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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.
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.
This thesis has the purpose to investigate the oil price as the global economic factor but also to examine its implications on the worldwide economy. Thereby the determinants of the oil price are investigated by tackling the oil price itself from three different perspectives – the supply and demand framework, the prevailing world oil market structure as well as from the perspective of already statistically proven oil price determinants. In addition, the arising macroeconomic implications of oil price fluctuations on oil-importing and oil-exporting countries are examined. The investigation based on a thought experiment demonstrates the supply and demand framework to be unable to fully explain all past price changes. The examination on the prevailing market structure identifies the world oil market to be best described as a supply, pure, closed, partial and collusive form of an oligopoly. Analyzing the competitive behavior of the world oil market on three levels identifies non-OPEC producers’ competition to behave in a Cournot manner whereas among OPEC producers Saudi Arabia is identified to be a Stackelberg-follower with certain conditions while at the same time permanently bearing the ambition to become the Stackelberg-leader. The identification on the best describing oligopoly model for the overall industry is inconclusive. Investigating OPEC’s cartel hypothesis does not fully exclude its collusive behavior but denies the OPEC to be described as a prime example of a cartel. The examination of already existing econometric analyses identified a total of 13 determinants to play a key role in the oil price definition process. Investigating the arising macroeconomic implications of oil price fluctuations show oil price changes to be of great importance for the overall economic performance and is best described as a form of a positive of negative vicious circle in which the interconnected second or even third round effects intensify the implications on the macroeconomic activity.
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.
Subject of the thesis at hand is the analysis of symmetric block ciphers with a block length of 32 bit. It is meant to give a comprising overview over the topic of 32 bit block ciphers. The topic is divided in the examination of three questions. It contains a list of state of the art block ciphers with a block length of 32 bit. The block ciphers are being described, focussing on the encryption function. An SPN-based cipher with 32 bit block length is being proposed by rescaling the AES cipher.
The 32 bit block length results in certain security issues. These so called risk factors are analysed and mitigating measures are proposed. The result of the thesis is, that 32 bit block ciphers can be implemented in a secure manner. The use of 32 bit ciphers should be limited to specific use-cases and with a profound risk analysis, to determine the protection class of the data to be encrypted.
Corporate debt volumes in emerging market economies have been increasing greatly post 2007-2008 financial crisis. Debt levels have increased across the globe however, the pace is faster in emerging markets than in advance markets. Major countries in emerging economies such as Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China (BRIC) have a large and concentrated share in growing corporate debts. Although, both company specific factors and macro level factors have impacted the corporate borrowings leading to depressed corporate earnings, financial strains and capital outflows in emerging markets the impact of company specific factors is highly pertinent and demands research. The rise in debt levels has affected the return on earnings (ROEs) of the corporate companies which in turn is adversely impacting emerging economy and its financial stability. This paper has empirically tested for the explaining effects of rising corporate debts and changing return on assets (ROAs) on ROEs of emerging market corporate by establishing a multiple regression model. A sample of 100 corporate companies from BRIC countries has been taken to test the model. The test results confirm the importance of corporate debts in predicting ROEs and possible financial strains. Finally, the regression model has been used to estimate ROEs of these corporate companies for the next 5 years with specific recommendation and policy implication to avoid financial crisis.
The aim of this study consists oftwo main objectives: First,to investigatethe penetration and preferences of fintech solutions from the payments sector within the studied population, as well as the elaboration of a forecast for the upcoming years.Second, to examinethe main elements that influence the intention of young customers when deciding to adopt fintech-basedpayment solutions. Existing research has tested several factorsfrom which the variables of trust, transaction efficiency and ease of use are included onthis paper. Additionally,the value-added propositionfrom this studyis represented by the incorporation of sustainability-related purposes into thisanalysiswith the intention of reflecting the increasing presence of efforts to integrate this component within thefinancial industryin recent years.A research model is proposed and tested by including elements based on theTechnology Adoption Model (TAM). By exploring the results of primary data through asurvey with 463 responses from university studentsandexamining secondary sourcesof information, the findings of this study demonstratethat all four tested variables have a positive impact on the intention of using fintech-based payment solutions.Sustainability-related purposes do not play a major role in the decision of using these apps, however, even with a minimal influence, theeffect on intention is positiveand statistically significant. The findings of this study pose important implications for stakeholders within the fintech spectrum whose purposes are related to increasing the intention of young consumers towards using these productsandto provide enoughevidence of the importance of designing incentives that fuel sustainability stewardshipwithin the financial sector.
