Open Access

Robin Karcher

• In today's business world, online communication has become increasingly important for companies to communicate quickly and cost-effectively with partners, customers and employees. As companies become more international, the importance of online communication has increased as it allows people to communicate from anywhere at any time. Companies that understand the importance of online communication and prepare for internationalization have a clear competitive advantage, as effective online communication not only strengthens customer loyalty but also improves a company's reputation and revenues. This Bachelor's thesis focuses on the online communication of uhlsport GmbH, specifically the activity of all uhlsport brand Instagram channels worldwide. The aim is to examine what steps are necessary to initiate further internationalization of online communication. The focus on Instagram is interesting because there are currently many unregistered and inactive uhlsport country channels that do not correspond to the company's CI. The thesis surveyed five uhlsport subsidiaries in France, Spain, UK, Scandinavia, and Benelux to gain insight into their working methods and impressions and to initiate improvement measures. The main results showed that most subsidiaries would like to engage in online communication, but they lack resources such as personnel, a central guideline for online communication, and training measures for a consistent CI in the entire uhlsport online communication. The significance of these results lies in the need for a central online communication guideline that everyone must follow, and additionally, the thesis suggests a restructure of the Instagram channel strategy.