Dear all,  
  
   
  
Avoiding excessive competition (_ruin=F6ser Wettbewerb_) is one of the =  
topics of the German and Austrian literature on cartels of the 19th and =  
beginning 20th century that started with:  
  
Friedrich Kleinwaechter: Die Kartelle. Ein Beitrag zur Frage der =  
Organisation der Volkswirthschaft, Innsbruck 1883.  
  
   
  
In the beginning of the 20th century the German Parliament (_Reichstag_) =  
established a commission in order to investigate the legal and economic =  
structure of the different industrial cartels. Avoiding 'excessive =  
competition' was always a crucial argument to enter cartels - and the =  
German authorities accepted this perception; see:  
  
Kontradiktorische Verhandlungen =FCber deutsche Kartelle. Die vom =  
Reichsamt des Innern angestellten Erhebungen =FCber das inl=E4ndische =  
Kartellwesen in Protokollen und Berichten, Berlin 1903pp. - editions on =  
different industries.  
  
Robert W. Liefmann: Kartelle und Trusts und die Weiterbildung =  
volkswirtschaftlicher Organisation, 2nd ed. Stuttgart 1910.  
  
Robert W. Liefmann: Cartels, Concerns and Trusts ... With an =  
introduction by D. H. Macgregor, London 1932.  
  
Robert W. Liefmann: International cartels, combines and trusts : a =  
record of discussion on cartels at the International Economic Conference =  
and a summary of legislation on cartels, London (Europa Publishing) =  
1927.  
  
   
  
Schmalenbachs' theory of the _Fixkostenfalle_ (fixed costs pitfall) =  
enlarged the German discussion on 'excessive competition' in the end of =  
the 1920s. He argued that companies with high fixed costs were not able =  
to adapt industrial capacities to worsening market conditions without =  
entering 'ruinous competition', see:  
  
Eugen Schmalenbach: Die Betriebswirtschaftslehre an der Schwelle der =  
neuen Wirtschaftsverfassung, In: Zeitschrift f=FCr =  
handelswissenschaftliche Forschung 22 (1928), No. 5, pp.241-251  
  
  
Alfred Reckendrees