Refine
Year of publication
- 2016 (46) (remove)
Document type
- Bachelor Thesis (46)
Has full text
- No (46)
Is part of the Bibliography
- No (46)
Keywords
- Marketing (2)
- Apprenticeship Program (1)
- Automated Advisory Services (1)
- Automotive Aftermarket (1)
- Baby-boomer generation (1)
- Black-Litterman Model (1)
- Category Management (1)
- Co-Innovation (1)
- Co-creation (1)
- Collaborative Information Behavior (1)
- Competitive advantage (1)
- Computing Market (1)
- Cross Selling (1)
- Cross Selling Coordinators (1)
- Crowdfunder (1)
- Crowdfunding (1)
- Crowdsourcing (1)
- Digitalisation (1)
- E-Learning (1)
- E-collaboration (1)
- Economy (1)
- Finance (1)
- Gaming (1)
- German autos (1)
- Global climate change (1)
- Human Resource Management (1)
- Human Resources (1)
- Human Resources Management (1)
- Indiegogo (1)
- Influencing Programs (1)
- Kickstarter (1)
- Market Analysis (1)
- Market Research (1)
- Market Segmentation (1)
- Mobile work (1)
- Neuromarketing (1)
- New Product Development (NPD) (1)
- Open Innovation (1)
- PEST Analysis (1)
- Point of Sale (1)
- Portfolio Theory (1)
- Premium car segment (1)
- Retail Industry (1)
- Risk analysis (1)
- Robo-Advisor (1)
- SWOT Analysis (1)
- Sales Concepts (1)
- Shopper Marketing (1)
- Small-business marketing (1)
- Social media (1)
- Start-up (1)
- Strategic responses, (1)
- Survey (1)
- Sustainability (1)
- Technology Acceptance (1)
- Thailand (1)
- UTAUT2 (1)
- Workshops (1)
- algorithm-based portfolio construction (1)
- business models, marketing, communication, pricing (1)
- business process management (1)
- communication strategies (1)
- crowdfunding (1)
- economic shocks (1)
- evolution of music distribution (1)
- face-to-face interaction (1)
- global economics (1)
- industrial symbiosis (1)
- innovation (1)
- key performance indicator (1)
- lean management (1)
- merchant (1)
- mobile payments (1)
- music streaming (1)
- organizational change management (1)
- performance management (1)
- qualitative data evaluation (1)
- reputation (1)
- retail industry (1)
- stakeholder analysis (1)
- successful implementation (1)
- technology (1)
- technology adoption (1)
- the Great Depression (1)
- war (1)
- waste management (1)
- work-life (1)
Course of studies
- IBM - International Business Management (46) (remove)
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to research a way to implement mobile work successfully into the department of IDS Sales Service at Roche Diabetes Care Germany GmbH. To achieve this objective, a literature review was done that identifies the most expected threats and determines strategies to overcome them. In the practical part, the tasks in the department in question are categorized and it is analyzed which threats are most significant in this case. Further, using the outcomes of a department survey and pilot days, policies are formulated to reduce these probable threats and to define the terms and conditions of the arrangement. Due to the findings in this thesis, mobile work was successfully implemented into the department of IDS Sales Service.
Digitalisation has great impact on employee-employer relationships. With Web 2.0 modern features like flexibility and mobility influence the organisational structure. Crowdsourcing is a new form of remote employment which will be analysed in this work. This system consists of several anonymous freelancers taking part in task collaboration via the internet. It is a process of connecting with a large group of unknown people in order to find solutions for a certain problem. This phenomenon describes several possibilities and challenges for Human Resources Management.
Based on the main literature two hypotheses were stated: The first one assumed that this certain success is dependent on participation and the second hypothesis proposes the dependence of the digital community itself. This bachelor thesis tries to investigate the influential factors contributing to a successful crowdsourcing initiative in the context of HR. The essence of this lies in motivational aspects therefore first crucial features were determined that lead to and result from motivation. Next, desirable characteristics of the crowd itself were identified such as diversity and autonomy. This all was concluded with the assumption that HR’s responsibility is developing novel possible practices in order to cope with the new challenges crowdsourcing presents. How those mentioned processes and suggestions might be put into practice maintains a suspect matter which requires more investigation in the future.
