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With the increasing environmental awareness and governmental regulations aimed at reduction of CO2 emissions car manufacturers who produce vehicles powered by diesel, or petrol engines, start to develop and produce electric vehicles in order to stay competitive in the market. However, not only conventional car manufacturers who have been successfully operating in the market for many years and do not want to lose their leading position because of this trend but also other companies and start-ups are trying to enter this industry or are already operating in the electric vehicle market. This raise the question whether the business models of the conventional car manufacturers are suitable for achieving success in the electric vehicles market.
This bachelor thesis compares the business models of the BMW Group and Tesla, Inc. in order to identify the differences between the business models of a conventional vehicle manufacturer and an electric vehicle manufacturer. Moreover, it examines the cost structure of both companies and reveals the differences.
The buzzword “smart city”, which describes the integration of digital technologies in different areas of cities, is on the rise worldwide. Even though there are various megatrends pushing towards the uptake of smart cities, both public sector and businesses struggle to indentify viable sources of financing and business models for smart city initiatives.
This also holds true for the smart city business of Bosch Software Innovations GmbH, which includes various smart city projects in initial stages. Therefore, the topic of business model development in the context of smart cities is being approached in this thesis, with the Gambit project in the City of York being examined as a reference project. The idea of Gambit – “Gamification for better living in cities by influencing tourist behaviour” - is based on a smartphone application for tourists, which aims to influence visitor behaviour through elements of gamification. Thereby city services should be assisted in mitigating the problem of local overcrowding in the city centre. In its initial phase, the project is financially supported by public authorities. The central question is how such a kind of project can be financially viable and how its commercial uptake can be achieved. With this in mind, the aim of this thesis is to explore business model development for smart city solutions based on the example of the Gambit project in York. To do so, a multi-method approach is used, comprising a literature review on the theoretical background of smart cities and business models, as well as empirical research based on interviews with the partner organisations of the project, as well as a workshop with other city stakeholders.
This key findings show that the attraction of additional stakeholder within cities is essential for the economic success of smart city projects. This implies multi-directional value streams and multiple sources of financing within smart city initiatives. In this context, various forms of financial contribution, such as indirect payments through other offerings and the provision of advertising space to co-finance solutions should be considered. Besides, linking smart city solutions to other services within cities might form the basis for financial viability. The findings produced stress the importance of collaboration and partnering. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the diversity of stakeholders implies a diversity of value streams in smart city business models.
Service in industrial manufacturing is a field with a lot of potential for development. The industrial automation company SICK rises to the challenge by developing a service-oriented business model. The disadvantages of the free of charge loan for customers, created the idea to implement a rental model for the testing phase. This bachelor thesis analyzes the service implementation in manufacturing industries and classifies the rental model in the context of service-oriented business models. Further the rental model on the example of a non-contact motion sensor is evaluated and further characteristics are developed. Moreover, the loan and rental process are compared in order to analyze the effort created by the rental model. The main goal is to analyze the need of a service-oriented business model to make a recommendation about the implementation for other products besides the non contact motion sensor. To develop a theoretical background of the topic of service-oriented business models, the researcher refers to literature in the field of service in manufacturing and business models. A practical approach applies to the analysis of the development of the rental model as a business model. Further,expert interviews are conducted to make a recommendation based on the expert’s opinions. In conclusion, manufacturers have further potential to develop service-oriented business models. The core business of the industry is manufacturing which makes it risky to further develop the service portfolio. The findings indicate that the rental model as a service-oriented business model should be an additional option for the testing phase for higher priced products at SICK.