A concern is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 type of business group

Business group

A corporate group is a collection of parent and subsidiary corporations that function as a single economic entity through a common source of control. The concept of a group is frequently used in tax law, accounting and company law to attribute the rights and duties of one member of the group to...

. It results from the merger of several legally independent companies an economic entity under unified management. These associated companies called "Group" companies.

A Group consists of a parent company

Parent company

A parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company...

 and one or more subsidiaries

Subsidiary

A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...

. A special form of organisation of Groups, the Holding Organisation

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

.

Outside of professionals, the term Group, also mistakenly within the meaning of large companies – regardless of its corporate structure – is understood.

The Group concept is one of anti-trust

European Union competition law

European Union competition law arose out of the desire to ensure that the efforts of government could not be distorted by corporations abusing their market power. Hence under the treaties are provisions to ensure that free competition prevails, rather than cartels and monopolies sharing out markets...

 relevance: the so-called Group privilege, the privilege

Privilege

A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth...

 of the consolidated Group companies involved, means that in itself, prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...

 included practices did not violate German

Law of Germany

The modern German legal system is a system of law which is founded on the principles laid out by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, though many of the most important laws as for example most regulations of the civil code were developed prior to the 1949 constitution...

 or European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 (EC) anti-trust law. On the other hand, the group concept in Banking Act in the formation of borrower unit and particularly of the large credit limits of paramount importance.

The legal Group – term

The German Stock Corporation Act defines the Group as follows: "If one dominant and one or more dependent companies under the unified leadership of the ruling company together, they form a Group and the individual companies are affiliated companies" (Section 18).

The key essence of the Group is the summary of legally independent companies under a single management. The single line is a vague legal concept, in which the legislators aware of a specific waived. After prevailing opinion is the single line if a company other company actually controlled. After the position of Group companies differs further in the law equal regulatory concerns and subordination Groups.

Equal planning Groups

Characteristic of equal Atomic Group is the equal status of the Group. There is, in this case, there is no dominant companies, but the governing bodies are in mutual adjustment contract. This may take the form of an advisory board or a human interdependence of the management of participating companies.

Subordination Groups

In practice more often is the form of subordination Group. These companies dependent under the direction of a single dominant company. A dependence of the subordinate enterprises occurs when the dominant companies to directly or indirectly exert a dominant influence, although this power must not be exercised, but it is sufficient if only the opportunity to do so.

There are further three forms of subordination group, each with varying degree of integration:

Integration Group

Integration is the most intense form of the Group. It occurs when a corporation to another domestic 'Aktiengesellschaft

Aktiengesellschaft

Aktiengesellschaft is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e. owned by shareholders, and may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland...

' (AG) is taken. The Company reserves here after its independence in foreign, interior to act but as an operating division. Requirement is a majority-owned by at least 95%. In economic terms, the inclusion of a merger, or merger very close.

Contracting Group

A contractor will be consolidated by a controlling agreement Sid Section 291 founded. A controlling agreement entitles the dominant company, the chairman of the dependent company with regard to the management of the company to issue. This deposit law is comprehensive and is thus detrimental for instructions, unless they contradict the consolidated interest or constitutes a threat to the existence dependent companies dare. Precondition for the conclusion of the contract is a three-quarter majority in the General Assembly of both companies. The comprehensive legal remittance companies obtained the legal ruling the full management of the business dependent society.

Fauktischer Group

If neither control nor a contract inclusion, we speak under the following conditions of a proper group: There is a dependency ratio meaning of Section 17, the dependent company is a corporation (AG, Inc, Ltd., a corresponding application of section 17 on partnerships is already there because of the prevailing principle of unanimous decision-making on basic business management measures hardly possible) and the dominant company has the possibility to influence the dependent companies. Basis for the influence of the dominant company in principle constitutes a majority stake, which means the capital and / or majority. This influence may however not be used, the dependent society to a negative business for them to comply unless the disadvantages are balanced. This disadvantage, however, is compensatory in practice both the nature and the extent to difficult.

Business Group forms

Another distinctive feature of the different structure

Structure

Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society...

 groups. There are many types of these weird and small business group that form.

Vertical Group

As a Group called vertical corporations, the upstream and downstream stages of the actual value

Value (economics)

An economic value is the worth of a good or service as determined by the market.The economic value of a good or service has puzzled economists since the beginning of the discipline. First, economists tried to estimate the value of a good to an individual alone, and extend that definition to goods...

 and power generation include a broad spectrum

Spectrum

A spectrum is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by...

 of the service providing cover themselves and not by outside companies. Example would be a corporate group

Corporate group

A corporate group is a collection of parent and subsidiary corporations that function as a single economic entity through a common source of control. The concept of a group is frequently used in tax law, accounting and company law to attribute the rights and duties of one member of the group to...

 European Coal and Steel Community

European Coal and Steel Community

The European Coal and Steel Community was a six-nation international organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and create the foundation for the modern-day developments of the European Union...

, both coal and iron ore and steel degrades produced and possibly also marketed.

However, this Group now form part outdated – it is in modern economic

Economy

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

 often seen as uneconomical. Materials

Raw material

A raw material or feedstock is the basic material from which a product is manufactured or made, frequently used with an extended meaning. For example, the term is used to denote material that came from nature and is in an unprocessed or minimally processed state. Latex, iron ore, logs, and crude...

 for processing, supply parts to produce is no longer itself, but buys them in changing suppliers about the best prices. Example of this form of production, Lean Production would be companies in the automotive industry

Automotive industry

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....

, such as Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturing group. , Volkswagen was ranked as the world’s third largest motor vehicle manufacturer and Europe's largest....

.

Conglomerate

(inorganic groups)
The conglomerate

Conglomerate (company)

A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...

 consists of enterprises in different areas. The individual companies have limited business relationships with each other. As multi-national corporations are also those groups designated locations in several states.

Criticism of corporations

The result of the merger often emerging political power of (wholesale) companies has been criticised for their formation. The critics can be divided into three groups:

1. 'Politics. Political criticism about the group size are reflected in the European Union competition law
   European Union competition law
   European Union competition law arose out of the desire to ensure that the efforts of government could not be distorted by corporations abusing their market power. Hence under the treaties are provisions to ensure that free competition prevails, rather than cartels and monopolies sharing out markets...
   
    and anti-trust laws
   Competition law
   Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies....
   
   .
2. 'Church. The Church's criticism comes as a rule of the Christian (Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox) social teaching (or corporate ethics
   Business ethics
   Business ethics is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations.Business...
   
   ).
3. 'Society. Social criticism can be found since the formation of the labour movement
   Labour movement
   The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
   
   , especially in the currents of

• Social democracy
  Social democracy
  Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
  
  
• Marxism
  Marxism
  Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
  
  

Since the emergence of New Social Movements

Social movement

Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....

 companies are also in the field of view of:

• Environmental movement
  Environmental movement
  The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
  
   and
• Anti-globalization movement
  Anti-globalization movement
  The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalisation movement, is critical of the globalization of corporate capitalism. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or...
  
   (see Black Book brand companies)

advised.