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The Revive Turbo Cleaner is a cleaning fluid which removes carbon deposits from inside petrol or diesel engine systems. It is distributed internationally through wholesalers and sales agents to workshops and private car owners. After the acquisition of Revive Automotive Solutions Ltd by Bartec Auto ID Ltd in summer 2016, the new owners decided to further develop the brand and to move into the promising German automotive aftermarket, as the Cleaner had shown good sales figures in the home market UK and in a number of international markets. This paper examines environmental factors influencing the German marketplace, analyses Revive’s actual customer segments including consumers and business clients, provides profiles of its competitors and substituting technologies, regards the characteristics of the specific industry and defines the product’s qualities in order to draw a conclusion on the appropriate Marketing Mix to employ for the German market. In advance to the analytical work, the paper critically considers the range of theoretical frameworks used for the analysis, namely PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, the SWOT Analysis and the Marketing Mix in order to define and update original concepts as wells as adapt them to the research requirements.
This thesis investigates the effect choice options in e-commerce applications have on consumers’ decision making. Previous research showed that a large number of options
can affect consumers negatively. However, the conditions for such choice overload are unclear. After reviewing the existing research, the amount of information (entropy)
contained in a choice set and individual differences were determined as possible influencing factors in an online environment. In a choice experiment, choice sets with
varying information loads and an assessment of the Big Five personality traits were used to test the impact of the two identified factors on choice avoidance behavior. Results from chi-square-tests and a logistic regression model suggest choice overload but without entropy having an effect. A logistic regression model revealed that extraverted consumers are easier overloaded. A low Neuroticism score was found to be related to less occurrence of a too-much-choice-effect. Consumers with a high Openness score on the other hand choose one of the presented options more often and were therefore less often
overwhelmed by the assortment. An interaction effect between personality and the amount of entropy was not found. These findings extend the research on choice overload and offer valuable input for marketers targeting consumers online.
Mobile diagnostics – or mobile health in general – is highly appealing, not only for clinicians, but also for patients. It implies empowerment, in particular of those who are really in need, such as inhabitants of less developed regions within the world who have limited access to healthcare. It also implies simplification: Easy data management – a continuous flow of information. Therefore, development of miniaturized and highly integrated diagnostic systems allowing near patient “instant” diagnostics gain a lot of momentum since more than a decade. However, system integration requires time and a significant amount of investment. In addition, there is strong competition on resources from other emergent technologies, such as next generation sequencing which made the collection of e.g. human genome data less expensive and much faster. A more severe challenge is that mobile diagnostics require a change in healthcare management, e.g. towards integrated practice units. This, in turn, requires implementation of adequate reimbursement, standards of interoperability, training of staff, quality control. In 2010, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the grant initiative Mobile Diagnostic Systems (MD, 2011─2015) as part of its high-tech strategy. MD aimed at generating knowledge on how microsystem technologies fit into German healthcare environments. On the basis of interviews with multidisciplinary MD actors, this thesis evaluated retrospectively how the publicly funded innovation network managed to overcome pre-defined external barriers of diffusion, including technology, regulatory affairs and market access. Retrospectives reveal internal barriers involving knowledge and technology transfer, negatively influencing generation of innovation. In particular, financing still represents a high hurdle for biotech innovators in Germany: Larger firms look predominately for market-ready or in-market technologies rather than prototypes and venture capitalists are rare or extremely risk-averse. Another important finding was, that actors involved were highly focused on individual work packages. This risks of not seeing the whole environment embedding MD. Consequently, potential opportunities may be missed, e.g. synergies with relatively close (DIALOC) or more distant initiatives (Global Health Delivery Project-based discussion rounds). This could be partly due to the fact that publicly funded networking activities provide less freedom-to-operate because of pre-defined milestones. In addition, further development of actors with respect to role playing (e.g. boundary spanning or innovation selling) is often not included in such “innovation packages”, but can help to maneuver change. Internal barriers need to be addressed first before targeting the major remaining external hurdle: Reimbursement. Although the latter was covered within MD, standardization of technology evaluation is still an unmet need which strongly influences the willingness-to-implement novel mobile diagnostics. Thus, the value added is to be demonstrated to justify adequate reimbursement. Achieving this goal can be successful, when innovation networking finds its path towards a common vision, e.g. towards value-based integrated healthcare. Pathfinding and visioning can be facilitated by process promoter with excellent network management capabilities. In addition, such a promoter could help to further develop engagement, openness and commitment of collaborators. Therefore, transfer of MD activities to established “top” networks or clusters is recommended for securing valuable knowledge generated. In this environment, an important next step – globalization of MD for ensuring future return on investment – could be triggered as well.
