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Course of studies
Globally operating stamping and hybrid parts manufacturer KRAMSKI and the FRANUHOFER IPA have developed a new prosthetic foot designed for developing countries. Although low-cost solutions in developing countries exist, these significantly lack functionality. The new prosthetic foot will be more expensive than most low-cost alternatives, which start from $ 5.00 for a simple SACH foot, but can be sold for a much lower price than most high-tech prosthetics imported from industrialized nations, which can cost more than $5,000. The purpose of the paper was to determine the market potential for the prosthetic foot, to monitor the competition and to create an overall marketing concept for distributing and promoting the product. Therefore market and competitor analyses were conducted. On base of the market and competitor research, strategies were formulated. As a last step, the marketing mix with its four elements was regarded and different distribution and promotional tools have been reviewed to propose marketing activities that could be undertaken by KRAMSKI. Since six different target countries in Asia and Latin America (India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) were chosen in agreement with KRAMSKI, the market potential for each of these countries was estimated. Two different approaches were used to estimate the market potential of each country. Following the first approach, the total market demand of all six countries added up to more than 5.6 million potential. The second approach added up to a total of 6.7 million potential customers for the target regions. The numbers revealed that 95 % of all lower limb amputees lived in India. Therefore India has been chosen as the target country for all further research in the paper. The monitoring of the market change revealed that prosthetic foot demand was going to increase over the next decades due to lost limbs through road traffic incidents and diabetes. Besides, by the year 2030 most of the world’s middle class (80 %) will be living in developing countries As a consequence, more people will be able to afford health care products such as prosthetic feet. It has been found out that customers in developing countries lay emphasis on either low cost or quality. As a second step, the competitive environment within the prosthetic foot sector in India has been analyzed. Although the Indian healthcare system is still underdeveloped, the sector offers future opportunities for the private sector. The biggest commercial manufacturers of prosthetic feet in India are Otto Bock, Endolite and Streifeneder-Collegepark. But also international and local NGOs, such as BMVSS (Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti) with the Jaipur Foot, distribute prosthetic feet. Most of the commercial products are significantly more expensive than the products distributed by NGOs. Most NGOs manufacture prosthesis by themselves in order to save costs and create jobs. Many amputees can receive the prostheses and service for free due to donations which finance the NGOs. The competitive suppliers either own fitting centers or distribute their products through local wholesalers. On base of the market, consumer segmentation has been conducted. The Indian population has been divided into different income levels. Rural aspirers and urban seekers could be seen as the most profitable target segments, but urban customers might be easiest to reach due to location. In a last step, the marketing mix for the prosthetic foot has been analyzed. The prosthetic foot should offer specific features to align with developing countries. The product needs to be priced according to company objectives, demand, cost and competition. Since KRAMSKI does not yet have the capabilities and resources to fit prosthetic feet, the company needs to distribute to the end-user through indirect distribution channels such as wholesalers, clinics and NGOs. Therefore an important activity for KRAMSKI is the acquisition of distribution channels. This can be approached through promotional tools such as personal selling, direct marketing, online marketing or the participation on trade fairs and exhibitions.