A shortage of skilled workers is a problem which many organizations face when expanding their plants abroad. In Germany, for many organizations it is comparatively easy to prevent this problem by constantly training their own employees in the apprenticeship system but in their plants abroad this option is commonly not available. The only way to achieve the same option abroad is to implement the apprenticeship program in the plants independently. That bears many challenges but also many opportunities. This thesis focuses on the implementation of the apprenticeship in Mexico and seeks to examine the main challenges which arise before, during and after the implementation. After the examination of these and explaining their root cause, various solution approaches are analyzed and recommended based on the case of IMS Gear SE & Co. KGaA.
Due to OMEN by HP's status as a fairly new gaming brand, this paper focuses on evaluating the company's definition of their target segments, as well as actions regarding current trends. In addition, it aims at identifying further opportunities in the German gaming market concerning untargeted segments and emerging trends.
Research relies on books and scientific publications, as well as websites, newspaper articles and forum discussions. HP's target segments are examined using behavioural and profile based segmentation variables; the results of this re-segmentation are summarized graphically. An analysis of major trends includes a SWOT analysis for each trend in order to identify the course of their development.
Research has shown that families and silver gamers will become increasingly important in the future. Additionally, further studies should be conducted concerning HP's target segments and mobile gaming. HP performs quite strong in terms of identifying the overall needs of its target segments, as well as regarding technological trends. The company should, however, increase its efforts concerning trends that go beyond technology, such as eSports.
A good piece of research should be simple to understand, inspiring and encourage further researchers to keep developing the topic in focus. An unexplored field such as the motivational drivers and traits of social entrepreneurs involved in the arising opportunities from the refugee crisis in Germany is a research piece that has never been done before. Breaches and insufficient information in this topic was meant to be coped with qualitative research methods. In-depth interviews allow gaining first-hand insights into what factors drive a social entrepreneur to create, develop and sustain a venture directly involved in the refugee crisis sector. The tools used in this research were meant to understand a variety of social entrepreneur’s meanings and perspectives to generate a conceptual framework and a theoretical contribution. Due to the fact that no studies had been carried to enhance the understanding of what traits and characteristics do social entrepreneurs involved in the refugee crisis possess. This research found more than 15 traits and 20 motivational drivers that society’s heroes possess and conceive a new type of entrepreneur, the “Type S” entrepreneur. This study navigates through the differences and overlaps between for-profit’s and social entrepreneur’s motivations. Followed by an exploration of a social entrepreneur’s motivational drivers and traits using the refugee crisis in Germany as mean and lens. Concluding with a suggestion of a new breed of entrepreneurs.
E‐Collaboration and what it means for the modern business world is attracting more and more the attention of today’s leaders and professionals. Especially organizations whose products and services are interactively created and used by global teams consisting of customers and suppliers have every reason to understand E‐Collaboration for its many benefits and opportunities. This bachelor thesis investigates how E‐Collaboration can scale the information processing capacity of international sales organizations using the example of va‐Q‐tec Ltd ECollaboration tool requirements are defined taking the circumstances of va‐Q‐tec Ltd into consideration. The findings of the study show that an E‐Collaboration tool with resource management, workflow and dashboard tool features are most needed to scale va‐Q‐tec’s information processing capacity. Furthermore, this paper explores different aspects of ECollaboration including the basic components of collaboration, the incremental scaling of information processing capacity and the circumstances of today’s international sales organizations. Empirical findings reveal that scaling information processing capacity requires central storage and processor systems supported by information technology. Scaling information processing capacity by increasing the workforces is found to be inefficient. Selfservice interfaces allowing 24/7 information access and exchange are the new benchmark for sales organizations.
A Successful introduction of E-learning for Bosch Car Service and Auto Crew Workshops Worldwide.
(2016)
The purpose of this study is to determine how to introduce E-learning successfully for Bosch soft franchise workshops to maintain quality in services and a high level of customer satisfaction. The study focuses on two research question A) Should Bosch continue to invest in producing elearning course for workshops. B) How to increase workshop’s participation for e-learning. Regional Concept Managers from 14 countries evaluated the existing e-learning courses to define exclusively “E-learnings” pro and cons as per their marketplace to see if investing in elearning is beneficial. Secondly, the emphasis was placed on Regional Managers to brainstorm on what are the new strategies can be used to motivate the workshop to take part in e-learning. Broadly speaking, learning is an expensive and time-consuming activity that can be a disadvantage when it comes to teaching people. Bosch was one of the pioneer company after Daimler that uses e-learning platform to train their workshops- Bosch car Service and Auto Crew. The vision for e-learning was very innovative and useful for the workshops to teach the structured way of showing all the works that carried out in a workshop. However, low participation from the workshop in e-learning courses has been a challenge.
