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In the contemporary business landscape characterized by global economic uncertainty and rapid technological advancements, companies face increasing complexity in meeting their innovation targets. To address this challenge, established firms are engaging in collaborative partnerships with external entities, particularly startups, to leverage their knowledge and capabilities to gain a competitive advantage. Despite the growing popularity of corporate-startup collaboration (CSC), there remains a noticeable gap in the literature regarding the analysis of the dynamics and key success factors that are relevant to enhancing the collaborative process between these asymmetric entities. This study aims to fill this research space by investigating the dynamics, motives, objectives, and challenges of CSC, with a specific focus on identifying the success factors crucial for achieving favorable outcomes. Drawing upon insights from eight expert managers using a mixed-method approach, the study highlights the significance of addressing internal barriers and prioritizing key success factors to ensure successful outcomes in CSC. The research methodology involves a literature review, a pre-stage questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews to gather comprehensive data. The researchers have synthesized the findings to enhance an existing Co-Canvas model in a way that it is specifically tailored for CSC, thereby offering managers a practical framework to effectively navigate the complexities of CSC. The findings of this research hold implications for scholars, corporate leaders, and entrepreneurs, enabling them to evaluate past collaboration initiatives, identify potential sources of errors, and devise strategies to enhance their collaboration performance. By shedding light on the dynamics and success factors of CSC, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge and offers valuable insights for strategically enhancing collaboration performance. However, the study refrains from making broad generalizations of the model due to the small sample size of experts.
In the Job Satisfaction- Performance literature largely, job satisfaction is portrayed and
discussed positively as a performance driver for organizations that embark on the journey
of progress. This research asks whether job satisfaction inevitably leads to negative
implementation outcomes and how. This research focuses on factors other than job
satisfaction that can be used to drive better performance of employees and how
satisfaction could also lead to negative outcomes. In an attempt to answer this question,
the research undertakes three key tasks. First, it contextualizes how job satisfaction has
minor affects on performance. Second, it outlines the factors that can increase
performance. Third, it discusses crisply the adverse affects on job satisfaction through
empirical evidence to provide focus and 'evidential grounding' for the research.
Essentially, the research contends that for institutions that are unable to manage and lead
productivity from employees, this research serves a powerful purpose ensuring the multi-dimensional approach to view employee performance and modelled to take account of
the people on whom it may impact as well as the overall value it may deliver.
The covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted economies all over the world, posing as a difficulty for companies all across the globe. The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India were one of the most affected. These Enterprises make a substantial contribution to India's economic output.
Despite their significance, these enterprises had faced immense challenges during the pandemic, such as disrupted supply chains, financial needs, loss of customer interest, and administrative problems as well.
This paper, has the intention of studying the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic on the MSMEs of India and is focusing on the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexities, and Ambiguity (VUCA) challenged encountered by them, the strategies that these businesses put into place to keep the organizations afloat, is also studied.
This paper includes a study spanning various fields, exploring the adaptive mechanisms, and strategies incorporated by MSMEs to manage and navigate through the turbulent business environment, sustaining operations and managing risks.
Furthermore, the thesis throws some light on the role of digital transformation in MSME resilience during the crisis, noting its effectiveness and potential barriers. The study aims to give insights and suggestions to better prepare MSMEs versatility against future disruptions, while also looking at government aid or help during the pandemic.
At last, this thesis adds to the understanding of challenges faced by MSMEs during the Covid-19 pandemic, while trying to offer valuable insights for the future.
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.
After-sales services play a crucial role in companies’ profit. Their importance is expected to increase given the intensifying leveling of product competition and a shift toward a buyer’s market. Ticketing systems are increasingly integrated into these services because of their ability to bundle multiple support channels, enhance the support’s knowledge base, and cut costs.
This thesis aims to create a comparative overview of ticketing systems, which evaluates eight selected market alternatives and one tentative in-house solution according to their compliance with the requirements of the focus company. This comparison is made by exploring the literature concerning build-or-buy, software evaluation and selection, and analyzing several guided interviews.
The results seek to aid the company in deciding on a ticketing system that meets its requirements, as well as to act as a blueprint for other SMEs. The findings include two recommended alternatives in conjunction with further strategic and decision-making considerations. The study ends with an outlook for academia and businesses.
This research examines the impact of social media on consumer behavior, focusing on how consumer behavior and habits change after the use of social media by German and Chinese young consumers. A comparison of the differences between the two groups is also conducted. The study was conducted based on theoretical background and terminology, followed by six hypotheses. Then this research determined the scope, target population, and sample size before using focus groups and online questionnaires as survey methods. While analyzing the questionnaire data, the research tested the hypotheses and demonstrated the effects between the variables. The results indicated partial agreement with existing studies. Browsing time positively correlates with the purchase journey. The duration of online discounts negatively correlates with transaction speed. Young consumers' demand increases with the amount of time they spend browsing product advertisements. However, some findings ran counter to previous investigations. The impact of SMM on young consumers has no adverse effect on the time spent browsing products. Moreover, only in some cases, young consumers' purchase intentions are positively correlated with demand.
