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- IBM - International Business Management (38) (remove)
New product development is essential for a company to grow and sustain itself. Usability testing is a crucial part of the new product development process, and it helps reduce product uncertainty and market failure. There are many methods available and they vary depending on the product development phase. This thesis focuses on methods used in the deployment phase, which is the final stage before mass production. The methods used differ subjecting to different customers.
A number of studies have suggested that marketing and sales should vary when the nature of customer differs. However, only a few studies focus on how the nature of customer influences new product testing. This research compares the involvement of B2B and B2C customers during the product innovation testing phase.
The comparison has been subcategorised into four smaller hypotheses. First, the methodologies used, such as virtual prototype testing, field testing, lab usability testing, and more, are discussed whether companies use them differently according to customers' nature. Second, the process of identifying and recruiting testers is examined. Third, testers' qualification is analysed, whether participants are ordinary users or professionals or companies prefer a mixture of both. Last, the sample size, which is simply the amount of testers who participated in the usability test.
The food delivery industry is growing rapidly. As the biggest delivery platform in the western world, Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) must adapt its processes according to its growth. This growth is especially reflected in need for delivery drivers. To adapt to this increasing need, JETs current recruitment marketing affiliate campaign is examined by reviewing the literature, such as books, magazines, journals, and business reviews. Best practices and processes within JET are explained in depth to draw a picture of the current campaign status. Through this research, hypotheses on campaigns issues are drawn. Through a qualitative publisher survey, these hypotheses are either accepted or rejected. Furthermore, a SWOT analysis discusses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the program. Finally, conversion strategies are used to discuss where JET can improve by highlighting potential plans for the optimization of recruitment marketing affiliate campaigns.
This research paper aims to provide an overview of companies listed in the German DAX, MDAX and SDAX indices that have been involved in prosecution procedures directly contradicting their Corporate Social Responsibility strategies and how they present themselves as a Corporate Citizen. The terms Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Social Responsibility will be further defined and the reasons companies implement them elaborated. The results will be structured according to the stock index they belong to and whether they had any active prosecution procedures by government organizations against them during the last ten years that would go against their Corporate Citizenship strategy. The end result will be judged in terms of how a company can propagate certain values while being investigated for actions that directly contradict them and whether it could be considered hypocritical for companies to be involved in them while claiming to be a “good” Corporate Citizen.
An Analysis of Group Context Effects on Perceptions of Characteristics Relevant to Mate Choice
(2021)
Research on the perception of faces proposes a significant influence of social context on trait judgements. For instance, the “cheerleader effect” suggests an increase in the attractiveness of an individual based on the presence of additional faces. Further extensions to other trait characteristics have resulted inter alia in the awareness of the “banker effect”, which indicates that individuals in a group setting as opposed to in isolation are perceived to earn a higher salary. In light of recent findings in evolutionary psychology respective mate preferences, it is of interest to investigate potential nodes to social context effects. In addition to the replication of the cheerleader and banker effect, our study aimed to examine the effects of group context for characteristics relevant to mate choice. Besides the significance for attractiveness and salary, we were able to observe statistical significance for health and intelligence on both a subject and stimulus basis in a within-subjects design. However, we were not able to find significant differences in the isolated and group ratings for vanity, emotional stability, pleasing disposition, and unreliability. Furthermore, the evolutionary significance and the results of our study prompted us to address commonalities between the effects of social context on cognition and the social brain hypothesis and to reflect on possible underlying mechanisms and consequences.
Agriculture in Tanzania is not only the biggest employer, but also it is the highest contributor of the GDP. Apart from being an important sector in the country, it is characterized by small scale subsistence farming which is not mainly profitable. In order to transform the agriculture from traditional to commercial, young people, who make 35% of the entire population, are the main driver however they are facing many challenges. Having that in mind, Tanzanian government has enacted several policies whose main aim is to make it easy for young people to engage in agriculture.
In this bachelor thesis, the agricultural policies which have been enacted by the government to attract young people will be discussed and it will be analyzed if they have brought the impacts desired by the government. In order to do that, a survey was conducted in a district called Bukombe in Tanzania and in one agricultural university which is found in Eastern Tanzania.
The results of the above mentioned studies show that majority of youth policies which have been enacted in Tanzania do not involve youth from the beginning of the preparation. Also, there the general studies found that not many young people are aware of the policies which have been enacted to protect them or make their farming activities easier.
The limitation for this study is that the study sample which is used is from only one district and one university so it may be difficult to compare that the results represent the whole country. Also another limitation is that there are still not many studies which have been conducted in Tanzania for this matter so it is difficult to find the up to date resources. This leads to the resources used to be a bit older and in most of the time to depend on only resources from the websites of government institutions.
An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Packaging Design on Consumers' Willingness to Pay
(2021)
This study sheds light on the extent to which high-quality aesthetic packaging can positively influence consumer choice and raise willingness to pay at the point of sale. In two separate parts, we measure purchasing decisions and willingness to pay by contrasting high- and low-quality packaging of a pullover and a vodka bottle.
Findings show that, compared to cheap and standardized designs, visually appealing packages can significantly raise willingness to pay for a product. Besides, packaging design is crucial when consumers buy the product as a gift rather than for self-consumption. This research provides evidence that beautifully designed packages can positively influence consumer choice at the point of purchase. However, packaging can only influence purchase decisions within a specific price range. If prices are too high and above the individual’s accepted price limit, packaging cannot convince consumers to buy the product. Further, our investigation shows that consumers’ age, gender, educational level, and occupational status can be related to their package choices. The late adulthood, men, and individuals with higher education and professional status are likely to spend more on attractively packaged products than other demographic groups.
The impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has driven companies towards an ongoing digital transformation. This creates a considerable market push and pull from consumers for innovative technologies given the benefits they convey. In the corporate world this translates to the objectives of companies for gaining competitive advantages, created by the integration of new digital solutions, for the creation of value.
The advantages of a continuous integration of technologies within all areas of an organizations conveys the need for more adaptive resources. A major player in charge of leading said transformation for the obtention of unprecedented benefits is the Information Technology Department (IT). Therefore, the ongoing accelerated demand for digital solutions requires an accelerated delivery as well from the IT.
The limited resources, particularly from employees capable of continuously developing digital solutions, represents an unsustainable approach given the gap between growing demand and supply for new technological advancements.
Employees within the organizational context of MHP Management- und IT Beratung GmbH, who are addressed in this thesis as the customers of the MHP-IT, are presented with an alternative approach to fulfil the current demand for digital solutions through their integration in the process; this would empower them to contribute in the companies digital transformation journey. The proposed way of doing so is through the introduction of the Power Platform tools in corporate MHP.
The objective of this thesis focuses on the fundamental change that the incorporation of the Power Platform conveys on individuals within their work environment. This is aimed at the identification of possible approaches that can foment organizational acceptance, for the abovementioned platform, as an alternative way of creating value. This is achieved through the evaluation of individual values for their successful incorporation as citizen developers empowered to create.
The Organizational Cultural Assessment Instrument has been chosen as a methodology for answering the research objectives of identifying the current values that employees have in their work environment, as well as to bring forward tailored recommendations as adequate measures to drive the incorporation of the Power Platform. Complementing this is the identification of predispositions from potential users via qualitative and quantitative methods.
Given the benefits that the Power Platform creates in different operational fields, results indicate a premature acceptance for the introduction of the same as a suitable alternative for creating digital solutions. Furthermore, the conducted organizational environment study, also referred to as culture, highlights the dominant values present among the workers of MHP. This delineates a tailored approach of different measures that can be taken for introducing the Power Platform, as a digital transformation tool, and empowerment of citizen developers.
Emphasise is given to the identified inclinations from employees, as these constitutes the prioritization of procedures according to their values, through which the implementation of change can be coped with and the acceptance of the Power Platform tools increased.
In 2020 a pandemic caused the universities in Germany to close their doors for their
students. For the Hochschule Furtwangen University, it was the first time that online
classes were introduced on a large-scale. The objective of this thesis paper is to
investigate how international students at HFU Business School cope with having online
classes due to COVID-19 and to derive based on those findings a recommended course
of action.
The researcher conducted 32 semi-structured in-depth interviews with international
students, local students, professors, and university employees to examine the status quo.
A thorough literature review on studying and working from home formed the interview
questions' foundation. The interview covered several aspects of students' life, such as
studying, language development, or social factors.
Based on the findings, a recommended course of action was derived. Those 14
recommendations include practical suggestions covering different facets for the
university to implement to improve international students' ability to cope with the
restrictions caused by the pandemic and the resulting online classes successfully.
Prior research agrees that consumer choice is heavily influenced by the choice context.
According to the compromise effect, the middle alternative in attribute space is preferred over more extreme options. However, the role of the spatial order of alternatives seems to be neglected by most compromise effect studies. Usually, alternatives are ordered by attributes, meaning that the compromise option is placed in the spatial middle of the choice set, despite the fact that research indicates a consumer preference for the spatial middle of a choice set. To investigate this issue, we hypothesized that an alternative would be chosen more frequently when positioned in the spatial middle of a choice set versus at the edge of a choice set. We assumed that this effect would be stronger when consumers are unfamiliar with a product category. Therefore, we expected to observe a negative correlation between decision-makers’ familiarity with a product category and their tendency to choose an alternative more frequently when positioned in the spatial middle of a choice. To find out, we conducted an online survey targeting 907 university students. The results support our hypothesis and the notion that the compromise effect might be partly driven by a preference for the spatial middle position of a choice set rather than only by a preference for the compromise option.
The project business in the packaging machine industry is highly volatile. Although the industry is steadily growing, firms face increasing financial constraints due to external, difficult to control, factors. This thesis examines the underlying concepts and processes of a Supply Chain Finance implementation, using the Syntegon Group as an empirical example. Due to the extended payment terms of customers and the currently undergoing refinancing measures, the analysis about potential liquidity increasing measures becomes extremely relevant for Syntegon. The research questions covered focus on cash liquidity increases, working capital improvement and alternatives to Supply Chain Finance solutions.
This research aims to provide an informed recommendation about the implementation of Supply Chain Finance. The research is divided into two major parts. The first part discusses the underlying theoretical frameworks to understand the concept of working capital and supply chain management. These concepts are of great importance for the understanding of Supply Chain Finance and its relevance in today’s globalized world. The second part focuses on a detailed empirical analysis of the Syntegon Group. Hereby, the qualitative research involves expert interviews with various departments of the Syntegon Group. The answers of the interviewees are evaluated based on the different categories. This allows for a direct comparison of the interviewee’s answers.
The quantitative analysis consists of the key figure analyses. These allow an informed statement about the current financial situation of the group. By calculating potential payment term extensions and the consequential cash flow opportunities, an estimation about the benefit of the implementation of Supply Chain Finance can be made. Lastly, the cost-benefit analysis of implementing such a solution versus receiving the money as a bank loan is determined.
The results of the calculation and analyses have shown that payment term extensions offer large cash flow opportunities for the Syntegon Group. Receiving a bank loan in the same amount as the unlocked working capital would result in a lower benefit.
Although further research beyond this thesis is needed, the clear benefits of implementing a Supply Chain Finance solution to increase liquidity are demonstrated.