The first part of the thesis provides a theoretical understanding of the Automotive Aftermarket. It also gives detail introduction and usage of “E-learning” in 21st century. The second part explains the workshop concepts “Bosch Car Service” and “Auto Crew.” It also provides an overview of “how e-learning course is produced and used for workshops” and the final part consists of an “Empirical Research” that includes the findings from Expert Interview and survey with Regional Managers. The findings from empirical part reveal that E-learning courses are useful for the workshop. Therefore, Bosch should continue to invest in producing E-learning Courses. However, study shows the different areas that need improvement, therefore findings from the empirical research need to be considered by the Headquarter as well as the Regional Organization to successfully introduce “E-learning” for the workshops.
This thesis investigates what measures a third-party logistics (3PL) provider has to take in order to be able to acquire contracts in foreign countries for further growth of its business. This study is being carried out on behalf of a German medium-sized 3PL provider whose strategic objective is to acquire especially those contracts which have not been outsourced to other 3PL providers by the customer before. This is due to the fact that it is difficult to replace another 3PL provider owing to a customer’s high switching costs. A general global marketing process is being applied for investigation. This process is adapted to the specific case of a 3PL provider by results of expert interviews conducted with different employees at the headquarters as well as two foreign subsidiaries of the company. Based on this process, the author derives general recommendations for the company. The conclusion of this thesis is threefold. First, general recommendations including early market entry, preparation through intense market research and the creation of a competitive advantage are given. Second, a plan of action is proposed on what measures have to be taken when participating in a foreign tender. Finally, a decision tree on how foreign tenders can be evaluated with respect to the company’s strategic objective is suggested.
The recruitment and selection process in the mining sector in Zimbabwe has proven to be a challenge to both the management and the prospective employees. The mining sector is one industry that is of interest to the author as it contributes over half of the country’s Gross Domestic product. Employment in Zimbabwe is very high in the world due to the poor performance of the economy which is a result of mismanagement of the country. This paper seeks to examine the challenges that are faced by the prospective employees when seeking for jobs in the mining sector and also the challenges that the management faces in the recruitment and selection process. After the examination of those challenges, the author will provide a detailed analysis of the root causes of these challenges and then at the end provide recommendations in order to fix the challenges. This paper will also serve as one of the basis of further study of the recruitment and selection process in the mining sector in Zimbabwe
The main purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate the customers’ motivation to participate in SAP‘s Influencing Programs and to subsequently generate suggestions for possible improvements.
The framework for the domains of interview design, analysis of conducted interviews, as well as the analysis of secondary sources is presented by theoretical analysis of both the involvement of business-to-business customers in the innovation process as well as the nature of motivation.
Empirical findings show that customers’ motivation to participate in SAP IPs consists of, in descending order of importance, the following motives: Influencing functionality, understanding functionality, learning about future functionality, contact to SAP, and contact to other companies. The design of SAP’s Influencing Programs is generally in line with the motivation of participating customers. Still, improvements could be realized in terms of customer involvement during the selection process, internal alignment between different Influencing Program teams, and mandatory training of Influencing Program moderators.
Purpose: This research aims to analyze Generation Y, also known as Millennials in order to understand how companies can successfully address the members of the Generation, when introducing new technology. As Generation Ys influence on the market will be tremendously increasing it is important for marketing to understand the trends and behaviors that drive the Millennials buying decisions. The aim is to create understanding about changing trends and dependants that play a role in the Millennials behaviors and determine their values and attitudes towards new technology products.
Method: Best practices were elaborated from secondary data in form of scientific literature, primary data in form of research though a survey on Uber and case studies on Apples iWatch as well as Googles "Google Glass"
Conclusion: Millennials are a very complex generation. Therefore there is a lot to consider when marketing to Millennials should be effective. As Millennial cohorts change rapidly, marketers need to address its members in the right way to ensure sustainable results and effectiveness. In a changing environment they need to be one step ahead of trends and act as peers rather than treating Millennials as their target group. Millennials like experiences, therefore a good brand communication is essential to create trust and brand commitment.
