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Course of studies
- IMM - International Management (60)
- MBA - International Business Management (55)
- EMBA - Executive Master of International Business Management (15)
- INM - Informatik (8)
- MOS - Mobile Systeme (6)
- BAM - Business Application Architectures (2)
- IBM - International Business Management (2)
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- SSM - Security & Safety Engineering (2)
- BMP - Business Management and Psychology (1)
The business environment has changed within the past few decades. Growing global competition and the trend of shortening product life-cycle have reshaped the market, coercing companies into reconsidering their business strategies and product development. Higher quality, better time-to-delivery, and cost optimization are crucial factors for firms to compete in this tumultuous market. Therefore, companies are adopting a New Product Development (NPD), which is agile and customer-centric. The path toward change, however, is not identical for every enterprise since companies have their own unique organizational architecture and culture, demanding a thorough consideration of various facets of change, which is the focus of this study. EKU Power Drives, the company case study for this research, is actively involved in innovating electrification solutions and embedded software control for mobile power generation in the oil and gas industry upstream segment. The firm is considering transforming to an agile-based framework to fulfill its vision, which is becoming the most preferred partner for the key players in the target markets. This study aims to investigate the optimal Agile methodology and framework for the case study according to its business context, identify the challenges and how to address them, and outline an implementation procedure.
As prerequisite to final graduation of my master in international business management MBA at Business School, Hochschule Furtwangen University, I conducted this Thesis but also as a practical business case that match with the nature of my master’s focus of international business and could be used in real life.
I put myself as a member of project’s managing team for a pharmaceutical company, this team as a part of strategic decision-making process is responsible about assessing different potential international markets and segments as a part of the company plan to expand their operations, tape and penetrate new markets.
Narrowing down the options to two geographic markets (Germany & Saudi Arabia) and two pharmaceutical segments (Diabetes& OTC), starting this assessment with macro analysis (PESTEL) of Germany and Saudi Arabia followed by micro analysis (Porter’s five forces) of the pharmaceutical industry in the two markets of concern, having more in depth review of the two potential segments in each individual market then head to head attractiveness comparative analysis of the two potential segments in the two potential countries showing the pros and cons for each of the potential available opportunities and finally reach a conclusion to solve this business scenario.
In order to satisfy both scientific research basis and business need I utilized Data from both peer reviewed articles, reports from highly trusted international institutions and organizations for their data accuracy and few theoretical books.
Limitation of this paper: taking in consideration that some relevant data i.e., regarding specific market profitability are not accessible due to either company’s confidential policies or data consolidation for example the financial statements of Bayer, the pharmaceutical company shows consolidated data combining Europe and middle east allowing no possibility(for outsider) to directly compare profitability of each specific country, here in our research Germany and Saudi Arabia, also I tried my best to use the most recent accessible data , but some of the most updated relevant data is out of my reach either due to confidentiality or it is paid data that requires funding resources not available in my case as I am doing this Thesis independently not in partnership with a company, these limitations might to some degree affect the precision of the final conclusion.
Although the market share of a specific airline is very often a rough estimation, it is still of great importance for the airline top management. In order to make the right strategic decision, management should be aware of its current position and its competitors. This information is important to decide on the airline’s fleet assignment, revenue management and planning and scheduling. A variety of different models exists for market size and market share forecasting. Since no single model provides accuracy, airlines usually combine and compare the results of different approaches. Generally speaking, market share can be estimated using different starting parameters, such as flight frequency, fare, quality of service, number of airplane’s seats, time of departure, etc. The market share depends also on its competitors’ strategy and current economic situation. As it is almost impossible to take into consideration all these parameters in one model, different techniques very often provide different results, and it is the task of the airline network planners to calibrate and validate the model. In this Master Thesis I consider market share as a parameter whose value is between 0 and 1 and which is calculated as a ratio of passengers travelled by a specific airline to a total number of passengers travelled between a given pairs of cities. This Master Thesis presents two objectives. First, it gives an introduction to the history of the airline industry. It analyzes the main factors affecting the demand, gives and overview of the airline network management and presents the most popular models for market size and share forecasting. Second, it estimates the airlines’ market shares for a given set of city pairs for 2013 and 2014 and finds the formula which can be used for future network planning. The estimation is conducted using the Multinomial Logit (MNL) model.
Clinical Research is expanding into an international and more regulated environment, specifically its quality management. Pharmaceuticals and Research Organizations are investing significant amounts of money as well as the regulatory agencies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are improving and developing regulations and meetings to standardize globally these practices. Therefore this Thesis integrates and extends the FDA and EMA recommendation of implementing “Risk based quality management” in Clinical Research protocol execution with a multisource point of view and the proposal of adding a Risk Management Report as an output, which will work also as an input for future protocols implementation. Diverse articles and regulations related with Quality Management and Clinical Research Processes were reviewed to work as a base for the analysis of this thesis. Risk Based Quality Management is the actual trend and newly implemented process to improve quality in clinical research. The goal of this Thesis is to combine the different actual factors, methods and regulations in order to expand Risk Based Quality Management and reach a better degree in quality and standardization. The question therefore is whether this redesigned Risk Based Quality Management process can really be incorporated with the actual practices, and if it is possible to adopt it in Clinical Research.
After-sales services play a crucial role in companies’ profit. Their importance is expected to increase given the intensifying leveling of product competition and a shift toward a buyer’s market. Ticketing systems are increasingly integrated into these services because of their ability to bundle multiple support channels, enhance the support’s knowledge base, and cut costs.
This thesis aims to create a comparative overview of ticketing systems, which evaluates eight selected market alternatives and one tentative in-house solution according to their compliance with the requirements of the focus company. This comparison is made by exploring the literature concerning build-or-buy, software evaluation and selection, and analyzing several guided interviews.
The results seek to aid the company in deciding on a ticketing system that meets its requirements, as well as to act as a blueprint for other SMEs. The findings include two recommended alternatives in conjunction with further strategic and decision-making considerations. The study ends with an outlook for academia and businesses.
Corporate debt volumes in emerging market economies have been increasing greatly post 2007-2008 financial crisis. Debt levels have increased across the globe however, the pace is faster in emerging markets than in advance markets. Major countries in emerging economies such as Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China (BRIC) have a large and concentrated share in growing corporate debts. Although, both company specific factors and macro level factors have impacted the corporate borrowings leading to depressed corporate earnings, financial strains and capital outflows in emerging markets the impact of company specific factors is highly pertinent and demands research. The rise in debt levels has affected the return on earnings (ROEs) of the corporate companies which in turn is adversely impacting emerging economy and its financial stability. This paper has empirically tested for the explaining effects of rising corporate debts and changing return on assets (ROAs) on ROEs of emerging market corporate by establishing a multiple regression model. A sample of 100 corporate companies from BRIC countries has been taken to test the model. The test results confirm the importance of corporate debts in predicting ROEs and possible financial strains. Finally, the regression model has been used to estimate ROEs of these corporate companies for the next 5 years with specific recommendation and policy implication to avoid financial crisis.
Concerns about China’s currency intervention strategy against the U.S. dollar and other major currencies have been raised by many members of congress for more than a decade. They view it as one of several distorting economic policies China is employing to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors. Assuming the RMB is a freely traded currency, they argue that China’s currency strategy is designed to lower the cost of exports and raise the cost of imports greatly.
Problem and Objective: How is China competing with the USA to become the economic world leader? This paper examines the interconnection among three major economic components in the Chinese economy through financial development, international trade, and economic growth.
Method: The research method involved the exploration of articles authored by economic scholars who have concluded that productivity increases significantly contribute to China’s rapid economic expansion. Numerous articles were retrieved from the website to explain how China is slowly becoming the world economic giant overtaking the United States.
Findings: Scholars expect to have significant economic growth in China, surpassing the individual European countries in terms of ranks and G.D.P. size. The entry of China into the W.T.O. depends on the successful completion of the multilateral phase of accession negotiations. Its membership will significantly impact the international trading systems for numerous reasons. First, the admission serves as a template for various transition economies looking to join the W.T.O due to the increasing demand that the Chinese have accepted within the bilateral phase, the W.T.O. admission negotiations deter the entry of various new members. Secondly, China has taken critical steps towards meeting some of its W.T.O. obligations and the steps that can complete the process that may disappoint some individuals within the organization. Due to the large volume of international trade, there is a risk that trade conflicts can overburden the capacity of the W.T.O. to settle disputes. Third, China has a critical role in shaping various multilateral trade negotiations agendas. The developing nation is also one of the top trading countries, and China is a forceful advocate within the next round for the interest of various developing nations.
Conclusion: US congress has long been concerned about China’s currency policies and economic growth. The RMB’s value versus the dollar has risen by 34 percent nominal and 42 percent actual since 2003. Another concern is China’s use of industrial policies to subsidize priority domestic firms while restricting foreign market access. China’s financial system could be severely undermined if the proportion of non-performing loans increases dramatically due to policies that promote significant gross fixed investment and are primarily backed by low-cost credit policies.
In the opinion of many observers, RMB value is undervalued because of Chinese government restrictions on its value.
This thesis aims to provides a comprehensive and systematic approach towards the strategic analysis of Electric Vehicles Industry in India. The research explores the ways how the external business environment or macro and operational environment affecting and shaping the EV Industry in India at present. The research starts with providing a general description of Electric Vehicles followed by the quantitative method of analysis to analyses the external or macro environment of EV Industry in India by using PESTEL analysis and operational business environment level analysis of EV Industry in India by using Porter Five Force Analysis. The author identifies how present market situation of EV Industry looks like in India and what strategies that need to be implemented by EV manufacturer for its future expansion in the India. In conclusion the author anticipates the tremendous effort by Government of India working together with several public and private stakeholder to push the electric mobility solution throughout the country by creating several policies, fiscal & non fiscal based incentives, and awareness towards electric mobility. The findings show that EV will help India to climate mitigation strategies to lower down GHG emission from increasing road transportation in India, energy security, a local pollution free environment and an advanced shared mobility transportation for growing urban population in India. The commercial potential of the EV industry in the near future seems enormous in India as the entire value chain associated with it in developing stage and looking forward to conquering the demand of a billion plus size growing population of young India.
In the contemporary business landscape characterized by global economic uncertainty and rapid technological advancements, companies face increasing complexity in meeting their innovation targets. To address this challenge, established firms are engaging in collaborative partnerships with external entities, particularly startups, to leverage their knowledge and capabilities to gain a competitive advantage. Despite the growing popularity of corporate-startup collaboration (CSC), there remains a noticeable gap in the literature regarding the analysis of the dynamics and key success factors that are relevant to enhancing the collaborative process between these asymmetric entities. This study aims to fill this research space by investigating the dynamics, motives, objectives, and challenges of CSC, with a specific focus on identifying the success factors crucial for achieving favorable outcomes. Drawing upon insights from eight expert managers using a mixed-method approach, the study highlights the significance of addressing internal barriers and prioritizing key success factors to ensure successful outcomes in CSC. The research methodology involves a literature review, a pre-stage questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews to gather comprehensive data. The researchers have synthesized the findings to enhance an existing Co-Canvas model in a way that it is specifically tailored for CSC, thereby offering managers a practical framework to effectively navigate the complexities of CSC. The findings of this research hold implications for scholars, corporate leaders, and entrepreneurs, enabling them to evaluate past collaboration initiatives, identify potential sources of errors, and devise strategies to enhance their collaboration performance. By shedding light on the dynamics and success factors of CSC, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge and offers valuable insights for strategically enhancing collaboration performance. However, the study refrains from making broad generalizations of the model due to the small sample size of experts.
Zombie companies are widely discussed ever since the ‘lost decade’ in Japan. The prolonged recession was experienced for almost two decades and in great deal attributed to the zombie companies. The Eurozone is currently in recession and is experiencing a growing incidence of zombie companies. If this trend is not stopped but encouraged by the negative interest rates, there is a possibility for a prolonged recession or even secular stagnation. This study aims to examine the reasons for the emergence and existence of zombie companies in the past. It discusses the implications zombie companies had on the aggregate macroeconomic indicators. In discusses how zombie companies should be treated and whether they must inevitably be foreclosed. To determine the severity of the problem, it examines the incidence of zombie companies in selected industries in the Euro periphery countries based on their interest coverage ratio (ICR). The results show that there is no significant incidence in the selected markets. It concludes whether currently, the zombie companies are a real threat to the economy of the Eurozone. Furthermore, it suggests ways how the problem of zombie companies should be prevented and treated.