Since MD innovation was found to involve both product and service innovation, maneuvering change is particularly challenging for small and medium sized enterprises. These could benefit from engagement in innovation networking. Findings of this case study can help all direct and indirect actors in the field of MD innovation or in other high complex environments to reconsider pathfinding as well as role playing in networking.
Reconstruction of conductivity change in lung lobes utilizing electrical impedance tomography
(2017)
In this paper, different factors influencing the perceived data security (PDS) of online shoppers are analyzed. For this purpose, the authors first conduct a literature review and later analyze the results of an empirical study, by applying a regression analyses. Based on the findings of this research, the paper identified the frequency of gathering information on the topic of data security and the experience of being hacked as factors with a significant negative impact on PDS. In addition, a well perceived benefit and, in special cases, an e-Commerce business’ brand can positively influence PDS of customers. In conclusion, the paper delivers insights into the perceptions of data security and delivers some suggestions on how a company could improve the PDS of their customers.
Due to the increased complexity in advertising and branding, a shift towards a greater use of emotional branding can be observed. In this context music, especially sogos and jingles, are one of the main elements, which seem to allow organizations to reinforce the transmitted brand image towards the consumers. However, so far no guidelines have been developed, which musical components should be included in the jingle to transmit certain emotions and brand images. The following study examines the fit between 11 brand jingles and the corresponding television commercials and analyses how well the jingles represent the actual and targeted brand image. With the help of a quantitative online survey with 170 participants it could be shown that jingles are indeed powerful tools to transmit certain emotions and the connected brand images. Furthermore, several guidelines for the creation of jingles could be developed in order to create and implement these short and catchy tunes as an extension of the visual advertisement.
The topic of simplicity has drastically increased in branding in recent years, as it allows companies to conquer a competitive world dominated by growth and complexity. There are studies explaining the benefits and power of simplicity in business in general. Nevertheless, simplicity is a field that has not been explored extensively for single industries.
The bachelor thesis attempts to investigate the critical importance and power of simplicity in the customer journey of the car rental business and to provide an overview of possible improvements for the customer experience on the example of car rental company Hertz. Secondary data adopted from academic books, academic journals, study reports and press articles are used to develop a comprehensive analysis and a theoretical framework on the topic of customer experience, customer loyalty in connection with simplicity. The car rental company Hertz and its customer journey are being investigated through the lens of simplicity. Qualitative and quantitative research is adapted to cover insufficient information on Hertz and to uncover the pain points in Hertz’s customer journey. An expert interview with a Hertz executive is conducted to gather first-hand insights on Hertz's viewpoint of simplification and to what extent the company aims to use simplicity as a tool for its customer journey. A succeeding customer survey is executed to gain a better understanding of Hertz customers' perceptions and towards Hertz and to collect a broader picture of Hertz's customer journey. The conclusion drawn is used to derive possible simplification enhancements for Hertz in order to achieve various desired business results. A critical assessment for future research on the topic and limiting conditions are discussed in the conclusion.
Nowadays Islamic banking is relatively unknown in the Western world, but Islam has around 1,57 billion believers worldwide and is the second largest religion in the world. The number of Muslims is constantly increasing over the years. Not only for Muslims, but also for all other people this system provides a new and different way of banking.
It is not a mystery that us humans want what is not necessarily good for us. The fundamental desire, want and even need for foods high in fat, salt and sugar is embedded deep within us. It is part of our evolutionary biology, that we crave these unhealthy substances, due to their original scarcity, and our physical need for them in order to survive.
For the last hundred years an increasing number of women pushed into male dominated employment but today women still claim to face gender specific inequalities on many levels (Torre 2014). This shift to recruit more nontraditional work force once was generated by a mismatch of labor market demand and labor market supply as well as the economic pressure to be cost efficient. Nowadays it can be observed that employers are more sensitive to society valuation but still they are not able to prevent inequalities caused by sex distinction (Reskin 1993).
Digitalization is invading every aspect of our lives and modern technologies are at the helm of much disruptive change in all spheres of life. Hailed as the 4th industrial revolution every company has a mind to understand the implications of the Industry 4.0 suit of technologies and their multiple innovative applications for its operations. In this paper, we explore how the industry 4.0 transformation might affect Small and Medium sized
enterprises in Germany over a 15-year horizon. We focus on SMEs because they play a significant role in ensuring the prosperity of Germany as a global industrial and economic
powerhouse. We develop alternative pictures of the possible futures using the foresight technique of Scenario planning in which the factors that shape the business environment
SMEs and indeed all companies operate in are identified and used to build the most plausible alternative realities. The outcome is four distinct scenarios that reflect the possible growth trajectories regarding the impending transformation for SMEs.