Many employees use the internet for non-work related activities nowadays. This cyberslacking behaviour is put into connection with flexible work arrangements, in which the employee also completes work tasks outside of the workplace in a sort of balancing act between work and non-work. Many companies perceive cyberslacking to be deviant and counterproductive and battle it with internet monitoring systems. Other companies perceive cyberslacking to be beneficial for learning, creativity and productivity. This thesis will use Douglas McGregor’s ‘Theory X and Theory Y’ and the concepts of the Psychological Contract and Corporate Culture in order to understand the psychological background these of opposing opinions on cyberslacking and its effects on company and employee attitudes and behaviours following monitoring or acceptance of cyberslacking in a company. The results show a considerable fit to the three concepts presented in this thesis. The results suggest that the acceptance of cyberslacking has the effect of increased motivation and productivity and that monitoring and control reduce trust and productivity in total which is the opposite of the goal of monitoring systems. Future research should be conducted on the discrepancy of the positive effects of permitting cyberslacking and the increasing number of companies which use control and monitoring systems to fight it and on the underlying reasons why productivity is reduced through cyberslacking (the effect of perceived mistrust etc.).
Strategic Responses of Premium-Segment German Autos to The Global Climate Change for Thai market
(2016)
The global climate change has become an important challenge in automotive industry because CO2 emissions from the fossil fuel combustion of vehicles contribute very much to climate change, especially global warming. Consequently, the world automotive trend is moving to environmental friendly cars. Thailand has faced various catastrophes caused by climate change, especially hazard drought, floods and heat waves, so environmental friendly cars are also needed in Thailand. Since Thailand is one of the major markets of the German luxury automakers in Southeast Asia, this study investigates the competitive environments of Thailand automotive industry and forecasts the implementation of environmental friendly cars, especially flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), hybrid cars and electric vehicles (EVs). The analysis is based on the integration of valid secondary sources and expert interviews. It is found out that Thailand automobile industry is significantly attractive for the German luxury automakers in both production and domestic sales because of the availability of skilled labour, the rise of middle and upper middle class income earners, the integration of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), better developed infrastructure than other ASEAN countries, the government supports and the increasing demand of autos in Thailand and other ASEAN countries. Furthermore, Thailand can be further developed to be a production centre to export cars to other ASEAN countries and to be a market leader to align other ASEAN markets for a better and effective management as one big market. In order to respond to the force of new tax policy based on CO2 emissions, issues of climate changes and not to lose their competitive position to those Japanese automakers, within the next 5 years, the German luxury automakers should increase their product portfolio of hybrid cars in Thailand, especially plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Simultaneously, flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) should be also launched because of the already existing flexible fuel products of the German luxury automakers as well as the high capability of ethanol production and the increasing use of E85 in Thailand. After 2020, some EV models should be launched in Thailand. The demand for EVs in Thailand will rise because people will be willing to adopt EV technology after the launch of PHEVs in 2016 and the number of charging stations will be increased. Moreover, the use of solar cells to produce electricity for EV charging will increase because Thailand is a hot country and it is very environmental friendly.
The aim of this thesis is to gain an understanding of why and how electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is influencing consumers buying decisions, and to furthermore describe the opportunities and limitations, which using electronic word of mouth on YouTube as marketing tool represent. This thesis is a compilation of the most important studies and finding conducted in this field. It discusses the concept of word of mouth and some dimensions in which eWOM differs from its traditional counterpart and describes the most important criteria related to the influence of eWOM on consumers buying behaviours. It provides an overview of relevant studies regarding the impact of eWOM on the buying behaviour and discusses YouTube as a marketing platform. Finally, it identifies opportunities and limitations based on the previous findings related to using eWOM on YouTube as part of the marketing mix. The findings suggest that eWOM differs from its traditional counterpart mainly due to its wide and fast spread and is therefore perceived as more influential. Its influence was furthermore found to depend on factors related to the eWOM valence, the product or service addressed, the eWOM source and sender, as well as the platform used. Further, using eWOM shared on YouTube as marketing tool was identified to offer companies the opportunity to reach a wide and also usually hard-to-reach audience, increase awareness, interest and influence on consumers buying behaviour. Limitations were identified to be the uncontrollable spread, the target audience, the constant availability and uncertain credibility, risking authenticity as well as the interdependent influence.