Crowdlending is a growing business model that originated from the new crowdfunding phenomenon. It consists of funding companies’ loans through joining money from many investors in exchange for regular payments. One important key value in this model is the speed of the credit approval and the investment choice. The upcoming crowdlending platforms facilitate their growth through the automation of those processes. This study explores the creation of a credit-scoring model for an entrepreneurial platform, in order to fulfill the necessity of quickly determining the risk and the characteristics of loan applications for SME companies. This study will also analyze the pricing loan strategy based on the risk of the operations. Finally, the thesis suggests a of the loans and concludes with a series of improvement measures for the model.
The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Germany has been lately a constant research topic in many fields; politics, economics, cultural, social and safety aspects etc. popping up in all the news worldwide. Everybody is concerned about it and tackling it from a different point of view. Some believe that it a mutual benefit to both the country (Germany) and the refugees. As Germany benefits a lot form the cheap labor of migrant workers in the different industries. Specially the fast growing industries like the rural ones. Others fear that they will weaken the German culture and economy. And that they are burdens on the national people and will cause many problems.
In this paper two aspects of the challenges facing the Syrian refugees in Germany are discussed: the first is their integration and acculturation with the German society and the second is the challenges facing the refugees in entering the German labor market and case studies of Syrian entrepreneurs who developed their own family businesses in Germany are presented. The interviews were held with Syrian refugees in the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2015/2016 in Arabic language. The groups that were interviewed were in Villingen-Schwenningen and Stuttgart. An analysis of the cases presented along with the findings of the surveys and interviews are presented and finally some recommendations are suggested.
Life insurance penetration rate in Malaysia has been stagnant in the past few years although a few InsurTech companies set up in Malaysia recently. Prior researches on InsurTech fail to clarify the gap of the target customers’ and the insurance experts’ opinions on how to enhance the customer experience in online life insurance with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). To address this, a model is recommended based on the literature review on similar articles and survey results conducted on both target customers and insurance experts. The recommended model has four main components: official website by InsurTech companies collaborated with traditional life insurers, customer support, customer service and customer engagement.
This thesis examines causes and effects of El Salvador’s transition to official dollarization conducted in 2001. The document analyzes preliminary and final impacts in the real, financial, fiscal, and external sectors of the country, and it also provides an economic and social perspective on how these effects have caused little effect on Salvadoran society. Several authors remark official dollarization might have positive effects on countries with macroeconomic disorders such as high inflation rates and drastic exchange rate variations. After more than 20 years of adoption of the U.S. dollar, official dollarization does not appear to have affected positively life of Salvadoran citizens but rather has prevented governments from using monetary policy to apply irresponsible economic policies and has also helped to prevent high inflation rates. To take advantage of the benefits official dollarization can offer, it is highly recommendable for El Salvador to implement transformative social and economic investments and policies that boost human development and economic competitiveness.
Low profitability is one of the major problems of the airline industry and one approach to solve it is that selling ancillary services to passengers which is called a-la-carte pricing. While this strategy has had some success in terms of additional revenue generation, especially for the low-cost airlines, full-service airlines struggle to implement this approach since their brand image is equivalent to better comfort and complimentary services served to their customers. Therefore, a new and possibly more effective strategy about the ancillary services comes into play which is called the a-la-carte options strategy. This strategy suggests rather than removing the complimentary ancillary services, the airlines can offer a certain number of reward miles to their frequent flyer program members to not choose to use that free ancillary service. By doing that the customer would receive free reward miles and the airlines would save from a substantial cost factor from ancillary services since the reward miles are low-cost for them. In this research, the potential cost reduction of a-la-carte options, optimal mile offer, and the possible customer reaction for launching the strategy are examined. First, potential cost reduction is calculated with real scenarios and flights. Second, customer responses are assessed with a survey conducted. The results show that a-la-carte options strategy can be highly effective on cost-cutting and customers tend to accept and use this strategy. Therefore, a-la-carte options strategy is potentially a good and effective instrument to fight the sector’s long-standing profitability problem by decreasing ancillary service and other customer service operation costs.
In the last 30 years academics were exploring the field of ethical consumption and identified an attitude - behavior gap in the decision making process. Since then diverse studies have been implemented to understand ethical consumers' attitudes, motives and behavior. Parallel to the academic research being developed, there had been an increasing interest from the consumer side in behaving and consuming more ethically. Particularly, consumers have inclined their ethical purchases towards fair trade products. The present exploratory research implemented a quantitative metaphoric method called Zaltman Elicitation Metaphoric Technique (ZMET) to further contribute in the literature of ethical and fair trade consumption. The ZMET in-depth interviews were carried out with 10 German fair trade food consumers during the months of February and March in 2015. The results revealed a connection between participants' feelings, emotions, personal values and fair trade food consumption; likewise the research identified an association of fair trade to sustainability.
Rising globalization and digitization resulted in crises for the fashion industry. High competition and the interconnectedness of the consumers rule the market and put it under pressure. Owing to the growing power consumers possess, the requirements towards the fashion players are increasing. Customer experience is frequently discussed these days by academics as well as practitioners and emphasized as a competitive advantage. Yet, it is difficult to measure and to track its consequences.
Since customer experience is elusive and no industry specific measurement scale is defined, at first this work aims to identify relevant touch points of customer experience in the fashion industry by dint of a focused interview. The further objective of this paper is to enhance the comprehension of the touch points’ effects or rather the relationship of customer experience with brand loyalty. This is approached by a questionnaire based on the preceding qualitative analysis and the resulting model. This model defines the customer experience touch points as the independent variables while brand loyalty is examined as the dependent variable. The conducted linear regression analysis reveals a moderate effect of customer experience on brand loyalty and the touch points concerning the products as most relevant in this relationship. Additionally, the digitization aspect is addressed by the examination of the relationship in the offline and online channels separately. With respect to this, the present study recognizes that the extent of the customer experience’s impact on brand loyalty and the significant touch points vary across channels to a certain degree.
This thesis embarks on a comprehensive exploration of the Bosch Car Service (BCS) and Bosch Automotive Workshop Services (BAWS) concepts within the global automotive service industry, underpinned by the esteemed Bosch brand. Through a meticulous comparative analysis, enriched by insights from expert interviews, this study unveils the operational frameworks, strategic orientations, and value propositions that distinguish BCS and BAWS, highlighting the unique challenges and opportunities each model presents. The research identifies key market segments addressed by BCS and BAWS, emphasizing BCS's focus on connectivity and efficiency versus BAWS's standardized franchise operations. It further delves into the complexities of managing a centralized system like BAWS, the challenge of leveraging Bosch's extensive portfolio, and the role of digital tools in enhancing operational efficiency and customer engagement. This thesis proposes a strategic blueprint for innovation, brand management, and customer-centric services, aiming to guide BCS and BAWS towards sustained growth and competitiveness in the evolving automotive service sector. Through integrating theoretical analysis with practical insights, the study makes a significant contribution to the academic and practical understanding of automotive service franchise models, shaping future strategies for Bosch's continued success and leadership in the industry.
Today the author bought six jackets. A friend asked her if she needed six jackets, and if she had this money to pay to all of them. She said that she had only 35 euros and among those six jackets, she will (because they haven’t arrived yet) choose only one. The others five will be returned, because she has this option for free. Then, a friend of her asked: “But what are you doing?!” She answered: “Shopping. I am shopping and writing my thesis.” With pleasure, the author brings to this abstract a concept of brick-and-algo. Pure algorithm – pretty new – any barrier, (brick, the store itself). Experience that brings to the costumer the same feeling as shopping!
Concrete walls also refers to the corporate world, which “bricks” have become glass or simply partitions between one table and another in business in general. The bricks really have fallen apart and companies are going toward a horizontal way, where everybody talks to everybody; again without any brick or any barrier. The hierarchy exists, but in a different level as before. The physical point card became virtual badge, enabling the famous “home office”. Employees began to be evaluated and separated between generations, such as generation X and generation Y or Z (starting in corporations). Consumers have more rights about products and the economy and changing behaviors frantically.
With competitiveness, organizations rely on investing in strategies, assuming new responsibilities, performance necessary for the personal fulfillment of goals and objectives. Promoting the growth and development of its employees, through a model based on mission and values. The quests for survival of organizations have changed the organizational paradigms, in the sense that if before it was necessary to motivate the employees and that today need also to get their commitment. This makes companies to wake up to importance of positive environments, where employees can find favorable conditions to work more effectively.
With globalization and rapid growth of corporations via innovations, talent retention becomes a very important factor for the survival and growth of organizations. At present, the people of organizations must have the ability to manage competently, in order to satisfy and retain their employees, which represent values invaluable to the company. One of those values is the power to renew, create, innovating and to intrapreneur.
Stimulate the entrepreneurial capacity, then by inducing behaviors favorable to systematic innovation, by creating a dynamic of continuous improvement and speed up the process of modernization is a current world. In this sense, the author of the thesis, decided to already introduce innovation, even in the abstract, through another author, or more than an author, a poet and brilliant mind, Fernando Pessoa, when he said:
"There is a time when humans should abandon the used clothes, which already have the shape of their bodies, and forget their paths, which always leads to the same places. It is the time of looking forward: and, if humans don't dare to do it, they will have been, forever, on the sidelines of themselves. " (Fernando Pessoa)
In this context, this thesis proposes to treat about entrepreneurship in general, proposes to talk about intrapreneurship, about corporations, the individuals; and finally, the author tries to makes suggestions for the current decade.
Abstract
In today's business world, it is evident how, thanks to digital transformation, new business models have emerged, especially in the retail industry. Changes in customer preferences have been one of the main reasons why the vast majority of companies within the retail industry have accelerated their digital transformation processes. Evidence has also been found that this change in consumer thinking is related to one of the side effects left by the Covid-19 pandemic, where digital channels gained more strength due to the limitations of physical contact between product providers and their customers. Therefore, changes in consumer thinking and the use of new digital platforms have brought new challenges for companies transforming their businesses from offline to online. The biggest challenges for those companies are not only related to implementing new business models such as online sales or so-called E-commerce platforms but also attributed to the creation of unique and invaluable experiences for the customer, allowing the companies to retain their consumers and create loyalty.
Creating an outstanding customer experience is not an easy task on these platforms since the reach of digital channels is almost infinite, which makes the new entrepreneurs in this industry rethink over and over again the best strategy to approach their customers so that they feel delighted in their customer journey. The present work seeks to provide a solution to the challenge evidenced in the E-commerce platforms, where the main objective is to recognize, through the customer journey, all the critical touchpoints and elements to add value to the shopping experience and to raise levels of customer satisfaction. With the help of tools that measure the levels of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, such as the Kano model, and through a recommendation system, the current paper provides com- panies that trade their products online with a detail of what services should be improved in the shopping experience to be highly attractive. In addition, a guide is provided where its application in each company will show in a quantitative way what the customer satis- faction levels are like. This work, through exhaustive research in academia, concludes that the factors that most stimulate customer satisfaction are those related to e-services quality and highlights the importance of “Personalized information”, “Online sales agent”, and “Website reviews and rating” services to add value to customers in one of the most competitive markets, such as E-commerce.
The main objective of this thesis is to investigate and analyze the professional journey of thirteen foreign doctors and the opinion of a German doctor, to explore how their integration process has been into the German labor market, taking into account their personal experiences; especially what they thought was helpful and the obstacles that they encountered during their journey, and to make recommendations for hospitals to help them address the integration of foreign doctors, something that should be done as soon as possible, due to the rising amount of foreign physicians coming to Germany to cover the many open positions that can no longer be filled by the local population.
The thesis is divided in four large sections; the first serves as a basis to understand the problem of the shortage of physicians in Germany; the second one is a literature review taking into account the migration of health professionals, cultural standards, intercultural competence and communication, the different acculturation strategies that immigrants use, inpatriation and integration, and last the management of diversity in healthcare; the third one has to do with the methodology that was used; and the last two parts encompass the findings and recommendations.
In conclusion, it can be said that recruiting foreign physicians is a very good way of approaching the actual shortage of physicians that exists in Germany. However, it is imperative that health care organizations, are aware that the integration process of foreign doctors and the adaptation of the whole organization to this new working environment is of extreme importance to provide the quality care that is expected at any health care institution, and it is imperative that hospitals recognize the need to include diversity management and a Willkommenskultur as vital pillars for the organization.
