Refine
Year of publication
Document type
- Bachelor Thesis (242)
- Academic Papers (13)
Language
- English (255) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- No (255)
Keywords
- Consumer behavior (8)
- Sustainability (7)
- Marketing (6)
- Social media (5)
- Tourism (5)
- Willingness to pay (5)
- Artificial intelligence (4)
- Business model (4)
- China (4)
- Consumer behaviour (4)
- Generation Z (4)
- Digitalization (3)
- ESG (3)
- Employer branding (3)
- Extremeness aversion (3)
- Germany (3)
- Global mobility (3)
- Social media marketing (3)
- Supply chain management (3)
- Advertising (2)
- Automotive industry (2)
- Bitcoin (2)
- Brand perception (2)
- COVID-19 (2)
- Candidate experience (2)
- Change Management (2)
- Change management (2)
- Circular economy (2)
- Communication (2)
- Consumer Behaviour (2)
- Consumer psychology (2)
- Context effect (2)
- Controlling (2)
- Crowdsourcing (2)
- Cryptocurrency (2)
- Culture (2)
- Customer Retention (2)
- Digital marketing (2)
- Digital transformation (2)
- Discount (2)
- Diversity (2)
- Emotional intelligence (2)
- Emotions (2)
- Expatriation (2)
- Fashion Industry (2)
- Fashion industry (2)
- Finance (2)
- Gamification (2)
- Global Mobility (2)
- Green Bonds (2)
- Green marketing (2)
- Greenwashing (2)
- Industry 4.0 (2)
- Influencer marketing (2)
- Innovation (2)
- International Assignment (2)
- Investment (2)
- Labels (2)
- Market analysis (2)
- Nachhaltigkeit (2)
- Quantitative Easing (2)
- Recruiting (2)
- Renewable energy (2)
- Risk management (2)
- Service (2)
- Stock market (2)
- Strategy (2)
- Stress (2)
- Sustainable consumption (2)
- Sustainable management (2)
- Sustainable marketing (2)
- Work environment (2)
- e-Commerce (2)
- AI recruiting tools (1)
- AIM/SLCP (1)
- Acquisitions (1)
- Active learning (1)
- Active recruiting (1)
- Active sourcing (1)
- Aesthetics (1)
- Agile methodology (1)
- Aging population (1)
- Alternative food networks (1)
- Amazon (1)
- Ambassify (1)
- American Fashion Brands (1)
- AnaCredit (1)
- Analysis (1)
- Analysis of variance (1)
- Apparel industry (1)
- Architecture (1)
- Asia expatriats (1)
- Asset allocation (1)
- Asset pricing anomaly (1)
- Assignees (1)
- Assortative Mating (1)
- Attitude-behavior gap (1)
- Aufwertung (1)
- Automation (1)
- Automotive Aftersales (1)
- Automotive aftermarket (1)
- Automotive industry China (1)
- B2B (1)
- B2C (1)
- BOGOF (1)
- BPR (1)
- Backmischung (1)
- Balanced scorecard (1)
- Bangladesh (1)
- Bank profitability (1)
- Bank regulation (1)
- Banking (1)
- Banking industry (1)
- Banking sector (1)
- Banks (1)
- Basel III (1)
- Behavioral Finance (1)
- Behavioral economics (1)
- Blended Learning (1)
- Blockchain (1)
- Bonus packs (1)
- Brand Management (1)
- Brand identity (1)
- Branding (1)
- Broadcasting (1)
- Business concepts (1)
- Business intelligence (1)
- Business model innovation (1)
- Business partnership (1)
- Business process reengineering (1)
- Buying behavior (1)
- Buying behaviour (1)
- Buying decisions (1)
- CBDC (1)
- CRM (1)
- Cannabis (1)
- Capital markets (1)
- Carbon dioxide removal (1)
- Career coaching (1)
- Career development (1)
- Cause-related marketing (1)
- Central bank digital currency (1)
- Change Projects (1)
- Channel integration (1)
- Charitable contribution (1)
- Chile (1)
- China economy (1)
- Chinese tool industry (1)
- Choice architecture (1)
- Circular business models (1)
- Clean label trend (1)
- Climate change (1)
- Clothing industry (1)
- Co2 labels (1)
- Cognition (1)
- Cognitive dissonance (1)
- Cognitive processes (1)
- Collaboration software (1)
- Colombia (1)
- Community manager (1)
- Company stocks (1)
- Comparative analysis (1)
- Compatibility effect (1)
- Competencies (1)
- Competitive advantage (1)
- Compromise option (1)
- Consumption behaviour (1)
- Content marketing (1)
- Content optimization (1)
- Convergence indicators (1)
- Corporate Valuation (1)
- Corporate culture (1)
- Cost structure (1)
- Covid 19 (1)
- Covid-19 (1)
- Coworking (1)
- Credence labels (1)
- Credit Spread Berechnung (1)
- Credit risk (1)
- Critical success factors (1)
- Cross-Cultural communication (1)
- Cross-channel retailing (1)
- Cross-cultural communication (1)
- Crowd work (1)
- Cultural Differences (1)
- Cultural Dimensions (1)
- Cultural differences (1)
- Cultural frameworks (1)
- Cultural intelligence (1)
- Cultured meat (1)
- Cusomer behaviour (1)
- Customer Loyalty (1)
- Customer Loyalty Program (1)
- Customer Satisfaction (1)
- Customer behaviour (1)
- Customer churn (1)
- Customer experience (1)
- Customer experience mapping (1)
- Customer journey (1)
- Customer loyalty (1)
- Customer relations and services (1)
- Customer retention (1)
- Customer satisfaction (1)
- DTC (1)
- Dashboard (1)
- Decentralised organisation (1)
- Decision Making (1)
- Decision making (1)
- Decision-making (1)
- Delivery date accuracy (1)
- Detailing (1)
- Developmental science (1)
- Digital Age (1)
- Digital anamnesis (1)
- Disruptive innovations (1)
- Distribution market (1)
- Distributor Management (1)
- Dividends (1)
- Dual Career Couples (1)
- Dual Carrer Ladder (1)
- Dun Laoghaire (1)
- Dynamic Pricing (1)
- Dynamic panel data (1)
- E-Commerce (1)
- E-commerce (1)
- ECB (1)
- EITI (1)
- EPS (1)
- Economic restart (1)
- Education (1)
- Efficient Markets (1)
- Electronic Payment (1)
- Empirical research (1)
- Employability (1)
- Employee Engagement (1)
- Employee Motivation (1)
- Employee Retention (1)
- Employee advocacy (1)
- Employee experience (1)
- Employee motivation (1)
- Employee survey (1)
- Employee training (1)
- Employer attractiveness (1)
- Empowerment of women (1)
- Endowment effect (1)
- Energy industry (1)
- Energy prices (1)
- Engineering Industry (1)
- English Premier League (1)
- Enterprise resource planning implementations (1)
- Entrepreneurship (1)
- Environmental awareness (1)
- Environmental integrated assessment models (1)
- Environmental marketing (1)
- Equities (1)
- Equity funds (1)
- Erneuerbare Energien (1)
- Ethnicity (1)
- Eudaimonia (1)
- Euro (1)
- Europe (1)
- European Islamic banks (1)
- Evaluation of IT investments (1)
- Expatriate experience (1)
- Expatriates (1)
- Experience management (1)
- Expertise development (1)
- Expertise path (1)
- Experts (1)
- Export (1)
- Extractive industry (1)
- FIFA Football World Cup 2006 (1)
- Factor Human (1)
- Factory Planning (1)
- Family Pool (1)
- Family-owned businesses (1)
- Farb- und Formerkennung (1)
- Farm to table (1)
- Fashion (1)
- Fashion Marketing (1)
- Fashion retail (1)
- Fehleranalyse Methoden (1)
- Female founders (1)
- Female leadership (1)
- Fiat money (1)
- FinTech (1)
- FinTech companies (1)
- FinTech markets (1)
- Financial Markets (1)
- Financial Stability (1)
- Financial audits (1)
- Financial crisis (1)
- Fitnessstudio (1)
- Five-year plans (1)
- Flexible Work Arrangements (1)
- Food buying (1)
- Food choice (1)
- Food labelling (1)
- Food packaging industry (1)
- Food security (1)
- Food supply chain (1)
- Food systems (1)
- Food wasting (1)
- Football (1)
- For-profit businesses (1)
- Forderungen (1)
- Framing (1)
- France (1)
- Franchise success factors (1)
- Free offer (1)
- Freihandelsabkommen (1)
- Friedrich August von Hayek's monetary theory (1)
- Future philanthropist (1)
- Gabor-Granger pricing method (1)
- Gaming industry (1)
- Gender equality (1)
- Generation impact (1)
- German tool industry (1)
- Germany Covid-19 pandemic (1)
- Global Collaboration (1)
- Global leadership (1)
- Global training (1)
- Global virtual team (1)
- Global virtual teams (1)
- Governance (1)
- Green attitude-behavior gap (1)
- Green bonds (1)
- Green branding (1)
- Green buying behavior (1)
- Green consumerism (1)
- HR (1)
- HR Management (1)
- Halal Food (1)
- Happiness (1)
- Health care practitioner (1)
- Heart Work (1)
- Heart leadership (1)
- Hedonia (1)
- Hofstede (1)
- Hufschmied Zerspanungssysteme GmbH (1)
- Human Recources (1)
- Human resource management (1)
- Human resources management (1)
- Impact Investing (1)
- Implementation (1)
- Impulse Buying (1)
- In-store technology (1)
- Incentive (1)
- Incentives (1)
- Inclusion (1)
- Independent studios (1)
- Indigenous (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Industrial automation (1)
- Influencer Marketing (1)
- Information Systems (1)
- Integrated reports (1)
- Integrity (1)
- Integrity in leadership (1)
- Inter-rater reliability (1)
- Intercultural Differences (1)
- Intercultural Project Management (1)
- Intercultural coaching (1)
- Intercultural interactions (1)
- Intercultural studies (1)
- Interest (1)
- Interest rate (1)
- International Assignments (1)
- International Management (1)
- International assignments (1)
- International career (1)
- International cookbook (1)
- International cooperation (1)
- International experiences (1)
- International graduates (1)
- Internationalization (1)
- Internet of things (1)
- Introversion (1)
- Investing (1)
- Investitionsrechnung (1)
- Islamic banking (1)
- Job Design (1)
- Job advertisement (1)
- Job satisfaction (1)
- Kapitalmarkt (1)
- Kerrygold (1)
- Key performance indicator (1)
- Key positions (1)
- Key success factors (KSFs) (1)
- Klimaschutz (1)
- Kolumbien (1)
- Kommissioniersysteme (1)
- LSI (1)
- Leadership (1)
- Leadership development (1)
- Lean controlling (1)
- Lean management (1)
- Lean production indicators (1)
- Learning (1)
- Learning methods (1)
- Learning styles (1)
- Lebensmittel (1)
- Legalization (1)
- LinkedIn strategy development process (1)
- Location planning (1)
- Logistics (1)
- Long-term assignments (1)
- Low-involvement products (1)
- Luxury watches (1)
- M&A, shareholder wealth, merger & acquisition (1)
- Macroeconomics (1)
- Macroprudential measures (1)
- Market Entry Modes (1)
- Market entry strategy (1)
- Marketing 3.0 (1)
- Marketing Strategy (1)
- Marketing sports (1)
- Marketing strategy (1)
- Marketingkonzept (1)
- Markowitz (1)
- Markteinführung (1)
- Match-up Hypothesis (1)
- Measurement (1)
- Measurement tool (1)
- Meat substitutes (1)
- Mechanical engineering industry (1)
- Medical care (1)
- Medical industry (1)
- Medical textile products (1)
- Mental disorder (1)
- Mental health (1)
- Merchandising (1)
- Mergers (1)
- Microfinance (1)
- Millennials (1)
- Mindestkurs (1)
- Mitarbeiterengagement (1)
- Mobile Learning (1)
- Mobile Payment (1)
- Mobility (1)
- Mode (1)
- Momentum strategies (1)
- Monetary Policy (1)
- Month-end close (1)
- Motivation (1)
- Motivational factors (1)
- Multiculturalism (1)
- Muslim (1)
- NGO trust (1)
- National culture (1)
- Natürliche Ressourcen (1)
- Negative emissions (1)
- Neuromarketing (1)
- Nonprofit Organizations (1)
- Nonprofit businesses (1)
- Nonprofit organizations (1)
- Nudging (1)
- Objectives and key results (1)
- Obstacles (1)
- Older employees (1)
- Oman energy (1)
- Online Impulse Buying Behaviour (1)
- Online Marketing Channel Analysis (1)
- Online Marketing Channels (1)
- Online Shops (1)
- Online advertising (1)
- Online business (1)
- Operations management (1)
- Partnership Model (1)
- Payment Preference (1)
- Pension planning (1)
- Pension reform (1)
- People analytics (1)
- Performance (1)
- Performance analysis (1)
- Personal characteristics (1)
- Pharma (1)
- Pharmaceutical sales representative (1)
- Physical environment (1)
- Physician marketing (1)
- Platform (1)
- Portfolio theory (1)
- Positionierung (1)
- Positioning (1)
- Post-merger integration (1)
- Power systems (1)
- Premiums (1)
- Price pressure (1)
- Price psychology (1)
- Private Assets (1)
- Process Harmonization (1)
- Process mining (1)
- Process optimization (1)
- Product placement (1)
- Product value (1)
- Production controlling (1)
- Profitability (1)
- Project Management (1)
- Project management (1)
- Promotion (1)
- Promotional effect (1)
- Prozessoptimierung (1)
- Psychological motivation theories (1)
- Purchase Intention (1)
- Purchasing behavior (1)
- Purpose-Driven marketing (1)
- QE (1)
- Quality perception (1)
- Rate (1)
- Rating (1)
- Reaction times (1)
- Reentry (1)
- Regional Marketing (1)
- Regulation (1)
- Regulatory requirements (1)
- Reiseberichte (1)
- Relationship Marketing (1)
- Rental model (1)
- Repatriation (1)
- Retailer format (1)
- Retailers (1)
- Revenue Maximization (1)
- Revenue mix (1)
- Reverse culture shock (1)
- Reward (1)
- Reward schedule (1)
- Risks (1)
- Robotic process automation (1)
- Role portrayals (1)
- SME (1)
- SMEs (1)
- SPACs (1)
- SRI (1)
- STEM (1)
- Sabbaticals (1)
- Sales Channel Management (1)
- Sales strategies (1)
- Schweizer Franken (1)
- Search engine optimization (1)
- Second screen marketing (1)
- Second-hand clothing (1)
- Selling price (1)
- Sensor (1)
- Sensor app marketing (1)
- Sensory Marketing (1)
- Service industry (1)
- Sexism (1)
- Sexism advertising (1)
- Shared service center (1)
- Sharing Economy (1)
- Shop floor management (1)
- Single-case study (1)
- Situation-Analysis (1)
- Smallholders (1)
- Smart city (1)
- Soccer (1)
- Social Influence (1)
- Social Media (1)
- Social Media Marketing (1)
- Software Companies (1)
- Software implementation (1)
- Solar energy (1)
- Source Credibility Model (1)
- Spain (1)
- Spatial choice architecture (1)
- Spatial middle (1)
- Spending behavior (1)
- Sporting Goods Retail (1)
- Sports Celebrity Endorsement (1)
- Standardization (1)
- Start-up (1)
- Stereotype Content Model (1)
- Stereotypes (1)
- Store Atmosphere (1)
- Strategic management (1)
- Strategic management model (1)
- Strategic talent management (1)
- Strategische Planung (1)
- Strategy map (1)
- Stress am Arbeitsplatz (1)
- Superconnector (1)
- Supply chain law (1)
- Sustainability marketing (1)
- Sustainability reporting (1)
- Sustainable Finance (1)
- Sustainable Investing (1)
- Sustainable Sourcing (1)
- Sustainable agriculture (1)
- Sustainable business models (1)
- Sustainable development (1)
- Sustainable fashion (1)
- Sustainable finance (1)
- Sustainable tourism (1)
- Sustainbale Investments (1)
- Switching barrier (1)
- TMS (1)
- TTIP (1)
- Talent aquisition (1)
- Talent conference (1)
- Talent identification (1)
- Talent management (1)
- Talent review (1)
- Talent scouting (1)
- Talent sharing (1)
- Talent shortage (1)
- Target group (1)
- Target-Analysis (1)
- Targeted Transfer (1)
- Tax Advantages (1)
- Teams (1)
- Technology Acceptance Model (1)
- Technology acceptance (1)
- Technology acceptance model (TAM) (1)
- Technology adoption (1)
- Telework (1)
- TikTok (1)
- Tool industry (1)
- Trade fair (1)
- Trade show performance (1)
- Trade show success (1)
- Training (1)
- Transparency (1)
- Transportation (1)
- Travel agency (1)
- Travel experience (1)
- Travel market (1)
- Trust building (1)
- U.S. customers (1)
- USA Europa (1)
- UTAUT2 (1)
- UX design (1)
- Unternehmenswerte (1)
- User experience (1)
- VUCA (1)
- Value chain (1)
- Value of treasury management system (1)
- Value perception (1)
- Verbraucherverhalten (1)
- Video marketing (1)
- Viewership (1)
- Viral marketing (1)
- Virtual collaboration (1)
- Virtual teams (1)
- Virtuality (1)
- Visual Merchandising (1)
- War for Talents and Customers (1)
- Web-based training (1)
- Wedding in Bali (1)
- Werbung (1)
- Wind energy (1)
- Women (1)
- Women entrepreneurship (1)
- Work from home (1)
- Work motivation (1)
- Workplace (1)
- Workplace design (1)
- Workplace stress (1)
- Yammer (1)
- Young professional (1)
- Zuliefermarkt KFZ (1)
- compassion (1)
- competitiveness (1)
- destination (1)
- eHealth (1)
- eSports (1)
- eSports industry (1)
- eWOM (1)
- emotional intelligence (1)
- gratitude (1)
- job performance (1)
- modern online marketing platforms (1)
- neuroscience (1)
- online marketing strategies (1)
- online marketing tools (1)
- place identity (1)
- place making (1)
- place/city branding (1)
- problem (1)
- sense of place (1)
- van Westendorp PSM (1)
Course of studies
- IBW - Internationale Betriebswirtschaft (255) (remove)
Sustainable sourcing strategies to prevent environmental and human rights risks
along the supply chain have become increasingly relevant for global operating
companies. The aim of this thesis is to provide the theoretical framework and
practical implementation of a sustainable sourcing risk management system
anchored in the German supply chain law and based on defined criteria. These
criteria include requirements in the area of Natural Capital and Materials that are important for the company Kendrion N.V. In total, three research questions have been defined: What are the required criteria of Natural Capital and Materials the suppliers should comply with? How should these be implemented for Kendrion and its supply chain? And what are the remaining challenges?
