of the term's “career” in the public debate. A brief analysis of the empiricism of the creative economy will provide further insight into its real significance and demonstrate possible definitional weaknesses of the term. The creative industries are an essential element of modern economic infrastructure. They will play an important role in the future, especially for cluster strategies. However, the scientific research so far is not able to reach more accurate conclusions regarding the effects of governance on the culture and creative industry. Therefore, this contribution shows future research fields. We will conclude by venturing an outlook on the further development of the sector and demonstrate its social and economic effects using the example of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional actors at the regional or local level increasingly see the development of the creative industry sector as a means of improving local competitiveness. However, research on relations between institutions and local development barely considers the interaction between policies and a sectoral logic of work organization and labor-market functioning. On the basis of qualitative research on the locally clustered media sector in Cologne, Germany, we argue that a sectoral logic which relies strongly on the use of networks can hinder or 'convert', the course of policies aimed at improving the skill supply, and thereby produce unintended effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at discussing the issue of governance in respect to creative scenes, a central structural element of the creative economy, exemplifying the case of Berlin. Berlin has a fast growing creative industry that has become the object of the city's development policies and place marketing. The core question is: What are the spatial-organizational driving forces of creativity in Berlin - can they be steered by public administration? I am using Berlin as a reference case to articulate the gap between 'state-led planning' on the one hand and the organisational practices of self-governed creative scenes on the other. I attempt to demonstrate why a perspective change in terms of re-scaling is necessary, in order to respond to the particular practices of emerging industries and their societal form 'scenes'. By re-scaling I mean the conceptualization of governance in different nonhierarchical organisational as well as spatial scales, based on the observation that scenes are considered to be a central element of the functionality of creative industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the social interactions and spatial practices of young businesspeople, the so-called 'culturepreneurs', and the networking activities they use to form professional scenes in the field of design production in Berlin's cultural industries. This article primarily deals with a problem currently facing entrepreneurship and creative industries: how do young start-up entrepreneurs overcome structural paradoxes between individual professionalization and competitiveness on the one hand, while improving their entrepreneurial performances by depending on a badly needed innovation climate provided in social contexts and professional scenes on the other? For the purposes of this article, 'scenes' will be conceptually understood as a necessary prerequisite for creative milieu formations. They are considered to be informal, communicatively established social constructions and are based on the local narratives as well as the self-descriptions of entrepreneurs. Infused with a unique mixture of local myths and everyday life stories, these scenes serve as atmospheric stimulation for many people endeavouring to feel connected to a specific urban place - in this case Berlin - where they can launch their own entrepreneurial project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although several aspects of gambling have been thoroughly investigated, little is known about the effect of seasonality on gambling. This study investigated the seasonal patterns in slot-machine usage, based on a unique data set of slot-machine usage from a German gambling centre using time series analysis. Knowledge of seasonal slot-machine usage patterns provides useful insights for researchers, gambling centre managers and legal authorities. Slot-machine gambling activity appears to be highest in November, when poor weather is compounded with lack of entertainment activities and lowest in December, when ample entertainment possibilities may distract people from gambling. The estimated daily and weekly seasonal patterns support the self-control literature, which suggests that self-regulatory failures are more likely when people are more tired; after work, or late in the evening. The high variation in gambling during winter implies that the availability of alternative entertainment activities may have an important influence on slot-machine usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to the late 1960s, German history textbooks lacked coverage of Poland and depicted Germany's eastern neighbor with negative images. The 1970s and 1980s, however, witnessed positive changes to the contents of German school textbooks-particularly with respect to their descriptions of Poland and German-Polish relations. How and why did Germany promote a more reflective view of history and correct negative descriptions of the Poles in German history textbooks between the 1970s and 1980s? This article addresses this question by focusing on the influence of Brandt's Ostpolitik and on the activities of the German-Polish History Textbook Commission. The article also shows how contemporary conservative reaction was not powerful enough to reverse these positive changes to German history textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy-makers from many regions where old industrial structures in the field of manufacturing have collapsed are trying to stimulate entrepreneurial activities of businesses in the cultural industry. The question is whether this strategy could be successful. This article examines the strategy of supporting the sector of media industry (“MI”) by policy-makers in the region of Halle in East Germany, where a strong de-industrialization has taken place after the German reunification. Stimulated by the policy-makers' support measures, there actually was a remarkable development of MI. However, the number of MI firms and their employees did not further increase in recent years, after having reached a certain level. This illustrates the limits of political measures for turning a city's path of industrial development voluntarily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Language in Different Contexts / Kalba ir Kontekstai is the property of Vytautas Magnus University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This analysis uses the case of a seemingly successful industry cluster (ie the film and TV industry in Munich) to demonstrate that deficits in the structure of social relations can impact a cluster's growth potential. In the period after World War II, Munich grew into a national centre of media industries in Germany due to the introduction of private/commercial TV, national entry barriers, and a supportive institutional infrastructure. The recent advertising crisis and the dissolution of the Kirch Group have, however, reinforced already existing internal dilemmas and contradictions. We suggest that the growth prospects of this industry are limited due to a lack of reflexive, interconnected communication and interaction patterns. In conceptual terms, we apply a model which emphasizes that local interaction or 'buzz' in clusters and interaction with external firms and markets through translocal or global 'pipelines' create reflexive dynamics. Based on this conception, participatory observation and semistructured interviews were conducted with sixty-five Munich firms, as well as with planners and media experts from the region. The results indicate that the regional, national, and occasional international project networks have had a smaller impact on the Munich film and TV industry than expected. Our investigation provides evidence that the cluster's structure of social relations is relatively weak. Internal networks which could drive creative recombination and innovation are underdeveloped, and linkages with external markets which could provide substantial growth impulses to the region are lacking. We argue that this structural weakness limits the potential for future growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Germany, the financing of cultural activities is heavily dependent on state funding. About 90% of cultural funding comes front the public sector. However, because of the precarious state of public finances, funding for cultural activities has been steadily reduced in the last years. Against this background, German cultural institutions are essentially compelled to develop appropriate measures in order to improve their competitive e situation in the context of scarce public resources, and to seek additional sources of finance in order to stabilise their situation over the longer term. One of the more suitable means of increasing revenue on an ongoing basis, is to improve and extend the marketing and visitor-related activities themselves. But how should the marketing or visitor orientation be formulated so that it contributes towards the organisation's social mission as well as improves the financial position of the cultural institution? With respect to the particular financing situation of German cultural institutions, this paper will try to give an answer to this question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]