EN
The study is based on a written survey of managers from major German, Austrian and Swiss companies held in July/August/September 2003. With a total of 91 questionnaires - including nine companies listed on the DAX 30 - the return rate was more than 20 percent. Given the demanding and time consuming questionnaire, this is quite a substantial value. Management consultants from Capgemini developed the study concept, analysed the data and illustrated the results in coordination with the three media partners. Change management and the associated thematic areas are not clearly defined, neither in theory nor in practice. Just defining the subject leads to diverging associations and perceptions. For this reason, extensive pre-tests in several iterations were held with management to dissect and optimise the questionnaire. The result was certainly a demanding and time-consuming yet comprehensible questionnaire for a written survey, enriched by the ideas from the pre-tests. It consisted of a total of 15 question complexes (up to five sub-questions; both closed and open answer categories). This enabled us to keep the rate of 'missing answers' very low, even for difficult questions.