In detail, the requirement criteria contain the topics of renewable energy, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, reuse and recycling, as well as current regulations of the European Union.
The practical implementation demonstrates the implementation at Kendrion N.V. To assess risks along the supply chain, a questionnaire is developed that serves as a basis for the evaluation process. In addition, this thesis includes the concept creation of a Power BI report that can be used as a methodology for the risk management analysis. The Power BI system presented at the end of this thesis will be used as a template for Kendrion to evaluate the results of the supplier questionnaire as part of the risk management system. However, some challenges need to be addressed: The proportion of suppliers who have signed the Code of Conduct, the reliability of the supplier data provided, and the verification of supplier contacts.
This thesis investigates the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the recruitment processes of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), highlighting both the opportunities and challenges of such technologies. It examines the potential benefits of AI in recruitment, including increased efficiency and unbiased decision-making, as well as challenges such as data privacy concerns. Through qualitative research and interviews with HR professionals, the study not only explores the current landscape of AI in recruitment but also proposes a comprehensive implementation plan for SMEs. This plan is designed to help SMEs navigate the complexities of adopting AI technologies, ensuring they can effectively leverage AI tools to enhance their recruitment outcomes and overcome the barriers to implementation.
Steuerliche Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten von privaten Vermögensgegenständen über einen Familienpool
(2024)
The following paper deals with the topic of which tax structuring options are possible for the transfer of private assets via a family pool under German tax law. The research question examined here is whether it is worthwhile from a tax perspective to transfer private assets to a family pool and which legal form is most suitable for this. In particular, the difference in terms of inheritance tax between a transfer through a family pool and an inheritance upon the death of the testator is examined. In order to answer the research question, a detailed literature review was first carried out on the special tax circumstances of the legal forms suitable for a family pool. Subsequently, the topics brought to light by the research were introduced into three case studies for better comprehensibility in order to demonstrate the tax advantages of a family pool.The tax burden calculations show that a family pool can be worthwhile for tax and administrative reasons if set up early on
The Bachelor Thesis examines the effects of the integration of environmental, social and governmental (ESG) criteria in equity funds on performance compared to conventional equity funds. For this purpose, a quantitative analysis is carried out which includes a detailed examination of 769 equity funds. The equity funds are divided into two different groups - ESG equity funds and conventional equity funds - and are analyzed for various financial ratios. The goal of the study is to illustrate the financial performance differences between ESG-focused equity funds and conventional equity funds and thus provide a scientific contribution to the academic debate on sustainable investments. Initially, the thesis delves into the central concepts of ESG, the historical development of investment funds, theoretical frameworks, and existing studies. The following analysis provides an insight into the relationship between ESG criteria and the performance of equity funds. It not only draws on two different ESG rating systems, but also provides a geographical breakdown. Although the work as a whole helps to develop a deeper understanding of sustainable investment and highlights potential implications for investors and the financial sector, the results of the analysis show that more research is needed in this area.
The following thesis analyzes what a new sustainable pension reform for Germany could look like and which aspects can be adopted from other countries. It is shown that the German pension system needs a reform because it lacks sustainability due to the demographic change taking place and the associated poverty in old age. Another factor is the lack of state subsidies. To this
end, five different countries were analyzed, a survey and a utility analysis were conducted in order to compare the countries according to certain criteria and to draw conclusions as to which pension system or which aspects could be copied and implemented in Germany. The results show that Sweden and Norway have a sophisticated pension system with many aspects that could be adopted. Austria also provides some good ideas. The existing plans of the German government and other experts show that Germany is on the right track, but needs to be reformed
as soon as possible in order to achieve a positive result immediately.
The primary purpose of this thesis is to examine if the implementation of process mining significantly impacts a company’s competitive advantage, what challenges organizations face during that process and while using the tool as well as to identify drivers for business value generation and for which purposes and in which areas process mining is applied along the value chain. Therefore, an exploratory case study was conducted based on ten in-depth expert interviews containing representatives of various industries.
Today’s business environment of uncertainty and increasing volatility demands for organizational resilience and adaptability. Businesses recognize the importance of effective process execution and management based on the necessity of process optimization in order to sustain competitive. Due to its universality of application and its ability to deliver ubiquitous value in ways that never have been possible before, process mining is gaining vast popularity across various domains.
Findings appear to show that process mining is seen as modern, innovative, and supportive means to gain transparency over processes’ complexity by facilitating the ease of identifying improvement areas on a holistic end-to-end perspective of a company’s value chain.
Thus, businesses use process mining to yield the creation of monetary and non-monetary values by deploying an iterative cycle of continuous improvement. Hence, value potentials are realized by transforming actionable insights obtained into suitable actions serving as enablement for value capture. Despite that, process mining impacts organizations on different levels, whereas such impacts potentially affect a company’s competitive advantage through several paths. The study further explores a variety of success factors consisting of antecedents for effective usage and drivers for consistent value creation of process mining. The analysis depicts moderating effects of success factors on several challenges, whereas organizational challenges clearly overweight technical’s. Ultimately, implications for further research and managerial actions are presented focusing on the organizational perspective of process mining.
When discussing the current textile and apparel industries’ status quo, at some point attention will most likely shift towards the challenges fast fashion companies have to encounter due to the increased interest in sustainability practices. This bachelor dissertation examines the sustainability reports of three major fashion brands – Adidas, H&M, and Inditex, with the aim to gain insights of the current situation of non-financial reporting.
The study examines how companies address various aspects of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors within their sustainability reports. It also investigates whether these companies prioritize different topics in their practices. Furthermore, the research evaluates how extensively fashion companies incorporate industry-standard KPIs to measure and compare their
sustainability performances.
The results show that the three companies focus on ESG factors differently, with environmental issues being consistently addressed, although the degrees of emphasis vary. Inditex emerges as a leader in fulfilling ESG criteria, with Adidas and H&M closely behind. Analyzing a company’s KPIs reveals a range of diverse approaches, complicating comparisons with competitors. However, following set standards such as the GRI Standards enhances credibility, even though transparency improvements are possible. With the EU’s CSRD regulation on the horizon, companies are encouraged to improve data accuracy and transparency, which may lead to changes in strategic directions.
This study emphasizes the importance of fair reporting, clear communication, and standardized frameworks to promote sustainability. With the insights provided by the research, this work is aimed at researchers, shareholders, and stakeholders interested in understanding, or implementing sustainability practices within the fashion industry.
The objective of this work is to determine which strategic management model is the most suitable for developing a strategy framework for an international, decentralised organisation to ensure sustainable e-business growth. To achieve this, primary and secondary data are analysed, using a combination of comparative and qualitative approaches. Three strategic management models are presented. The Balanced Scorecard and the Objectives and Key Results are selected for a deeper literature review to assess their applicability according to criteria considered critical in a decentralised e-business context. Based on the literature, a hypothesis is formulated suggesting that Objectives and Key Results is the most suitable model for this purpose. Using a concrete case study, -the e-business project Vision 30 of the Würth Group-, both models are developed. The results and development processes are compared and evaluated, showing that although the Objectives and Key Results has significant advantages, it cannot serve as a universally applicable framework. The Balanced Scorecard‘s strategy map uses predefined perspectives, allowing for customisation and individual adaptations for companies. Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected. This demonstrates that the strategy map provides the necessary flexibility while maintaining alignment, which is crucial for success in today’s decentralised business landscape. Further research in the field of strategic management models could investigate the effectiveness of combining both models.
This thesis investigates the persuasiveness of triathlon celebrities on consumer purchase intention, employing a quantitative research methodology grounded in the Source Credibility Model and the Match-up hypothesis. Through a survey-based approach, data was collected to analyse how consumers perceive characteristics of triathlon sports celebrities and how the match-up between triathlon celebrities and product types as well as the perceived characteristics affect consumer purchase intention. Running shoes and winter boots were selected as the two product types.
The study population consisted of a total sample size of 204 respondents. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationships between triathlon sports celebrities' attributes, product-endorser matchup, and consumer purchase intention. Findings revealed significant positive relationships between perceived expertise and purchase intention for both running shoes and winter boots. Moreover, a positive relationship was observed between perceived physical attractiveness of triathlon celebrities and purchase intention for both products. While perceived trustworthiness did not significantly impact purchase intention, the study demonstrated a positive relationship between perceived product-endorser match-up and purchase intention for both products. Practical implications stemming from these findings emphasize the importance of strategic sport celebrity selection and product-endorser fit in endorsement campaigns. This research contributes to the academic field by focusing specifically on triathlon celebrities’ and their persuasive impact towards consumers.
Greenwashing in the clothing industry and its impact on the corporate image of consumers in Germany
(2023)
With issues like climate change and the pollution of our planet, more and more clothing companies are following the trend of a sustainable marketing strategy. Greenwashing is often associated with that, as not all companies are honest about their statements. This study examines how greenwashing by a company in the clothing industry impacts the corporate image of 18 to 30-year-old adults in Germany. Studies regarding sustainability, consumer behaviour towards sustainable products, the behaviour in case of greenwashing incidents, and the identification of greenwashing are investigated. For the analysis, online survey data of 244 Hochschule Furtwangen University study participants are examined. The descriptive study provides information about the behaviour of consumers regarding sustainable clothing and their behaviour when it comes to greenwashing. It was found that consumers tend not to consider sustainability when buying clothes. Very few inform themselves about sustainability, and sustainable labels do not seem to influence their shopping decisions. The image of the consumer about the company involved in greenwashing appears to deteriorate. In addition, the willingness to keep buying from the company seems to be stopped or reduced for the majority. A weak positive correlation was found between consumer behaviour concerning the topics of sustainability and greenwashing. It can be summarised that the dishonest behaviour of clothing companies can harm their consumers' corporate image and brand loyalty.
Reviewing Expats' perceptions on global leadership competencies: the case of multinationals in Asia
(2023)
In an era of increasing globalization, companies struggling with a leadership gap in Asia feel compelled to equip their leaders with global leadership competencies that meet international standards. Therefore, this paper clearly defines the role of the worldwide standard of global competencies and how it contributes to a company's human resource development program. We use a multinational company as a case study. Qualitative interviews were conducted to explore how expats perceive global leadership competencies in relation to global standards and the personnel development program. By reflecting on the staff development program concerning the standardized global leadership competencies, the case study can be beneficial for the company as opportunities for improvement of the development program were found, and approaches were presented on this basis.
The representation of female leaders in the STEM-field, especially the telecommunication industry, is rising in the 21st century. In contrast to men in leadership positions, there still exists an incongruity for female leaders, as the stereotypes associated with a leader correspond to those of a man. Therefore, women in leadership positions must decide between fulfilling their social role as being caring and warm, or to fulfil the leadership stereotype of being competent and dominant. To date, they cannot display their female side when in leadership positions, as the expectations one has about the ideal leader do not align with the emotional side of a woman.
The qualitative study is based on the classification of women and leaders in the Stereotype Content Model. The research is conducted in a telecommunication company. Therefor, employees of female leaders are interviewed about their perception of their leader. The findings of the research prove, that female leaders in the telecommunication industry are perceived against the female stereotypes. The findings show the female leaders are perceived rather male, meaning they are more competent than warm.
It is shown that female leaders must act against their social role, which has negative consequences for them. Consequences can be the avoidance of attempting to compete for certain roles, lower performance or social or economic punishment.
Abstract
In the last decade, green bonds have become one of the most prominent and popular
financing instruments for mitigating climate change. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impacts of green bonds with regard to climate neutrality and compare their performance with conventional bonds. Therefore, the following research questions were answered: What are the latest developments in the green bond market? What is the present state of standardized regulations? How do green bonds perform compared to their conventional counterparts? How transparent and "green" is the current green bond market? The paper is based on a literature review in the theoretical part and a practical part illustrating an insight into the current green bond market through three case studies.
In the green bond market, which has been growing steadily since 2015, Europe's increasingly strong and prominent position is evident. With a global market volume of over $500 billion in 2021, there has been a substantial increase in market growth during the past few years. A large body of literature shows that green bonds do not exhibit significant differences in performance compared to their conventional counterparts. As the green bond market matures, the phenomenon of a green bond premium is slowly disappearing. Which is in line with the results of the case studies. The green bonds outperform the conventional bonds and achieve a higher return. Further, a lack of standardized regulations can be observed. There are not one but many voluntary standards and regulations. As a result, the actual sustainability and impact of green bonds are difficult to measure.
Heart leadership is a leadership style which focuses on finding purpose and
passion in one’s life and job. The generation Y (Millennials), as a rather
technophile generation entered companies around of the turn of the
millennium. On the one hand, nowadays generation Z with new values, ideas
and requests to their work environment enters companies, and on the other
hand companies need to be attractive for skilled personnel. The heart
leadership concept addresses these requirements. This concept refers to the
ability to use one’s awareness and heart energy to create a culture focused on
exceptional relations, trust, care, spirituality, compassion, positivity, and
development.
