This volume documents the results of the first phase of the subproject "Operations and Employment in Transition" within the Collaborative Research Center 580 of the universities of Jena and Halle. The work began on a beautiful spring day in the year 2000. Christoph Köhler and Olaf Struck were walking in the Blockland area of Bremen. Before them lay the expanse of the marshland with contentedly grazing cows, above them the northern sky. However, unlike the ruminants, who were free from the trials of the scientific system, the two hikers were preoccupied with a problem. For over ten years, Christoph Köhler had researched operational production modernization in an international comparison at ISF Munich, in Spain, and the USA, and he wanted to shift his focus back to the macro level of societies and return to his roots in labor market research. He had been appointed to Jena.