Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,0, University of Applied Sciences Hamburg, language: English, abstract: Today, companies have to change faster and more frequently than ever before in order to withstand increasing competition and thus secure their own existence and the continued existence of the company. The reason for the fundamentally unstatic situation of every company quickly becomes clear when looking at our economic system; a company does not act in isolation on the market but in interaction with the corporate environment. The corporate environment, in turn, consists of various components with changing interests, and is thus naturally subject to dynamic processes of change that influence the company and its actions. A current example of this can be found in the automotive industry; due to the increased environmental awareness of consumers, manufacturers are investing far more in the development of low-consumption and low-emission alternative solutions than they did 10 years ago. These dynamic developments are both a risk and an opportunity for a company to assert itself on the market and to consolidate and expand its own position. However, the challenges and necessary changes must be recognised and accepted, concepts and strategies must be developed and implemented in order to position the company successfully in the long term. For such fundamental strategic changes, a separate field of expertise has developed over the years: Change management.