The core of the discussions in St. Gallen was the phenomenon of self-organization. In the last few years this phenomenon has been studied by many natural scientists and the discussions showed that up to now there have been few known and essential progresses in this field. In the discussion the question kept arising how far such scientific insights about the phenomenon of self-organization could be transferred to social systems, such as firms. Social and management scientists realize such transferences in an increasing number of cases and sometimes with far-reaching conclusions but often without having a sufficient knowledge of the basic theories. The danger of such a proceeding lies in the fact that — similar to a social darwinism — due to misinterpretation and inadmissible analogies indefensible social scientific theories are being developed.