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Jürgen Habermas is one of the most important authors in contemporary philosophy. In this chapter, we analyse his contribution to the philosophical debate on universalism and relativism and consider its implications for organization studies and organizations operating in an intercultural environment. We briefly describe the critique of a universal concept of reason that has been forwarded by sceptical and postmodern philosophers. As a response to this critique, we outline the contribution of discourse ethics and analyse the theories of Jürgen Habermas and his colleague Karl-Otto Apel. We explore the justification of discourse ethics and point out some problems in its argumentative logic. In the light of this critique, we outline some characteristics of an intercultural ethics that is based on constructivist philosophy and point to some encouraging prospects on the consolidation of the debate between relativistic and universalistic philosophers.

Wind turbines are of growing importance for the production of renewable energy. The kinetic energy of the blowing air induces a rotary motion and is thus converted into electricity. From the mechanical point of view the complex dynamics of wind turbines become a matter of interest for structural optimization and optimal control in order to improve stability and energy efficiency. The purpose of this paper therefore is to present a mechanical model of a three‐blade wind turbine with a momentum and energy conserving time integration of the system.

The authors present a mechanical model based upon a rotationless formulation of rigid body dynamics coupled with flexible components. The resulting set of differential‐algebraic equations will be solved by using energy‐consistent time‐stepping schemes. Rigid and orthotropic‐elastic body models of a wind turbine show the robustness and accuracy of these schemes for the relevant problem.

Numerical studies prove that physically consistent time‐stepping schemes provide reliable results, especially for hybrid wind turbine models.

The application of energy‐consistent methods for time discretization is intended to provide computational robustness and to reduce the computational costs of the dynamical wind turbine systems. The model is aimed to give a first access into the investigation of fluid‐structure interaction for wind turbines.

Continuum‐atomistic modeling denotes a mixed approach combining the usual framework of continuum mechanics with atomistic features like e.g. interaction potentials. Thereby, the kinematics are typically characterized by the so called Cauchy‐Born rule representing atomic distance vectors in the spatial configuration as an affine mapping of the atomic distance vectors in the material configuration in terms of the local deformation gradient. The application of the Cauchy‐Born rule requires sufficiently homogeneous deformations of the underlying crystal. The model is no more valid if the deformation becomes inhomogeneous. By virtue of the Cauchy‐Born hypothesis, a localization criterion has been derived in terms of the loss of infinitesimal rank‐1 convexity of the strain energy density. According to this criterion, a numerical yield condition has been computed for two different interatomic energy functions. Therewith, the range of the Cauchy‐Born rule validity has been defined, since the strain energy density remains quasiconvex only within the computed yield surface. To provide a possibility to continue the simulation of material response after the loss of quasiconvexity, a relaxation procedure proposed by Tadmor et al. [1] leading necessarily to the development of microstructures has been used. Alternatively to the above mentioned criterion, a stability criterion has been applied to detect the critical deformation. For the study in the postcritical region, the path‐change procedure proposed by Wagner and Wriggers [2] has been adapted for the continuum‐atomistics and modified.

The computation of structures moving in central force fields generally requires long‐time integration including geometrically nonlinear behavior (large rotations) as such, e.g. satellite structures move for a long time. To achieve a numerically stable computation the energy momentum method which fulfills linear and angular momentum as well as energy conservation within the time step is chosen for the time integration. The focus in the contribution is on Hamiltonian systems. A formulation for the gravitational force in a central force field as external force on a rigid or flexible satellite is given. The presented formulation enables the computation of the exact spatial distribution of the gravitational forces acting on a structure using the FE‐discretization which is necessary to analyze, e.g. the orientation of a satellite in a gravitational field. The fulfillment of the conservation laws within the time step is proved. The necessity for considering the spatial distribution of the gravitational forces is discussed based on numerical examples.

The present paper takes a look at the particularities of German strategy research over the last three decades. In contrast to much of the Anglo-Saxon research, which has focused on competition as a guiding concept in theorizing about strategy, German research has typically been concerned with more fundamental questions about the general relationship between organizations and their environments and, as a result, tended to be more conceptual than empirical. Researchers have been particularly influenced by the German sociological and philosophical traditions, specifically by the critical theory of Jürgen Habermas and by the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann. Also, there are authors who draw on the economic tradition of the Austrian School in order to develop a competence-based theory of the firm. Another branch builds on Anthony Giddens's structuration theory and Jacques Derrida's philosophy of deconstruction. As we will demonstrate, much of the research has been concerned with fundamental theoretical tensions: evolution vs. planning, selection vs. compensation, cognitive–instrumental rationality vs. moral–practical rationality, etc. We note that, as a consequence, much of German strategy research shows a particular interest in paradoxa and oxymora (such as ‘planned evolution’, ‘productive misunderstandings’ or ‘unfocused monitoring’). This paper will identify and explore important strands of German strategy research and discuss its particularities compared to mainstream strategy research in the United States.

The paper aims to integrate central ideas about corporate ethics into an overall framework of corporate governance in modern market economies. A proposal for an adequate understanding of corporate ethics is outlined and, with this understanding as a background, problems of justification and implementation of corporate ethics are to be discussed.