Unfortunately, even in these years of high innovations in society, many countries still have gaps in basic needs such as energy supply. Many people live off-the-grid (OTG) referring to not being connected to the main or national electrical grid since they live scattered or in remote location or simple because it is unaffordable. On the other hand, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the use of fossil energy increased in the 8 firsts years of the 2000 decade, and half of the energy use in the last decade was accounted to coal. This type of energy source is proven to be harmful for the environment contributing to global warming. New methods of energy storage have been created mainly in developed countries. For example, the photovoltaic (PV) lamps as the main product of a German company that fulfill needs in sustainable and renewable energy resources. However, developing countries may also need to look for practical solutions and the private sector can help. The financing of renewable alternatives is imperative to increase progress and, in these sense, private sector can help. For instance, increasing systems using solar energy for rural communities and promotion of affordable and efficient PV products such as portable eco-friendly solar lamps that replace the kerosene lamps, fan plus lamps, water filters and icemakers among others are helpful in OTG communities and need to be supply. Entrepreneurs that focus in fulfill this gap in society creates value and make a change in the countries. The importance of increase electronic appliances (energy-efficient) and “smart” applications (home area networks and energy storage devices) is undeniable for progress in developing countries and better energy use all over the world Solar energy provides products that not only help people but also maintains a balance between nature and habitants.
Platforms are increasingly playing a more critical role in companies’ activities. The intense competition in the market and the global economic situation have promoted the transformation of traditional business models, making enterprises adopt digital transformation solutions (Ot, 2022).
Nowadays, there is an increasing amount of data generated on the internet and mobile apps, which have allowed the exponential growth of platforms, allowing value cocreation and enabling an ecosystem composition that has transformed the linear value chain into a platform business model (Şimşek, Öner, Kunday, & Olcayc, 2022).
The healthcare industry has experienced significant changes in recent years, driven by technological advances, increasing focus on cost-effectiveness and quality of healthcare services.
The use of technology and digital platforms to offer care and enhance patient experience is one of the main areas on which healthcare organizations focus. There is a high potential for telemedicine and remote patient monitoring to revolutionize healthcare services (Sjöström, Lars, & Eva, 2017).
The creation of integrated care models, which combine various health providers to give patients a better treatment and service, is another important topic of interest for healthcare organizations. Integrated care models can enhance patient outcomes, save healthcare costs, and boost patient satisfaction. Integrated healthcare models can also help in reducing healthcare system division and enhancing the coordination of care services for patients (Kodner & Spreeuwenberg, 2002).
Other digital initiatives such as data analytics and artificial intelligence are also emerging as a promising approach to improve healthcare services' quality and support decision-making in healthcare. These technologies can provide more accurate and timely information to healthcare providers and enable more effective and efficient care delivery. Medical service transformation is a cross-departmental and cross-level collaboration that demands the participation of the government, firms, consumers, and other participants (Hughes, Shaw, & Greenhalgh, 2020). The Healthcare system has shifted its service from supply management to value cocreation, rebuilding the social framework through technological change. This new business model approach gives openings to different members to cocreate and add value to current products and services (Leone, Schiavone, Appio, & Chiao, 2021).
Despite the benefits of introducing digitalization and a multi-level business model to the healthcare system, its application has needed to be faster because of multiple factors, such as information integration and the application of connectivity technologies and the telematic infrastructure. Additionally, the healthcare system represents a complex structure regulated by the government and dynamized by the interaction of individuals and service providers. Therefore, some other challenges represent the governmental laws and regulations, patient information privacy concerns, and stakeholders’ willingness to adopt the business model. (Viswanadham, 2021).
Therefore, this study aims to research the Status Quo of the Health Care Industry and to explore the opportunities and challenges of platform business models in the healthcare industry.
The results of this study can provide insights into the critical success factors that can help to drive the adoption and implementation of multilevel business models. It also can inform the decision-making strategies and healthcare initiatives adopted by different countries due to digitalization.
Market entry strategy for German mittelstand medical device
companies into the Indian market.
(2015)
German medical devices companies are at the forefront of technology when it comes to innovation and R&D. Most of the European medical device manufacturing companies are located in Germany and the number of patents filed by these companies shows the amount of innovation in the industry. A majority of these medical devices are exported within the European Union countries. Economic slowdown combined with market saturation and increased competition makes Europe a very competitive market for these companies. Indian on the other hand is one of the fasted growing economies in the world. The Indian medical device sector is relatively an untapped markets for innovative medical devices. There are tremendous market opportunities due to the fact that local manufacturing base for medical devices are underdeveloped
and often neglected. Most of the local Indian manufactures are engaged in producing basic medical devices and mostly into medical disposables and supplies. Around 70% of the medical devise sold in India are imported products. There is a huge demand and supply gap that is not being filled by the local manufacturers. India offers the perfect new market opportunity for German medical companies looking to venture into emerging new markets. There is abundant supplied of skilled manpower, with wages lower than that of the neighbouring China. India also has a rapidly growing middle class with increasing purchasing power. However, the regulations in the Indian medical device industry are not very clear and transparent. The Indian bureaucratic system is rampant with corruption and red tapes that needs to be tackled and navigated skilfully. A Germany company looking to enter the Indian market needs to understand that nothing in India can be implemented by a text book style entry strategy. In this thesis, we will analyse few of the most suitable entry strategies for German medical device companies with the advantages and disadvantages of each entry mode. We will also analyse the process of doing business in India, which requires an understanding of various aspect of the Indian culture and business relationship building in India. Further, we will analyse the current market scenario with a brief analyse of the local manufacturers currently in the market along with some information on foreign players in the market. Will also interview 5 experts from the medical field and look into few real case studies.
The sector of supply chain risk management has been expanding for several years now, with the goal to not only prepare organizations to recover after supply-chain disruptions but also mitigate risks to reduce losses.
One of the most remarkable techniques in the field is the Artificial Intelligence technology, which owing to its effectiveness and efficiency, allows humans to develop new solutions to predict or prevent a great variety of supply-chain disruptions.
This paper aims to forecast the future state of the Artificial Intelligence technology in Europe by 2035 with the use of the INKA 4 scenario manager software. A total of four areas of influence –– i.e., technological, financial, legal, and social –– were identified.
From those, 11 descriptors were created based on relevant scientific literature and were inserted in the INKA software to develop the scenarios. This process resulted in three clearly differentiated scenarios that exhibit high probabilities and positive outlook for the Artificial Intelligence technology to be widely integrated in supply chain risk management systems in Europe by 2035.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have become a driver motor of economies. Moreover, in developed countries, the manufacturing SMEs play an important role in the value creation and employment generation.O'regan et al. (2006) presents that constant innovation is a key component to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Raymond et al. (2010) claims that particular manufacturing SMEs should continuously improve their manufacturing processes in order to ensure long term sustainability. However, given the lack of resources and experience, SMEs find it difficult converting research and development into effective innovation (O’regan et al., 2006). Researchers have explained why certain firms innovate more than others by identifying a number of critical success factors or drivers of innovation such as strategy, social capital (Balachandra and Friar, 1997) or R&D (Becheikh et al., 2006a, Raymond et al.2010). The literature on the topic is diverse, there are different approaches and there is not a consensus on how those success factors can be measured. Therefore, the present thesis develops a meta-analysis study of the empirical research on the drives of innovation in manufacturing SMEs of developed countries. The result is a consolidated framework of the success factors and its measurements proposed by 49 authors, those were organized in the different phases of a holistic innovation process. The process considered was presented by Tidd and Bessant (2005). In consequence, the contribution of the present thesis is to serve as a starting point for future studies on drivers of innovation and its measurements, also, to serve as reference for future researchers that will develop a meta-analysis study.
Purpose: This study investigates the role that entrepreneurial talents play, and the influence of such
talents in firms’ success and raising funds through crowd-funding platforms as well. It discusses and analyses which talents are needed by entrepreneurs in order to place them in the best position to attract funds from these platforms. Further, the study attempts to create a bridge between entrepreneurial talent and crowdfunding, hence acting as one of the contributors towards the entrepreneur’s business success. Design/Approach/Methodology: This topic is a novel idea and it aims at examining whether or not entrepreneurial talents, as influencing factors should be taken into account when raising funds from crowdfunding platforms. This paper includes two main parts: theoretical and practical. In the final part, this paper provides lessons learnt. Originality/Value: This thesis will add value to research in the field of crowdfunding and its operation especially when entrepreneur funding is considered. Additionally, the hypothesis that forms the basis of this thesis, advocates for a new mode of sourcing for funds from crowdfunding platforms. This new approach is premised on the idea that the entrepreneurial talent can be a significant influencing factor for successfully raising funds from crowdfunding platforms. The analysis of the case studies will reveal an appropriate pattern of the talents needed and associating factors that will help entrepreneurs become successful in obtaining funds for their business
ventures, when they elect to use crowdfunding as their financing method. Practical implications: There are four practical implications to this paper. The first, is that entrepreneurs who intend to seize the huge opportunities offered by the crowdfunding platforms should place emphasis on convincing the participants in the platforms of their talents rather than placing too much focus on perfect business plan. Secondly, the platform participants should deviate from the traditional approach of WHAT to invest in, to a new approach of WHOM/WHO to invest in. Thirdly, from the perspective of the relatively new crowdfunding industry, this paper proposes for the creation of talent-based crowdfunding platforms as opposed to the project-based ones that are currently operating. Finally, the paper encourages the academic researcher to pursue ideas and new applications in the crowdfunding industry.
The study seeks for empirical evidence supporting the presence of weak form ans semi-strong form efficiency on the Vietnamese stock market. The sample includes the daily closing value of VN-index from 9th April 2009 to 3rd of December 2014. The results from both parametric and non-parametric tests provide the evidence, which implies the weak form efficiency in the Vietnamese stock market during the recent period from 4th June 2012 to 3rd December 2014. This period is used for testing the semi-strong form efficiency on the Vietnamese stock market. The results from event study do not support the semi-strong form efficiency in the Vietnamese stock market. The empirical evidence shows a delayed reaction of nine pharmaceutical companies' stock prices toward the earnings, dividend, insider trading and regulatory announcements. The findings in this paper are crucial for investors, analysts, academicians, regulators and the development of the Vietnamese stock market.
Development of a strategic control concept to monitor and steer strategy executive in the STO Group
(2016)
Latin America has become a potential market in the lately years. Brazil has a potential market, being the fifth largest country in terms of population; moreover, the Brazilian economy has grown over the past years with the increasing middle class consumers. Mexico, on the other hand, with its strategic position and as a bridge for the whole American continent and having the most free trade agreements in the world is definitively an attractive investment destination. The main objective of this research is to study what type of entry modes should German companies in the high- tech industry and automotive industry use in Latin American market. As part of the research there has been a study of the internationalization theories, the entry modes and the factors that might affect the entry mode. Besides, the author has approached which characteristics do the Latin American market has and which opportunities may German Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises benefit from. Furthermore, this research incorporates some case analysis from German companies who already entered into this region, as a result there would be a analysis in order to see which patterns those companies have followed.
This study examines growth adventure of Turkey and South Korea that both tried to narrow the economical gap between them and developed countries. Although Turkey was in a better situation than South Korea in the beginning of their convergence experience, and they had similar growth and development levels at the end of 1950s, South Korea outperformed Turkey in almost every economic indicator and realized an economic miracle in a very short time. As South Korea is one of developed countries now and Turkey is still in the league of developing countries trying to be a developed one, South Korea model, is worth to be analyzed in detail. In this paper, the similarities and differences in South Korea’s and Turkey’s economic history, the comparison of their long term growth performance and the reasons why Turkey could not accomplish what South Korea did in the similar period of time, were put together in order to find answers to question of applicability of South Korean economic miracle to other economies, along with the question whether it was indeed a miracle. While comparing two countries, existing literature and similar studies were scanned. With the help of both qualitative and quantitative historical data, common issues of comparison, namely policies, international trade, education and innovation, were selected and these issues were analyzed deeper. In the last part of the study, a simple econometric model was built by using OLS regression, in order to see if the presented ideas could be supported with econometric approach. Although model did not provide enough information about reasons of growth in South Korean economy, the findings confirmed the problems of Turkish economy and success of South Korean economy. This study is a contribution to a broader understanding of comparison of two economies, which is an issue that attracts attention of several related people, especially in Turkey.