Keywords: Young consumers, Social media marketing, Consumer behavior, Purchase journey, Purchase intention, Online time-limited discounts, Demand
Through an extensive review of the literature, a research gap was identified concerning the knowledge around diversity and its impact on personality types and their influence on group performance. Previous literature revealed that diversity is a popular determinant for group composition, since it encompasses many different meanings and interpretations. Researchers would rather focus on easily measurable elements such as age or gender, but few studies have been conducted on deep-level diversity, such as personality traits or values. The aim of this study is to answer the research questions proposed concerning the effectiveness of homogeneous versus heterogeneous groups as well as the impact communication has on their performance. Through an analysis of previous studies and literature the research questions and hypotheses were formulated, and a methodology designed to answer them. The methodology used in this research was a variation of the Marshmallow Challenge. The groups were faced with two challenges. The first one was to build a 50cm-tall structure as quickly as possible, with a limited amount of material, including raw spaghetti, tape, rope and a marshmallow to test the stability of the structure. The second challenge was presented about one week later and involved the same materials, but the participants had to reach 70cm. Four teams of three were chosen. The personality tests had four possible outcomes: red, green, yellow, or blue. Each colour had specific characteristics and adjectives associated with it. The data collected revealed that the heterogeneous groups performed better overall. A slightly significant correlation was found between how well the teams performed and the words spoken per minute for the first experiment, but not for the second. The biggest limitation that hindered this study was the time pressure and limited sample size.
Nowadays, big sport events such as Olympic Games are not only an exciting carnival for sports enthusiasts, but also a good opportunity for the host country/city to accelerate its economic development. After more than 40 years of development, Computable General Equilibrium has been proved to be a very powerful tool to analyze the impact of big sports events on host country/city. In this paper, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be used as the target case to study the impact on the economy. A Supply model and a demand model will be established according to CGE theory to describe the case. This paper is not focused on the detail but the whole picture of Beijing’s economy by analyzing the industrial structure changes under the influences of hosting the Olympic. Beijing’s industrial structure development will also be analyzed in this paper.
The aim of this research is to investigate the unique factors that affect the
adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices in Greek
companies, with a specific focus on how they align with the overall business
strategy and performance. To achieve this objective, a "bottom-up" approach
is utilized, which involves conducting case studies to assess the status of
GSCM implementation in Greece. Additionally, the research seeks to identify
the key barriers that must be overcome for successful integration of GSCM in
Greek businesses.
A primary purpose of the study is to advance the field of Green Supply Chain
Management (GSCM) research by providing new and valuable insights on
the implementation of GSCM in a context that has received relatively minor
or even no attention in previous studies. The findings of this study have
practical implications for businesses operating in Greece and beyond, as
they offer recommendations, solutions and strategies for companies seeking
to implement GSCM practices. Eventually, this research aims to contribute to
the overall development and understanding of GSCM, as well as to promote
sustainable business practices in the region.
Keywords: Green supply chain management, Greece, business strategy,
implementation, barriers, case studies, bottom-up approach
The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Germany has been lately a constant research topic in many fields; politics, economics, cultural, social and safety aspects etc. popping up in all the news worldwide. Everybody is concerned about it and tackling it from a different point of view. Some believe that it a mutual benefit to both the country (Germany) and the refugees. As Germany benefits a lot form the cheap labor of migrant workers in the different industries. Specially the fast growing industries like the rural ones. Others fear that they will weaken the German culture and economy. And that they are burdens on the national people and will cause many problems.
In this paper two aspects of the challenges facing the Syrian refugees in Germany are discussed: the first is their integration and acculturation with the German society and the second is the challenges facing the refugees in entering the German labor market and case studies of Syrian entrepreneurs who developed their own family businesses in Germany are presented. The interviews were held with Syrian refugees in the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2015/2016 in Arabic language. The groups that were interviewed were in Villingen-Schwenningen and Stuttgart. An analysis of the cases presented along with the findings of the surveys and interviews are presented and finally some recommendations are suggested.