Rising globalization and digitization resulted in crises for the fashion industry. High competition and the interconnectedness of the consumers rule the market and put it under pressure. Owing to the growing power consumers possess, the requirements towards the fashion players are increasing. Customer experience is frequently discussed these days by academics as well as practitioners and emphasized as a competitive advantage. Yet, it is difficult to measure and to track its consequences.
Since customer experience is elusive and no industry specific measurement scale is defined, at first this work aims to identify relevant touch points of customer experience in the fashion industry by dint of a focused interview. The further objective of this paper is to enhance the comprehension of the touch points’ effects or rather the relationship of customer experience with brand loyalty. This is approached by a questionnaire based on the preceding qualitative analysis and the resulting model. This model defines the customer experience touch points as the independent variables while brand loyalty is examined as the dependent variable. The conducted linear regression analysis reveals a moderate effect of customer experience on brand loyalty and the touch points concerning the products as most relevant in this relationship. Additionally, the digitization aspect is addressed by the examination of the relationship in the offline and online channels separately. With respect to this, the present study recognizes that the extent of the customer experience’s impact on brand loyalty and the significant touch points vary across channels to a certain degree.
Since ever humans strive for recognition and success. That could be put down to the fact that centuries in the past the rule of the survival of the fittest was valid. According to Darwinians the fittest person is therefore more successful in surviving than the other ones. This rule is still in the head of humans. For instance, the competition between women regarding beauty can be seen as its legacy. It is almost a certainty that more beautiful women are more successful than not that beautiful ones. Humans do always try to be better than others to gain prestige and recognition.
Also the American psychologist Abraham Maslow illustrated this in the “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs”. It says that humans have different kind of needs like basic needs, psychological needs and self-fulfillment needs. Within the psychological needs Maslow defined the Self-Esteem needs which include the need for prestige and the feeling of accomplishment. Driven by those needs, humans compare with each other.
Climate change is one of the most challenging topics to the world and has been subject to international negotiations for more than 25 years, one of the main players being the USA.
Game theory, on the other hand, is a popular tool from economics, frequently used to analyze strategic situations such as international negotiations. Together, the insights from these topics can help understand why the USA’s president Donald Trump has announced to quit the Paris Agreement and which consequences this might have for the US, other countries and for the future of international climate change negotiations. In order to assess the different implications, this thesis gives some theoretical background and presents game theoretic findings on climate change negotiations. It will be found that, from a game theoretic point of view, different reasons might have caused the USA to take this decision and that there is a chance that a withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement could have some effect on the future of climate protection. However, a precise assessment would require further research on the topic.
Free trade agreements are a constantly discussed issue within economies and between relations within the whole world. Every economy is currently dealing with a lot of free trade agreements influencing their economic situation. All over the world, there are currently over 225 free trade agreements in circulation
Football is unambiguously the national sport in Germany. No other sport attracts more people and has the power to connect more people of different ages, nationality or status. In football everyone is equal at least for 90 minutes. Having one favourite football club means having an emotional connection to it with celebrating the wins and suffering when the team loses. The German Bundesliga in particular is a magnet for fans coming into the stadium.
Creating Interactive Experiences together with People with Dementia – an Inclusive Design Story
(2017)
Beginning in the mid 2007’s the US financial market started to slide into the “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the early 1930’s” (Thakor, 2015: p.156). The domino effect of several events and occasions were leading first to a countrywide recession in the USA then later spreading globally. In the following this term paper will deal with the main causes and effects of 2008 financial crisis. Unlike other topics in literature there is no consensus about the question of guilt in this sense. Among economists there are different approaches to explain the main causes of the financial crisis.
The goal of this thesis is to give an overview of the carbon footprint of the commercial aviation industry and to introduce measures to mitigate emissions. This will be done by taking the German Lufthansa Group as an example.
In the first part, relevant theoretical background information will be given. It will be shown that the commercial aviation industry is subject to steady and relatively strong growth. Even though the global share of GHG emissions caused by air traffic is currently relatively low, it is projected to increase in accordance with overall industry growth.
In the second part, measures taken by the aviation industry to reduce its emissions are presented using the example of Lufthansa. The measures that are taken are various, reaching from fleet renewal over infrastructural improvements such as airspace management to alternative fuels. It is also shown that the efficiency of an airline depends on different things and hence leads to different performances in the industry.
Even though the reduction of emissions is typically related with a reduction of costs for the aviation industry, the progress in some areas is still relatively slow.