The aim of this thesis is to answer the question of how heart leadership impacts
a business in the long run. To answer the research question “How can doing
things in a heart way impact the future of modern businesses?”, a literature
review was conducted.
The beginning of this work provides an explanation of what leadership means,
followed by explaining different leadership styles based on the Full Range of
Leadership Model with a concrete explanation of transformational leadership.
By defining the context of heart leadership with the meaning of the heart, what
aspects this kind of leadership includes, and the definition of human potential,
eleven heart factors that influence a business were derived through repeated
and overlapping attributes which a heart-led leader should have. These factors
show that heart leadership has a positive long-term impact on several areas of
a business, including the increase of overall work performance, mental health,
commitment, engagement, employee retention, resilience, profit and more.
The outcome of this thesis recommends integrating heart leadership in actual
leadership principles in companies. Heart leadership is an extension of
transformational leadership that meets the needs of a new generation,
positively changes the work environment, and enables employees’ full potential
in order to survive as a company in a competitive market and the race for
qualified employees.
The purpose of this study is to explain the concept of heart work and to demonstrate that long-term excellence can be achieved through it. The study examines the implementation of corporate values at METRO Markets from 2020 to 2022 and investigates the extent to which the implementation of company values, the perception of autonomy and championing, and the quality of the relationship with managers are linked to the level of heart work. The hypotheses suggest that better implementation of values and the greater feelings of autonomy and championing, and better relationships with managers are associated with higher levels of heart work. Employee data from METRO Markets measuring employee engagement over two years is analysed using exploratory data analysis and quantitative regression analysis to test the hypotheses. The study shows that a value-oriented work environment and self-leadership skills are linked to higher levels of heart work. No conclusive statement could be made about heart work and the relationship with managers due to unmet assumptions in the regression analysis, indicating the need for further research. The conclusion highlights the importance of personal responsibility, mindfulness and self-leadership in achieving and maintaining healthy levels of performance.
The common occurrence of impulsive buying is present in our everyday lives, but what is behind this occurrence? Impulse buying behaviour is described as a sudden, spontaneous, and compelling phenomenon that accounts for a great part of regular shopping. However, shopping should not only be considered in physical stores but also on online websites and social commerce platforms. With the advancement of technology, the number of social media users is also increasing and with it the importance of online purchases. In order for businesses, marketers or e-retailers to capitalize on this surge, it is necessary to understand what factors drive impulse buying behaviour, and particularly what the key driving factors of online impulse purchases are. Therefore, this paper address impulse buying behaviour and its general influences as well as social media marketing and online stimuli. Moreover, it aimed to examine the relationship between online impulse buying behaviour and social media marketing. To identify the relevant insights on the topic, a systematic literature review was conducted by using databases and literature search engines such as Emerald, Google Scholar, EBSCO, and ResearchGate. After the selection process, 39 articles were further reviewed for this study. The main findings that emerge from the paper are hedonic motivation, price promotions, payment facility, website quality and content, and trust beliefs on online websites are the key driving factors of online impulse buying behaviour. Furthermore, certain literature indicates that social media marketing influences impulsive purchases through so-called influencers and adapts influencing factors of online impulse buying to their social network sites.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable developments in the business environment, especially in terms of work from home, which are likely to play a role in the future. Since employee motivation is a decisive factor for the profitability of a company, it is important to take appropriate measures to maintain and increase it in times of work from home. The aim of this work is to identify the factors influencing employee motivation during work from home, to derive possible explanations as to why these factors influence motivation, and to derive proposed solutions for managers in order to be able to ensure optimal employee motivation. The following research question is to be answered: “To what extent does work from home influence the work motivation of employees in Germany?”. For this purpose, a quantitative online survey was conducted. Based on the literature review and survey results, the finding is that sufficient and functioning work equipment, social interaction with colleagues, an undisturbed work environment, and flexible working hours help to maintain motivation whereas independence as well as tangible benefits can increase motivation when working from home. However, motivation is a highly subjective matter, which can have different causes and characteristics for each individual, so the impact of work from home on work motivation cannot be generalized in principle.
The bachelor thesis investigates the development and impact of electronic payment methods, specifically concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer preferences, and the future of such methods. The primary objective of this study was to examine the effect of the pandemic and security concerns on consumer behaviour towards electronic payments. That was achieved through a literature review and a survey of 605 participants. The survey results indicate an increasing trend among consumers towards cashless payments due to their numerous advantages over cash transactions, including enhanced hygiene, quicker processing times, and improved security. As such, users exhibit a high level of comfort and convenience with electronic payment methods and are generally rarely worried about the security of their data. The study further reveals that electronic payment methods are gaining popularity worldwide, particularly mobile payments. The pandemic and improved security measures have led to a notable increase in their use, which is expected to continue to rise. Based on these findings, the study suggests that digital payments are the way forward and that these methods will be further developed to improve user-friendliness and security.
This bachelor thesis examines the topic of global collaboration. The work was done in cooperation with the Marquardt Group, to work on an internal analysis within their Factory Planning department. The goal is to define recommendations for the improvement of the governance structure within this department. This thesis answers the following two main questions: Why does the Factory Planning need improvement in their governance structure? How can they improve their collaboration on a global level? In order to answer these questions, the following work looks at different factors within the department. The work starts with a theoretical overview about the topics of collaboration, communication and corporate governance. After learning more about these topics, the next part explains the analysis of the current state within the department. For this, the usage of two different types of models happens. First, the usage of a Target Operating Model to gain an overview about the internal state within the headquarter. The second analysis is a survey, in the form of a questionnaire that addresses three different groups globally. Therefore, the generation of three different views happens. Based on these analyses, the thesis states the gaps in the global collaboration. Following is the definition of recommendations to try to improve the structure. With the help of this thesis the company can than work on the gaps, to move toward their desired state of collaboration.
This thesis examines the existence and magnitude of the Dividend Month Premium in the German stock market over the period 1999 to 2021. The findings indicate that there appear to be significant positive abnormal returns in the lead-up to the ex-dividend date, which are reversed thereafter. This mispricing around a predictable event arises as a contradiction of the efficient market hypothesis and is driven by price pressure from dividend-seeking investors who are not exposed to additional risk compared to non-dividend periods. The asset pricing anomaly intensifies in times of economic uncertainty and is related to the level of dividend yield and liquidity. However, if firms decide to omit their dividend payments, the return premium disappears.
Building and further strengthening customer relationships is of vital significance for organizations per diem, as maintaining an existing customer base is proven to be less costly than acquiring new customers. Therefore, customer loyalty programs serve as the ideal foundation to enhance customer-centric businesses in the long-run and reward continuous engaging customer behavior. The B2B automotive aftermarket industry with respect to loyalty programs is a general under-researched area. Thus, this study aims to close the gap.
The objective of this research study was to create a suitable loyalty program for the automotive aftermarket on the example of Parts Trading at Mercedes-Benz AG. In order to achieve that, literature concerning individual factors that compose a loyalty program were reviewed as well as twelve qualitative expert interviews in the German market conducted. The experts provide specific, deep-rooted practical knowledge in the automotive aftersales field and assist in gathering valuable information in terms of desired aspects, challenges and experiences regarding loyalty programs. The results were assigned to six categories which were further used to provide recommended action for a loyalty program in Parts Trading and the general automotive aftermarket.
The results of this study display that an automotive aftermarket loyalty program is associated with a great deal of effort, as various challenges have to be overcome. These include the issue of data management, specialized rewards that provide high-perceived value that need to be offered in an easy-to-understand scheme, the signif-icant topic of support and accessibility from the company that needs to be ensured before implementing a loyalty program and lastly, the subject of profitability for the organization. Consequently, it is suggested to derive further international studies where quantitative research with a greater sample size is conducted to review whether the results are in alignment along with a long-term study in which the impact on customer buying behavior and profitability of the program with the same experts is evaluated. However, these findings serve as the ideal starting point for Parts Trading with a lot of possibilities to further develop the loyalty program.
The initial situation of this Bachelor's thesis is the so-called "War for Talents" and the shortage of skilled workers in Germany. This leads to a changed situation in the labour market, where Generation Z is currently represented. By growing up under particular conditions, Generation Z is attributed specific characteristics and values. As a result, Generation Z's expectations and requirements of employers are changing. Companies should be aware of these requirements and react to them. Employer branding in companies is responsible for the employer image and the formation of a strong employer brand. Accordingly, the employer branding of a company is of great importance in order to convince young talents. This requires a target group-specific approach. Due to the change in media usage behaviour, this is done via social media. Therefore, the social media platform TikTok gives various opportunities.This offers enormous potential for advertising companies. Influencer marketing developed from social media, which offers numerous possibilities through the reach of the influencer and the trust of his/her community. In cooperation with a company, the influencer acts as the sender of an advertising message.
The question: "Is an influencer campaign on TikTok suitable for addressing Generation Z in a target group-specific way for employer branding?" is clarified on the basis of the German-wide influencer campaign on TikTok carried out by Mercedes-Benz Group AG. The aim of the influencer campaign is to draw the attention of pupils to an apprenticeship or dual studies at Mercedes-Benz Group AG and to lead interested candidates to the career website. The impact analysis carried out provided valuable insights: The previously forecasted KPIs of the influencer campaign were exceeded. In addition, there was a significant increase in the number of visitors to the career website. Thus, the TikTok platform is suitable for employer branding to address 18-24 year-olds. Influencer marketing is also valuable for employer branding. This is a very effective and authentic form of marketing.
In the field of change management, this thesis focuses on the factor human. The
comparison of different change management concepts by Lewin, Sinek, Krüger, and
Kotter builds the basis for the subsequent work. The theory of psychological contracting
becomes evident in the human factor analysis. For the realization of the goal of customer
centricity, a new framework and within this framework a new role structure, called
Business Framework Ambassador (BFA), is created at SICK AG. To establish this new
role at SICK AG, a change management concept for the official announcement of the
role structure BFA is created in the Service department. Hereby, the focus lies on the
derivation of measures to empower the employees who took on the new role in the
organization, namely the BFAs of the Service department. In this thesis, quantitative and
qualitative methods of research are used to analyze the work environment and to realize
a successful change management campaign. The implementation of the derived
measures leads to a strengthening of the community between the employees. In
addition, the specific results of the change project BFA lead to the assumption that a
feeling of empowerment is linked to employee engagement as well as management
support. The four motives of employee engagement introduced in the theoretical part of
this paper represent an appropriate tool for the participation of employees in this change
management project. The results of this work conclude with an outlook on how further
groups of BFAs can be launched at SICK AG.
The impact of store atmosphere elements on the purchase behaviour and emotions of customers has an important significance in modern marketing. How to design and conceptualize a store atmosphere in such a way that it provides an unforgettable experience for the customer and entices him or her to arouse an interest in the store environment is one of the most fundamental concerns merchants and marketers must ask and think through these days – likewise, the role of culture in connection with store atmosphere is necessary to understand. The goal of this paper is to answer the question on how behavioural and emotional responses to store atmospheric elements such as visual, aural, olfactory, tactile, social, exterior design, interior design and layout & design differ across individualist and collectivist cultures. A cross-cultural analysis between Germans and non-Germans is made in respect to the posed question. A quantitative online survey was conducted, in which a total of 99 valid participants took part, of which 57 were Germans and 42 were non-Germans. This research extended the study of Barros et al. (2019) and added two more separate store atmospheric elements which are the general exterior design and the general interior design. The data was then analyzed, and the findings were ultimately presented. The findings showed that overall store atmosphere elements have similar emotional and behavioural effects on individualist and collectivist cultures with the exception of the general exterior design element, where a significant difference was found. This paper gives a comprehensive overview on the importance of store atmospheric elements in retail and the comparison between Germany which acts as a country that scored relatively high on the Individualism dimension of Hofstede’s national culture model and the countries Turkey, Russia, Portugal, Albania, Bosnia, Romania, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Iraq which serve as a union of cultures that performed high on the Collectivism dimension. Additional research on the topic needs to be done on how culture affects shopper’s emotional and behavioural responses.
In recent years, an increasingly technological and digital world, with new opportunities
and communication channels, has seen a power shift between brands and their consumers
in favor of the latter (Hansen et al., 2018). This bachelor's thesis examines the question
of whether there are models that can help companies and their brands to counteract the
change in the power balance while responding to changing consumer behavior.
Method: To answer this question, two models, crowdsourcing, and influencer marketing
were presented, that can also be used in the context of brand management. These were
analyzed from a brand perspective in terms of their possibilities and benefits. In addition,
both were analyzed from the consumer's point of view in terms of their correspondence
with the customers' requirements.
Results: The results show that both crowdsourcing and influencer marketing are suitable
in principle, because they address parts of the new consumer requirements, while at the
same time enabling the brand to act in a more self-determined manner. For a successful
implementation of the models, however, it is essential that there is a strong brand
community that wants to interact with the brand and its partners.
Significance of the results: The results provide some good initial insights into solving the
problem presented, but also clearly point out, that further research is required to better
address the issue of the shifted balance of power between consumers and brands.
This thesis focuses on what factors make a food- or restaurant franchise successful in general and what factors make a food-or restaurant franchise in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, successful. A literature research was conducted to combine these factors into a framework for food- and restaurant-franchises and potential entrants in Freiburg im Breisgau. Furthermore, a PEST- and location analysis for Freiburg im Breisgau for food- and restaurant franchises was performed. Results show that success factors break down into two main topics namely the franchisor-franchisee relationship and food- and restaurant-franchise key performance indices. Belonging to the franchisor-franchisee relationship, extensive communication and cooperation lays at the core of each successful franchise. Average check, revenue per available seat per hour, and meal duration feature important key performance indices which contribute to the franchise ́s success. Menu analysis, the nine segment matrix and good quality of food and service ensure a competitive advantage if reviewed regularly and lay the foundation of a regular customer basis. Food- or restaurant-franchises in Freiburg im Breisgau include the following success factors: offering vegetarian and vegan options, operating out of the city district of Altstadt-Mitte, and orienting prices to the industry standard although respecting locally produced ingredients. This work gives a first orientation framework for the success of franchises as well as concrete success factors for Freiburg im Breisgau, which could be tested and optimized by further research.
While ESG investing has presented an impressive growth history within institutional investing in the past, this thesis aims to investigate whether impact investing could potentially mirror the ESG investing success story going forward. For that reason, the thesis analyses the past success of ESG investing and compares this to the less established investing practice of impact investing in order to find necessary requirements for the volume of impact investing to grow. After comparing the characteristics of ESG investing and impact investing and after analysing suitable asset classes and potential investors for both investment trends, four key success factors for the progress of institutional impact investing have been identified. These are (1) a general interest in society and the investment community for more direct social and environmental impact, (2) the existence of suitable investment products, (3) a regulatory framework that allows and incentivizes institutional investors to purchase impact investment products and (4) a mechanism with which impact investments products can be objectively classified and their impact can be objectively measured. While the first three success factors should not hinder the future growth of impact investing, the problem of objectively classifying and measuring an impact investment seems difficult to overcome in the near future.
The emergence of cryptocurrencies has sparked significant debate regarding their role in modern financial systems. This thesis addresses two main aspects of cryptocurrencies: their viability as an investment asset and their potential to replace conventional fiat money. It especially focuses on Bitcoin and digs into the multidimensional nature of cryptocurrencies. This study clarifies the conflict between the perceived potential of cryptocurrencies as a respectable form of investment and their perceived speculative nature, as seen by their relationship with gambling-like behavior, through a thorough investigation.
Examining Bitcoin's price volatility, market acceptance, and correlation with conventional financial assets are all important parts of the inquiry into the investment possibilities of this digital currency. The magic triangle of investing will be used as an approach to analyze the returns, liquidity and risks and compare Bitcoin with other investing assets.