Population growth, urbanization and climate change are regarded as the megatrends of today's society. This goes hand in hand with a high consumption of resources and pollution. Indeed, these megatrends are mutually reinforcing. A significant part of this is due to mobility in daily life. Technological change such as digitalization, creates innovative concepts to improve mobility and to deal with these changing circumstances. A comprehensive concept in this respect is mobility as a service. This thesis focuses on the identification of the mobility ecosystem and thus on the various stakeholders. First of all, it deals with the definition of mobility as a service in order to identify the ecosystem in particular in the second step. Mobility is classified and analyzed by working on the basis of secondary literature and a quantitative as well as qualitative methodology in expert interviews. This allows conclusions about the relationships, prerequisites and obstacles within the ecosystem and stakeholders.
The results of the thesis suggest that collaboration within the ecosystem is a prerequisite for the implementation of mobility as a service. Furthermore, that mobility as a service should ensure adaptability, since local infrastructures differ between Germany, USA and China, but also within these countries. This adaption process is iterative. The obstacles are interoperability and the willingness to cooperate. Moreover, the results imply that mobility as a service will assert itself more quickly in urban areas due to factors such as the pressure to act and the availability of mobility services as well as the number of customers.
The current master thesis makes an effort to investigate relationships between perceived service quality, membership satisfaction, and membership loyalty at “Gesellschaft für technische Kommunikation – tekom Deutschland e.V.”, applying adjusted SERVQUAL model. To attain the formulated objectives in scope of the current research, the “Satisfaction – Profit Chain” model is applied, consisting of “Attribute Performance”, represented by SERVQUAL service quality dimensions supposed to serve as antecedent of the second component of the chain “Membership Satisfaction”, and “Membership Loyalty” in order to investigate relations between these three. The findings of the study are supposed to serve as a basis for altering the existing CRM Strategy in order to eliminate current issues within the association, develop strategic marketing capabilities, and create value for members’ attraction and retention.
Digital Transformation is gradually changing the ways of operating the business. With the advancements and innovations in technology and changing customer preferences, it is essential to adapt to these changes. Digital transformation has the capability to impact nearly every line of business but one of the most significant impact is on Customer Experience. Embracing new technology and processes provides opportunity to create better experience for customers by focussing on automation, self-service, value, quality, customer expectations etc. Advanced systems or solutions that fulfil these requirements can be incorporated in the technology and process landscape of an organization who is supporting customers. This thesis aims at conceptually integrating the Customer Service and Retail Store Support processes at HUGO BOSS into the new Enterprise Service Management (ESM) tool which will in turn drive the digital transformation at HUGO BOSS. Moreover, the purpose of the study is to provide a recommendation if the new ESM tool can replace the existing Retail & Customer Care ticketing tool, thus enabling the Retail & Customer Care team and their respective processes to be fully onboarded and implemented in future into the new tool. This thesis is a qualitative research. At first, qualitative data about the existing ticketing tools used to provide customer service and retail store support is gathered through secondary data collection methods. Secondly, in-depth semi structured interviews with nine respondents from Retail & Customer Care team and IT Support teams were conducted to collect their feedback and analyse the benefits and drawbacks of these tools. Next, the thesis introduces the new ESM tool followed by its evaluation using Fit-Gap Analysis method. Further, the thesis includes the concept of ideal customer service and retail store support processes to be supported by the new tool using process flowcharts. In conclusion, the results of the thesis are presented based on which a future recommendation is provided.
The object of the present master thesis is to understand the environment of the sales channel of Global Projects, its opportunities and challenges for Hansgrohe SE in order to clearly formulate a practicable, medium-term strategy for the period of 2020-2023 for the referred sales channel. A mixed method approach was used in this thesis, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Raw data such as the channel’s net sales during 2016-2019 were observed from the internal sales system in order to understand the relevance in the past of the different business segments within the sales channel of Global Projects. Also, different external sources such as databases and reports from different consulting firms and international institutions were analyzed in order to determine the sales potential of the different business segments for the period of 2020-2023. A PEST analysis was conducted in order to identify the changes and effects of the external macroenvironment on the company’s strategic position. And finally, a competitor analysis was also conducted in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s main competitors and the areas where the company should aim to improve. All previous research and analysis was complemented with expert interviews that were conducted with experts from ten different subsidiaries of the company who are in charge or involved in the sales channel of Global Projects in their respective regions, who helped defining the sales potential of the existing business segments and relevance of new segments that should be considered in order to develop the channel’s strategy. The result of the study suggested that the residential segment will represent the biggest sales potential for the channel followed by the hospitality segment. While there are other segments such as marine, retirement homes and bathroom pods & modular buildings which are expected to gain relevance in the future in some specific regions. As result of all research and analysis conducted throughout this thesis, the strategy and plan for the sales channel of Global Projects for the period of 2020-2023 was designed in line with the company’s strategic position.
