Deceleration: revealed preference in society and win-win-strategy for sustainable management : concept and exprimental evidence

Until recently decelerationʺ has been little recognized as a technical term, or as an idea. However, it seems to be getting more attention now. For example the German magazine STERN dedicated a cover story to deceleration, in the Anglo-American world the Quiet Life Hypothesisʺ is gaining followers, the Heidelberger Club für Wirtschaft und Kulturʺ dedicated its annual meeting in 1998 to deceleration, and the competition for the German Study Award of the Körber Foundation in 2002 had the motto Speed the accelerated world.? In Italy you can even study Slow Foodʺ and along German motorways you find signs with the slogan be relaxed - just discover.ʺ Without any doubt, time is a decisive factor for the productivity and competitive advantages of companies. But more speed by continual, or even accelerated, acceleration may well be counter-productive and lead to an acceleration paradoxʺ - for example by product life cycles that are too short and therefore increase the share of R&D-costs or by Pyrrhusʺ victories, that lead to the winner’s curseʺ instead of a stable market position. This acceleration paradox may show up in consumption, too. Consuming requires time and therefore competitors not only fight for their share of the consumers ́cost budget, but also for their share of the consumers ́time budget. It is this time budget, that must be split up into productive, consumptive and in all other leisure activities, such as going for a walk or playing chess, that are neither productive nor consumptive in an economic sense. The wide range of consumption goods in narrow markets and the increase in consumed goods and services together with the already mentioned shorter life cycles, e.g. of computers, cell phones or electronic equipment, are perceived by the consumers more and more as acceleration and personal burden. Speed can threaten the happinessʺ of the consumers and so acceleration may become an acceleration trapʺ for business and society. The term decelerationʺ seems to be adequate for describing the opposite of acceleration. ...