Cost Optimization is a persistent discipline to adjust expenses and reduce costs while maximizing business value, and it has proven to be one of the most influential strategies to generate profits and stay competitive in the market. In this study, technical and strategic solutions that can lead to manufacturing cost optimization were considered. For this purpose, a test environment was created according to the DFMA methodology using the DFMA Concurrent Costing V4.1 software developed by Boothroyd Dewhurst Inc. and the production expenses of a JED029M3 aluminum bushing product from WABCO Group were analyzed.
Results revealed that these charges can be assigned to five main cost drivers Material, Machine Setup, Process, Scrap and Tools, of which Tooling was the most influential driver at lower volumes, while Material and Process remained two of the considerably substantial drivers across all ranges of volumes produced. Furthermore, among the optimization alternatives, the right choice for machine and raw material shape demonstrated to have a relative effects of less than 5% in reduction of manufacturing cost for 1,000 pieces, while outsourcing to China and transitioning toward economies of scale lowered could impact the total costs by -40% and -70%, respectively.
The current master thesis makes an effort to investigate relationships between perceived service quality, membership satisfaction, and membership loyalty at “Gesellschaft für technische Kommunikation – tekom Deutschland e.V.”, applying adjusted SERVQUAL model. To attain the formulated objectives in scope of the current research, the “Satisfaction – Profit Chain” model is applied, consisting of “Attribute Performance”, represented by SERVQUAL service quality dimensions supposed to serve as antecedent of the second component of the chain “Membership Satisfaction”, and “Membership Loyalty” in order to investigate relations between these three. The findings of the study are supposed to serve as a basis for altering the existing CRM Strategy in order to eliminate current issues within the association, develop strategic marketing capabilities, and create value for members’ attraction and retention.
As COVID-19 forces school to shutdown, distance learning or homeschooling is increasingly becoming the preferred and safest mode of delivering education. The new trend however, raises underlying questions on the implication it will have on the educational gap and attainment between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Germany, stemming from the diverse economic, cultural and social situation among the student population. This study presents results of a comparative analysis between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Germany using the PISA data 2018. The study investigated, how large the educational gap in Germany between advantaged and disadvantaged students is and what influences this gap. More specifically, what effect COVID-19 induced school interruption has in increasing the educational at- tainment between the student population. The findings show that there is an educa- tional gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Germany and socio- economic and cultural factors influence student performance which aligns with the findings in the literature review. Furthermore, school closures of 51 days result to a loss of 3.26, 3.37 and, 4.12 PISA point for advantaged students in maths, science and reading respectively and a loss of 8.4, 8.1 and 5.01 PISA points in maths, sci- ence and reading for disadvantaged students. The results show an increase in the educational outcome and inequality between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Germany. The findings, necessitate the need for policy makers to neutralize the learning losses resulting from the COVID-19 induced remote learning.
This master´s thesis focuses on the development of a competitor analysis process as a proposal for the business unit “Power and Energy Solutions”. As a new business approach for the Marquardt Group in the fast-growing and trending electromobility market, it is essential to develop a process to optimize the identification and assessment of competitors in order to obtain relevant information needed to build competitive advantages and plan business strategy.
This study highlights the essential information to be collected on competitors as well as the importance and benefits of conducting an analysis. A proper competitive analysis consists of considering and understanding certain external aspects surrounding the competitor. The structure of the industry, the company's current position, the customers and suppliers are key factors that have to be considered in order to conduct a successful competitive analysis. In addition, this thesis shows the steps and the main elements to contemplate in order to successfully perform a process within the company.
A qualitative research methodology has been applied for this thesis, in which literature review has been conducted and expert opinions and experiences have been included. The information has been collected through primary and secondary sources, with the aim of understanding the current situation of the business unit and obtaining relevant literature on the topic from reliable and accurate sources. Moreover, action research has been carried out in order to link theory and practice to provide a solution.
This master's thesis offers a proposal for the competitor analysis process, outlining seven stages to be followed. They have been established as a result of the evaluation and integration of the literature review and the current situation of the business. In addition, a conceptual framework has been designed as a concentration and visual representation of the best practices and methods to provide structure and support each stage of the process.
The implementation and constant utilization of the process will allow the development of a standardized system that ensures effective analysis in the business context. Moreover, it will provide a comprehensive analysis of competitors and their surroundings, as well as improvements and transparency in collaboration and practices within the company. Consequently, it will ensure a positive impact on the business unit for decision making and building competitive advantages.
This research aims to study transactional cost and organizational change management in a pharmaceutical company that had gone through the SSC implementation process through different regions, including Latin America. Eli Lilly SSC in Latin America is located in Mexico and was aimed to centralize standard routines and administrative transactions related to finance and accounting back office services for the entire region. In implementing changes of this magnitude, it is necessary to be prepared to encounter the transaction costs related to this strategic decision and for the internal resistance applied in organizational change process. In this sense, this research aims to study what are the main challenges and transaction costs involving a process of re-structuring the organization to the SSC business model, especially in Latin America. Taking as a base the change resistance elements mentioned by Burns and Scapens (2000) and transaction costs theory basis by Williamson (1981). The SSC, a relatively recent business model and a trend between multinational organizations, was implemented in Lilly across 4 different regions to support over 70 countries in all continents. Latin America the last region to be implemented had a proposed migration schedule within less than one year. The findings show that the main resistance to the existing process is related to lack of competence/information and attachment to control and existing routines. In addition, the transaction costs are closely related to the dimensions of asset specificity and uncertainty. We must consider that the lack of a formal change management strategy, within the LATAM region, was a risky move and had impacted the implementation process and stabilization period results. The chronogram had also to be changed due to unexpected details in the region. Latin America was more complex than expected due to the differences in regulations and culture between countries, also expressed a non-verbal resistance that was probably expressed through the lack of commitment of some personnel. The results of this research raise inputs to the next researchers and bring elements to be considered by organizations when implementing the SSC business model. It is useful to direct actions and strategies to control de change impact and possible transaction costs. Additionally, through the research we filled the purpose to build an overview on shared services model and discuss the main points that should be considered when taking into consideration to re-structure the business with this model, characterized as a centralization of services that are provided from one single point to multiple business units in order to avoid activities duplication, optimizing resources through the integration of technology, people and standardized processes (Deliotte, 2007).
Pricing is one of the foundations of any company’s market strategy and the only factor of the marketing mix that deals with revenue generation. The other three viz. product, promotion and place deal with expenditure. Pricing strategies provide varied degrees of flexibility based on organizational capabilities and customer segments. Pricing decisions are fundamental to a firm’s growth and are complex in implementation. Based on the author’s research, value-based pricing provides the best fit for all the important pricing factors like cost structure, profit margin, competition, supply and demand, etc. Despite this, cost-based and competition-based pricing strategies are still being widely used. The IT service industry in India has long focused on the competitive advantages of cheap and abundant manpower but the lack of focus on product development together with the emergence of other low waged countries and the growing nature of technology adaptation in the country have presented significant motivation to these IT firms to invest in research and development aimed at enhancing their product portfolio, which can be best taken advantage of by moving their pricing decisions towards a customer-value centric approach. Basing their prices on the different customer segments and focusing on value generation is the best way forward in the face of increased competition from both domestic and international organizations.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) among internet companies increased rapidly during the last decade which was caused by the growing competition and changing consumer preferences. Many startup companies enter the market offering hit products and getting millions of users in a short period of time. Due to such quick success established internet players like Google, Twitter and Facebook tend to acquire these startups instead of developing their own R&D. Internet acquisitions are very risky and imply high premiums, therefore, their impact on the innovation performance is quite unclear in the short- and long-term perspective. There is a variety of factors that can affect the innovation performance of both acquiring and acquired companies after the M&A transaction. This thesis is aimed to analyse the impact of M&A on the innovation performance of internet companies taking into account recent acquisitions among social networking players. A case study about Facebook's acquisition of Instagram occurred in 2012 presents the main application for the thesis. Qualitative data for the research is taken from the articles that contain opinions of the industry experts which are then critically assessed using the main scientific concepts about M&A and innovation performance.
In this thesis, new methods for text classification are examined and compared to the current software of the DNB. Due to technical changes in the area machine learning in recent years, improvements in text classification have been achieved. The objective is to improve the subject groups allocation of the DNB and to allow a hierarchical classification based on the DDC system. The decision was made on the HDLTex tool, as the structure of the DNB data set and the DDC system, which supports a hierarchical classification, are perfectly designed for it. The use of RNN networks on both hierarchical levels improved the current software situation. Furthermore, the approach was examined, if a combination of the predictions of the two hierarchies levels leads to an additional improvement, which, however, produced a negative result. Both beginners and experts find themselves as readers of this master's thesis in the target group again.
In dieser Arbeit werden neue Verfahren zur Textklassifizierung untersucht und der aktuellen Software der DNB gegenübergestellt. Durch technische Veränderungen im Bereich Machine Learning in den letzten Jahren, konnten Verbesserungen in der Textklassifizierung erzielt werden. Dabei soll die Sachgruppenvergabe der DNB verbessert und anhand des DDC Systems eine hierarchische Klassifizierung ermöglicht werden. Die Entscheidung fiel auf das HDLTex Tool, da die Struktur des Datensatzes der DNB und das DDC System, welche eine hierarchische Klassifizierung unterstützt, perfekt darauf ausgelegt sind. Durch die Nutzung von RNN Netzen auf beiden Hierarchieebenen konnte eine Verbesserung zu der aktuellen Software erzielt werden. Weiterhin wurde der Ansatz untersucht, ob eine Kombinierung der Vorhersagen der beiden Hierarchieebenen zu einer aufbauenden Verbesserung führt, welches jedoch ein negatives Ergebnis hervorbrachte. Sowohl Anfänger als auch Experten finden sich als Leser dieser Masterarbeit in der Zielgruppe wieder.
The aim of this research is to investigate the unique factors that affect the
adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices in Greek
companies, with a specific focus on how they align with the overall business
strategy and performance. To achieve this objective, a "bottom-up" approach
is utilized, which involves conducting case studies to assess the status of
GSCM implementation in Greece. Additionally, the research seeks to identify
the key barriers that must be overcome for successful integration of GSCM in
Greek businesses.
A primary purpose of the study is to advance the field of Green Supply Chain
Management (GSCM) research by providing new and valuable insights on
the implementation of GSCM in a context that has received relatively minor
or even no attention in previous studies. The findings of this study have
practical implications for businesses operating in Greece and beyond, as
they offer recommendations, solutions and strategies for companies seeking
to implement GSCM practices. Eventually, this research aims to contribute to
the overall development and understanding of GSCM, as well as to promote
sustainable business practices in the region.
Keywords: Green supply chain management, Greece, business strategy,
implementation, barriers, case studies, bottom-up approach
The object of the present master thesis is to understand the environment of the sales channel of Global Projects, its opportunities and challenges for Hansgrohe SE in order to clearly formulate a practicable, medium-term strategy for the period of 2020-2023 for the referred sales channel. A mixed method approach was used in this thesis, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Raw data such as the channel’s net sales during 2016-2019 were observed from the internal sales system in order to understand the relevance in the past of the different business segments within the sales channel of Global Projects. Also, different external sources such as databases and reports from different consulting firms and international institutions were analyzed in order to determine the sales potential of the different business segments for the period of 2020-2023. A PEST analysis was conducted in order to identify the changes and effects of the external macroenvironment on the company’s strategic position. And finally, a competitor analysis was also conducted in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s main competitors and the areas where the company should aim to improve. All previous research and analysis was complemented with expert interviews that were conducted with experts from ten different subsidiaries of the company who are in charge or involved in the sales channel of Global Projects in their respective regions, who helped defining the sales potential of the existing business segments and relevance of new segments that should be considered in order to develop the channel’s strategy. The result of the study suggested that the residential segment will represent the biggest sales potential for the channel followed by the hospitality segment. While there are other segments such as marine, retirement homes and bathroom pods & modular buildings which are expected to gain relevance in the future in some specific regions. As result of all research and analysis conducted throughout this thesis, the strategy and plan for the sales channel of Global Projects for the period of 2020-2023 was designed in line with the company’s strategic position.