In its philosophical part, the paper draws heavily on ideas developed around the German philosophical school of “methodological constructivism” (not to be confused with “radical constructivism”) which goes back to the works of Lorenzen, Mittelstraß, Kambartel, Gethmann, Janich, Wohlrapp et al. and which unfolds and defends a concept which C.F. Gethmann proposed to designate as “cultural pragmatism” as against the concept of “natural pragmatism” which originated in the USA. In its management part the paper relies on an interpretive approach to understand (reconstruct) the “raison d'être” of the private corporation in today's market economies and its implications for management and management theory.

The process of justification of norms, intended to give useful orientation to our common life, must start on the pragmatic (instead of the semantic) level by reconstructing those basic differences and notions which have (thus far) proven as being successful for the coordination human actions. This is in our case the difference between peaceful conflict resolution (which is dialogic in character) and the use of power (in its manyfold forms). Corporate ethics is, thus, understood here as a dialogical concept which contributes to the public interest (and national law) of making peace in and between societies more stable, and this by peacefully solving such conflicts with corporate stakeholders which result (or may result) from the choice of means (strategy) with which a corporation tries to make profits. It is in this capacity that corporate ethics adds a second dimension to the economic responsibility of management of private corporations which is to make sufficient profits (for the firm to survive under competitive conditions). This second dimension is part of what is called today corporate social responsibility. Integrating corporate ethics into the management process (planning, organizing, staffing, directing, control) requires that the principle of “primacy of corporate ethics” dominates all decisions and activities of the corporation, especially in dilemma situations.

The paper is part of the old dispute (in management theory, company law, etc.) about the “modern corporation and private property” stimulated (anew) through the seminal work of Berle/Means as early as 1932 and, later on, through institutional economics (“corporate governance”). It contributes to this discussion the proposal to integrate some (new) philosophical ideas of “cultural pragmatism” (a term proposed by the German philosopher C.F. Gethmann to mark the difference to the well‐known “natural pragmatism” which originated in the USA) into management theory; moreover, some steps are made towards a conceptional framework of corporate ethics with the aim in mind to gain a new understanding of the relationship between private business and the public interest.

The objective of this work is to develop an element technology to recover the plane stress response without any plane stress specific modifications in the large strain regime. Therefore, the essential feature of the proposed element formulation is an interface to arbitrary three‐dimensional constitutive laws. The easily implemented and computational cheap four‐noded element is characterized by coarse mesh accuracy and the satisfaction of the plane stress constraint in a weak sense. A number of example problems involving arbitrary small and large strain constitutive models demonstrate the excellent performance of the concept pursued in this work.

It has been usual to prefer an enrichment pattern independent of the mesh when applying singular functions in the Generalized/eXtended finite element method (G/XFEM). This choice, when modeling crack tip singularities through extrinsic enrichment, has been understood as the only way to surpass the typical poor convergence rate obtained with the finite element method (FEM), on uniform or quasi-uniform meshes conforming to the crack. Then, the purpose of this study is to revisit the topological enrichment strategy in the light of a higher-order continuity obtained with a smooth partition of unity (PoU). Aiming to verify the smoothness' impacts on the blending phenomenon, a series of numerical experiments is conceived to compare the two GFEM versions: the conventional one, based on piecewise continuous PoU's, and another which considers PoU's with high-regularity.

The stress approximations right at the crack tip vicinity are qualified by focusing on crack severity parameters. For this purpose, the material forces method originated from the configurational mechanics is employed. Some attempts to improve solution using different polynomial enrichment schemes, besides the singular one, are discussed aiming to verify the transition/blending effects. A classical two-dimensional problem of the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) is solved, considering the pure mode I and the mixed-mode loadings.

The results reveal that, in the presence of smooth PoU's, the topological enrichment can still be considered as a suitable strategy for extrinsic enrichment. First, because such an enrichment pattern still can treat the crack independently of the mesh and deliver some advantage in terms of convergence rates, under certain conditions, when compared to the conventional FEM. Second, because the topological pattern demands fewer degrees of freedom and impacts conditioning less than the geometrical strategy.

Several outputs are presented, considering estimations for the J–integral and the angle of probable crack advance, this last computed from two different strategies to monitoring blending/transition effects, besides some comments about conditioning. Both h- and p-behaviors are displayed to allow a discussion from different points of view concerning the topological enrichment in smooth GFEM.

This paper aims to develop a finite element analysis strategy, which is suitable for the analysis of progressive failure that occurs in pressure-dependent materials in practical engineering problems.

The numerical difficulties stemming from the strain-softening behaviour of the frictional material, which is represented by a non-associated Drucker–Prager material model, is tackled using the Cosserat continuum theory, while the mixed finite element formulation based on Hu–Washizu variational principle is adopted to allow the utilization of low-order finite elements.

The effectiveness and robustness of the low-order finite element are verified, and the simulation for a real-world landslide which occurred at the upstream side of Carsington embankment in Derbyshire reconfirms the advantages of the developed elastoplastic Cosserat continuum scheme in capturing the entire progressive failure process when the strain-softening and the non-associated plastic law are involved.

The permit of using low-order finite elements is of great importance to enhance computational efficiency for analysing large-scale engineering problems. The case study reconfirms the advantages of the developed elastoplastic Cosserat continuum scheme in capturing the entire progressive failure process when the strain-softening and the non-associated plastic law are involved.