Comments on Lothar Funk’s Chapter

During the socialist era, companies in East Germany became much weaker than firms in West Germany in terms of technology and competitiveness. In large part, this may be rooted in the different incentive structures of the two systems: whereas in the West, the criterion for companies’ success was their ability to remain in business and generate income in a contestable market environment, firms in the East were required to fulfil a plan to which they were subjected without having their opinions considered.