American corporate ideals can lead to economic misconduct. Look at Germany, argues Willem Verbeke of the Erasmus School of Economics. Thirty years ago, Robert Hayes and William Abernathy, in their article Managing our way to economic decline, called managers of companies undisguisedly "pseudoprofessionals. These viewed their companies as banks that primarily serve the short-term financial interests of shareholders. They are concerned, according to Hayes and Abernathy, with assembling the broadest possible portfolio of companies rather than developing their core competencies. They focus little on developing innovations.