All the companies need to plan and budget for future. For planning they need sale forecasting so that accordingly they can manage their supply chain efficiently. Companies do have historical data which can be used for forecasting sale. However, the accuracy of the predictive model depends on the quality of data which is being fed to the model. Poor data quality may result in poor forecasting. Hence, there is need to work on data quality management and to formulate some generic approach for ensuring data quality. Besides, it is also required to detect abnormal sale from the past data, get the reason for those abnormal sale records and remove them from the data. Subsequently, cleaned data can be used to work on predictive modelling which will forecast sales with the most likelihood of near to accurate results. These historical data can be analyzed as a time series data by using as simple time series analysis as ARIMA or by using complicated neural network. Evaluation of these predictive models will help in making a decision of selecting a best fitted model for future forecasting. The thesis aims to work on data quality management of raw data and then analyze time series data to determine predictive model for forecasting. Besides, thesis also aims to understand how data is collected and how organization performs sales processes. This would not only facilitate in finding and bridging the gaps in the business processes but also in preparing the organization for the state-of-the-art technologies to enhance their business for future.
Life insurance penetration rate in Malaysia has been stagnant in the past few years although a few InsurTech companies set up in Malaysia recently. Prior researches on InsurTech fail to clarify the gap of the target customers’ and the insurance experts’ opinions on how to enhance the customer experience in online life insurance with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). To address this, a model is recommended based on the literature review on similar articles and survey results conducted on both target customers and insurance experts. The recommended model has four main components: official website by InsurTech companies collaborated with traditional life insurers, customer support, customer service and customer engagement.
Prostate segmentation is an essential part of brachytherapy treatment planning, in order to perform the procedure with required accuracy. Nowadays, segmentation of the prostate is still carried out manually during the planning steps, therefore it is a process that can be tedious, time-consuming and prone to inter-observer error. Much effort has been made in development of an computer-based algorithm that can perform prostate segmentation automatically, but only with appearance of deep learning methods, more promising algorithms emerged. So far, convolutional neural networks demonstrated excellent results in fully automatic prostate segmentation. Development of such an algorithm and training an efficient deep learning model is a challenging task, and requires a lot of optimizations. The objective of this study is development and evaluation of an algorithm for image processing based on deep learning methods that can perform fully automatic segmentation of the prostate gland in transrectal ultrasound images. Additionally, we made an overview of the development process, along with challenges and their solutions and demonstrated an algorithm implemented using Python and Tensorflow library, consisted of preprocessing, augmentation, training and validation, postprocessing and validation steps, which is able to successfully carry out fully automatic prostate segmentation with expert level of accuracy. Finally, we presented our implementation of fully convolutional neural network model and results that are encouraging to continue with model improvements and potential clinical application.
Entrepreneurship research faces a crossroads and a new approach is needed to better understand entrepreneurial behavior. Incorporating neuroscience to comprehend the entrepreneurial mindset seems promising. Nevertheless, the potential of neuroscience for entrepreneurship research is only slowly being realized. Based on an extensive literature review, this thesis examines the emerging role of neuroscience with respect to entrepreneurship. Referring to the model of the entrepreneurial process, this thesis investigates how entrepreneurs discover, exploit, and finally capture opportunities. In this context, explanations regarding trait, expertise, adaptation, and mindset of the entrepreneur are relevant for further examination. Moreover, decision-making in uncertain situations is analyzed. In this context, the dynamic interplay between the reflective and reflexive system is considered. Ultimately, this thesis provides recommendations for organizational innovation to enhance entrepreneurial
activity.
Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing amount of academic literature recognizing the significance of innovation systems. Entrepreneurship is an important component of an innovation system, contributing to the enhancement of regional as well as national innovation. The transfer of knowledge and technology between science and the economy has become particularly important to reinforce overall innovation performance. Today, universities and other institutions of higher education play a crucial role in the system of innovation and have evolved as active and highly relevant participants in the innovation system. Therefore, various supportive measures have been developed to increase the level of innovation at universities and to drive entrepreneurial activities. However, due to the ever-growing entrepreneurial support environment and the great variety of support programs,the distinction between support measures has become unclear. Consequently, the main objective of the present research work is to contribute to the overall understanding of supportive measures at German universities and other institutions of higher education.
Eight experts were interviewed to ensure the compilation of meaningful data. The research findings highlight the importance of a solid network of external experts as well as collaboration with other entrepreneurial institutions. Moreover, the research results indicated that an organizational structure with decentralized decision-making processes and a greater scope of actions enhances operational efficiency. While considering the indistinctness of different support programs and specific terms, although some significant differences were evaluated, overall, the results present a clear tendency toward a more cautious use of specialist terms, therefore substantiating the missing preciseness.
Financial technology, popularly known as Fintech, has disrupted and revolutionized the financial service sector. Today, institutions such as banks are adapting digital transformation with the help of technological devices. There is no doubt that Fintech has transformed the way we bank. Nevertheless, there has been a growing need of understanding the future of financial institution with a holistic approach. Regulatory and governmental support towards maximizing opportunity, minimizing risk, and integrating financial inclusion is needed to accelerate the economy and attain sustainable development.
The following thesis aims to study financial inclusion and how to achieve it in the Fintech industry. It comprises of four areas of influence; market, social, technology and regulatory while emphasizing on the economic development, social progress, uplifting digital finance and robust regulatory system in the globalized financial market. The research aims to close the gap among the regulatory, economic, technological and social aspects of Fintech and then develop a pathway to attain financial inclusion. In addition, the objective of the research is to provide a comprehensive strategic plan towards a prespecified future in finance. This was achieved with the help of normative scenario planning. The result was calculated using scenario planning software INKA 4. The result consisted of four distinct scenarios supporting the pathway to implement financial inclusion in Fintech sector by the year 2030.
Zombie companies are widely discussed ever since the ‘lost decade’ in Japan. The prolonged recession was experienced for almost two decades and in great deal attributed to the zombie companies. The Eurozone is currently in recession and is experiencing a growing incidence of zombie companies. If this trend is not stopped but encouraged by the negative interest rates, there is a possibility for a prolonged recession or even secular stagnation. This study aims to examine the reasons for the emergence and existence of zombie companies in the past. It discusses the implications zombie companies had on the aggregate macroeconomic indicators. In discusses how zombie companies should be treated and whether they must inevitably be foreclosed. To determine the severity of the problem, it examines the incidence of zombie companies in selected industries in the Euro periphery countries based on their interest coverage ratio (ICR). The results show that there is no significant incidence in the selected markets. It concludes whether currently, the zombie companies are a real threat to the economy of the Eurozone. Furthermore, it suggests ways how the problem of zombie companies should be prevented and treated.
In the past decade the world saw an unprecedented economic boom followed by a similar bust. Most economies are still recovering and some experiencing sluggish growth. Various reasons have surfaced as to the cause of this economic boom. However, this paper explores the build-up of excessive debt as a result of financial development in spurring up the economy. This paper identified that the financial deepening coupled with other macro-economic factors have expanded credit in the economy. All sectors accumulated high levels of debt. As part of this study, an analysis of household debt was carried out, using a dataset of 30 European countries in order to ascertain determinants of debt. The results showed that household debt has a statistically significant positive correlation with Gross Domestic Production per capita and Life Expectancy at Birth. Additionally, Gross Savings and Gross Domestic Savings also had a positive correlation. This paper concludes by submitting that financial development should be reset to what it was best at doing in the first place, that is intermediation of finance so that efficiency of investment can be improved. Hence economic development.
The German banking landscape is currently undergoing a paradigm shift of an unprecedented magnitude. As the financial world is changing, the future of German banks is highly uncertain. A multitude of present-day driving factors will shape the banking world of tomorrow. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate and analyze the future of the German banking sector until 2030. The concept of scenario planning serves as underlying method for this research. Based on current factors influencing the German banking sector, the present thesis systematically develops coherent future scenarios. The generation of these scenarios is performed with the help of the scenario software INKA 4. This enables to assess a comprehensive picture of the future environment and the interactions between external influencing factors. Based on the most consistent future scenario, implications for the strategies of German banks are derived. As a result, German incumbents can question their strategic orientation and position themselves optimally for the future.