EUROPEAN FORUM ALPBACH 2011: ECONOMIC SYMPOSIUM

When: August 31, 19:00 – 20:30
Where: Alpbach/Tyrol, Erwin Schroedinger-Saal
Chair: Richard Straub, President, Peter Drucker Society Europe, Wien
Keynote: Jan Timmer, former CEO Royal Philips Electronics, Oisterwijk,Abstract Timer

Panel:

Helmut Bernkopf, Mitglied des Vorstandes, UniCredit Bank Austria AG, Wien
Johannes Bischof, Geschäftsführer, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Austria GmbH, Wien
Petra Jenner, Geschäftsführerin, Microsoft Österreich GmbH, Wien
Andreas Muther, Geschäftsführer, SAP Österreich GmbH, Wien
Georg Obermeier, Vorsitzender der Geschäftsführung, T-Systems Austria GmbH, Wien

This special lecture has been held the first time at the occasion of the Peter Drucker Centennial in 2009. With its third edition in 2011 it has become a recurrent feature of the Alpbach Economic Symposium.

While the Drucker lecture is not specifically about Peter Drucker it builds on fundamental questions that were important to him and are relevant for today's management. It is also related to the 2011 Global Peter Drucker Forum to be held in Vienna on November 3 and 4 with the theme "A quest for Legitimacy - how Managers can shape the Future".

Abstract

The recent financial crisis has demonstrated the tension between formal regulation and responsibility of management. According to Peter Drucker the first responsibility of management is to achieve economic success for their core business without knowingly doing harm to others. Yet, managers do not operate in a vacuum - they are subject to market forces and to the demands of capital markets. Can managers be trusted to act responsibly or do they need to be guided by heavy regulation? What is the right balance between regulation and self-control with regard to risk and opportunities for society?