American bankruptcy law lets a company reorganize and continue rather than liquidate. The business keeps trading while it restructures. Iteration written into commercial law: the failure is a state to pass through, not an ending.
economics
The ticker
American financial markets publish a continuously changing price for every listed security, and the process is called price discovery. The word discovery is doing the work. The price is not set and then announced. It is found, repeatedly, and it is never final.
The equity ratio
Eigenkapitalquote. German Mittelstand companies carry notably high equity ratios by international standards, and treat it as a matter of prudence rather than inefficiency. Debt is capacity you have already spent. Equity is the buffer that lets a firm survive a year it did not plan for.
Rework is the expensive failure
Nacharbeit — rework. A named cost category in German manufacturing accounting, tracked separately from scrap and from warranty claims. The number exists because somebody decided it was worth knowing what correcting things costs. Once it is measured, the argument for deciding correctly the first time makes itself.
Surge pricing
The price of a ride changes with demand, minute to minute, and the passenger is shown a multiplier before accepting. It generated substantial public complaint and it did not go away. The argument that won was that the price is doing its job.
Provisions
Rückstellungen. German firms are required to make provisions for uncertain future obligations — pensions, warranties, litigation, maintenance not yet carried out. The money is set aside against a thing that has not happened yet and may not. The obligation to reserve arises from the possibility.
The full cost calculation
German business education teaches Vollkostenrechnung — costing that carries every overhead through to the product, rather than looking only at the additional cost of one more unit. A decision taken on marginal cost looks better than it is. The German training insists on seeing what the thing actually consumes.
Yield management
American Airlines built the practice in the 1980s: the same seat on the same flight sold at many different prices depending on when it was bought, by whom, and under what conditions. It spread to hotels, car rental, cruise lines and events. An entire American industry is built on the proposition that a fixed price leaves money unclaimed.
The principle of unequal treatment
Das Imparitätsprinzip. The principle of unequal treatment. Risks and losses are booked when they become likely. Gains are booked only when realised. The asymmetry is deliberate and named. The German accounting system treats bad news and good news differently on purpose.
Hidden reserves
Stille Reserven. German commercial law permits hidden reserves — assets carried below their real value, so that value is available later if it is needed. International accounting standards prohibit their deliberate creation outright. German law treats them as prudence. The two systems disagree about whether understating your own strength is a virtue or a misstatement.