Furthermore, this study examines the viability of Bitcoin, as a replacement for fiat money by reconstructing Friedrich August von Hayek's monetary theory. The analysis covers the underlying technologies of cryptocurrencies, the idea of decentralized ledger systems, and the possibility of creating a reliable and effective means of exchange. This study evaluates whether cryptocurrencies could overcome the constraints and difficulties of conventional fiat currencies by contrasting Hayek's theories with the distinctive characteristics of cryptocurrencies.
This bachelor thesis examines the emerging concept of re-commerce in the fashion industry with a particular focus on the factors influencing its adoption in the German market. In the context of changing economic dynamics and the increasing importance of sustainability, the thesis analyzes the basic principles of the circular economy in relation to the fashion industry and discusses the role of re-commerce initiatives in promoting resource conservation.
The study uses a comprehensive PEST analysis of the German market to uncover political, economic, sociocultural, and technological factors influencing the adoption of re- commerce. In addition, a detailed market analysis reveals the current state and growth prospects of re-commerce in Germany. This includes an examination of trends, target groups, demand for sustainable fashion and the acceptance of second-hand goods.
Using the case study of the fashion brand Levi's, which has successfully integrated a re- commerce platform, the study shows how established companies can achieve their sustainability goals and discover new business opportunities.
Finally, the paper concludes by summarizing the identified factors and the opportunities and challenges for companies looking to enter the German re-commerce market. The assessment of the potential benefits and risks associated with launching re-commerce initiatives in Germany provides a comprehensive basis for future decision-making. All in all, the German fashion resale market offers promising prospects. The current expansion and future potential of this sector are strongly influenced by consumer behavior and driven by extrinsic factors.
Thus, this work contributes to a deeper understanding of the relevance of re-commerce practices in the fashion industry and provides valuable insights for companies in the German fashion market aiming at sustainable business strategies.
Gamification has become an innovative marketing tool in the tourism industry. It can potentially increase engagement and brand awareness and enhance overall tourist experiences. This thesis presents the theory behind gamification and its application in travel marketing. It discusses extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors, fundamental concepts, practical examples, and the role of mobile applications in driving these strategies forward. By understanding how gamification can amplify tourist engagement, marketers could take advantage of this strategy and create campaigns that leave a long-lasting and positive impression. In addition, real-world examples demonstrate that tourism marketing can benefit from this innovative technique. Based on the literature's most critical findings, a model for implementing gamified marketing strategies to potentially increase tourist numbers during off-season traveling in less popular destinations is proposed.
Analysis of Fintech Markets
(2023)
The technological advancement in the business sector, in particular in the banking world, forces the financial sector to adapt its services. The Fintech companies aim to cope with these advancements and change the money management for clients. The question that arises is how the FinTech companies have developed and if they are profitable. That is the reason for the research of the development of the Fintech companies theoretically and practically, focusing on their financial performance. The methodology used in this paper is for the first chapter gathering existing knowledge of previous studies and including law directives to underline the development and in the second chapter using the information available from the companies itself. One can conclude the development of the acceptance of digitalized banks have increased after the economic crisis in 2008. Furthermore, the regulatory systems have problems coping with the velocity of change and the income of new products and services. The practical analysis of the FinTech companies show, that they do have certain advantages for clients, but are not immune against economic volatility. Having analyzed existing companies is beneficiary for the research field, as for now no practical analysis of the companies have been done. Nevertheless, the limitation of this research is due to the fact of probable biased information from the companies.
This thesis is motivated by the possibility for individuals to diversify their saving methods to allow for more financial safety, by investing into company stocks. If chosen well, stock investments offer attractive returns and prospects, however this choice can be daunting, and assistance may be required. In the context of other options that assist in decision-making related to stock options, this research aims to design and implement a relational database, that offers a transparent overview of financial information of stocks, developed to assist individuals in making decisions for investments in the stock market. The database should also be maintainable. After the design, implementation, and enhancement of the database with data, the database was tested for functionality, maintainability, and transparency. Then, application examples were constructed to examine the usability of the concept to assist with decision-making, aiming to create consistent positive returns within the created portfolios. It was found that the database fulfilled all desired characteristics and produced positive returns in the application examples. However, the ability of creating consistent outcomes was not given. These results indicate that the database can be used to organize stock-related information, however, is not usable to assist with decision-making.
SPACs are an alternative way for companies to access the capital market. They have experienced a boom since 2020, and in the following year 613 SPACs raised more than $160 billion in the US. However, SPACs are controversial and have been criticized for bad performance and incentive misalignments. This bachelor thesis aims to examine whether the current US SPAC boom is a temporary phenomenon or whether SPACs represent a long-term alternative to the traditional IPO process. To answer this research question, a literature review and 14 semi-structured expert interviews were conducted to explore the reasons for the boom, the advantages and disadvantages for companies seeking to go public, and the winner and losers of the SPAC process. This work shows that SPACs had already gained acceptance in the market before the boom, and it argues that SPACs are a viable alternative to the traditional IPO process for young, risky companies due to the regulatory advantages and the support of SPAC sponsors. In addition, the majority of key SPAC stakeholders are winning in the SPAC process and are likely to continue to support the market in the future. At the same time, this paper finds that the Corona pandemic was an important catalyst for the SPAC market, but that the associated reasons for the boom will probably recede. Moreover, PIPE investors will be more selective in the future and sponsors without appropriate expertise and network will have to liquidate their SPACs more often. This bachelor thesis therefore concludes that SPACs will continue to exist. However, there will be fewer and higher quality SPACs in the future.
Digitalization is currently taking place in all areas of the business environment. This thesis aims to provide an overview of digitalization in the field of controlling, specifically focusing on the use business intelligence (BI) dashboards. Embracing digitalization by implementing BI enables companies to transform the way in which data and information relevant for decision making is procured and managed. The utilization of a BI solution to conduct complex analyses is exemplified by the conceptualization and development of a BI dashboard for assessing the consolidation effect at Bosch Rexroth AG. The importance of designing an effective dashboard according to its purpose in a simple, clear and intuitive way as a front-end application of a BI solution is emphasized. Furthermore, five different potential roles for the controller that arise as digitization progresses are identified, all of which require an expansion of the controller's IT capabilities.
Conception and development of a corporate website strategy on the example of KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG
(2022)
In recent years, digitalization has caused an increasing transformation of the entire business world towards a digitalized economy. The Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated this ongoing digital transformation. Therefore, online presence is also becoming increasingly important for companies to survive in the digital economy. KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG, a traditional medium-sized company firmly focused on face-to-face sales, was strongly affected by the limitations of the pandemic. Switching to digital alternatives, especially the corporate website, stands out as the most critical digital cross point.
This bachelor thesis uses a marketing strategy model to analyze and research the position of KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG in the market and explores the functions and characteristics that a corporate website must have to meet today’s customer, stakeholder, and employee needs.
First, this work intends to offer an overall understanding of digitalization and its impact on the medical technology industry and medium-sized companies. Secondly, the corporate website characteristics are considered. The third theoretical part includes the analysis of two digital marketing strategy models, which are compared with each other. Finally, the company KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG and its website are presented, and a strategy model for developing a website strategy for the business year 2023 and beyond is applied.
Interviews conducted with internal and external experts on websites provide valuable information and a deeper understanding of the importance of a website in the digital environment.
In the end, this paper gives recommendations for actions for website development.
To achieve sustainable development, appropriate individual consumer behavior is required. However, the increasing statements expressing the intention to buy green products by consumers are reflected in only a fraction of actual purchases. This paper presents a literature review on the attitude-behavior gap phenomenon, focusing on the controversial role of green marketing in promoting sustainable consumption and its influence on the gap between intentions and behaviors.
The attitude-behavior gap is attributable to various situational and internal factors, with the prevailing price sensitivity and routine purchase behavior for low-involvement products playing a critical role in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. Counteracting these factors with the help of a green marketing approach that encompasses internal, strategic, and tactical marketing orientations was examined in this work. While it has been found that creating credibility and transparency through a holistic marketing orientation and targeting the origins of the attitude-behavior gap with the respective green marketing tools can positively contribute to its narrowing, divergent green marketing strategies can lead to the opposite. Greenwashing as a strategy to give companies a greener image without adapting their business activities accordingly leads to a negative impact on the attitude-behavior gap.
On the basis of this analysis, the study found that according to the way a company employs green marketing strategies, it may either widen or narrow the gap.
Generation Z born between 1995 and 2010 has a growing influence on the markets and businesses need to adapt their marketing strategies to meet the needs and expectations of said generation and therefore influence their brand perception, preferably positively. Consequently, it is essential to understand Generation Z, their values, characteristics and behavior.
The goal of this thesis is to answer how the modern marketing strategy cause-related marketing influences the brand perception of Generation Z. Thus, the following research questions are being posed: “How does cause-related marketing influence Generation Z’s brand perception in Germany?” and “How can cause-related marketing influence Generation Z’s brand perception in Germany positively?”.
To answer the research questions a quantitative study regarding brand perception was conducted. More specifically a survey was run to measure the brand perception of Generation Z regarding the practice of cause-related marketing. The respondents had to indicate how much they agree or disagree with statements about brands practicing cause-related marketing posed on a 5-level Likert scale to measure their brand perception.
The results of the study indicate that the perception of Generation Z gets influenced by the practice of cause-related marketing. Moreover, Generation Z’s brand perception gets influenced positively. This effect can be augmented if companies pay attention to the specific values, characteristics and behavior of Generation Z and choose their message, collaboration partners and causes accordingly. Additionally, Generation Z’s brand perception can be influenced positively if cause-related marketing is practiced originally, especially via suitable communication tools.
Further studies concerning cause-related marketing influencing Generation Z’s brand perception in other countries or how specific brands or industries are affected could be conducted. Additionally, studies focusing on the negative impacts of cause-related marketing could be performed.
The Impact of Using Sustainability Labels in Advertisements of Fashion Brands on Social Media
(2022)
This thesis investigates the impact of sustainability labels in advertisements of fashion brands on social media. It aims to answering the following research questions: Do consumers search for more information on sustainability labels? Do sustainability labels impact credibility? Do sustainability labels impact purchase decisions? To answer the research questions an online survey with 202 participants was conducted. The empirical study revealed that consumers tend to search for less additional information when a sustainability label is displayed in an advertisement on social media. Few consumers believe that brands are fully sustainable when sustainability claims in an advertisement are not supported by a sustainability label. The display of a sustainability label may not be one of the most important factors for consumers considering purchasing fashion items. Those results suggest that brands should use sustainability labels as an important tool in advertising on social media to fill the informational need of consumers and increase credibility.
This paper aims to create a foundation for further, in-depth research of the topic Indigenous entrepreneurship in Colombia and other countries, as well as to facilitate the analysis of obstacles in Indigenous businesses. To answer the research question, seven experts are interviewed using semi-structured interview guides based on several deductive categories. The findings are then analysed through a thematic content analysis before they are presented and discussed.
The results show that there are various inter-connected obstacles impeding more success of Indigenous businesses in Colombia, which are not sufficiently studied and addressed. The most important obstacles are corruption and marginalization, as well as resulting conditions like a lack of infrastructure and education. This study emphasizes the importance of, and encourages the realization of further,
profound research regarding this and related topics.
We, a group of students from the "International Business Administration (IBW)" course at the Faculty of Business and Economics, have carried out a project as part of the subject "Managing Business Processes" that is intended to strengthen HFU's international reputation. This digital cookbook is intended to provide our guest students from partner universities with the opportunity to root the culture they have brought with them. On the other hand, we as hosts would like to convey the local culture to our guest students. By sharing diverse, broad and varied cuisines, we as a community could fulfill our motto of students for students. Not only does the HFU CookBook focus on the culinary arts, but it was also possible to facilitate personal student exchanges through an individual fact sheet. Due to the Corona situation, HFU could not live up to its usual standard for international exchange. Therefore it was important for us to enable the students a personal exchange, based on cultural facts, personal experiences and certain background information.
We hope that all readers of this book will enjoy cooking the recipes and learning about the different cultures.
Bon appétit!
Due to a low birth rate and rising longevity, Europe’s inhabitants are steadily getting older on average. In addition, the rising development of digitized workplaces and the resulting demands on employees’ competencies are urging businesses to reconsider the provision of equal training opportunities for all of their human capital, regardless of the employees’ biological age. It is often negative age-related stereotypes and overly generic training design in companies that hamper the learning success and thus the work performance of older professionals.
Through a combination of third-party case studies and semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted by the author, this paper aims to provide a more holistic, cross-industry, and multinational guide for firms to fully tap the potential of older professionals through the most effective training strategies.
In short, regular professional development reviews and mentoring opportunities can prove to be one of the most cost-effective and efficient training strategies for organizations. To achieve such an optimized learning outcome, managers should also cultivate a work environment conducive to learning and adjust the training design to their older workers' learning needs and preferences. Only then can managers be reassured that the invaluable tacit knowledge of the latter cohort is more apt to remain within the company and contribute to further innovation.
An average investor trying to allocate his wealth among multiple assets ideally has nearly infinite possibilities to do so. However, asset allocation strategies try to facilitate this process. Nevertheless, no consensus exists on which strategy is ideal and yields the best performance. Therefore, this paper aims to determine an ideal asset allocation strategy for an average investor by comparing two asset allocation strategies.
The focus is on comparing the practical application of Markowitz’s Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), a sophisticated asset allocation strategy, with an equally weighted asset allocation, namely the 1/N strategy. The past performance of these two strategies is compared with the help of a calculation example based on historical data. The quantitative analysis covers three time periods of different lengths between 1991 and 2022. Also, the strategies are applied to portfolios with different amounts of assets during these periods. Although the existing literature is very controversial concerning the performance of the two strategies, this research shows a clear result. Compared to the 1/N strategy, this study’s findings show an outperformance of the MPT strategy during every period and each portfolio combination. However, the difference in performance regarding return and risk is minimal in most scenarios and would not significantly affect an average investor who invests over a long-term horizon.
The subject of this bachelor thesis is the analyses of the evolution of the European tourists’ behaviors in sustainable travel and travel choices / preferences since the Covid 19 pandemic.
Empirical results have been obtained through a deeper analysis of several literature researches, studies and an own survey (questionnaire). The outcomes show first that the majority of the young generation tourists are now willing to travel more sustainably and have changed their behaviors, habits significantly and that since the Covid 19. The today situation with climate changes and the Covid 19 have clearly identified impacts on tourist and influenced directly their habits and motivation as their preferences and choice for travel types and destinations. In addition, young tourists are now more attracted and open for new types of tourism, which are linked to own sustainability actions giving them a good conscience. So, we observe a change between a passive and now more active attitude. But is this just a passing trend or a long term “sustainable” trend?
The aim of this thesis is to answer the question of how consumers can be influenced by influencers to purchase sustainable fashion. To this end, the following research question was posed: How do social media influencers influence consumers' attitudes, awareness, and purchase intentions toward sustainable fashion? In order to answer the research question, the main terms of the work were defined and explained. Through the use of multiple examples, sustainable influencers with different reach were analyzed. The results of this work showed that followers can be influenced to buy sustainable fashion by influencers on Instagram. Companies see influencer marketing as a high opportunity to achieve their business goals such as brand awareness and increasing sales. Based on this, it is recommendable to use influencers as a corporate strategy to raise awareness of sustainable fashion brands. In this way, sustainable companies can reach different target groups.
Mergers and acquisitions are effective strategies for corporations to accomplish their financial and strategic goals. They can, for example, assist businesses in increasing economies of scale or decreasing rivalry. The annual growth in the value of all mergers and acquisitions highlights the continued trend of M&As. Researchers differ on the role of national culture in post-merger integration. Some argue that national culture significantly influences post-merger integration, making it more difficult to create synergies. Other scholars argue that national culture should be viewed as a competitive advantage that leads to a more positive M&A outcome. National culture is not a major factor in post-merger integration, and other variables, like the firm's desire to adapt and corporate culture, dictate its complexity. Another viewpoint on the influence of national culture is that it relies on the level of connectivity, which means that the more tightly a firm integrates with another, the more probable cultural disputes develop. Therefore, this study aims to look at a wider prospect of the impact of national culture on post-merger integration. The research methodology used in this research work is the qualitative research design which involves a naturalistic study intended to collect, analyze, and interpret non-numerical to understand individual opinions, phenomena, concepts, or experiences. Primary and secondary data were used in this investigation. Semi-structured interviews were used to acquire primary data from the research sample. On the other hand, secondary data for the research study was gathered from existing sources such as prior study results, journal articles, reports, and other recorded literature on the role of national culture in post-merger integration. The results of this research were categorized in the form of the three themes, which forms the basis central basis of the research.