Studierende und Lehrende als Kunden wissenschaftlicher Bibliotheken sind im digitalen Zeitalter aufgrund virtueller Angebote nicht mehr wie früher auf physische Bibliotheken angewiesen. Die Tendenz zu „entmaterialisierten Bibliotheken“, stellt komplexe Anforderungen an das Bibliotheksmanagement, mit dem Ziel, die E-Medien als umfassende Services für ihre Zielgruppen sichtbar darzustellen. Ausgehend von diesem Fokus soll das E-Medien-Portfolio der Bibliotheken der Hochschule Furtwangen konsequent an den Bedarfen ihrer Kernzielgruppen ausgerichtet werden. „E-Medien-Service nach Maß“ bedeutet eine komplexe Herausforderung und ist zugleich eine strategische Aufgabe des Bibliotheksmanagements, im Kontext von Studium und Lehre sowie dem Qualitätsmanagement der Hochschule.
Die Arbeit stellt dazu eine qualitative Studie vor, die im Wintersemester 2014/2015 am Campus Tuttlingen durchgeführt wurde. Sie erläutert Hintergrund und Zielsetzung der Untersuchungsfrage, beschreibt die angewandte Methode und das Untersuchungsdesign.
Ziel der Studie war, Nutzungsaspekte und Bedarfe der Zielgruppen Professoren und Studierende der Fakultät Industrial Technologies festzustellen. Darüber hinaus wurde ermittelt, inwieweit das E-Medien-Angebot der Bibliotheken bekannt ist und welche Möglichkeiten bestehen, es besser sichtbar zu machen. Die Ergebnisse aus der Studie wurden in Empfehlungen zur Optimierung des E-Medien-Portfolios zusammengefasst.
Darauf basierend kann ein strategisches Konzept entwickelt werden, welches durch die Untersuchung der Bedarfe und unter Beachtung der Relevanzsysteme ihrer Zielgruppen erfolgreich vom Bibliotheksmanagement eingeleitet werden kann.
Mobile diagnostics – or mobile health in general – is highly appealing, not only for clinicians, but also for patients. It implies empowerment, in particular of those who are really in need, such as inhabitants of less developed regions within the world who have limited access to healthcare. It also implies simplification: Easy data management – a continuous flow of information. Therefore, development of miniaturized and highly integrated diagnostic systems allowing near patient “instant” diagnostics gain a lot of momentum since more than a decade. However, system integration requires time and a significant amount of investment. In addition, there is strong competition on resources from other emergent technologies, such as next generation sequencing which made the collection of e.g. human genome data less expensive and much faster. A more severe challenge is that mobile diagnostics require a change in healthcare management, e.g. towards integrated practice units. This, in turn, requires implementation of adequate reimbursement, standards of interoperability, training of staff, quality control. In 2010, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the grant initiative Mobile Diagnostic Systems (MD, 2011─2015) as part of its high-tech strategy. MD aimed at generating knowledge on how microsystem technologies fit into German healthcare environments. On the basis of interviews with multidisciplinary MD actors, this thesis evaluated retrospectively how the publicly funded innovation network managed to overcome pre-defined external barriers of diffusion, including technology, regulatory affairs and market access. Retrospectives reveal internal barriers involving knowledge and technology transfer, negatively influencing generation of innovation. In particular, financing still represents a high hurdle for biotech innovators in Germany: Larger firms look predominately for market-ready or in-market technologies rather than prototypes and venture capitalists are rare or extremely risk-averse. Another important finding was, that actors involved were highly focused on individual work packages. This risks of not seeing the whole environment embedding MD. Consequently, potential opportunities may be missed, e.g. synergies with relatively close (DIALOC) or more distant initiatives (Global Health Delivery Project-based discussion rounds). This could be partly due to the fact that publicly funded networking activities provide less freedom-to-operate because of pre-defined milestones. In addition, further development of actors with respect to role playing (e.g. boundary spanning or innovation selling) is often not included in such “innovation packages”, but can help to maneuver change. Internal barriers need to be addressed first before targeting the major remaining external hurdle: Reimbursement. Although the latter was covered within MD, standardization of technology evaluation is still an unmet need which strongly influences the willingness-to-implement novel mobile diagnostics. Thus, the value added is to be demonstrated to justify adequate reimbursement. Achieving this goal can be successful, when innovation networking finds its path towards a common vision, e.g. towards value-based integrated healthcare. Pathfinding and visioning can be facilitated by process promoter with excellent network management capabilities. In addition, such a promoter could help to further develop engagement, openness and commitment of collaborators. Therefore, transfer of MD activities to established “top” networks or clusters is recommended for securing valuable knowledge generated. In this environment, an important next step – globalization of MD for ensuring future return on investment – could be triggered as well.
Since MD innovation was found to involve both product and service innovation, maneuvering change is particularly challenging for small and medium sized enterprises. These could benefit from engagement in innovation networking. Findings of this case study can help all direct and indirect actors in the field of MD innovation or in other high complex environments to reconsider pathfinding as well as role playing in networking.
Industry 5.0 is a new age of production that combines human-machine cooperation with cutting-edge technologies. Despite all of Industry 5.0's advantages, there are new cybersecurity threats that need to be considered in order to maintain the stability and security of networked systems. In the first section of the thesis, Industry 5.0 is introduced, along with its benefits and features. Cyber threats posed by automation, robotics, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and networked systems are also noted.
The thesis delves deeply into the vulnerabilities and possible attack paths that hackers can use in Industry 5.0 settings. It looks at vulnerabilities in IoT devices, human mistakes, unprotected communication protocols, and supply chain vulnerabilities, giving a thorough grasp of the hazards involved. Case examples from the real world illustrate how cyberattacks affect Industry 5.0 systems, highlighting the necessity of strong defenses.
In order to develop recommendations for Industry 5.0 security, the thesis examines a number of cybersecurity best practices and standards, including the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO 27001. It highlights how crucial it is to carry out thorough risk assessments and apply efficient risk management strategies in Industry 5.0 settings. The thesis recommends staff awareness and training, incident response strategies, and technology controls as ways to lessen cyber dangers.
The thesis also looks at innovative ways to improve Industry 5.0 cybersecurity, including secure communication protocols, blockchain for supply chain security, artificial intelligence (AI) for attack detection and response, and safe IoT device design. It also takes into account the legal and regulatory sides of cybersecurity, evaluating how well they work to handle privacy and ethical issues as well as lessen cyber threats.
To improve Industry 5.0 cybersecurity, the thesis also looks at cutting-edge technologies including blockchain for supply chain security, AI for threat detection and response, secure communication protocols, and safe IoT device design. It evaluates the efficacy of legal and regulatory measures in mitigating cyber dangers and resolving privacy and ethical issues while taking cybersecurity into account.
The thesis highlights the need of industry cooperation and information exchange in addressing Industry 5.0 cyber threats. It assesses initiatives, partnerships, and networks that support the sharing of best practices, information, and threat intelligence. In the conclusion, the thesis explores Industry 5.0's future orientations and offers academics, policymakers, and business experts’ advice on how to proactively mitigate new risks and guarantee the security of Industry 5.0 ecosystems.
Overall, the thesis contributes to a better knowledge of Industry 5.0 cyber dangers and provides practical solutions through the use of multidisciplinary research, real-world case studies, and examples. Its purpose is to encourage the secure and successful use of Industry 5.0 technology.
This study explores the complex dynamics influencing the establishment of secondary
vocational exchange programs, with an emphasis on identifying the barriers and
facilitators in this process. Adopting a qualitative research approach, the study seeks to
capture the rich, nuanced experiences of stakeholders and provide context-specific
insights. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals, administrators,
and officials associated with German and United States Vocational Education. Employing
a two-tiered participant selection strategy, a range of perspectives were captured. The
data were analyzed using an inductive approach to thematic analysis, aiming to identify
underlying patterns and themes. Preliminary findings indicate that funding, policy and
governance challenges, educational structures, administrative elements, corporate
attitudes, and socio-cultural influences play significant roles in the establishment of these
exchange programs. The research also underscores the importance of participant
preparedness, program structure, stakeholder interest and engagement, diversity and
inclusion, and innovative program approaches as vital facilitators. These insights can
influence the development of policies and practices for future secondary vocational
exchange programs, thus contributing meaningfully to the larger conversation
surrounding vocational exchange programs and international educational partnerships.
Die digitale Transformation stellt das Supply Chain Management vor große Herausforderungen. Es muss Antworten und Lösungen finden, um in einem global vernetzten Marktumfeld die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der Supply Chain sicherzustellen. Das Konzept der Blockchain und der Smart Contracts versprechen großes Potenzial. Gerade im Bereich der Prozessautomatisierung und der Kostensenkung, durch das Entfallen bisher notwendiger Clearingstellen. Allerdings stellt sich auch immer die Frage nach der Datensicherheit und Schutz vor unbefugter Manipulation. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es Anwendungsmöglichkeiten und Potenziale einer Blockchain und Smart Contracts im Supply Chain Management zu identifizieren und zu beschreiben
The insurance industry in Germany has been dominated by a commission-based sales model for over seventy years. Intermediaries sell insurance contracts to end customers and are paid a commission depending on the value and type of insurance. This commission-based approach incentivizes salespeople to keep adding new policies to customers in order to make a living, and customers do not get the insurance solutions and advice that suit them the best. A financial services provider has now developed a novel business model that aims to disrupt the insurance industry in Germany. It replaces commission-based insurance with commission-free tariffs and instead includes a flat fee for managing the client's insurance policies. However, the business idea can only be realized profitably if the administrative expense per client is significantly reduced. Due to strict regulations in the insurance industry, many activities within the process are mandatory.
The goal of this work is to automate the business process behind the idea through the use of digital technologies and to reduce the workload in order to make the business model profitable. We used design thinking as a mental framework to carry out the digital transformation of the business model in a structured way. As part of this qualitative research, we conducted expert interviews and a document structure analysis to define hurdles for the realization and to develop detailed process maps. We carried out a process workshop, during which we analyzed the process and identified requirements for a digital prototype, which was developed using the low-code framework bubble.io.
Through workload time measurements, the impact of digital transformation on the performance of the process was confirmed. Finally, different digital options were compared with each other. The findings of this work support the thesis that design thinking has a positive influence on the success of digital transformation and in particular in the development of solutions tailored to people. This success is underlined by a reduction in workload times by 71,2% for bottleneck activities. The comparison of the various digital options implies that the development of customized digital applications is preferable for unique and complex problems.
The pivotal role of the service industry in the economy is increasing over the last decades, as shown by the significant contribution to the GDP made by travel and tourism. Among the varied range of travel companies, this paper focuses on travel agencies. The objective of the thesis is to find out the key drivers, which lead to the success of European travel agencies and to point out the factors that make them unable to compete and develop sustainably. This paper uses the PESTEL model, Porter’s Five Forces model analysis, flywheel concept and spontaneously conducted interviews with travel and tourism industry experts. A case study approach is adopted. There is also the analysis of the financial statements, business model and strategies of the top 15 world-leading travel agencies to find out the market structures and competitors’ behaviors. From the collected data and examination, three primary factors that lead to the sustainable development of travel agencies and four main factors that decreed the failure were identified. Besides, the research also finds out the answer for the three research questions: technology is the disruptive forces in the travel agency industry, there will be no monopoly in this industry at least in the next medium-term, and the adaptation of a new business model is possible. Finally, the study proposed a sustainable development model for a European travel agency as well as directions for future relevant research.
This master thesis explores the divergent consumer preferences within e-commerce sales funnels in China and Germany, two of the world's leading e-commerce markets. This comparative study explores the complexities of website design preferences, the influence of cultural elements on consumer decision-making, and the drivers of consumer loyalty and repeat purchases, with China's rapid adoption of digital technology and innovative marketing strategies set against Germany's mature market and consumer trust.
A mixed-methods approach is used in the research, combining quantitative and qualitative analysis. Insights into consumer behaviors and preferences influenced by cultural, economic, and technical aspects are provided by a thorough analysis of scholarly literature, case studies, and consumer surveys from both nations. The report highlights the distinctive features of each market by examining important elements such as digital innovation, sustainability, social integration, data protection, and mobile commerce in e-commerce practices.
