In the mid-60s, the executives of a minuscule football club from southern Germany, Bayern Munich, travelled north to Cologne to visit the country&rsquo;s most successful team. They wanted to learn how to run a professional sports club. And, learn they did. Bayern has dominated the Bundesliga, Germany&rsquo;s professional league, ever since.

Earn it like Bayern

Business Standard

In many ways, German industry is the envy of the world. Ironically, the country&rsquo;s oldest industrial behemoth has been in dire straits for a decade. ThyssenKrupp has been through an orgy of mismanagement, and is struggling to recover.

Steely decisions

German officials discussing the euro zone&rsquo;s banking union these days insist they prefer thoroughness over speed. External observers easily mistake this insistence as an attempt to procrastinate. However, concluding that Germany is trying to derail the project by delaying it indefinitely is a misconception.

Slow, but no 'no'

Finding the perfect Christmas gift can be tricky. Good ideas for presents are often scarcer than financial resources. Hence the temptation to offset poor creativity with sheer spending power. Who cares if the present is dull, if it was expensive? In fact, such a strategy can backfire if the purpose is to seek the receiver&rsquo;s sympathy. Small presents may be more persuasive than big ones, according to the findings of economists Ulrike Malmendier and Klaus M Schmidt.

Olaf Storbeck

Olaf Storbeck

Page 6 - Olaf Storbeck

Earn it like Bayern

Steely decisions

Slow, but no 'no'

Tailoring gifts