Non-R&D-intensive firms and industries play and continue to play an important role in the German manufacturing industry, as their 41% share of value added in 2007 indicates. Nonetheless, non-R&D-intensive SMEs especially need to ready themselves for a future shaped by a continuously increasing internationalization of competition, rising knowledge intensity and complexity and an impairing job market situation due to demographic changes. Non-R&D-intensive SMEs are therefore more than ever required to boost the effective and efficient exploitation of firm-specific resources and competences in order to generate, secure or enhance competitive advantages. As studies however show, existing strategic competence management concepts are currently implemented rather by large firms. In addition to small firm size, low R&D intensity effects staff setup, innovation behavior, generation and use of knowledge and competitive market behavior which further negatively influence a firm's possibilities and propensity to implement these strategic competence management concepts. In a first step into this field of study, this master thesis aims to identify and analyze specific characteristics facilitating or discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development processes in non-R&D-intensive SMEs in the form of requirements, drivers and barriers. A literature review addressing the particularities of non-R&D-intensive SMEs and the attributes of current strategic competence management concepts discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development builds the foundation for nine guided interviews of explorative nature involving four non-R&D-intensive SMEs conducted to acquire qualitative empirical data to complement the theoretical findings. A total of 22 specific characteristics, i.e. eleven requirements as well as six drivers and five barriers, facilitating or discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development in non-R&D-intensive SMEs were identified after forging the bridge between theoretical and empirical findings.
Before the eruption of the latest financial crisis in 2008, Social Responsible Investments were considered as not relevant within the financial market's spectrum, in fact, late 90`s academic literature argues that Social Responsible Investments worsen portfolio performance, seemingly a well established paradigm for almost thirty years. However, why the perception of financial markets about Social Responsible Investments is changing?
Given the controversy surrounding Social Responsible Investments, the current document has tested the performance of a selection of Social Responsible portfolios for the period (2007-2014). Results showed that performance is not diminished and Social Responsible portfolios do not perform significantly different from the benchmark market. Additionally, theory and results are replicated into an interactive business game that aims to discover Social Investment profiles for users and highlight the importance of Social Responsible Investment in financial markets making the current document a combination of financial theory with the design of practical game fully playable.
Common problems that urbanized areas have to face are an increase in accidents, air and noise pollution, traffic jams, lower road security and reduced available space. The increased amount of carbon emissions (CO2) is creating severe consequences that can be observed in climate change. Smart Mobility can help to put under control and lower the CO2 emissions derived from the transport sector. Thus, the paper investigates the benefits and challenges of Smart Mobility. Then, through a confrontation of two benchmark areas which are successfully adopting Smart Mobility techniques, and the utilization of SWOT and data analysis, it shows that Smart Mobility can effectively lower CO2 emissions from transport. Ultimately, the NEXT-Future Transportation project is proposed as an innovative solution that addresses most of the mobility challenges and incorporates the needs for future transportation.
This research aims to study transactional cost and organizational change management in a pharmaceutical company that had gone through the SSC implementation process through different regions, including Latin America. Eli Lilly SSC in Latin America is located in Mexico and was aimed to centralize standard routines and administrative transactions related to finance and accounting back office services for the entire region. In implementing changes of this magnitude, it is necessary to be prepared to encounter the transaction costs related to this strategic decision and for the internal resistance applied in organizational change process. In this sense, this research aims to study what are the main challenges and transaction costs involving a process of re-structuring the organization to the SSC business model, especially in Latin America. Taking as a base the change resistance elements mentioned by Burns and Scapens (2000) and transaction costs theory basis by Williamson (1981). The SSC, a relatively recent business model and a trend between multinational organizations, was implemented in Lilly across 4 different regions to support over 70 countries in all continents. Latin America the last region to be implemented had a proposed migration schedule within less than one year. The findings show that the main resistance to the existing process is related to lack of competence/information and attachment to control and existing routines. In addition, the transaction costs are closely related to the dimensions of asset specificity and uncertainty. We must consider that the lack of a formal change management strategy, within the LATAM region, was a risky move and had impacted the implementation process and stabilization period results. The chronogram had also to be changed due to unexpected details in the region. Latin America was more complex than expected due to the differences in regulations and culture between countries, also expressed a non-verbal resistance that was probably expressed through the lack of commitment of some personnel. The results of this research raise inputs to the next researchers and bring elements to be considered by organizations when implementing the SSC business model. It is useful to direct actions and strategies to control de change impact and possible transaction costs. Additionally, through the research we filled the purpose to build an overview on shared services model and discuss the main points that should be considered when taking into consideration to re-structure the business with this model, characterized as a centralization of services that are provided from one single point to multiple business units in order to avoid activities duplication, optimizing resources through the integration of technology, people and standardized processes (Deliotte, 2007).
This research is aimed at analyzing social media patterns of consumers in Russia and in Germany, and social media strategy of automakers. The purpose of the paper is to observe social media presence of three major car manufacturing companies and see what the social media preferences of consumers are during purchasing journey. Furthermore, the results include comparison between Russia and Germany as well as social media best practices of automakers. For this, data was collected from a random sample of people in Russia and in Germany through online questionnaire. After that an analysis of secondary data on social media presence of automakers was done. A total of 650 people participated in the online questionnaire. The data was analyzed for each country and compared with each other. The results revealed that there are a lot of similarities in social media usage. However, existing differences are very drastic and needed to be considered by companies when it comes to establishing a social media strategy in a specific country. Furthermore, selected car manufacturing companies have a relatively strong social media presence but are different among each other with some gaps that can be improved.