Remarkably, the thesis seeks to provide practical insights to German e-commerce practitioners. German businesses can learn more about properly aligning their marketing and operational goals with consumer expectations by studying the successful techniques employed in China. This research contributes to academic understanding while also having implications for marketers and e-commerce platforms looking to improve user engagement, conversion rates, and the overall online shopping experience in the dynamic global e-commerce world.
The aim of this thesis is to identify and investigate the meaning of customers’ expectations in the IT-industry explained by the example of introducing a new product and to develop a strategy how expectations can be managed in the IT-industry.
The first part of the thesis deals with the reasons and the general framework for the research and defines objectives and scope of the thesis.
In the second part, results of the literature and theories about expectations are presented. These show what previous research has found out and give an overview about different types of expectations and corresponding effects. The flowing part constitutes the case study as research instrument and how it can be used to generate results. With the help of a case study of a specific example of the IT-industry the meaning of expectations regarding new products will be highlighted. Additionally, it gives_a basis to develop a strategy to manage expectations in the IT-industry.
Afterwards the results of the literature review and the case study are combined into a usable strategy to manage expectations of new products in the IT-industry. The thesis illustrates the necessary steps of the strategy and gives an assessment of the results.
In conclusion, the thesis argues that expectation management is an essential step of influencing innovation to optimize business and gives instruction to identify, manage and influence customer’s expectations. Besides, this thesis addresses industries which are faced with the challenge of expectation management and offers an initial research about expectation management in the IT-industry. Furthermore, this thesis intends to provide a basic research to show the importance of expectation management and inspire following research.
Entering a foreign market usually deals with different cultures and different values. Therefore, any company, which wants to expand abroad, has to understand the culture and their future customers. Markets are people says an old marketing paradigm. People shape the market according to their demand on the certain market. Culture is the main factor influencing the consumer behavior. Therefore, in this study we will consider closer the cultural differences between US, UK and Germany in order to understand the differences in behavior of consumers of grocery retail market. Comparison of the cultures will be done based on the Hofstedes’ dimensions of national culture.
Further, we will analyze the predisposition of these national cultures towards consumer ethnocentrism (CE) based on previous studies’ findings. These comparisons will give us an understanding of three cultures and which of those cultures influences its consumers purchase motives in favor domestic products. Additionally we will compare consumers’ attitude in three countries based on the current trend of sustainable and ecologically friendly products.
Finally, in two case studies, we will look closer at successful operation of German retailers in UK and US. Successful operation of American retailer Walmart in UK and failure of Walmart in UK. We will look at interrelation of the cultures with the foreign market entries of studied retailers. In the end, better understanding of these cultures will help to recognize why Walmart failed in Germany and succeeded in UK. The main assumption, that Germans avoid shopping in foreign stores will be either supported or denied based on the findings. However, this is a qualitative research based on secondary data, therefore limitations and suggestions for future researches will be described at the end.
Konzeption und Implementierung einer Cloud-basierten Sprachbedienung für das Smart Home-Labor
(2017)
Nowadays, big sport events such as Olympic Games are not only an exciting carnival for sports enthusiasts, but also a good opportunity for the host country/city to accelerate its economic development. After more than 40 years of development, Computable General Equilibrium has been proved to be a very powerful tool to analyze the impact of big sports events on host country/city. In this paper, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be used as the target case to study the impact on the economy. A Supply model and a demand model will be established according to CGE theory to describe the case. This paper is not focused on the detail but the whole picture of Beijing’s economy by analyzing the industrial structure changes under the influences of hosting the Olympic. Beijing’s industrial structure development will also be analyzed in this paper.
Financial technology, popularly known as Fintech, has disrupted and revolutionized the financial service sector. Today, institutions such as banks are adapting digital transformation with the help of technological devices. There is no doubt that Fintech has transformed the way we bank. Nevertheless, there has been a growing need of understanding the future of financial institution with a holistic approach. Regulatory and governmental support towards maximizing opportunity, minimizing risk, and integrating financial inclusion is needed to accelerate the economy and attain sustainable development.
The following thesis aims to study financial inclusion and how to achieve it in the Fintech industry. It comprises of four areas of influence; market, social, technology and regulatory while emphasizing on the economic development, social progress, uplifting digital finance and robust regulatory system in the globalized financial market. The research aims to close the gap among the regulatory, economic, technological and social aspects of Fintech and then develop a pathway to attain financial inclusion. In addition, the objective of the research is to provide a comprehensive strategic plan towards a prespecified future in finance. This was achieved with the help of normative scenario planning. The result was calculated using scenario planning software INKA 4. The result consisted of four distinct scenarios supporting the pathway to implement financial inclusion in Fintech sector by the year 2030.
There is an increase in concern for the environmental impact such as GHGs emission and hazardous chemicals discharge along with the wastewater, from the product production process. Likewise the concern in the social impact also rises, in which it include the use of forced and child labor, unfair wages and inhumane treatment of worker in the production process of various industry.
Moreover, with the change in business strategies to fast fashion, in which new product collections are launch four times a year. In response, company have change the structure of their supply chain to shorten lead-time, higher inventory turnover, high order fulfilment and lower price for their customer. However, while focusing on these factors, environmental and ethical are being overlooked.
With the pressure from the public, laws mandate by the government, as well as the foreseen market opportunity make many of the large company to start thinking about a way to eliminate environmental and ethical impact from their supply chain. Various techniques and instruments are developed in order to help the company to analyze and abolish these problems.
Two companies are used as an empirical studies, which are H&M and Inditex. Though the analysis the challenges they faced and instruments and technique they used in response to the challenges, one can clearly observe the different approach in handling the challenges of these two companies. Nevertheless, positive improvement in eliminating environmental and social impact from their supply chain can clearly be seen from their effort.
Organizational Development is a relatively newer concept in the corporate world. This concept continues to being explored by researches due its growing importance and fascination results. Many organizations strive to establish a competitive edge by the evolution and differentiation in not only the OD interventions but also in handling their effects. Due to its intriguing nature, it has been the focal point of this study/research.
Scope of this research is to explore the perceptions of employees, which are created over a course of time about certain dimensions related to Organizational development interventions in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan. Firstly Literature Review has been conducted to find out existing theory that has been explored and created over decades by past research about the OD interventions and also how the perceptions of employees/individuals are mapped with reference to Organizational Development and how it impacts their acceptance of these interventions. Secondly short interviews from the management (Directors/Heads of Organizational Development) of the key players of the telecommunication sector have been conducted to unfold the hidden issues, objectives, initiatives taken and hurdles faced by these players and hence has provided with certain issues on which substantial and extensive research has yet not been done. With the help of these interviews common objectives and common hurdles during OD implementation have also been identified among key telecommunication player of Pakistan. To limit the scope of the thesis, Acceptance of OD has been taken as the dependent variable while Perceptions of Organizational Development (Level of Uncertainty, Feelings about OD interventions, Opportunities for Growth & Development and Opportunities to Participate) were identified to be the independent variables with the help of literature review.
This study attempts to explore how the different dimensions of perceptions of Organizational Development exist amongst the employees of the telecommunication sector of Pakistan and how the negative/positive perceptions impact the acceptance level of these OD interventions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted from 20 employees (Five from each organization) from the four major players of the telecommunication sector of Pakistan namely Warid, Telenor, Mobilink, and Ufone.
Non-R&D-intensive firms and industries play and continue to play an important role in the German manufacturing industry, as their 41% share of value added in 2007 indicates. Nonetheless, non-R&D-intensive SMEs especially need to ready themselves for a future shaped by a continuously increasing internationalization of competition, rising knowledge intensity and complexity and an impairing job market situation due to demographic changes. Non-R&D-intensive SMEs are therefore more than ever required to boost the effective and efficient exploitation of firm-specific resources and competences in order to generate, secure or enhance competitive advantages. As studies however show, existing strategic competence management concepts are currently implemented rather by large firms. In addition to small firm size, low R&D intensity effects staff setup, innovation behavior, generation and use of knowledge and competitive market behavior which further negatively influence a firm's possibilities and propensity to implement these strategic competence management concepts. In a first step into this field of study, this master thesis aims to identify and analyze specific characteristics facilitating or discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development processes in non-R&D-intensive SMEs in the form of requirements, drivers and barriers. A literature review addressing the particularities of non-R&D-intensive SMEs and the attributes of current strategic competence management concepts discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development builds the foundation for nine guided interviews of explorative nature involving four non-R&D-intensive SMEs conducted to acquire qualitative empirical data to complement the theoretical findings. A total of 22 specific characteristics, i.e. eleven requirements as well as six drivers and five barriers, facilitating or discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development in non-R&D-intensive SMEs were identified after forging the bridge between theoretical and empirical findings.
Cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular as an investment object due to the underlying promising blockchain technology, a growing number of use cases and especially because of their recent enormous price increases. As a young and emerging asset class, cryptocurrencies also face investors with several challenges and uncertainties.
This thesis investigates the impact of adding cryptocurrencies to diversified portfolios and whether cryptocurrencies can be a reasonable portfolio addition for investors. For this purpose, based on Harry Markowitz's Portfolio Selection Theory, a statistical analysis of portfolios with and without cryptocurrencies and different degrees of diversification was conducted for a 5-year-period. The portfolios were analysed in terms of return, risk and correlations and the efficient portfolio allocations as well as efficient frontiers were determined for different return and risk scenarios, both with and without the use of short sales.
The results of the statistical analysis showed that cryptocurrencies have significantly higher returns but also higher levels of volatility and risk than traditional asset classes. Although cryptocurrencies show less strong positive correlations with other traditional assets, they nevertheless correlate positively with the representatives of the traditional asset classes examined, which is why cryptocurrencies are only suitable to a limited extent as a means of risk diversification. Cryptocurrencies can be an attractive portfolio diversification but only for investors who are willing to accept higher risks for higher returns as the addition of cryptocurrencies significantly increases both the return potential and the risk of portfolios. Therefore, the higher an investor's expected portfolio returns and risk appetite, the higher should be the portion of cryptocurrencies in his portfolio.
This thesis investigates the effect choice options in e-commerce applications have on consumers’ decision making. Previous research showed that a large number of options
can affect consumers negatively. However, the conditions for such choice overload are unclear. After reviewing the existing research, the amount of information (entropy)
contained in a choice set and individual differences were determined as possible influencing factors in an online environment. In a choice experiment, choice sets with
varying information loads and an assessment of the Big Five personality traits were used to test the impact of the two identified factors on choice avoidance behavior. Results from chi-square-tests and a logistic regression model suggest choice overload but without entropy having an effect. A logistic regression model revealed that extraverted consumers are easier overloaded. A low Neuroticism score was found to be related to less occurrence of a too-much-choice-effect. Consumers with a high Openness score on the other hand choose one of the presented options more often and were therefore less often
overwhelmed by the assortment. An interaction effect between personality and the amount of entropy was not found. These findings extend the research on choice overload and offer valuable input for marketers targeting consumers online.
Sustainability first caught greater attention when the Brundtland commission first published their report “Our Common Future”. Since then, a lot has been done to fight against climate change. Sustainability has become one major issue in the daily business of companies. One industry that is surely going to change as a cause of the increased awareness of sustainability issues is the automotive industry. The disruptive electrification push plays an important role in the fast changing industry. E- mobility solutions as a means for more sustainable mobility are demanded more and more by customers. Also, governments shape the change in the industry with new regulations, bonus payments for buying electric cars and their emission targets. All this might sooner or later push traditional combustion engine cars out of the market. New players like Tesla focusing only on electric vehicles are entering the market and traditional car companies are changing their business towards e-mobility as well. That this change works well, companies also will need a well-developed marketing as well as brand positioning strategy and this is where the concept of green marketing kicks in. Broadly spoken, green marketing is the marketing of products that minimize the negative effects on our environment. Therefore, the thesis is generally researching the details of literature on green marketing and brand positioning. Later on, a detailed transition to the automotive industry is made with the analyzing of the three companies Volkswagen, BMW and Tesla. The thesis works out how those three companies managed to transfer their marketing mix into a green one and how this then affected their brand positioning. The thesis discusses the findings critically and gives implications for theory and practice as well as a guide to what needs to be done to be recognized as a green player in the automotive industry.
