Der ökologische Zustand der Erde befindet sich infolge von Umweltverschmutzung, Abfallaufkommen und CO₂-bedingtem Klimawandel in einem kritischen Zustand. Mit rund 40 % trägt der Bau- und Gebäudesektor erheblich zu den globalen Treibhausgasemissionen bei. Holz gilt als klimafreundliche Alternative zu Beton und Stahl, bedarf jedoch ebenfalls einer nachhaltigen Nutzung. Die Kreislaufwirtschaft bietet mit der Wiederverwendung ein zukunftsweisendes Konzept: So sind etwa 45% des beim Rückbau von Gebäuden anfallenden Holzes potenziell als Rohstoff nutzbar. Dadurch werden alternative Rohstoffquellen erschlossen und das Abfallaufkommen reduziert. Trotz dieses Potenzials liegt der Zirkularitätsgrad der Weltwirtschaft derzeit nur bei 7,2 %. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht die Dissertation, welche Wettbewerbsstrategien und welche organisationalen Fähigkeiten die Entwicklung zirkulärer Geschäftsmodelle fördern. Der Fokus liegt auf der Holzindustrie der DACH-Region, die historisch durch forstwirtschaftliche Nachhaltigkeit geprägt ist, jedoch bislang überwiegend linearen Strukturen folgt. Die Arbeit kombiniert theoretische Fundierung, eine vierjährige Literaturrecherche, Experteninterviews sowie im Zentrum eine quantitative Unternehmensbefragung (n = 200). Daraus wurde eine aktivitätsorientierte Skala zur Bewertung der Zirkularität eines Geschäftsmodells entwickelt. Analysiert wurden drei Perspektiven: Fähigkeiten, Strategien und Stakeholder. Im Kontext der Fähigkeitsperspektive wurde ermittelt, dass die dynamischen Fähigkeiten positive Implikationen auf die Umsetzung von Zirkularität haben. Im Forschungsfeld der Strategieperspektive wurde deutlich, dass die Innovationsführerschaft positive Effekte auf die Umsetzung der Kreislaufwirtschaft besitzt. Zudem weisen sowohl die Innovationsführerschaft als auch die Qualitätsführerschaft einen positiven indirekten Effekt über die dynamischen Fähigkeiten auf die Entwicklung zirkulärer Geschäftsmodelle auf. Im Rahmen der Stakeholderperspektive wurde eruiert, dass der Stakeholder-Druck im Zusammenwirken mit einem grünen Unternehmensimage eine Katalysator-Wirkung besitzt. Der Einfluss der Interessengruppen führt dazu, dass die Unternehmen ein grünes Image in eine substanzielle Umsetzungsphase überführen. Darüber hinaus wurde ersichtlich, dass der Stakeholder-Druck als zentraler Veränderungsfaktor wirkt. Während die direkten Auswirkungen der dynamischen Fähigkeiten durch den Druck zurückgehen, nehmen die indirekten Effekte auf die Erreichung von Zirkularität zu. Abschließend werden Handlungsempfehlungen für Unternehmen sowie wissenschaftliche Implikationen und zukünftige Forschungsmöglichkeiten abgeleitet.

Globalization significantly transforms labor markets. Advances in production technologies, transportation, and political integration reshape how and where goods and services are produced. Local economic conditions and diverse policy responses create varying speeds of change, affecting regions' attractiveness for living and working -- and promoting mobility. Competition for talent necessitates a deep understanding of why individuals choose specific destinations, how to ensure their effective labor market integration, and what workplace factors affect workers' well-being. This thesis focuses on two crucial aspects of labor market change -- Migration and workplace technological change. It contributes to our understanding of the determinants of labor mobility, the factors facilitating migrant integration, and the role of workplace automation for worker well-being. Chapter 2 investigates the relationship between minimum wages (MWs) and regional worker mobility in the EU. EU citizens are free to work anywhere in the common market, which allows them to take advantage of the significant variation in MWs across the EU. However, although MWs are set at the national level, it is also their local relevance that varies substantially -- depending on factors such as the share of affected workers or the extent to which they shift local compensation levels. These variations may attract workers from elsewhere, from within a country or from abroad. Analyzing regional variations in the Kaitz index, a measure of local MW impact, reveals that higher MWs can significantly increase inflows of low-skilled EU workers, particularly in central Europe. Chapter 3 examines the inequality in returns to skills experienced by immigrants, focusing on the role of linguistic proximity between migrants' origin and destination countries. Harmonized individual-level data from nine linguistically diverse migrant-hosting economies allows for an analysis of the wage gaps faced by immigrants from various origins, implicitly indicating how well they and their skills are integrated into the local labor markets. The analysis reveals that greater linguistic distance is associated with a higher wage penalty for highly skilled immigrants and a lower position in the wage distribution for those without tertiary education. Chapter 4 investigates an institutional factor potentially relevant for the integration of immigrants -- the labor market impact of Confucius Institutes (CIs), Chinese government-sponsored institutions that promote Chinese language and culture abroad. CIs have been found to foster trade and cultural exchange, indicating their potential relevance in shaping attitudes and trust of natives towards China and Chinese individuals. Examining the relationship between local CI presence and the wages of Chinese immigrants in local labor markets of the United States, the analysis reveals that CIs associate with significantly reduced wages for nearby residing Chinese immigrants. An event study demonstrates that the mere announcement of a new CI negatively impacts local wages for Chinese immigrants, independent of the CI's actual opening. Chapter 5 explores how working in automatable jobs affects life satisfaction in Germany. Following earlier literature, we classify occupations by potential for automation, and define the top third of occupations in this metric as \textit{automatable jobs}. We find workers in highly automatable jobs reporting a lower life satisfaction. Moreover, we detect a non-linearity, where workers in moderately automatable jobs (the second third of the distribution) experience a positive association with life satisfaction. Overall, the negative relationship of automation is most pronounced among younger and blue-collar workers, irrespective of the non-linearity.