Concerns about mental health and the declining rate of body satisfaction have increased interest in topics such as diversity, body positivity, and inclusion in recent years. Thus, the suggestion is that companies can communicate deep meanings through advertising images and strengthen their brand identity. This bachelor thesis proposes the application of two theoretical frameworks: Esch’s "Brand Steering Wheel" for identifying the brand identity, and the framework of “Visual Grammar” for analyzing images in advertising. The aim is to find out if diversity in advertising can improve brand identity.
Firstly, this work intends to offer an overall understanding of advertising, brand identity, and multimodality. For this, previous academic literature is used to establish a theoretical basis for understanding. Secondly, certain problems that lack inclusion in traditional advertising are analyzed. Thirdly, with the help of the theoretical framework, the brand identity is analyzed using the brand steering wheel. Additionally, Kress and van Leeuwen’s framework of visual grammar is used to examine images for their meaning.
The findings indicate that there is significant theoretical and practical evidence to suggest that the application of diversity in advertising campaigns would be an effective strategy to build a strong brand identity. The identities and relationships indicated in the photos between viewers and models represent desired attributes that may be identified with the advertiser's products. The brand may be picked if the viewers see that it is correctly represented.
In this thesis, the following object was addressed: Is employee advocacy an influential component in the war for talents and customers? This thesis collaborates with the company Ambassify. Firstly, all relevant subjects and information regarding this topic were discussed in a literature review. Based on this, a research strategy was created, including all aspects necessary to answer the research question. In order to gather this data and then answer the research question a quantitative study, more precisely an online survey was conducted.
Precedent research in human resources management has put forward the challenges of recognizing the appropriate methods to unlock employees’ potential. However, it has been proven that leaders and managers can establish a culture where employees can unlock their potential with the proper understanding of neuroscience and emotional intelligence. This research has shown that cognitive skills, which are necessary for a good job performance, can be further developed due to neuroplasticity. Furthermore, understanding human needs and emotions can help people improve their work and life experience. This research also studies the relationship between employees’ well-being and job performance. Moreover, how emotional intelligence influences the company’s working atmosphere with its staff will be, with the support of literature research, thoroughly investigated and further analysed. Based on findings of various studies, attributes such as empathy, compassion, and kindness play a predominant role and indicate an underlying connection between motivation and job performance. All in all, questions such as how health impacts job performance and how neuroscience research and understanding human emotions shift the approach to motivating people will be further discussed. This research also questions what attributes a company leader should have to build trust with the employees and encourage them to work better. Therefore, this research takes a closer look into the exemplary leadership approach and explains why communication and purpose in the company matter when unlocking human potential. In addition, it highlights the effect of experiencing stress and fear at work and the remarkable impact of positive emotions such as kindness, gratitude, and compassion. Thus, with this understanding, this research acknowledges profoundly the positive influence of having a trustworthy and empathetic leader in the company. It fundamentally shows that working in a healthy and inclusive working culture, where psychological safety is ensured, one can, in fact, unlock the potential of employees to work better and feel good about themselves.
This paper shows how German employers can successfully organize telework. In this context, the areas of physical equipment, software landscape, corporate and leadership culture, working hours, work location, company regulations, and the work and meeting structure at the telecommuting workplace are examined in more detail.
As a result of the Corona pandemic, the use of teleworking has become significantly more relevant in the everyday working lives of many people. It is becoming apparent that this will continue to be the case in the future. As a result, companies must address the question of how the workday of employees can be adapted in such a way that the greatest possible success can be achieved for both employers and employees in the context of teleworking.
In a first step, this Bachelor Thesis presents the status of the work situation in Germany with regard to the use of telework before the Covid 19 pandemic and outlines the development process during the pandemic. Furthermore, a short overview of possible developments in the future is given. The section that follows aims to highlight some of the effects on employees through the use of telework, as well as the state of research to date on the main opportunities for employers to intervene in this area.
In the subsequent practical part, 14 semi-structured interviews were used to find out that the ongoing flexibilization of the place of work and working hours is a desirable development for the majority of respondents. In this context, it is important for many employees that existing regulations are communicated transparently, but continue to decrease in order to lastly allow as much autonomy as possible in the daily work routine. The physical work equipment and software landscape used must enable the work to be performed. Health aspects, such as the provision of ergonomic products or the avoidance of stress, play a significant role here. For a sustainable corporate and management culture, it is important to rely on trust, transparency, consistency and flat hierarchies, so that the employer can only support the employees in organizing their tasks themselves.
Finally, the results of this work are summarized in a conclusion.
Today, in an increasingly digitalized world, the Internet and social media allow for connection on a global scale. Companies utilize social media for their business-to consumer and business-to-business marketing activities.
This paper focuses on establishing a LinkedIn strategy development process in business to-business social media marketing for the AMOS Sport Business School in Strasbourg, which is seeking new partnerships with partners from the German sport industry, who will bring added value to the school.
To answer the research questions, interviews were conducted with six experts who either came from the business-to business marketing sector or worked at or on behalf of LinkedIn. Based on the interviews, the focus was on determining key components for a LinkedIn strategy. The results highlighted four reasons for choosing LinkedIn: the presence of a national and global target group, the seriousness of the content and users, the importance of LinkedIn presence for company marketing, and LinkedIn’s use as a recruitment tool. Seven key components of a LinkedIn strategy were identified: “definition of goals,” “target group identification,” “adaptability and agility,” “content creation approach,” “employees’ integration,” “LinkedIn monitoring,” and “LinkedIn algorithm.” Special attention must be paid to the fourth, fifth, and seventh components, which can influence each other. The research made it possible to determine how to develop the strategy successfully by paying particular attention to LinkedIn’s algorithm, which can be “artificially” influenced by employees’ LinkedIn engagement activities, thereby resulting in a more successful strategy. Such a chain reaction can be initiated at the content creation stage by observing the eight elements of “content creation approach”: “generation of a high level of engagement with published content,” “language,” “relevant and authentic message,” “up-to-date content,” “hashtags,” “time and frequency,” “selection of the appropriate type of content,” and “content distribution plan.”
An AMOS Strasbourg LinkedIn strategy was developed, along with recommendations for action for each component. Investment in the sales navigator was highlighted, as it facilitates target group identification and therefore provides a higher guarantee of success for the LinkedIn strategy when used in conjunction with the other key components. The strategy’s organization and implementation was accompanied by a content guideline and content distribution plan so that AMOS Strasbourg’s strategy can achieve positive results.
This research identifies positive and negative influence factors by examining the effectiveness of digital video advertising. The objective is to discover ways of leveraging
these factors successfully through an extensive literature review. As this ad format has developed into a staple in most brands' media strategy, it is valuable to drive
understanding of effective implementation forward. Three brands that utilize digital video advertising are selected for an analysis of their recently published ads. This analysis is supported by a suggested model that was developed based on advertising literature to assess ad effectiveness. Results show that the perceived intrusiveness of an ad and the consequential ad avoidance behaviours in consumers represent a hindrance to ad effectiveness. In contrast, elements used in an advertisement that increase its value facilitated ad effectiveness. Credibility, entertainment and informativeness are ad value contributors and impact ad recall, the gateway to positive marketing outcomes such as purchasing decisions. The circumstances under which consumers are exposed to digital video advertisements play a role in if the ad message can effectively be conveyed.
While negative influence factors have their detriment, they can still be counteracted and leveraged. Advertisers and ad-supported video streaming sites like YouTube can find
ways to broadcast ads without significantly impeding the user experience and, in doing so, secure the continued profitability of this promotion format that depends on users
watching ads.
Experience Management has established itself in the business environment, first in the context of the customer and user experience and recently also in the context of the employee experience. This bachelor thesis explores how to improve the experience of a particular employee, the expatriate, by experience management. For this purpose, the implementation of existing experience management concepts is examined by using secondary data. The insights gained hereby are then transferred to the expatriate experience. A corresponding procedure is developed and exemplarily applied to Beiersdorf. This includes conducting primary research in the form of qualitative interviews and results in a set of recommendations for action on how the company can improve their expatriate experience. The results suggest that experience management is a promising approach to improve the experience, not only of expatriates but also of international assignees in general, which should be subjected to further research.
Today, digitalization, and the possibility of being cost-effectively networked worldwide, have a significant impact on many businesses. It is no longer unusual for companies to offer their customer service through a variety of communication channels. Due to increasing customer demand and competition, it is even more important to act strategically to meet all customer needs, including the employees' needs. This thesis aims to determine how Lean Management can contribute to increased workforce efficiency and employee satisfaction in the service sector. Therefore, the current situation in customer service on behalf of the Mercedes-Benz Customer Assistance Center is analysed. This thesis first examines the current internal market situation regarding processes and the well-being of the employees. Based on the surveys conducted, it can be said that Lean Management utilised in bundles can potentially contribute to Customer Service Representatives motivation and increase efficiency. The results show that 50% of the employees do not prefer working on the phone and reveals the current customer service challenges during home office and how they can be counteracted. Additionally, it becomes clear that the employees themselves are the most important, and their satisfaction contributes to the company's overall success. Nevertheless, this thesis is based more on assumptions through theory and the interpretation of the empirical data. It serves more as a recommendation for future action in a leaner way.
The topic of education and web-based training in particular in the technical domain has gained wide acceptance as an effective medium for enterprises to deliver learning and training for their employees and customers. Since learning through the web has several didactic challenges to face, companies must choose the adequate learning method to deliver training to their employees. In the case of Bosch Communications Systems, using web-based training for instruction in the field of professional audio engineering, software remains a subject of investigation and constant innovation. The present study aimed to determine which method of web-based training is better to apply for Expert Level learning on the use and configuration of the sound system software SONICUE. To achieve so, the instructional design of the two methods of study, video tutorial and simulation tutorial, were developed based on cognitive theories. Learning outcomes and levels of user experience of both methods were measured and compared. A sample of 31 participants of Bosch Communications Systems, divided into the two tutorial groups, took part in the present research. Results indicated no significant differences in learning outcome; however, the video tutorial received higher levels of preference among participants and was perceived in a more positive manner than the simulation tutorial in terms of practicality, design, features and navigation. The results of this evaluation reflect the importance of incorporating cognitive research based frameworks to improve the learning quality.
Purpose - The venture capital (VC) company Antler is striving for a gender balanced start-up program. Nevertheless, with average numbers of 21% - 32% of female founders within their programs in Europe, Antler can still improve their numbers of female entrepreneurs. The purpose of this thesis is to conduct general research on women entrepreneurship and to develop a strategy on how Antler could increase their numbers of female business founders in their programs.
Methods - The thesis reviews literature on female entrepreneurship to conduct general research and internal company data is used to analyse the current position of Antler with regard to their female company founder representation within their programs. Expert interviews are conducted to gain information about biases at Antler and the significance of females within the entrepreneurial industry.
Findings – In order to increase their ratio of female entrepreneurs in their start-up programs, Antler should focus on a long-run approach and stay in contact with the women who did not join Antler initially, as many of them need more time to be convinced. Media coverage can raise awareness, educate and give women role-models of successful female company founders. Quotas and legal guidelines could change the numbers of female entrepreneurs right now, until a change in the mindset and social views towards women is created.
Limitations - As this thesis is based on internal company data, it is only covering the perspective of the venture capital company Antler and the European market. Further research would be needed to widen the conclusions.
Value - This thesis shows the importance of female entrepreneurs and the difficulties they face. It provides Antler with information and a strategy on how to increase their numbers of female entrepreneurs in their start-up programs.
While the global economy is suffering from the consequences of COVID-19, China has managed to tackle the crisis and was able to restart the national economy within a few months. The objective of this study is to identify how the German industry in China was able to restart after the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The conducted research is based on two underlying research questions: “How did the German industry in China overcome the COVID-19 crisis?” and “which future trends are emerging in German companies because of the COVID-19 crisis?”. To answer these questions, qualitative expert interviews with representatives of the German industry in China were conducted. As experts for their respective company, the interviewees were able to provide firsthand experience for this research. More specifically, they were questioned about the measures that were taken to combat the epidemic, their impact on the economy and potential trends that may emerge as a result of the crisis. The interviews showed that the Chinese government and German companies both implemented effective measures to fight the economic impact of the epidemic. Furthermore, the study was able to identify future trends that stem from the concepts that were developed to overcome the crisis. The COVID-19 outbreak was a catalyst for these trends. The risk-based containment approach of the Chinese government in combination with the measures taken within the companies, such as the immediate establishment of task forces and the implementation of alternate working models, was a successful strategy to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. Recognizing the trends that emerged from the crisis and acting accordingly will be essential for German companies.
In the wake of global warming, consumers and companies are increasingly attaching importance to a more sustainable performance. Nowadays, this performance is often disclosed in so-called Integrated Reports, which focus on sustainable and non-financial information. However, the problem is that there are still no uniform accounting and auditing standards for disclosing such information.
For this reason, this work aims to investigate whether one can apply traditional financial auditing concepts to the audit of sustainable and non-financial information in an Integrated Report.
To answer the research question, qualitative research was conducted through an expert interview with staff from the Climate Change and Sustainability Services department at Ernst & Young Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschafts GmbH. The focus was on four key audit concepts: Understand the Business, Determining Materiality, Accounting Estimates, and Identification of Fraud Risk. In addition, this research examined how the traditional job description of the auditor will change in the future, considering the increasing importance of sustainable and non-financial information.
The research results showed that the financial audit concepts often serve as the basis for auditing non-financial and sustainable information. However, it was also found that transfer was not possible in some places. This was due to the lack of taxonomy, processes, or difficulty in quantifying qualitative information. In addition, research made it possible to identify new risks, such as the creation of new incentives through variable compensation linked to sustainability performance. Furthermore, challenges, and opportunities for the future of the Integrated Report and suggestions for the application of the concepts, could be elaborated.
The video game industry has come a long way from its humble beginnings in a computer lab at the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s instrumentation group to a multi billion-dollar industry. Considering that the gaming industry is a relatively young industry, it has faced a substantial amount of structural changes and shifts that were intensified by mega trends (i.e. Digitalization) that influence every industry in a certain way. One of these structural changes was the emergence of smaller studios, also known as “indie studios”. Even though these studios have always been a part of the industry, they themselves and their games respectively have gained a lot of appreciation and support over the last decade. Some of these titles even managed to upset those of the big and established studios, also referred to as AAA studios. The most dominant factors that allowed for the emergence and the success of smaller studios were the drastically reduced entry barriers (i.e. free development kits, online distribution websites) and the supportive environment offered to them (e.g. university programs, incubators). Yet, some studios manage to generate better results with their games than other studios do and therefore remained capable of competing in the industry. This circumstance inspired this thesis to identify the KSFs (i.e. Key Success Factors), also referred to as CSFs (i.e. Critical Success Factors) that allow for a successful launch of the game. Generally speaking, KSFs are those business areas and activities that, if executed in a proper way, enable a company to compete successfully in a given market. Since their introduction in 1961 by D. Ronald Daniel, a consultant with McKinsey & Company, the KSFs have been the subject of many studies and academic research papers. A majority of the research tends to focus on applying the KSF methods to more established industries (i.e. healthcare, construction). In addition to that most of the research conducted within the field of KSFs tends to gravitate around identifying and forecasting the KSFs that might be of interest for a given time period instead of focusing on a dedicated event such as the launch of a product. This thesis therefore provides the first comprehensive research on the KSFs in the context of the gaming industry, with special regard to the smaller studios (i.e. indie studios) and the launch period of a game.