The present study was conducted in the International Purchasing Department at the Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG which is the headquarters of the international grocery retail discounter Lidl. The subject was defined by the author in cooperation with Mr. Robert Maier, executive manager for non-food and brand, and Ms. Silvia Carazo Soto, manager for the product range development in the Lidl non-food sector. The present study has two major purposes: Firstly, to investigate how customers perceive the non-food products and sector at Lidl and secondly, to identify what characteristics they value and would like to see improved in the Lidl stores.
The goal of this present study is to determine various proposals to optimize the non-food sector of Lidl stores in order to increase customer satisfaction and sales. Data and information material for this research were gathered through the author’s mentors, colleagues, meetings, an empirical survey, internal company presentations, the company homepage, the university’s EBSCO online research database, various business press as well as scientific publications.
In the first part, a theoretical background on the subject as well as company insights into the non-food division is provided. These show that the spending power of consumers has increased, consumers are becoming progressively demanding and that Lidl is faced by strong competitors on the food retail market.
The thesis then presents the empirical study conducted by the author from 30 November 2015 until 12 December 2015. Three hundred customers in ten different Lidl stores in four German federal states were interviewed face-to-face. The survey included fifteen questions regarding the customer’s shopping behavior at Lidl, the customer’s satisfaction with regards to a non-food purchase as well as customer expectations, experience and improvement proposals of the non-food sector.
The survey results show that 77% of all participants had bought non-food products at Lidl during the six months before the survey date. Of all these participants, 75% were either very satisfied or satisfied with their non-food purchase. Furthermore, it was concluded that Lidl lives from its price-performance ratio and promotion via the Lidl leaflet in-store or distributed to home. Inferential, the survey results suggest that the product presentation and the store atmosphere need to be optimized as well as the product availability. Moreover, the results indicated that customers think that up-to-date Lidl leaflets, information boards, product brochures and a mirror need to be available at the non-food sector.
In conclusion, on the basis of the results of this research, the author recommends optimizing the non-food sector in the Lidl stores by means of five different proposals. First of all, to improve the customer experience in a Lidl store by providing a “five senses experience” and secondly to optimize in-store promotion by integrating speed-bumps and optimizing the creation and presentation of product posters, banners and product paper models. Thirdly, the author recommends introducing a digital terminal as an operation tool to order and purchase non-food products that are sold out or not available in a Lidl store with the possibility to choose a home or store delivery, to search products on the Lidl homepage and to watch non-food product videos. Furthermore, the terminal includes a built-in shelf to collect paper product brochures. Fourthly, in order to optimize the product presentation of non-food products, two proposals for a sample product presentation are made. Primarily by means of a non-food module which is attachable to a non-food table in order to present a sample either on a coat hanger or a built-in shelf or by means of a hallstand with an integrated mirror. In addition, the author presents the option of a digital mirror. The fifth proposal is a category management LED lighting module installed above the non-food tables to facilitate the customer orientation in the non-food sector. In addition, the author presents three further proposals including executing customer satisfaction survey periodically, optimizing employee training and improving the Online Shop.
In conclusion, the thesis argues that Lidl is prepared to optimize the non-food sector in the interest of increasing customer satisfaction, attracting new customers, staying competitive and trendy and increasing sales. The author recommends focusing on providing an optimized customer experience in the Lidl stores, thereby primarily focusing on the most important sense, sight. For this, an optimized sample product presentation is primarily of highest interest followed by a better in-store promotion. The present thesis hopes to offer the Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG useful ideas on how to optimize the non-food sector and thus contribute to Lidl’s company success.
The topic of the thesis is ‘‘Identification of success patterns of the most successful SAP SFSF VARs as a base to recruit new high-potential partners. A way to achieve time to revenue efficiency for new partners joining the SAP ecosystem.’’. The whole approach is based on SAP SE, an international company providing enterprise application software with a focus on cloud solutions. The objective of the thesis is to help SAP SE to expand their cloud partner ecosystem and achieve time to revenue efficiency for new partners joining SAP ecosystem. The research question explores what are the success patterns of SAP TOP 20 SuccessFactors (SFSF) value-added resellers (VARs). The aim is to use the insights as a template to recruit new partners who show high potential for future success in reselling SAP SFSF (cloud) solutions. Currently, SAP is facing a challenge to recruit partners who are successful as VARs for cloud solutions in the small and medium size enterprises (SME) market. So far, SAP focused on increasing its market coverage by continuously expanding its Ecosystem, while the quality of the recruited partners was neglected. As a result, SAP invested a lot of resources in terms of time and money trying to onboard partners who could not deliver the expected impact. Recruiting partners who have the right patterns will decrease the resources that SAP spends on onboarding and training process while at the same time the partners will generate the revenue faster. However, SAP needs to have a clear view what a high-potential partner looks like. Therefore, it could be said, that the topic of the thesis is crucial for SAP further channel development and expansion, invested resources and indirect revenue. In order to answer the research question, the whole study is divided into seven chapters. The theoretical framework provides a general idea about the importance of partners for reselling cloud services to SMEs and what are the factors and practices that make partners successful. The empirical research explores the common success patterns of the Top 20 most successful SAP SuccessFactors value-added resellers. The author came to the conclusion that in order to be achieved time to revenue efficiency, the company should recruit only those partners who are representing the following set of success patterns: international presence, quality webpage, human capital management as a core line of business, strong digital and event marketing.
