Management responses to the global financial crisis in Germany: adjustment mechanisms at establishment level

Between 2008 and 2010, the German economy faced the most serious economic downturn since the Second World War. The German Federal government, the state governments and the social partners have introduced and/or adapted a wide range of policy instruments to cope with the situation. Companies affected by the crisis have applied a number of adjustment policies, ranging from the exploration of new markets to wage reductions to redundancies. This article reports on and analyses the impact of the global financial crisis at company level, focussing on management responses among those establishments that were affected by the crisis. Drawing on representative data form the German Job Vacancy Survey, it investigates internal and external influences on the company's choice of establishment-specific adjustment policies.