First and foremost, this study aims to identify the KSFs that are of great importance to the successful launch of a given game. Furthermore, it tries to research how these KSFs are identified and implemented by the studios. Additionally, it will be researched if the studios are using the traditional model outlined by Howell, M. (2010) or if they rely on other methodologies to identify and implement the relevant KSFs for a successful launch. Lastly, it will be analysed, how smaller (i.e. indie studios) determine whether or not a game was a success and what metrics they use for this evaluation.
The study relied on secondary data provided by scientific journals, books, conference papers from the fields of busines, project management, strategic management and gaming. Since the available scientific literature for this specific research topic was considerably scarce, a lot of the needed content and references used in this thesis were acquired through practical research.
The research followed a hybrid approach, indicating that quantitative as well as qualitative research methods were applied. The qualitative research was conducted in the form of interviews with six industry experts that all had contributed in their way to successful game launches in the past. They were thoroughly researched and evaluated before being contacted in order to ensure their ability to contribute to answering the research question. The data and inputs gathered from the qualitative research were used throughout the theoretical part of the thesis in order to compensate for the continous lack of academic resources and to support the claims made by the author. Furthermore, the data was used to create the survey (i.e. quantitative research) that would be distributed among 409 potential participants. Similar to the quantitative research, these participants were also thoroughly researched and evaluated in order to ensure the legitimacy of the results.
Findings suggest that smaller studios (i.e. indie studios) are not familiar with the traditional model proposed by Howell(2010), which tends to be employed larger corporations in rather established industries. Yet they are familiar with the concept of KSFs and determine as well as implement them through agile project management, which has its origins in the software development industry. This way studios are able to adjust and adapt their KSFs at a faster pace, which is essential due to dynamic environment they operate in. The results indicate that a majority of the participating studios use the Scrum development method in order to determine and implement the required KSFs for developing and launching their games. A significant number of studios rely on dedicated agile project management software programs that aid the companies throughout the project lifecycle. The most popular programs being Trello and Jira. The qualitative research identified a total of 22 potential KSFs that are deemed to be important for the successful launch of a game. The most crucial KSFs were considered to be the following:
- Team chemistry & intrinsic motivation & internal communication
- Budgeting & scheduling & scoping
- Selecting distribution channel & front-page promotion
- Presentation of game on websites & USP
- Active community on social networks & strong customer support & transparency
The results indicate that the traditional one dimensional metrics (i.e. sales level) of evaluating the success of a game launch might no longer have the highest weight in the opinion of studios. The success tends to be determined by a set of one-dimensional metrics, which are quantifiable (e.g. sales levels, positive reviews) and multi-dimensional metrics which are not quantifiable (e.g. learning experience, fulfilment).
Summing up, there might not be such a thing as a “magic formular” that will ensure the success of a game launch. Yet, the research aims to provide suggestions based on the findings from practical research that could be of usage to studios when launching their next game.
This thesis examines bank-internal, industry-specific and macroeconomic determinants of bank profitability in the Western European banking sector with specific focus on determinants related to risk management and regulation. A linear panel analysis and a dynamic panel data analysis are conducted based on a sample of 53 Western European banks over the post-crisis time period from 2011 until 2019. This time period lies in-between the end of the financial crisis and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the panel analysis show a stronger relationship between bank profitability and bank-internal determinants than bank-external determinants. Credit risk and operational efficiency are found to be the most significant determinants of profitability. This implies that especially factors in control of the bank management are central to safeguard and advance profitability but regulation is needed to prevent procyclical decision-making by managers.
As globalization continues and markets are getting more international, skilled workers from different cultural backgrounds providing language skills as well as expertise about local customs can be a competitive advantage and key success to succeed on foreign markets. Further, cross-cultural teams are said to be more effective compared to homogenous teams. However, this is only the case if this team is managed and led by a good leader. Poorly led cross-cultural teams often underperform and are highly ineffective. Therefore, a leader of cross-cultural teams has to handle cultural differences in addition to his motivating and inspiring responsibilities.
A highly discussed ability of leaders that should have a significant influence on team performance and effectiveness is “Emotional Intelligence”. The model of Emotional Intelligence includes the capability to correctly appraise, express and regulate one’s own and others’ emotions as well as to manage emotions for better outcomes. Some proponents of Emotional Intelligence even consider these abilities as more crucial as an individual’s general intelligence.
However, Emotional Intelligence has its origins mainly in Western literature and research, and there is a lack of comprehensive research on cultural influences on Emotional Intelligence. This implies that an individual is probably considered as emotionally intelligent in one culture but fails in recognizing and handling emotions in other cultural setting.
This work provides a review on research on the field of intelligence and the development of the concept of emotional intelligence, the basis of emotions as well as leadership requirements. Further it will be analysed how the abilities of recognizing, regulating, and managing emotions differ among different national culture.
The result implies that abilities relating to emotional intelligence differ strongly among cultures and the cultural background of an individual has significant impacts of his/her emotional intelligent abilities. Moreover, an individual that is emotional intelligent in his/her own culture might not be emotional intelligent in another culture. Therefore, an emotionally intelligent leader might succeed in positively influencing his followers if they are from the same cultural background but fails when leading a cross-cultural team.
Limitations of the findings are the dominant Western literature about the topics as well as the complexity of emotions and culture.
Mental health is becoming a more important topic in the workplace, and it is not anymore only addressed in employee's free time. Due to increased sick leave, costs are rising for companies, the company's reputation could be improved, and productivity could be raised.
To prevent and handle common mental disorders in the workplace better, the research paper focuses on how a corporate culture should look like.
If the corporate culture is supportive and understanding, employees will feel secure enough to disclose their common mental disorder. If there is no stigmatization and judgment, people will feel normal no matter if they are diagnosed or at risk of a mental health problem.
Also, if people are empathetic and know each other well, colleagues, managers, and bosses will recognize stress and adapt to employee's tasks and jobs, which will prevent common mental disorders at all.
As a result, the board of management should think about how the current corporate culture is and how a supportive culture looks like that shows empathy and understanding.
Small measurements and selected interventions can make a huge difference.
This paper aims to evaluate the European Green Bond market's current state by analyzing the issuer countries, types, and sectors. Moreover, the impact of regulatory developments in the last two years on the market is analyzed. As a basis for discussion, both literature review and qualitative research in the form of a semi-structured interview were conducted. The interviews were held with four market experts to gain insight into the actual market's reaction to the EU Green Bond Standard and the upcoming EU Taxonomy. In detail, the following questions are answered: What is the current state of the European Green Bond Market? How many bonds are currently issued in Europe and in which countries? Which entities are the most active issuers, and to which sectors do they belong? What are the current developments with regards to regulations? How might upcoming regulations affect the market actors? The European green bond market made up 45% of the global market in 2019, dominated by Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, and Italy. The market is still in its growth phase, with the amount issued nearly doubling each year. With the introduction of an EU Green Bond Standard, detailed standardization and framework is established. It will help issuers to overcome market barriers such as the risk of greenwashing and helps in identifying eligible projects. However, with the alignment of the EU GBS, an entity has to align with the extensive EU Taxonomy as well, which represents entry barriers to else willing corporations. Whether an activity counts as green or not based on thresholds is defined by the classification of economic activities. The thresholds are heavily discussed in the market as either too high and excluding whole sectors from the market or too low and not ambitious enough. The alignment with the EU GBS and thus with the EU Taxonomy is connected to various efforts. Nonetheless, it offers a great chance for the market by emphasizing the need for climate action. Through this, a strong green market can emerge and hopefully impacts the world positively.
As market dynamics move at an ever-faster pace, innovation and business partnerships become crucial for every organization. Companies form partnerships to combine and share resources in order to adapt to high technological change rates and short innovation life cycles. Build with the best is SAP’s slogan to master these challenges together with its partners in driving success for their customers, while helping its partners to innovate and monetize their apps, extensions and solutions. Putting partner innovation at the heart of SAP’s product strategy will create a thriving partner ecosystem, support joint innovation, and better address their customers' problems.
The aim of this thesis, under consideration of the theoretical requirements and the requirements by SAP, is to identify relevant key performance indicators for steering the Partner Innovation Business of SAP. This paper's compilation is primarily based on meetings with employees and managers across different departments like Finance & Controlling, Development, HR and Operations. According to the Balanced Scorecard, the identified indicators are categorized into four different perspectives: financial, partner, process and learning & growth. The findings suggest having a mix of KPIs from different business perspectives as well as leading, lagging, quantitative and qualitative indicators for steering the Partner Innovation Business of SAP. Concerning the early stage of the project, the identified key performance indicators can be taken as a guidepost to develop dynamic and interactive dashboards.
Oversupply on the market and excessive consumption by consumers are a by-product of a globalized world, causing severe societal and environmental damages. These factors have increased society's fears and have resulted in a loss of trust in corporate’s business operations, leading companies to gradually lose market share. Modern society is increasingly becoming aware of the necessity to behave sustainably, resulting in higher expectations towards sustainable practices of businesses. As a result, a growing number of consumers are demanding companies to operate in a more environmentally friendly way, with more transparency, collaboration, and consumer participation to alleviate societal fears. Consequently, responding to customer needs and desires is crucial for the company's success and future survival. In general, companies are now expected to attract and retain a loyal customer base and help make the world a better place by developing a sustainable corporate brand.
This paper studies based on a selected case study, the impact a Purpose-Driven Marketing Strategy can have on business operations, illustrating how the latter societal requirements can be addressed and fulfilled through a Purpose-Driven Marketing Strategy.
Candidate experience management is gaining in importance: The recruiter experience study in 2018 revealed that 63% of the recruiters questioned throughout Germany considered optimizing the candidate experience to be one of the top priorities for future actions.
Why is that? It is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to recruit top talents. Because of demographic changes, the workforce supply is declining and the competition among firms is growing.
What does that mean for companies? Firms need to counter-tactics and ensure that talented people stay in the application process instead of opting for the competition. The goal is to attract talented individuals and ultimately win them over for the corporation.
How can companies successfully manage it? To be successful as an employer, it is well worth optimizing contact points along the application process and providing the best possible experience for candidates. Ideally, this can also help to strengthen the employer brand.
Literature, including previous findings, as well as insights about the collaborating company Marc Cain provide a baseline. A qualitative research examines how different candidates Marc Cain recently hired perceive the candidate journey and its resulting candidate experience.
For this purpose, interviews are conducted along the established candidate journey model of Athanas and Wald. The aim of this work is to answer the overall research question of the title:
Optimizing the Candidate Experience at Marc Cain GmbH –
Can this Investment sustainably strengthen the Employer Brand?
The research indicates that essential attributes for candidates during the application process are transparency, communication, authenticity, a personal approach, and feedback. Moreover, it shows that Marc Cain does not have a bad status quo or starting point, but regarding future developments does have the potential for optimization.
How exactly Marc Cain can counter this shortage of talent through an improved candidate experience, and how the employer brand benefits from it, is examined in the following work. Further, recommendations for action are meant to express direct suggestions for the company.
The Chinese company Orient Industrial Import & Export (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. operates in the field of aluminum foil and paper products. It is an international trading firm which supplies both the beauty and the household industries. Concerning the household industry, Orient would like to enter the German household foil market, as its sales in the European continent are still expandable, whereas it already has good sales in other regions of the world especially in the Asian region.
This thesis investigates the macro and micro environmental factors affecting the German market. It analyzes Orient’s different product types and potential customer segments (including consumers), profiles competitors, addresses the nature of the targeted industry and defines the features of the products. To come to a conclusion regarding the appropriate entry into the German market, this thesis also examines various market entry strategies and distribution channels.
Prior to the actual analytical work, this thesis reviews critically the different theoretical models used for analysis, which are: ABC Analysis, PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces Model, SWOT analysis, and theoretical concepts of market entry strategies as well as of distribution channel strategies.
Travel bans, lockdowns, and social distancing shape the daily pandemic rou- tine and force marketers, producers, business, and consumers to changed buying behavior and disrupted buying habits. Online sales are sky rocking and hence the comprehension of changes in consumer behavior towards online shopping play an important role for the economy. The aim of the present thesis is to investigate changes in consumer behavior due to COVID-19 and give insights whether these changes last or not. Subordinately, it is examined whether – and if, how – online and offline buying motives are linked to possible lasting changes. Therefore, a deductive quantitative method, namely an online questionnaire, was chosen to conduct, and descriptive statistics to display and analyze data. The conducted data confirms a surge in online shopping fre- quency during the pandemic, but also shows that the respondents will not re- turn to old buying frequency habits and keep buying online as much as during the pandemic. Besides that, the present work confirms the assumption that COVID-19 raised awareness to support local stores. I further conclude that the research subjects gain trust in shopping online and will repeat new online shopping experiences. Hence, adopted consumer behavior will be repeated respectively and old buying habits are being refrained.
The recent launch of the app MeasureOn by Robert Bosch Power Tools GmbH, which focuses on the connection of measuring tools to smartphone or tablet, floor planning and photo functions has raised new challenges and questions within the company. The app, which targets pro and ‘do-it-yourself’ users of Bosch PT will soon receive additional features and is set to be divided into a free (no cost) version and a pro (paid) version.
Intention of the thesis is to provide its reader with a classification of the current basic plan and potential as well as missing functions of MeasureOn with respect to its predecessors, competitors, and customer feedback.
Furthermore, recommendations for the classification of planned functions as well as the identification of functions whose misclassification could prove critical, will be provided.
In a last step, a strategy, which will serve as a guide for how to find out which future features should be included in the free plan, and which should be included in the pro plan will be presented.
The results of the thesis are based on the consolidation of data regarding former apps and app concepts offered by Bosch PT, data concerning MeasureOn and insights, which can be derived when comparing MeasureOn to competitor apps.
It is concluded that the currently defined free functions primarily cover the needs of the users. However, the function of exporting projects and exporting workspaces is considered difficult to classify, as risks and potentials are indicated in equal measure. Furthermore, the sales potential is identified, especially with 3D functionality and export, and a template for a survey is created to assess the ambiguities about the export functions as well as functions planned but not yet defined.
This bachelor thesis addresses the topic of digitalization in the healthcare industry and the resulting integration of Artificial Intelligence into medical care. The aim of this thesis is to develop new business model ideas for an international medical device manufacturer, enabled by the integration of a digital solution into the product portfolio. Furthermore, measures for the successful implementation of the business model ideas and positioning of the organization are to be developed.
To achieve this goal, a market research on the impact of digitalization in the healthcare industry and the resulting integration of Artificial Intelligence into medical care was conducted based on the relevant literature. In addition, the resulting opportunities and risks for the specific use case were identified.
Within the scope of this thesis, the following business model ideas were identified:
- BMI 1: Individual module-based offering,
- BMI 2: Comprehensive product and service solutions,
- BMI 3: Integrated supply and patient pathway solutions,
- BMI 4: Data platform provider.
Recommendations for successful positioning include (1) strengthening organizational structures for process orientation, (2) placing the digital solution not only as a solution for the patient pathway, but also as an enabler for ambulatory procedures, (3) expanding the digital solution with secondary process applications, (4) building a skilled workforce, and (5) partnering with technology companies to manage implementation of the platform-based business model idea.
What is integrity and how does it impact the individual, culture or organization? Research has shown that the presence of integrity tend to correlate with positive outcomes in the business or private life, regardless of the surrounding. Additionally, integrity impacts and shapes the individual or organization behavior. The paper aims to determine how important integrity role in leadership is and wether it matters to perceive it as a must-have value. For this study, an in-depth review of secondary literature was conducted. The secondary data was collected in two approaches, online and offline. Thorough analysis of the data showed a tendency of integrity in leadership.