As waste generation increases, so are initiatives to recover products and recycling. A particular waste that has continuously grown is plastics. Since its introduction, it has provided practical implications to different industries; however, it has also negatively affected the environment by its disposal. The recycling of plastic has offered opportunities to conserve non-renewable fossil fuels, reduce energy consumption, and avoid waste. Many countries seek for a sustainable system to recover plastics such as PET bottles. Mexico’s high soft-drinks consumption had consequently increased the disposal of PET bottles. Mexico has developed a recycling industry of PET bottles by following a Shared Responsibility between government, industry and society. However, a lack of awareness and knowledge among the society about the importance to collect the bottles and to recycle them makes it imperative for the introduction of a system that could create a society that recycles more. Providing a description of the opportunities and challenges for a collection system in Mexico simplifies future chances of comprehending the direction and actions needed for increasing recycling activities in the country.
This research thesis examines affiliate review’s role in the relationship between direct-to-consumers (D2C) brands and consumers. Three D2C brands were selected as case companies for the multiple-case study. Seventy-five affiliate reviews were analysed, out of which fifteen were analysed in-depth. Additionally, a share of voice analysis was performed to establish the market share of each case company. The research has shown that affiliate reviews play a dual role as recommenders and sellers, which D2C brands use to achieve competitive advantage. However, the dual role is created at the expense of review quality, which is low.
The aim of this thesis is to identify and investigate the meaning of customers’ expectations in the IT-industry explained by the example of introducing a new product and to develop a strategy how expectations can be managed in the IT-industry.
The first part of the thesis deals with the reasons and the general framework for the research and defines objectives and scope of the thesis.
In the second part, results of the literature and theories about expectations are presented. These show what previous research has found out and give an overview about different types of expectations and corresponding effects. The flowing part constitutes the case study as research instrument and how it can be used to generate results. With the help of a case study of a specific example of the IT-industry the meaning of expectations regarding new products will be highlighted. Additionally, it gives_a basis to develop a strategy to manage expectations in the IT-industry.
Afterwards the results of the literature review and the case study are combined into a usable strategy to manage expectations of new products in the IT-industry. The thesis illustrates the necessary steps of the strategy and gives an assessment of the results.
In conclusion, the thesis argues that expectation management is an essential step of influencing innovation to optimize business and gives instruction to identify, manage and influence customer’s expectations. Besides, this thesis addresses industries which are faced with the challenge of expectation management and offers an initial research about expectation management in the IT-industry. Furthermore, this thesis intends to provide a basic research to show the importance of expectation management and inspire following research.
Highlighted as a promising field that targets cost related problems and high research costs, the concept of Lean Management is applied in the biotechnology sector. Specifically, the thesis aims to develop and test a Lean Management implementation model suitable for biotechnological research laboratories. Using multiple mixed methods, a deductive case study approach is taken to investigate requirements for an improvement model. The use of observations and interviews deliver findings which enable the comprehension of the implementation environment. The review of academic literature provided the basis to conceptualize, develop and test a new model, called Biotechnological Laboratory Implementation Model or BLIM. Overall, the results of the implementation can be described as successful since the BLIM meets all requirements fully or with minor restrictions. Effects of the Lean Management implementation are positive and promise to deal with the mentioned cost related problems and high research costs. The findings of this thesis challenge preexisting views on the argument that the success of Lean Management models is subject to the individual characteristics of the organization. As the newly developed BLIM is separated into structured and agile implementation phases, this joint characteristic represents a contribution to research in the field of Lean Management implementations as such and proposes further areas to be researched on.
Due to the great cultural distance between Germany and Thailand, German leaders who work in Thailand may encounter several intercultural concerns. In order to effectively lead Thai employees, these leaders may need to behave differently from what they used to do in their home country in some aspects. Thus, this study examines the changing perception of leadership due to the effect of Thai culture form German managers who are working in German organizations in Thailand.
GLOBE project and its culturally endorsed leadership theory were the key literature explored in this study. To attain the outcomes, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. Twenty-three questionnaires were collected from German expatriate managers in German organizations in Thailand. While two in-depth interview were acquired from Thai employees who worked closely with German superiors.
The results confirm German managers greatly value inspirational and trustworthy attributes as well as avoid being tyrannical, tender and provocateur in order to work in German-Thai boundary. The leadership styles such as Charismatic/Value-Based or Transformational and Team-Oriented leadership also suit German leaders to work in Thai culture.