This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis about the growing popularity of Korean pop music (K-pop) worldwide in recent years. On one hand, the international expansion of K-pop can be understood as a result of the strategic planning and business execution that are created and carried out by the entertainment agencies. On the other hand, external circumstances such as the rise of social media also create a wide array of opportunities for K-pop to broaden its global appeal. The research explores the ways how the interplay between external circumstances and organizational strategies has jointly contributed to the global circulation of K-pop. The research starts with providing a general descriptive overview of K-pop. Following that, quantitative methods are applied to measure and assess the international recognition and global spread of K-pop. Next, a systematic approach is used to identify and analyze factors and forces that have important influences and implications on K-pop’s globalization. The analysis is carried out based on three levels of business environment which are macro, operating, and internal level. PEST analysis is applied to identify critical macro-environmental factors including political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological. On the industrial level, major forces that shape the music industry in which K-pop’s business operates are evaluated based on the framework of Porter’s Five Forces. External environmental analysis is followed by the review of the global strategies of major Korean entertainment companies in achieving their organizational objective of turning K-pop into a successful global business. We identify all the key value-creating activities ranging from talent acquisition to customer relationship management in the value chain of K-pop’s industry, and analyze how each of these activities have contributed to K-pop’s success in the global market. In conclusion, the recent success of K-pop on the global stage can be understood as the rewards for the capability of its internal strategy to anticipate and capitalize new opportunities in external environment.
This research is aimed at analyzing social media patterns of consumers in Russia and in Germany, and social media strategy of automakers. The purpose of the paper is to observe social media presence of three major car manufacturing companies and see what the social media preferences of consumers are during purchasing journey. Furthermore, the results include comparison between Russia and Germany as well as social media best practices of automakers. For this, data was collected from a random sample of people in Russia and in Germany through online questionnaire. After that an analysis of secondary data on social media presence of automakers was done. A total of 650 people participated in the online questionnaire. The data was analyzed for each country and compared with each other. The results revealed that there are a lot of similarities in social media usage. However, existing differences are very drastic and needed to be considered by companies when it comes to establishing a social media strategy in a specific country. Furthermore, selected car manufacturing companies have a relatively strong social media presence but are different among each other with some gaps that can be improved.
Benefits of setting up a Machine tool production plant in Slovakia as an alternative to India
(2015)
In this paper, I analyze the position of Indonesia current account during thirty five years from 1980 to 2015. The main findings may be summarized as follows:
(a)The movement of Indonesia CA position which interrelated mainly by the transaction of goods and services, and Ind IIP which interrelated to the getting indebtedness of the country.
(b)Indonesia as an open economy, for running CA position is determined by driving forces in macroeconomic scale, such as saving and investment, financial balance, real exchange rate, and trade balance. Indonesia recently is now more open to the free capital without strong foundation of financial system and human resources, so Indonesia suffers from the competitiveness problem.
In this paper, author was unable to find some data and interpretation. From policy recommendation, author strongly suggests government for some long-term policies.
This thesis aims to find out what are the career related self-perceptions of female researchers and scientist working or studying in the biomedical field in Finland and Germany. The literature research, statistics and empirical evidence collected by in-depth interviews are used to enlighten the cultural differences, environmental influencers and importance of self-esteem in career development. These in-depth interviews are arranged as individual narratives, which are then further analyzed in the data part. The main findings in the paper point out, that the support from the system provides better chances for women in Finland to combine family and the career, but many of the challenges are still rising form the lack of self-confidence and the tendency to avoid self-promotion. The both sides of working in the industry versus academy are as well looked into. Suggestions for new policies include better information for academics about employment possibilities in industrial the sector, positive role models who especially encourage women to combine work and family, and feedback and coaching in order to motivate women.
Entrepreneurship research faces a crossroads and a new approach is needed to better understand entrepreneurial behavior. Incorporating neuroscience to comprehend the entrepreneurial mindset seems promising. Nevertheless, the potential of neuroscience for entrepreneurship research is only slowly being realized. Based on an extensive literature review, this thesis examines the emerging role of neuroscience with respect to entrepreneurship. Referring to the model of the entrepreneurial process, this thesis investigates how entrepreneurs discover, exploit, and finally capture opportunities. In this context, explanations regarding trait, expertise, adaptation, and mindset of the entrepreneur are relevant for further examination. Moreover, decision-making in uncertain situations is analyzed. In this context, the dynamic interplay between the reflective and reflexive system is considered. Ultimately, this thesis provides recommendations for organizational innovation to enhance entrepreneurial
activity.
As this paper study how a brand can differentiate itself to stand out among the competitions for better growth opportunities, focus is given to two emerging trends in the market, the halal skincare and also functional skincare brand. Halal skincare stands for the skincare product that is permissible for Muslim consumption from the religious perspective. This trend is growing tremendously as Muslim is the second biggest religion in the world with high fertility rate. In skincare, the concept of halal would exclude the use of alcohol and pig-derives material in the product. This market amount to $46 billion in 2013 and is growing at 8% annually. This undercapitalised halal skincare market with few competition provides good opportunities for a brand to grow and develop. The functional skincare on the other hand, is a trend emerged over time where products provide additional benefits on top of basic function. This skincare trend is basically driven by modern technology that leads to many innovations of these multi-featured products. Example of the additional benefits that will be the focus in this study are the anti-aging and the sun care protection. Both trends gained enough attention by demonstrating a strong growth in the respective segments. This study will provide a snapshot of the current growing trends in the market and provide the key steps to position and differentiate a brand in order to stand out against the competitors with reference to the halal and functional skincare. The key objective here is to understand the determination of the brand positioning through the analysis of competitors, the target consumer and formulation of own brand differentiations. As every brand will be given a variety of judgements by the consumers, it is essential that a brand is position properly in the mind of the consumer in order to be successful in the market.
The purpose of this study is to diffuse knowledge about the limited roles women still play in Nigeria, as opposed to the roles they could be playing if they were to be empowered,
especially in terms of local and national security. The research questions examined the different ways in which women in Nigeria are suffering the omnipresence of patriarchal beliefs and the norms they entail, which interviews with a sample of nine Nigerian women have testified for. It further analyzed the possible interdependence between patriarchy and insecurity levels, and how empowering women could help building peace in the region. Three experts on the topic were interviewed, and testified for this correlation between women and security, while also pointing out the need for governmental support in terms of financing and policing this inclusion of women. The paper finally proposes a set of recommendations to the different stakeholders of Nigeria, from the civil society and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to the Government itself, on how to reach empowerment and peacebuilding in a sustainable way. Structured mainly on the social and cultural determinants of women’s roles in Nigeria, the study revealed that such determinants need political and legislative will if they are to improve. There is an urgent need for the Nigerian Government to take responsibility for the insecurity the country is facing and acknowledge how this insecurity is curbing any improvement towards both women empowerment and peacebuilding at the national and regional levels. Some of the recommendations include the promotion of dialogue among stakeholders, the implementation of sport programs to diffuse values of tolerance and empowerment, and the alteration of discourse around women and girls to change the conceptualization of power and therefore the roles they play in the society.
Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing amount of academic literature recognizing the significance of innovation systems. Entrepreneurship is an important component of an innovation system, contributing to the enhancement of regional as well as national innovation. The transfer of knowledge and technology between science and the economy has become particularly important to reinforce overall innovation performance. Today, universities and other institutions of higher education play a crucial role in the system of innovation and have evolved as active and highly relevant participants in the innovation system. Therefore, various supportive measures have been developed to increase the level of innovation at universities and to drive entrepreneurial activities. However, due to the ever-growing entrepreneurial support environment and the great variety of support programs,the distinction between support measures has become unclear. Consequently, the main objective of the present research work is to contribute to the overall understanding of supportive measures at German universities and other institutions of higher education.
Eight experts were interviewed to ensure the compilation of meaningful data. The research findings highlight the importance of a solid network of external experts as well as collaboration with other entrepreneurial institutions. Moreover, the research results indicated that an organizational structure with decentralized decision-making processes and a greater scope of actions enhances operational efficiency. While considering the indistinctness of different support programs and specific terms, although some significant differences were evaluated, overall, the results present a clear tendency toward a more cautious use of specialist terms, therefore substantiating the missing preciseness.
As a decisive factor for ongoing corporate success, companies are increasingly concerned with the possibilities of increasing their innovative ability. In connection with factors that can be influenced by internal company decisions, this work deals with the question of which factors are particularly effective in this context. The underlying hypothesis deals with the statement that the innovation performance can be fundamentally influenced by internal company decisions.
From the qualitative survey and study of three medium-sized companies from the districts of Schwarzwald-Baar and Rottweil, company-internal factors for increasing the ability to innovate and their relevance and practical application are examined. These companies are MinebeaMitsumi Technology Center Europe GmbH, Wiha Werkzeuge GmbH, and Hugo Kern und Liebers GmbH & Co. KG. In this context, several employees from the development and innovation teams of the companies were interviewed personally and other employees of one company were interviewed using an online survey. The questionnaire was further expanded on the basis of the information and results obtained. The results of this survey were critically reflected on by the project manager of the company surveyed first.
The seven internal factors identified from the literature are the Generation and Implementation of Ideas, Creativity and Time Pressure, the Use of External Information, Creation of Knowledge, Behavioral Patterns, Organizational Structures and the Composition of Teams. These factors were identified with different relevance and application in the practice of the examined companies. It cannot be conclusively clarified from the study whether the ability to innovate can be positively influenced, in particular by the factors identified. In this context, further investigations are necessary. Based on the literature review and experiences of the companies, this thesis presents a recommendation for measures relating to the positive influence of factors to increase the ability to innovate.
Organizations invest money, time and energy on fostering gender diversity at the workplace. Other than being fair, diversity has been proved to improve company performance, as it promotes innovation, creative thinking and decision-making capabilities, as an example. However, having said that, there are still some sectors or areas which lack of a fair representation between men and women. In order to build a more balanced workforce, it is necessary for the organization to find ways to be appealing to all groups. One way can be to focus on the recruitment process.
The recruitment process contains some major and minor biases, which can influence the hiring decision. In most recent years, it has been revealed that the words used in job postings can in fact encourage or discourage different groups of people, in this case, men and women. That is due to the fact that language is gendered, because men and women communicate who they are, what they want, what they need differently. Language is strictly related to how one person is perceived in the society and the role they have, with the risk of falling into a stereotype.
The objective of the paper is to study and explain the effect of wording in job postings. To do so, around 200 participants have replied to a questionnaire which presents ten sets of job descriptions containing and comparing gendered words. The questionnaire allows to compare the answers from men and women and assess to what extend wording influence the application decision. It appears that women are more reactive to biased language than men and they prefer female-themed terms; despite being more indifferent, men also lean towards feminine language in some cases.
This study investigates the interrelationship between Knowledge Management (KM) and employee satisfaction and proposes strategic implementation steps for the further development and acceptance improvement of a new Operational Framework (Blueprint) at Robert Bosch GmbH, Power Electronics. Two primary research questions are addressed: (1) whether KM offers insights into and explanations for employee satisfaction issues, and (2) what strategic implementation steps can be derived for the development and acceptance of the Blueprint. The research commenced with an analysis of existing employee satisfaction surveys, supplemented by in-depth interviews, to understand the current state of employee satisfaction in the business unit undergoing transformation. The literature review was then conducted to ascertain the connection between KM and employee satisfaction. Subsequently, the study engaged in multiple interviews with top management in the Power Electronics business unit to identify implementation measures and best practices across various industries. A comprehensive set of practices was established and subsequently evaluated in a workshop involving line employees from the business unit, integrating theoretical findings with practical experiences. The final recommendations were grouped into three categories: Meeting Structure, Culture and Leadership, and Knowledge Management Guidance. The findings underscore the significance of KM in promoting employee satisfaction and suggest that the proposed strategic steps can foster the further development and acceptance of the Blueprint at Robert Bosch GmbH, Power Electronics.
All the companies need to plan and budget for future. For planning they need sale forecasting so that accordingly they can manage their supply chain efficiently. Companies do have historical data which can be used for forecasting sale. However, the accuracy of the predictive model depends on the quality of data which is being fed to the model. Poor data quality may result in poor forecasting. Hence, there is need to work on data quality management and to formulate some generic approach for ensuring data quality. Besides, it is also required to detect abnormal sale from the past data, get the reason for those abnormal sale records and remove them from the data. Subsequently, cleaned data can be used to work on predictive modelling which will forecast sales with the most likelihood of near to accurate results. These historical data can be analyzed as a time series data by using as simple time series analysis as ARIMA or by using complicated neural network. Evaluation of these predictive models will help in making a decision of selecting a best fitted model for future forecasting. The thesis aims to work on data quality management of raw data and then analyze time series data to determine predictive model for forecasting. Besides, thesis also aims to understand how data is collected and how organization performs sales processes. This would not only facilitate in finding and bridging the gaps in the business processes but also in preparing the organization for the state-of-the-art technologies to enhance their business for future.