Currently, a digital transformation is taking place in logistics and manufacturing environments of the Robert Bosch GmbH. This digital transformation consists of several central initiatives, resulting in big impacts on the organizations of the business units. This paper aims to provide an overview of these organizational changes with regard to the role of change management. After identifying the organizational setting at Bosch, the ongoing digital transformation at the business unit Powertrain Solutions is analyzed by focusing on the future collaboration strategy between logistics and manufacturing as well as the organizational transformation along the Value Stream Integrated Processes and IT program. The complexity of the ongoing transformation is narrowed down to the changes in processes and IT-landscapes before elaborating the future interaction between the landscape documentation tools “scout.it” and “Lean IX”. The readiness of plants in preparation for the Bosch Manufacturing and Logistics Platform is determined by creating a dashboard using Microsoft Power BI.
Ahead of the analytical work, the paper considers theoretical insights about the current state of research in terms of the digital development and change management to ensure successful planning, implementation and preservation of future organizational changes at Bosch.
One size fits all? A multicultural marketing perspective on the U.S. market for luxury watches
(2021)
The purchase of luxury goods like mechanical watches is experiencing steady growth and it is increasingly shifting to e-commerce platforms, also due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, there are culture-related different motivations to purchase those items. One size fits all? According to this question it was investigated if there can be several cultures detected and if they show a different purchase behavior along the customer journey that can be explained with one of the six dimensions of Geert Hofstede (2001). Therefore, several hypotheses along the customer journey are set to find out if there are still ethnical backgrounds that have an influence on the buying process of the U.S. customers. The focus for this research lies on Asian Americans and Hispanics in comparison with the 'Rest of the USA', including ethnic groups like White Caucasians, Afro Americans, and many more.
In order to answer the research question, a quantitative study was deducted with the help of Google Analytics. It provided several Key Performance Indicators like for example sessions, bounce rates, session durations, purchased brands, and many more on Chrono24’s marketplace in the USA.
The study shows that the observed cultures in fact have different characteristics along the customer journey, but not every hypothesis could be explained conformingly with one of Hofstede’s dimensions. Consequently, a one size fits all customer journey does not exist. Additionally, the work suggests how further research and cultural adaptions can lead to optimized customer journeys on a marketplace.
The topic of traditional fashion retailers fighting for their position against growing e-commerce suppliers has been omnipresent in recent years. Therefore, it is important to understand what possibilities modern technology and innovation has to offer, and how these innovative technologies can be leveraged to achieve traditional brick-and-mortar-retailer’s goal of staying relevant and competitive.
The objective of this thesis is to examine and compare the effectiveness of different in-store digitalization concepts and technologies in retail organisations, analyzing different challenges such as the practical implementation in stores, customer adoption and acceptance factors in context of socio-demographic, and measuring the success of the concepts. Also, the current situation will be explored to see what is already being done today and where there is more potential using different approaches and technologies. For this purpose, a variety of studies, papers and other literature will be analyzed and put into context with the research topic.
Concluding the thesis, we find that all technologies and its practical applications affect relevant variables in different models such as TAM, the convenience/social presence model, and the customer decision-making process. Besides that, the socio-demographic variables geography, age and gender all influence adoption and readiness towards technology to a certain extent. Finally, we give examples on how the technologies can influence classic fashion retail KPIs.
Global warming and its impacts on the environment, the human being and the economy are one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. With the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration being the main driver of global warming, the necessity arises to address the issue of carbon dioxide emissions. Next to the avoidance, the reduction and the compensation of emissions, negative emissions are moving into the focus of decision-makers in politics and in the economy. These can be created using either nature-based methods or negative emission technologies. The paper “Methods for generating negative emissions: Are negative emission technologies a climatically and economically viable alternative to nature-based methods?” aims to answer the research questions whether negative emission technologies are a more effective instrument to create negative emissions than nature-based methods and, under which circumstances an investment in these technologies is reasonable for a company.
The method used to answer the questions is a literature research to perform a comparison of two examples. The afforestation project Bonn Challenge serves as example for a nature-based method to create negative emissions while the Direct-Air-Capture plant “Orca” by the company climeworks AG is used as an example for a negative emission technology. A benefit analysis is conducted to assess the effect on carbon dioxide concentration and a net present value calculation is carried out to enable an investment decision under different scenarios.
The paper finds that Direct Air Capture is a more effective way to reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide than the afforestation. The crucial advantage of the technology is the permanent storage of the removed carbon dioxide and the immediate carbon dioxide effect. Furthermore, the results of the net present value calculation imply that in the short-term an investment in negative emissions is not economical. In the long run, rising prices for emission certificates and the possibility to sell removed and stored carbon dioxide or to offer carbon dioxide removal as a service can make an investment in negative emission technologies like Direct Air Capture reasonable. A condition for that is that the cost of carbon dioxide removal with Direct Air Capture is reduced to 100 $/tCO2 between 2026 and 2031 depending on the applied interest rate.
Based on the found results, the paper suggests that from a climate protection perspective, negative emission technologies should not be seen as alternatives to nature-based methods but that different approaches to create negative emissions must be combined to meet climate targets. The paper also proposes that prices for emission certificates in the EU-ETS should be increased as soon as possible in order to promote an investment in negative emission technologies. Also, further research using more detailed data and covering more aspects is recommended.
Many of the traditional alternative food networks are facing logistical challenges that impede them from increasing their scale and emerging from the market niche they currently operate in. Food hubs, as innovative business models, may be able to overcome these challenges and bridge the infrastructural gap between small and medium-sized local farmers and large-scale demand for local food products. Although the food hub concept has enjoyed only relatively little popularity in Europe, this might change with the European Commission’s plan for a more sustainable food system – the Farm to Fork strategy. This thesis aims to analyze the potential impact that this initiative as an external market force may have on the future of food hubs, so that it can be considered in their strategic decisions today. Nonquantitative scenario planning was used to develop four plausible future states, each characterized by a different level of success of the Farm to Fork strategy. The results indicate that it provides significant development opportunities for food hubs. Especially the regulations in institutional food procurement, the internalization of the true costs and changing perceptions of the value of food are potentially beneficial. However, this requires food hubs to pay close attention to the upcoming legal regulations when making portfolio decisions. A product offer that is based on environmental and social sustainability and healthiness in addition to local origin should put them in a favorable position to benefit off of these impending changes. At the same time, food hubs need to maintain their flexibility and respond adequately to consumer preferences in order to deal with the challenge of increasing competition with conventional retailers.
COVID-19 has caused severe consequences for the tourism sector, many small- to medium sized travel agencies went bankrupt. Furthermore, the digitalization has been an important global trend, which also affects tourism. The question “how a travel agency could survive in these external circumstances?” is now under the spotlight.
With information from secondary literatures, the macroenvironments surrounding the Chinese and German travel markets are examined. This comparison results in two PEST analyses in order to find out the differences. The case of KaiYuan GmbH, a travel company with Sino-German background, represents a survivor of COVID-19. The SWOT analysis on the company´s microenvironment shows that to possess a broad portfolio and to enter new markets are crucial. The results from the macro- and microenvironment analyses lead to the creation of the new business model Intelligent Travel Agency (ITA), which combines digital developments and a diversified product portfolio. Refined marketing strategies as a German travel agency towards Chinese customers are presented, such as utilizing different Chinese media channels. With feasible components and implementation suggestions, ITAs could replace traditional travel agencies and ensure the existence of travel agencies.
Many companies are struggling with the decision of whether they should invest resources in the new app TikTok to communicate and develop their employer brand. Therefore, this thesis addresses, the question: Should German companies invest in TikTok as an employer branding tool? As this topic is not well researched yet, this work is based on individual opinions of HR professionals and opinions on the internet. There is no scientific verification of the accuracy of the statements made in this paper.
To answer this question, interviews with 14 German HR experts have been conducted. Afterwards, the interviews have been summarized and evaluated. The results show that the answer to the research question depends on several factors.
TikTok is considered as a suitable tool if the company’s DNA correspond to that of the application and if enough personal resources are available. Also, if the target group and their needs match the young audience and if the company has already gained experiences on social media. Furthermore, the uploaded content should be authentic and involve motivated representatives of the target group (age 16 to 24). The company must give those employees full support, trust and freedom. Nevertheless, they should also invest in their training and let them know what is desired. The content on TikTok should be informative, short, in the language of the audience and the company should act as an adviser. Employer branding content should be published infrequently and only once a community has been built. The app should be understood as an awareness channel and it should not be expected to bring many applicants immediately. Firms should weigh the positive and negative sides and use the above factors to decide whether TikTok fits their own company.
The success of TikTok can be explained, for example, due to the dopamine release when watching videos on social media and the complex algorithm behind the app, which filters only relevant videos for the individual preferences of each user. Moreover, other hormones such as adrenalin and oxytocin are released, as well. The variety of sounds available and the possibility to share the content with other social media platforms, could also lead to a high popularity of the app. The short videos are favorable for the short attention span of social media users and not often being interrupted by any comments or advertisements makes watching TikTok videos fun.
Service in industrial manufacturing is a field with a lot of potential for development. The industrial automation company SICK rises to the challenge by developing a service-oriented business model. The disadvantages of the free of charge loan for customers, created the idea to implement a rental model for the testing phase. This bachelor thesis analyzes the service implementation in manufacturing industries and classifies the rental model in the context of service-oriented business models. Further the rental model on the example of a non-contact motion sensor is evaluated and further characteristics are developed. Moreover, the loan and rental process are compared in order to analyze the effort created by the rental model. The main goal is to analyze the need of a service-oriented business model to make a recommendation about the implementation for other products besides the non contact motion sensor. To develop a theoretical background of the topic of service-oriented business models, the researcher refers to literature in the field of service in manufacturing and business models. A practical approach applies to the analysis of the development of the rental model as a business model. Further,expert interviews are conducted to make a recommendation based on the expert’s opinions. In conclusion, manufacturers have further potential to develop service-oriented business models. The core business of the industry is manufacturing which makes it risky to further develop the service portfolio. The findings indicate that the rental model as a service-oriented business model should be an additional option for the testing phase for higher priced products at SICK.
The research defines the optimization possibilities of listing content for entrepreneurs on Amazon. The research aims to provide insights into the measures to the improvement of the ranking and the user experience. This thesis examines the strategies leading to Amazon's current market position. Due to Amazon's customer-focused orientation, this strategy enables cross-market development.
The theoretical background indicates the success strategy of Amazon, driven by the Content Marketing Strategy (CMS) in which the compilation of content elements is performed in a value-added manner. Amazon's Content Marketing Strategy is an unbeaten strategy that contributes to today's customer reach. This is driving all retailers to embrace the concept of CMS and integrate it as part of their business to benefit from amazon's success and effectiveness in the future.
Based on the frameworks used, the relevance factors and the performance factors, which have a direct and indirect influence on the ranking of the products are analyzed. The result of the analysis describes how keywords, authority, conversion rate, and the Click- Through-Rate are shaping ranking components. In addition, there is a need for the right approach to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
By optimizing the content components, the listing is received with better interest by the target audience, which leads to direct increases in traffic. Successfully implementing SEO measures result in a unique and excellent user experience, which in turn drives the need and buying behavior of the users.
The results prove the importance of such measures to enable successful and effective participation of entrepreneurs on Amazon. Thus, the entrepreneur is considered a relevant and trustworthy retailer who encourages users to buy.
Key words: e-commerce, search engine optimization, content marketing, content optimization, user experience
The objective of this paper is to build on well-established theories like extremeness aversion and extend those to a spatial context. Extremeness aversion occurs as disadvantages loom larger than advantages. Therefore decision-makers tend to avoid the extremes and choose the middle alternative, implying that a product that becomes the intermediate alternative becomes more attractive. However, a vast majority of literature seems to neglect spatial aspects. Therefore, we propose that positioning a product in the middle of a choice architecture will lead to a relative increase in likelihood of its being chosen. In a six-week field experiment in a retail market, we displayed three choice sets of different categories. Results are inconsistent with previous research, as there was no increase in choice for the product positioned in the middle of the choice architecture.
The demand for sustainable products has risen noticeably throughout the last years. For this reason, credence labels have gained enhanced importance, as customers use them as indicators for product quality. A rich body of literature investigated the effect of labels on product quality perception, but findings on label effects are still rather controversial. While researching the effects of labels on the one hand, previous studies tend to neglect other important influences on quality perception on the other hand. This paper examines the role of retailer formats and the presence of quality labels on consumer willingness to pay (WTP). For this purpose, a total of 400 participants received a monetary incentive to execute a novel survey based on neuroscientific assumptions, in an attempt to identify the impacts of credence labels in supermarkets and discounters on customer WTP. The results indicate that the magnitude of prices can influence reaction times and hence show that reaction times offer researchers an effective parameter to determine customer WTP. The presence of labels on food products was found to positively influence quality perception in a significant manner. A significant difference between the retailer formats, as well as a potential interaction between the two factors related to WTP, could not be detected. In conclusion, general assumptions about the label performance within distinct retailers should not be made. The results, however, indicate that the subject offers a promising topic to conduct further research in.
Can the different framing of price promotions decrease consumer value perception and their willingness to pay? Prior research provides evidence of differences in consumer perception of economically equivalent monetary and non-monetary price promotions. In detail, many research works suggest that non-monetary promotions positively affect consumer perception and are therefore preferred over monetary ones that are associated with a drop in quality. Results suggest that this biased consumer behavior is caused by the framing of the promotion, causing difference in cognitive processing and dissimilarities in perception of benefits and product quality. We put this theoretical foundation to the test on the Turkish consumer market of non-durable goods, in order to contrast effects on consumers of the economically equivalent formats ‘50% discount’ as a monetary and ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ as a non-monetary promotion. In particular, the focus was set on analyzing attractiveness perception of the two promotion types and the development of WTP pre- and post-promotion. To achieve this, the non-durable goods rice and antibacterial soap were selected as product stimuli to stage scenarios before, during and after a promotion period. Four sets of questionnaires were shared on social media and distributed to a total of 919 participants via randomization generator. The survey results put forward empirical validation of product-related decrease in value perception as a consequence of both promotion types, namely the ‘promotional effect’. Nevertheless, our data provide no evidence for the ‘framing effect’ in neither attractiveness perception nor post-promotional WTP. This paper aims to bridge the gap on empirical research of key theoretical implications of promotional impact on consumer behavior and to benefit domestic and foreign marketing managers conducting business operations on the Turkish market.
Important prior studies regarding customers purchasing behaviour proved that customers tend to avoid products showing extreme deflections in attributes and feel more comfortable purchasing articles with a balance in attributes (compromise option). Hence, for marketers, supermarket chains etc., it can be of an advantage knowing whether this effect can also be measured or even be amplified in where the spatial middle of a shelf is occupied with the compromise option. We hypothesized that the tendency towards the compromise option, eventually even higher in the spatial middle position, can also be observed in an in-store experiment with real-life circumstances. In order to fulfil our study, we worked with a hardware store in southern Germany. In total, we sold 610 items consisting of 5 different products with each 3 alternatives. The result corroborated our hypothesis partly as it showed in some cases, the compromise option was indeed preferred when in the middle of a choice set. Nevertheless, in many cases, products on extreme position with “extreme” attributes were preferred. Leading to the conclusion that other factors like the brand may have higher importance in purchasing decisions.
The leisure industry experiences a shift in selling their services online. While external sales channels have been dominating the online ticket sales in the last decade, a new trend of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) sales through individual platforms has been on the rise. This study aimed to research on the usage of external and direct sales channels in the leisure industry and tried to find reasons for the rapid increase of leisure venues shifting their sales channels on their own online platform and abandoning external sales channels. For this study, a primary research with leisure venues across Germany, Switzerland and Austria in the form of a questionnaire with 104 participants was conducted. The topic of the questionnaire was the usage of external and direct sales channels and ticket reseller as well as promotion methods of the leisure venues participating. Furthermore, an expert interview with the CEO of a wellness centre was conducted to gain first-hand knowledge on the research topic. The thesis ends with an analysis of the survey results and conclusions on what the usage of external and direct sales channels in the leisure industry are and how the DTC trend emerged from the state of the industry.
