The Financial Crisis has reshuffled the global economy and shown the complexity of financial markets worldwide. Increasing volatility in fast-paced markets adds to a growing complex financial system that seems impossible to control. In the Panel “The Global Market Square” we aim to analyse the recent situation of the financial market and discuss the effects of regulations. Furthermore we are going to highlight global commodity markets and question their potential for the future.

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Today we are living in a world full of complex systems, also increasingly in the Digital World, which influence one another mutually. Digital Media and Modern Communication Channels are gaining importance in our society and seem to be a catalyst for extensive changes of our social and economic systems. The term “Social Media” describes a whole range of digital media and technologies that serves as a platform to exchange ideas and experiences. It’s rapid development and growth in just a few years is peerless. The ever-increasing implementations in different areas of our lives have also aroused the interests of the economy and politics. Consequently modern communication channels are gaining more and more share of external, but also internal corporate communication strategies. During the Interactive Session ”Modern Communication“ we want to take a deeper look on the developments and changes that the evolution of the Digital World brought up. How can we cope with the change of power relations between users and companies? Is our society system already on an irresistible route to the “transparent society“ in the Digital World? How can the economy take economic advantage of this trend? Should they even be allowed to do so? How will this trend continue, when the generation of “Digital Natives” conquers the business world?

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Our perception of Africa is often associated with ignorance. Who knows that Ghana has a projected GDP growth of 14% and Eritrea of 10% in 2011? That Africa’s share of the world’s total amount of uncultivated arable land is 60%? That it will have a collective GDP of 2.6 trillion in nine years? Or that it will have the world’s largest workforce in 2040? In the Panel “Go World – Go Africa” we want to have a closer look on Africa as an economic partner, an Africa that outpaced the world’s growth rate in 2010. The Sub-Sahara region will be of major interest in our discussion although not forgetting to highlight the recent developments in North Africa. Besides the immense importance of natural resources for countries like Angola or Nigeria, many African countries (e.g. Zambia, South-Africa or Kenya) come up with diversified economies. Key sectors besides agriculture are telecommunication, tourism, construction, finance, the food-processing sector or business services. These sectors for sure offer “hot” investment opportunities not only for local but also for international companies. Many companies have already noticed Africa’s chances, investing billions of Euros in the continent. However the challenges of doing business in Africa cannot be neglected. The panelists will discuss approaches to deal with cultural differences, low levels of good governance, poor leadership, limited infrastructure and insufficient policies. Furthermore we will highlight the importance of internal African organizations, such as the African Union, or the future of the “Africa Free Trade Zone”.

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The European Union is, on the one hand, the world’s most successful project of regional integration and has gained enormous power in international politics and economics. On the other hand, the decision about Greece’s future demonstrates how complex and intransparent interdependencies are within the union. It is not evident, who is responsible for which decision. How can interests and different standpoints of political and business actors be united and accommodated in the end?

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Which requirements for managers and leaders are imposed by the "global village" and the challenges of our time? How can interconnections in the globalized world be organized and managed? Entrepreneurs and managers are central actors within the complex economic system. Modern value added chains generate networks of companies that are crucial competitors in contrast to former singular companies in rivalry.

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Along with economy and politics, the task of managing complexity is an important topic in many fields. Researches to complexity occur long since in biology and social science. In times of increasing complexity it is necessary to search for solutions beyond ordinary methods. Especially in global companies, the growing network between all stakeholders becomes a difficult task. Experience of scientists can and should be used to extend common models and find answers for living causes. The Interactive Session "Complexity Science in Business" will display various fields in which complexity is appreciable. By first taking a look at successful implantation of scientific models in companies, the adaptability of unlikely fields in complexity science will be proved. Therefore experts from different fields in research and business will come together in an interdisciplinary discussion to debate about the usability of complexity science in business. Particularly we want to outline the worth of research in human decision making for possible changes in marketing. By concentrating on the fact of swarm intelligence, we want to discuss the possible transferability of schools of fish to human groups. How can organizational structures in companies be changed? How can we extend marketing with knowledge of consumer behavior in groups? The task for companies could be to use the positive effects of complex systems and otherwise how to handle the negative aspects of complexity. Maybe we can find a general approach how to manage complex systems profitable.

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An increasing degree of globalization implies a more and more complex corporate value creation. Research, production and sales take place in every part of the word. Value chains encompass the entire globe and contain a variety of challenges. Different stages of production take place at different production sites, products are then distributed globally. Therefore supply chains play a major role. However, due to our highly dynamic economy, they are affected by enormous volatility and the risk of a system failure cannot be ignored regarding the sensitive interdependencies. As requirements towards the operations of companies highly diverge from region to region, companies with a multinational presence face an increasing complexity within and outside of their corporate perimeters. Dealing with employees and consumers, companies have to build bridges between different social values and their own philosophy. If a company manages to do this successfully, new markets and opportunities emerge, especially for the industrial sector.

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