Automated Advisory Services. An investigation of Efficiency on Using the Black-Litterman Model
(2016)
This thesis seeks to investigate efficiency of current portfolio theory, using the Black-Litterman Model, for creating portfolio recommendations as offered by Automated Advisory Services. These services have recently appeared, offering wealth management through a digital store front. As the human component has been removed from the equation, algorithms based on portfolio theory provide portfolio recommendations upon profiling the user of such services. Tests on parameters of the Black-Litterman Model will be run between September 2007 and December 2009, the financial crisis. The aim is to understand how efficient the parameters are able to steer the model to reflect the investor preferences, and how Black Litterman portfolios would have performed during turbulent economic times to test the efficiency claim by providers of automated advisory services.
This study explores the attitudes and perceptions of consumers of the baby boomer generation (age 50-62) concerning contents on the social media channels of Facebook and YouTube. Ten in-depth interviews are conducted in which representatives of the target group perform tasks on the two platforms such as gathering information about a firm or comparing advertisements. The main finding of the empirical research conducted is a set of preferences and attitudes about social media contents classified in following categories: 1) company profiles on Facebook 2) company channels on YouTube 3) sponsored posts on Facebook 4) sponsored search results on YouTube and 5) navigation on the two platforms. The obtained results significantly complement existing research on firm-supplied contents on social media for several reasons. Firstly, baby boomers represent a highly valuable target group as they possess immense consumption power and demonstrate high willingness to try new products and services, as well. Moreover, they increasingly join social networks, first of all Facebook,and they browse other social media channels, but they have been mostly neglected in research about social media in Germany. Secondly, this study links inbound marketing via social media to small and medium-sized enterprises. For the latter, this holds substantial benefits to facilitate being found by consumers on social media platforms in order to compete against larger firms. Therefore, implications for small business managers and marketing representatives are given. Thirdly, the study focuses on the attitudes and perceptions of consumers in order to replenish data on consumer behavior on Facebook and YouTube obtained by the algorithms of the platform providers. Therefore, it complements extensive existing studies focusing on analyzing the latter. Furthermore, the distinct advertising and targeting functions of Facebook and YouTube have been considered in the creation of the interview in pursuance of pertinent practically oriented results.
The primary purpose of this bachelor thesis is to explore the impact of information and communication technologies on the work-life boundary and to find out whether this impact constitutes a negative spillover. At the beginning of this paper, an examination of the general impacts, with an emphasis on flexibility and permanent connectivity, is conducted. In a second stage, these two major effects are assessed to find out in what way they influence the boundary between work and life. In a third stage, the finding is evaluated by analyzing the extent to which stress level, physical and mental health as well as work-life conflict and satisfaction are increased or decreased. Finally, the question concerning whether information and communication technologies are the only reason behind the change is addressed. The results of this thesis show that information and communication technologies indeed seem to lead to an increase in flexibility and permanent connectivity and therefore to a blurring of the boundary between work and life. This blurring is evaluated as being neither entirely good nor bad, as a dissolving boundary can have both positive and negative effects on stress, health, satisfaction and conflict. Furthermore, it is argued that technologies only enable change but cannot enforce it on their own. Instead, personal preference, institutional rules and culture play an important role in the determination of the extent to which individuals allow a blurring of their roles. Accordance between these factors is crucial to the health, productivity and motivation of employees.
Thus, it is recommended that employers analyze the preferences and cultural backgrounds of their employees in order to be able to provide tools and resources to blur or maintain boundaries depending on what is required