Family businesses are major contributors of a strong and diverse society. Not only help to keep power in the hands of small units (families), they also foster innovation and personal freedom and this is necessary to maintain a healthy society, which is also necessary not only in Mexico but throughout Latin America and other regions where emerging countries tend to be a majority. The presence of strong private businesses in a society can reinforce the social values of their communities. Wealth and stability that they create can foster personal growth around them, especially if the owners are responsible for philanthropic activities and civic leadership. Thousands of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries are reaching a difficult phase. Most of the owners who founded the company on the 60s or 70s and made it to the next century are ready to retire without having a plan of succession to the one who will be taking over. Some of these enterprises are also struggling to find a strategic path among lots of heavy changes on the corporate world while others fight unexpected competition from abroad, normally from developed countries. it is also difficult for companies to face this sensation of isolation on a daily fight for survival and for standing out. At last, many of them end up selling their companies because of pressure or failure, being victims of a powerful tendency of family businesses to stop growing and develop their potential. 1.1 Objectives Provide an overview of the SMEs in Mexico and their current situation. Uncover the possible factors that cause their failure. Suggest a different solution through implementation of corporate governance, the way bigger companies do. Investigate and explore fears and advantages of implementing corporate governance. Analyze how corporate governance can be integrated to a SME in Mexico. 1.2 Limitations of the analysis This analysis considers that the reader has a short background on business, as the basic concepts will not be detailed. The study will focus on solving a specific problem that the author considers to be crucial for any SME in a developing country to solve, but from the perspective of corporate governance. The classification of the group of companies that have been analyzed may vary from country to country. 1.3 Methodology This project comprises a study of the presented bibliography on the situation of the corporate governance in Mexico and how can it be applied to small and medium size businesses in order to face the current challenges. The study focuses on the role of the board of directors in the company and how it can lead to a case of success by giving up some control by the business owners and pass it to the experienced advisors that will be part of the board. A document called “Código de Mejores Prácticas Corporativas” (Corporate Governance Codex) will serve as a big support for the research, since this is the official document companies must take a look at before even start thinking on implementing corporate governance practices. The research includes results form an annual survey presented by “PriceWaterhouseCoopers” in 2014 that was carried out all over the world including Mexico. This survey was done between May 30th and July 21st in 2014 to 122 companies from Manufacture, retail, finance, mining, construction, wholesale, and agriculture, and it is considered by many firms as the most important survey to consider when analyzing the current situation of family businesses in Mexico.
This project builds an understanding on the evolution of financial intermediaries and its actors based on financial intermediation theory. By discussing the perspectives of borrowers and lenders within the crowdfunding industry, this study advises a way to create a competitive advantage for emerging Crowdlending platforms by leveraging on institutional investors.
This study recommends an inductive analysis of the crowdfunding industry, based on studies of other authors, observations of the industry and academic papers regarding investment behaviours. This leads to a Porter’s Five Forces analysis, which depicts the linkages among the actors of the business. The previous analysis suggests that institutional investors create positive linkages within the business; therefore, the project continues to explore the requirements of these agents when employing crowdfunding platforms as an effective investment vehicle.
As an investigation tool, a questionnaire is designed and delivered to institutional investors in the Latin American region. Results show that institutional investors lean towards short term credit operations structured under a monthly cash flow arrangement. While investors do care about the established communication channels and management of cash flows towards borrowers; support activities are susceptible of outsourcing and may constitute a value-added opportunity for financial intermediaries.
The context of this project is a study of the business expansion and development of the Becual Chile crowdlending platform as a young company in the market. The study is led by the Hochschule Furtwangen University and complemented by other two theses: ‘Credit Risk Model for a SME Crowdlending Platform’ (Aravena) and ‘Growth Strategies for SME Crowdlending Platform’ (Beltran).
BUSINESS PROCESS AUTOMATION: ENHANCING EFFICIENCY AND COMPETITIVENESS IN MODERN ORGANIZATIONS
(2024)
The first section of the thesis provides a historical overview of automation, spanning from the first industrial revolution to the current era of highly advanced AI-driven technologies. It emphasizes how important Business Process Automation (BPA) is in today's hectic corporate climate when productivity and competitiveness are key factors. The main focus is on Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which is especially useful in situations with legacy systems since it effectively automates repetitive processes. This study explores the differences between terms and concepts related to automation, including business process automation (BPA), robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and business process management (BPM). Companies looking to optimize their processes face a changing landscape due to the involvement of various technologies. Using real-world case studies and industry best practices, the thesis provides a thorough examination of the effects of BPA, emphasizing the primary drivers, challenges, and benefits of BPA adoption. A mixed-methods approach integrating quantitative and qualitative research was used as the methodology. Surveys, case studies, and documentation from different organizations are included in the study, based on those who have implemented RPA at their work. This method enables a thorough analysis of BPA's effects on efficacy, productivity, and affordability. Case studies from prominent firms like Capgemini Consulting, PwC, and Deloitte are reviewed to gain insights regarding their BPA journey. Significant gains in customer satisfaction, cost savings, error avoidance, and operational efficiency are shown by this research. They also draw attention to difficulties like opposition from employees, problems with integration, and the requirement for upskilling. The thesis indicates that although big firms have similar motives for adopting BPA, the process of adopting BPA varies depending on the specific circumstances of each firm. Stakeholder engagement and change management are critical components of successful BPA programs, according to key results. The study highlights a balanced, strategic, and context-sensitive approach, offering a useful insight for companies in establishing their BPA strategy. It provides a comprehensive examination of the role that business process automation plays in modern companies, highlighting the ways in which it can radically alter corporate strategy and operations in the digital age. It gives a thorough examination of the challenges involved in putting BPA into practice and offers tactical advice to businesses hoping to use these tools to boost productivity and competitiveness.
In the quickly developing industry landscape of the organic food market, keeping pace with consumer demands and market growth can be a challenge. Organizations with long histories in the organic market, such as dairy supply cooperatives are facing difficulty to maintain their competitive advantage. These cooperative organizations are unique compared to traditional firms in their committed responsibility to multi-stakeholder value creation and protection as defining measures of successful operations.
The paper investigates what factors and principles could be implemented by a cooperative to establish a consumer retail brand in the organic food market. It also examines the effects of this strategic marketing decision on the relationship between, and outcomes for, several of their stakeholder groups. To balance between narrowing the variables and context, while still providing relevant findings on a national scale, a French organic dairy coop serves as a qualitative case study. In addition, a pool of expert semi-structured interviews was conducted, obtaining real time information applicable to the current case study situation.
The findings supported the development of a consumer retail brand to enhance competitive position in the French organic food market. Beyond organizational competitiveness, these results conclude that a retail brand presence for the cooperative could return synergistic additional value to the cooperative stakeholders, including the business, members and their social and biological environments. Finally, the outcome suggests a reciprocal, reinforcing relationship between a corporate brand strategy and the mission of the organic dairy cooperative case study subject. These findings are partially transferable to other organic cooperatives and add a cooperative organizational perspective to the brand strategy and development academic work.
Frugality has become a prerequisite for success in a low-resource environment, a reality exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. When it comes to consumer needs, the priorities affordability and functionality are increasingly coming into focus. This study examines how frugal products are performing in developed markets, whether they meet consumer needs, and ultimately if there is a demand for these products.
The aim of this paper is to assess the status of Frugal Innovation (FI) in developed markets, using Germany as an example, and thus consumer behavior, in order to better evaluate the current status and related potentials based on this. The link between FI and environmental and social sustainability can be traced back to and limited to the minimal use of resources. Against the backdrop of the current economic and political situation, these factors represent one of the most significant competitive advantages of today.
This multi-method experiment helps to understand the consumer behavior towards frugal products as well as the opinions and attitude towards it. As a result, it can be said that there is interest in innovation in general as well as FI. The respective buying decisions were balanced, what means that frugal products do not necessarily outperform non-frugal ones, but they are in strong competition. It can be concluded that there will be an increasing demand for frugal products in developed markets such as Germany, especially for certain product categories.
The covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted economies all over the world, posing as a difficulty for companies all across the globe. The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India were one of the most affected. These Enterprises make a substantial contribution to India's economic output.
Despite their significance, these enterprises had faced immense challenges during the pandemic, such as disrupted supply chains, financial needs, loss of customer interest, and administrative problems as well.
This paper, has the intention of studying the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic on the MSMEs of India and is focusing on the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexities, and Ambiguity (VUCA) challenged encountered by them, the strategies that these businesses put into place to keep the organizations afloat, is also studied.
This paper includes a study spanning various fields, exploring the adaptive mechanisms, and strategies incorporated by MSMEs to manage and navigate through the turbulent business environment, sustaining operations and managing risks.
Furthermore, the thesis throws some light on the role of digital transformation in MSME resilience during the crisis, noting its effectiveness and potential barriers. The study aims to give insights and suggestions to better prepare MSMEs versatility against future disruptions, while also looking at government aid or help during the pandemic.
At last, this thesis adds to the understanding of challenges faced by MSMEs during the Covid-19 pandemic, while trying to offer valuable insights for the future.
With the ever increasing global competitive business environment, capturing new lucrative markets has taken the forefront for Multinational Entities (MNE’s). In the recent past, emerging countries have gained prominence as a focal growth destination for many MNEs. Despite the business opportunities that they offer, they still remain complex markets in which to do business. Consequently, for the MNEs that have made entry into these markets, adequate growth strategies designed to include sets of activities that deliver a unique mix of value to the organization are imperative.1 This therefore calls for such organisations to adapt their existing growth strategies in emerging markets to various demands. This is in order to maximise performance through well-orchestrated growth agendas that work in concert with the overall corporate strategy. Nevertheless, for overall success, businesses are becoming more aware that operational and control failures can be extremely costly.2 This is because growth comes with increased risks hence a need for new solutions to mitigate and manage the risks. Consequently, the discipline of compliance which is designed to mitigate risks through adherence of; legal requirements, internal and external policies is no longer a second-thought function that requires action down the road. Corporate leaders now recognize that it is important for business expansion and the protection of shareholder value.3 In these markets, compliance related issues have proved to be difficult hurdles for many organisations and they are widely viewed high risk compliance markets. 4 Despite this, many MNEs that venture into such markets fail to integrate their growth strategies and compliance programmes/strategies.
This paper explores the hypothesis that for organisations to optimise performance, their compliance programmes/strategies should work in concert with their broader strategic goals, e.g. growth. This thesis aims to show how the two can be integrated by using Rolls-Royce Power Systems’ AG (RRPS) growth strategy in China and its compliance programme as a case study. The hypothesis is that, if successfully integrated, RRPS can maximise its growth performance in China. Secondly the study seeks to provide a flexible check list or template that RRPS can adapt in its future Integrated Sales Road Maps (ISRMs) in other targeted countries or regions.
Even though the idea of nearshoring is not new, it has attracted a lot of attention lately. This strategy entails moving corporate activities, such as IT services or manufacturing, to nearby countries in order to take advantage of a variety of competitive benefits. Nearshoring is a phenomenon that is intimately related to trade wars, regional trade agreements, and changing global economic dynamics. The objective of this research is to investigate the development of nearshoring, the forces that drive it, and the effects it has on various industries, economies, and geopolitical ties. The study is specifically focused on the automotive and semiconductor sectors. The study takes a broad approach, including case studies, economic strategies, and historical patterns. It examines the growth of nearshoring in different areas, such as the USA and Europe, and analyses its effects on global trade and economic stability. In accordance to the study, nearshoring has a number of advantages, including lower costs, less risk, and easier access to trained labour. But it also brings with it difficulties like disparities in culture and regulations as well as worries about data security. Nearshoring trends have had a substantial impact on the automotive and semiconductor sectors, leading to notable changes in supply chain strategy and production processes. In response to the requirement for operational flexibility and the pressures in the global economy, nearshoring has become a popular option for these two industries. The approach emphasizes the necessity for flexible and resilient company strategies in a constantly shifting economic environment and helps to reshape the dynamics of global commerce.