The European Enterprise

This book offers a broad overview of the topic of the European enterprise: It ex- ines what the Europeanenterpriseis or might be, whetheror not it exists, and,if not, if tendencies towards its emergence can be discerned or not. To indicate the results just brie?y already: There is de?nitely a movement in that direction, one which has accelerated during the past few years; however,there is not a large numbersof ?rms which are taking part in this movement yet, and the movement is also characterized by cases of backlash and phases of stagnation. There is probably only one characteristic of Europe on which all persons – re- ers as well as contributors – would agree: Diversity. Europe is more diverse than any other region of the world of the same size. The same holds true, naturally, for views on and perceptions of Europe. No single person is in a position to provide all different views simultaneously. Thus, in order to encompass this variation, the v- ume was designed as an effort of many: Its 20 different contributions were written by 26 different persons, representing 13 different nationalities, including the United States of America and Japan. As a counterbalance to this diversity, the introduction provides a general focus and the conclusion the common results of the combined efforts.