Wirksamkeit von Managemententscheidungen bei Veränderung des Unternehmensumfelds bei mittelständischen Auftragsfertigern im Maschinenbau

Enterprises often need to base important decisions for their future on very few pieces of information. Facing increasing competition due to technological progress and decreasing growth of economy, it becomes more and more complex to take long term decisions which support corporate value. Especially medium-sized engineering companies who operate a make-to-order business are strongly affected by changes in the environment because such changes even enforce inherent difficulties of this kind of business, like high volatility of turnover due to the discontinuous order intake resulting from project-oriented structures. Current literature suggests the use of early warning- and risk management systems to prevent wrong and outlines several techniques for strategic planning and decision making. Neither management efforts nor the existence of this broad range of literature nor changes in commercial law in Austria seem to decrease the number of bankruptcies since the 1990s. This thesis focuses on the question what strategic actions engineering companies shall take upon on changes in their environment in order to utilize this change and create long term success for them. The methodology is based on Mayring´s qualitative research approach to analyze medium sized engineering companies with make to order production. The pragmatic approach uses material from interviews of members of the top management to explore the decision-making behavior of companies during upcoming changes of their environment. The focus of the analysis is set on those change-triggered strategic decisions which directly or indirectly affect long term profitability and subsequent company value. The interest lies in the understanding of approach and motivation feeding the chosen reaction as well as the root causes for mistakes leading to entrepreureal crisis. This here conducted empiric study of decision-making behavior in engineering sector lacks something comparable in literature. The study explains why strategic mistakes happen in practice and why personal interests are often given priority against the welfare of the company. Enlightening explanations of current management practice are being drawn from this analysis and their conclusions are compiled to a guide for navigating through situations of environmental change in order to support company value on long term sight.