　

　

　

　

　

Striving for sustainable development by combating climate change and creating a more social world is one of the most pressing issues of our time. Growing legal requirements and customer expectations require also Mittelstand firms to address sustainability issues such as climate change. This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of sustainability in the Mittelstand context by examining different Mittelstand actors and the three dimensions of sustainability - social, economic, and environmental sustainability - in four quantitative studies. The first two studies focus on the social relevance and economic performance of hidden champions, a niche market leading subgroup of Mittelstand firms. At the regional level, the impact of 1,645 hidden champions located in Germany on various dimensions of regional development is examined. A higher concentration of hidden champions has a positive effect on regional employment, median income, and patents. At the firm level, analyses of a panel dataset of 4,677 German manufacturing firms, including 617 hidden champions, show that the latter have a higher return on assets than other Mittelstand firms. The following two chapters deal with environmental strategies and thus contribute to the exploration of the environmental dimension of sustainability. First, the consideration of climate aspects in investment decisions is compared using survey data from 468 European venture capital and private equity investors. While private equity firms respond to external stakeholders and portfolio performance and pursue an active ownership strategy, venture capital firms are motivated by product differentiation and make impact investments. Finally, based on survey data from 443 medium-sized manufacturing firms in Germany, 54% of which are family-owned, the impact of stakeholder pressures on their decarbonization strategies is analyzed. A distinction is made between symbolic (compensation of CO₂-emissions) and substantive decarbonization strategies (reduction of CO₂-emissions). Stakeholder pressures lead to a proactive pursuit of decarbonization strategies, with internal and external stakeholders varying in their influence on symbolic and substantial decarbonization strategies, and the relationship influenced by family ownership.

This thesis is comprised of three projects, all of which are fundamentally connected to the choices that individuals make about stock investments. Differences in stock market participation (SMP) across countries are large and difficult to explain. The second chapter focuses on differences between Germany (low SMP) and East Asian countries (mostly high SMP). The study hypothesis is that cultural differences regarding social preferences and attitudes towards inequality lead to different attitudes towards stock markets and subsequently to different SMPs. Using a large-scale survey, it is found that these factors can, indeed, explain a substantial amount of the country differences that other known factors (financial literacy, risk preferences, etc.) could not. This suggests that social preferences should be given a more central role in programs that aim to enhance SMP in countries like Germany. The third chapter documented the importance of trust as well as herding for stock ownership decisions. The findings show that trust as a general concept has no significant contribution to stock investment intention. A thorough examination of general trust elements reveals that in group and out-group trust have an impact on individual stock market investment. Higher out group trust directly influences a person's decision to invest in stocks, whereas higher in-group trust increases herding attitudes in stock investment decisions and thus can potentially increase the likelihood of stock investments as well. The last chapter investigates the significance of personality traits in stock investing and home bias in portfolio selection. Findings show that personality traits do indeed have a significant impact on stock investment and portfolio allocation decisions. Despite the fact that the magnitude and significance of characteristics differ between two groups of investors, inexperienced and experienced, conscientiousness and neuroticism play an important role in stock investments and preferences. Moreover, high conscientiousness scores increase stock investment desire and portfolio allocation to risky assets like stocks, discouraging home bias in asset allocation. Regarding neuroticism, a higher-level increases home bias in portfolio selection and decreases willingness to stock investment and portfolio share. Finally, when an investor has no prior experience with portfolio selection, patriotism generates home bias. For experienced investors, having a low neuroticism score and a high conscientiousness and openness score seemed to be a constant factor in deciding to invest in a well-diversified international portfolio