It is generally recognized that emotions aroused in individuals through marketing communications have an influence on their buying decisions in the B2C context. However, it is often disregarded that individuals are also decision-makers in organizations. Therefore, in the B2B context, emotional stimuli in marketing communications may influence their organizational buying decisions as well. In this paper, we examine the extent to which marketers in the mechanical engineering industry can influence their customers by positive emotional stimuli. Practical recommendations are given for the marketing communication of the newly launched production line CUBE by ZAHORANSKY AG, one of the worldwide leading organizations in the industry for brushmaking machinery.
Nowadays, almost every country in the world classifies cannabis as illegal, nevertheless it is still the most consumed illicit substance in the world. Up until 2019, only two countries worldwide have legalized cannabis completely at national level. In more than 25 countries, cannabis has a partial legal and social accepted status.
While medicinal cannabis was legalized in Germany in 2017, recreational cannabis remains illegal in Germany as per today. The very conservative estimated market value for the German illegal cannabis market is approx. 2.3 billion Euros. Assuming that legalization of recreational cannabis will capitalize the entire or even a major part of the black market of cannabis, the German government would benefit from significant additional tax revenue.
From a political point of view, today there is still a vehement controversy about the legalization of cannabis in Germany. However, experts predict legalization of recreational cannabis in several European countries within the next three to ten years.
Under the assumption that cannabis will be legalized in Germany, sustainable business models were defined within the context of this assignment. As part of this exploratory study, two experts of the cannabis industry were interviewed. On the base of a qualitative content analysis as well as extensive research sustainable business models were defined and evaluated. As a result of the study, a comprehensive recommendation of action was developed.
Job contentment, interpersonal relationships at work, quality of life – for a long time, these aspects were not given importance in an organizational context. Companies were considered rational units, and emotional aspects were neglected. Where people are recognized as an increasingly important resource in a company, emotions play a significant role. In the course of this, the interest in emotional intelligence in the workplace emerged. Especially in the field of leadership, emotional intelligence is now being given more and more attention and has proven to be a cause for numerous positive effects. Due to the limited research on this relation, this thesis aims to find out if and how emotional intelligence in leadership influences employee job satisfaction, specifically in a Danish organization. After outlining the foundations of emotional intelligence in leadership, job satisfaction, and Danish business culture, the empirical research focuses on employee interviews and an evaluation of the emotional intelligence of two managers. Specific focus is put on the employees' perception of their job satisfaction and their assessment of the importance of emotionally intelligent leadership. The results show the importance of emotionally intelligent behavior, and recommendations regarding the implementation of emotional intelligence to overcome workplace challenges are given.
During the last years, an increasing number of organisations has tended to favour the utilisation of collaboration software to support organisational processes and their employees in their daily work. Even though most of the software products are sold in a standardised manner, they offer a great variety in terms of their functionalities. Consequently, a company is likely to find a software solution which suits its distinct requirements which themselves originate from technological, market and social changes and prevailing VUCA conditions. Hence, a company is forced to regularly adapt its internal processes and structures to maintain competitive in the business as well as the labour market.
Utilising a collaboration software represents a promising opportunity for a company to introduce solutions for real time communication, social networks or shared information bases which are already used commonly in people’s private lives to the professional environment as well. Thereby they allow associates to transcend geographical and temporal distances while facilitating fast interaction, increasing productivity and providing for new opportunities for collaboration in both, regular work routines and exceptional situations.
The corporate implementation of such a software can be realised by building on formal project planning principles. This project management-driven approach tends to concentrate on preparing the steps required to ensure a successful deployment from a technical perspective. The effectiveness of the implementation, however, is mainly determined by employees’ reaction to the new software: Their level of acceptance and the incorporation of the software’s functionalities into their daily business routines finally influences to which degree an organisation can exploit and experience the desired benefits.
Aiming towards positively shaping users’ perceptions and the software’s usage, the critical success factors for software implementations are reviewed. Given that most of them are directly related to the people affected by the implementation, underlines the importance of interpreting the implementation of a collaboration software as an organisational change. By analysing the change process in theory and considering the employees’ behaviours for the subsequent conceptualisation of an implementation strategy, a user-centred approach can be further promoted.
The theoretical insights obtained from the scientific research on collaboration software implementations and the related organisational change process are then applied to a business case which deals with the implementation of the collaboration software product Office 365 at TTS Tooltechnic Systems AG & Co. KG.
After presenting the derived implementation structure, it can be concluded that so far, the identified critical success factors were verified by the case study. Moreover, the user-centred approach which focusses on guiding employees through the change process and ensuring a smooth transition in general produced positive results.
Nevertheless, it can be observed that an adequate project planning and timing remains indispensable. The final evaluation of the implementation’s success cannot be performed yet, since the implementation at the company has just recently started, but it becomes clear that it will likely be influenced much by the ongoing required cultural change within the company.
Global warming threatens our climate. The planet we know today will deteriorate seriously if nothing changes. The massive consumption of textiles makes the fashion industry as the second leading global polluter after the oil industry. The rise in population increases demand and therefore, also production, which in turn leads to harmful environmental impacts. The global consumers have become increasingly concerned and aware of the importance of sustainability. Due to rising awareness of customers regarding the environment, green marketing strategies have become an important topic. Therefore, a huge number of companies are “greening” their marketing mix. Environmental concern and knowledge of consumers are growing but there is still contradicting behavior of consumers regarding environmentally friendly products. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of green marketing practices and environmental behavior factors on consumer buying behavior taking the fashion industry as an example. This thesis depends on theoretical findings of green marketing and environmental behavior factors in general and on the fashion industry. The practical part consists of a self-conducted survey were the impact of the above-mentioned determinants were examined on the example of eco-friendly fashion. Conclusions that can be drawn from the study were that even though consumers know about the negative impact of the fashion industry and they are concerned about the environment it does not translate into their behavior, since there are other factors which influence consumers decision more heavily when purchasing fashion items.
Microfinance and The Empowerment of Women "A self-sustainable approach towards gender equality"
(2020)
Women have always been a victim of injustice, inequality, and the domination of men all over the world and still today, women are being deprived of developmental, financial or educational opportunities.
The empowerment of women is one of the most challenging goals the world is trying to achieve in terms of development.
The goal of this thesis is to give an overview of the role of microfinance in the empowerment of women, discover whether microfinance is a self-sustainable approach towards gender equality and examine how microfinance institutions are able to provide financial services to people, who are defined as unbankable by commercial banks.
Therefore, the business concepts of microfinance institutions, as well as their impacts on borrowers, especially women, are analyzed by taking a qualitative secondary data approach.
The results show that MFIs can successfully substitute financially valuable collateral by issuing loans to interdependent borrowing groups.
Furthermore, microfinance shows significant positive impacts on the financial and non-financial empowerment of women, although they are facing tough challenges to get access to women in patriarchal structures, targeting the poorest of the poor and still remain self-sustainable.
Successful examples, such as the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh show the possibilities of microfinance.
However, further research has to be conducted regarding the customer base of successful MFIs, that do not have to rely on external financial aid.
Analyzing the customer base can verify that those MFIs are not just successful because their target group shifted to wealthier borrowers, demanding higher loan amounts. Though customer data is confidential and therefore challenging to access.
Since its foundation in 1992, the English Premier League has been characterized by huge inflationary leaps in broadcasting rights fees and a steady increase in transfer expenditures of the twenty member clubs of the league.
By becoming a global brand with billions of people watching the live matches on TV, the Premier League has proven its status as the most successful sports league worldwide.
However, after analyzing the new broadcasting deal which will last until the year 2022 and the transfer fees spent during the last three seasons, the domestic TV market growth, as well as the increase in the average transfer fee spent by the Premier League clubs are very likely to reach their saturation level fairly soon.
While the new domestic TV deal results in less revenue for the clubs compared to the previous deal from 2016-2019, the value for the Premier League´s overseas broadcasting rights for 2019-2022 has risen by 35% given an increase in the number of games being sold for broadcast (Wigmore 2019).
In order words, the overseas broadcasting rights revenues will be the driving force in the future of the Premier League, as there is still a huge potential for the league to gain more money and therefore balance the loss from its saturated domestic TV market (Robinson und Clegg 2019).
Despite the good prospects of increasing international revenues, there is some criticism regarding the new business model. The new overseas-rights formula includes higher revenues for the Big Six of the Premier League, leading to an even greater injustice among the twenty member clubs.
It remains interesting to follow, if the Premier League will become an even stronger and more successful entity by the increase in international rights fees or if the increasing injustice will lead to a breakaway of the Big Six clubs from the poorer, smaller and less popular teams comparable to the situation in 1992, before the foundation of the Premier League.
The impact of human trust on business performance by the example of non-governmental organizations
(2020)
How important, scalable and influenceable is the factor trust for charities? This thesis deals with this question regarding social media appearances of three NGOs. Furthermore, it aims to capture the general state of trust of millennials in non-governmental organizations.
This work is predicated on extensive literature research, an online survey, a group discussion with millennials and an application of the HuTrust Model by mext consulting.
Findings indicate that the level of trust matters in different areas such as social media engagement rate and the willingness to donate money to an NGO
The field of Global Mobility is becoming more varied and complex than in past years. More and more companies operating at an international level, are realizing that the handling of international assignments cannot remain the same as it was handled at its origin. Many corporations that have already recognized this, have implemented Global Mobility Departments or at least GM representatives within their organizational structure. However, there are also enterprises that due to different reasons for example, the absence of the required resources, are not able to do so. These companies tend to handle international assignments on a case by case basis, which can lead to a handful of obstacles, especially when dealing with long-term assignments.
In recent years the field of International Human Resource Management has been experiencing a shift, from the long-term assignments to a short-term assignment variety. Nevertheless, there are various reasons why some companies can still not completely replace this kind of assignments. For this reason, it is vital for companies that do not have either the necessary requirements or demand for introducing a GM department, to manage these more efficiently.
This thesis examines the use of checklists as a viable method for managing long-term assignments. The findings were applied to the current case of Liebherr Aerospace Lindenberg, regarding their strategy for traditional assignments. Results show that implementing a tool, like a simple checklist, can help to ease many challenges of managing traditional assignments. Companies that share similarities with Liebherr could apply this method and adjust it to its own situation, goals and resources.
This thesis deals with the determination of decision criteria for the development of a fixed-floating mix for non-financial firms and applies them to the example of Heineken.
Existing literature fails to offer a clear guidance on how to approach the fixed-floating decision. Managerial incentives, leverage, the availability of natural hedges, firm liquidity and the shape of the yield curve are frequently mentioned as factors influencing the fixed-floating mix of non-financial firms. I analyse a theoretical approach to constructing the fixed-floating mix and depict the difficulties that such a model based on historical data has in the current interest rate environment.
Conducting a peer group analysis, I study the trends in interest rate risk management in the brewery and alcoholic beverages industry. A clear tendency of the firms in the sample to maintain a high percentage of debt with fixed interest rates is visible. Furthermore, I analyse the risk-return trade-off and conclude that the importance of the fixed-floating split decision for the individual firm depends mainly on leverage and the firm’s capability to absorb volatility in interest expenses, measured by interest coverage.
Additionally, I determine leverage, the level of interest rates, the shape of the yield curve and the comparison to a core peer group as decision criteria Heineken should apply when reconsidering its fixed-floating mix in place. The analysis of these criteria leads to the conclusion that the current interest rate environment, financial metrics of Heineken and the comparison to a core peer group justify having a high percentage of debt with fixed interest rates and can even trigger Heineken to further increase the fixed portion of its debt.
This thesis assesses whether a momentum strategy, which buys past winner and sells past loser stocks, implemented in the German stock market yields positive returns. Additionally, it provides an evaluation of potential sources and implications to stock market efficiency. The findings indicate that momentum profits are on average positive and significant in a time period between 1999 and 2018 and that these profits, in general, seem to contradict the efficient market theory. Hence, after a review of behavioral finance models, these profits seem to be due to inefficient price reactions to new firm-specific news. Despite their strong positive average returns, momentum strategies yield significant negative returns which occur in times of market reversal after panic states and crashes.
Online Controlled Experiment at Euranka Sàrl: Improvement of a/b testing by increasing sensitivity
(2020)
Web-facing companies and online businesses generate more revenue than before, and the internet is growing exponentially. Conversion rate optimization has become a hot topic among online marketers and online businesses. Giant data-driven companies like Google, Microsoft, or Bing are pioneers in this field and use their big data to optimize their websites and services with online controlled experiments, but still, facing pitfalls. For companies with smaller user numbers, running experiments with reliable and conclusive results is even a greater challenge. As it is a critical success factor for online businesses, the thesis deals with ways to improve online experimentation for companies with smaller user numbers by increasing the sensitivity of experiments based on information provided in whitepapers and conference findings of pioneers in the field. These methods and guidelines are applied to a practical case at Euranka Sàrl, an online affiliate marketer based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The topic of this bachelor’s thesis is the connection between culture and social media marketing for environmental nonprofit organizations. It focuses on the question whether culture does have an impact on the performance of social media marketing for environmental nonprofit organizations. Based on this, the hypothesis is made that culture does have an influence on the intercultural performance of an environmental nonprofit organizations’ social media marketing. To provide an answer, the characteristics of environmental nonprofit organizations and social media marketing are analyzed by the use of cultural frameworks. Furthermore, a closer look towards the connection between culture and social media marketing for environmental nonprofit organizations is provided. As a result, this paper supports the hypothesis that culture does have an impact on the performance of social media marketing for environmental nonprofit organizations. The analysis shows that social media marketing and environmental nonprofit organizations both have characteristics that can be impacted by culture. This can lead to an effect on the performance of the environmental nonprofit organizations’ social media marketing caused by different cultural perceptions and aspects.
Innovative and successful food waste management solutions often happened to have either an economic, ecological, or social positive impact. There are different types of food waste that are wasted at different stages of the supply chain and sustainable management treat this issue in its entirety.
A resource-efficiency handling of food creates and saves value in the food industry, helps reduce climate change and brings food security. Quantitative evidence from financial and nonfinancial benefits from business cases of countries such as the United Kingdom, proved that avoiding food wasting build a win-win situation for companies and consumers. Processes will be exposed to accelerate the implementation of food waste reduction policies at every stage of the supply chain and at every organization level.
This paper is aimed to measure the global degree of food waste and loss with trustworthy instruments and to provide a range of the most efficient and adapted ways to prevent it.
Some focus will be made in certain parts of the world because of the data’s availability and reliability. It also interests us to know what percentage of waste occurs, at which stage of the supply chain, what are the current existing solutions to avoid food waste and
loss and how is sustainable management playing the most efficient role.
Food wasting will be distinguished into two categories: organizations of entities (as countries, governments, cities, and companies) and individuals. Providing guidelines to be able to manage a sustainable production up till consumption will be the core concern of this paper.
Given the increasing diversity in today’s business environment and workforce, having the right skills and abilities to manage intercultural interactions become increasingly important. Universities and business schools try to equip their students with the right capabilities by sending them abroad for a study semester or internship.
Within this thesis, the multidimensional construct of Cultural Intelligence, which is defined as being effective in intercultural interactions will be introduced and how students’ international experiences are influencing it.
Using quantitative data from a self-conducted survey which includes the widely used and validated Cultural Intelligence Scale is going to demonstrate if both a study semester and an internship abroad influence Cultural Intelligence more than just one kind of international student experience. The study also tries to find out if previous international experience and Cultural Distance have a significant impact on Cultural Intelligence.
The results indicate that both kinds of international student experiences are not enhancing Cultural Intelligence more than just one type of student experience abroad. There is also no significant influence to be found from prior international experience and Cultural Distance. Although the survey results are not going to provide significant findings, internal and external factors which are enhancing this intelligence are going to be identified theoretically, as well as the positive effects of Cultural Intelligence on the business environment.