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Einsatz von Web Analytics und Social Media Analytics zur Gewinnung primärer Marktforschungsdaten. Als Instrumente der Beobachtung von Inhalten des Internets sowie des Web 2.0 verzichten diese auf die direkte Befragung von Zielgruppen. Stattdessen basieren Web Analytics und Social Media Analytics auf der Analyse von Konversationen und Verhaltensmustern innerhalb einer virtuellen Welt. Im Laufe dieser Arbeit soll festgestellt werden, ob und inwieweit sich die Repräsentativität der durch Beobachtung des Internets gewonnenen Erkenntnisse von den durch direkte Befragungen ermittelten Ergebnissen unterscheidet. Dazu wird der Autor zunächst basierend auf einer umfangreichen Literaturrecherche grundlegende
Begriffe der Umfrageforschung, datenbasierten Marktforschung sowie des Web 2.0 definieren. Zusätzlich erhält der Leser einen Überblick über Methoden und Funktionen von Web Analytics sowie Social Media Analytics, die anschließend im praktischen Teil dieser Arbeit eingesetzt werden. In diesem werden mit Web Analytics und Social Media Analytics ermittelte Kennzahlen für Marken unterschiedlicher Produktkategorien in einen direkten Vergleich mit den Ergebnisses einer im Rahmen dieser Arbeit
durchgeführten Online-Befragung gesetzt. Basierend auf den im praktischen Teil dieser Arbeit gewonnenen Erkenntnisse erhält der Leser abschließend Handlungsempfehlungen zum Umgang mit Social Media als Marktforschungsinstrument.
This thesis analyzes reverse logistics exemplified by Kärcher, a manufacturer of cleaning devices, and elaborates a conceptual framework for developing a business model for reverse logistics. A literature review is undertaken for theoretical infor-mation; expert interviews and a quantitative study are carried out. The aim of the lit-erature research is to investigate the importance of reverse logistics and its future viability. Reverse logistics can be divided into two parts, the entry channel and the value-adding part, whereas this thesis focuses on the value adding part. Previous studies mention that reverse logistics is ignored and underestimated by companies; nevertheless it is important for a functioning returns process as return quantities are increasing in the future inter alia because of online retailing. Furthermore, the re-verse logistics process of Kärcher is compared to the industry-wide standards. For understanding the process at Kärcher, exploratory interviews with several SDCs and a census are conducted. To compare the Kärcher reverse logistics process with the industry, a benchmark is performed. The benchmark is carried out with competitors based on short expert interviews and two international companies are analyzed from the literature. The outcome of the benchmark is that until now, there are no industry-wide standards to be found and therefore Kärcher cannot adhere to standards. Last-ly the business model concept Canvas is investigated in theory and applied to the reverse logistics process at Kärcher with the objective to explore, to what extent Canvas can be implemented. In addition, the Canvas is used to define a conceptual framework for further elaboration with the aim to possibly regain value from returns in the future. Finally a recommended course of action for Kärcher concerning reverse logistics is derived.
Digital innovations and the opportunity to create new service-oriented business models are shaping the German power tools industry. Companies, such as Robert Bosch Power Tools GmbH strive for further differentiation and competitive advantage, as from a product-perspective the market seems to be saturated. The digital ecosystem Bosch PRO360, launched in May 2020, has high growth potential and should provide a solid basis for further digital offerings to professional craftsmen in the industry. A significant number of innovative product and service ideas, which can be integrated into PRO360 are present. Specifically, the selection of promising ideas represents a considerable challenge for innovators, thus, requires appropriate idea evaluation tools and techniques.
The aim of this thesis is to create a criteria catalogue with weighted criteria and the allocation of corresponding scale values serving as a supportive tool regarding idea evaluation procedures. To this end, a detailed literature review and analysis was executed. To gain validated conclusions of the catalogue, its application in practice was tested during five semi-structured interviews with customers of Robert Bosch Power Tools GmbH.
Results demonstrate that a standardised evaluation framework is beneficial to evaluators and, thus, should be retained for future reference. The developed framework provides clarity, transparency and security not only regarding the idea selection and decision-making process but also beyond, as it allows post-decision reviews, continuous improvement and adaption. Concerning the early stage of the project, this framework can be taken as a guidepost and support to taking the first steps towards the creation of new business models.