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the fairly recent Basel III regulations, and to find out if they have impacts on the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, the theoretical impacts on financial institutions and on small and medium-sized enterprises would be analysed and compared to the real development. Basel III is an advancement to Basel I and II and contains stricter capital and liquidity requirement regulations for financial institutions, as well as a leverage ratio. The purpose is to create a financial sector, which would be more resistant against crises. Because the liquidity requirements and the leverage ratio are not, or only partly introduced yet, the thesis focuses more on the capital requirements. These requirements, demand banks to deposit a higher percentage of equity for each credit operation, depending on the risk. It is expected that financial institutions will face an excess need of capital to fulfil the requirements. On the one hand, banks could increase their equity, which hypothetically could lead to higher capital costs as well as an increase of credit costs. That would in turn result in worse credit terms for SMEs. On the other hand, banks could reduce their risk-weighted assets to lower the need for new capital. That could minimize the capacity of the credit business and lead to difficulties for SMEs in obtaining a loan. An empirical study, based on a theoretical simulation, came to the result that there will be a slight worsening of the credit terms and the credit supply for SMEs. Regarding to the question “if the new capital requirements are appropriate for SME-loans”, it shows that there is no increase of risk in that segment. Therefore, the capital requirements should be adjusted for these kind of loans. The theoretical impacts of the liquidity requirements and the leverage ratio are also expected to affect the loans for SMEs, which are the second important financing instrument. To compare and analyse the theoretical impacts to the real development, latest empirical studies were used to get a picture of the current situation. It shows that the group of financial institutions that are relevant for SME-loans have a moderate increase in their equity basis and almost no decrease of their risk-weighted assets. Theoretically, that should lead to worse credit terms and no change in the credit supply. While analysing the realised external funds made in recent years, it is affirmed that there is no decline in the credit supply. Regarding the increased capital basis, there is no worsening in the credit terms perceived in the reality. The favourable key interest rate could be the reason for that, because it compensates the increased capital cost. Hence, Basel III does not represents a threat to the mid-sized sector in average. However, it can be stated that, the smaller the enterprises are, the more difficult it is to get a loan and the worse the conditions are.
Diese Arbeit behandelt die Thematik der Kundenzufriedenheit, welche in Forschung und Praxis auf Grund ihres hohen Einflusses auf den Unternehmenserfolg nach wie vor an Bedeutung gewinnt. Anhand des Beispiels der SCOPE Messestrategie GmbH, Veranstalter der HORIZON Messe für Studium und Abiturientenausbildung, wird die
Vorgehensweise bei der Durchführung einer Kundenzufriedenheitsanalyse im Messewesen dargelegt. Die Ergebnisse dieser Analyse zeigen, welchen Dienstleistungseigenschaften einer Bildungsmesse besondere Bedeutung beizumessen ist und wie man auf Basis dieser Erkenntnisse eine Steigerung der Ausstellerzufriedenheit bewirken kann.
Background
The recent worldwide financial crisis that occurred in last quarters of 2007 up until mid 2009 was accompanied by the massive failure of many financial institutions and liquidity providers. Investment banks and other institutionalized financial investors were unsuccessful in producing any real returns for their clients. This drastic fail in all the other traditional investments led to the questioning of how well the hedge fund industry performed in this light based on their promise as absolute return producers regardless of the market environment. This paper seeks to analyse the performance of the Long/Short Equity Strategy in particular relative to the performance of the overall market.
Methods
Thorough examination and validation of numerous empirical studies which have already been carried out on the subject matter are brought to light through the analysis of available historical data of the returns posted by these funds during the crisis using generally accepted statistical funds’ assessment tools giving an adequate angel to the performance of Long-Short Equity hedge Funds especially at the heart of the financial crisis in the last quarters of 2007 to mid 2009.
Results
Equity Long/Short Hedge funds as every other strategy in they industry succeeded in 2008 in outperforming other traditional investment vehicles and the broad stock an bond markets although the failed in to produce the absolute returns promised to their investments. In 2009 they posted similar results to that of S&P 500 index with subsequent declines in 2010 and 2011 thus failing to period their returns where highly correlated with that of the overall market coined with negative skewness and high kutorsis.
Conclusion
Even though hedge funds succeeded in outperforming the market in the heart of the crisis, they failed to provides their investors with absolute returns and also the benefits which the provide in terms of diversification to reduce the exposure of their funds to market risk was limiting. The very high fees paid to them by investors was not justified by their performance.
Global Sourcing - ,,von der Theorie in die Praxis'' - Analyse alternativer Beschaffungsmärkte
(2015)
Steigender Wettbewerbsdruck im Zuge der Globalisierung zwingt Unternehmen dazu, sich noch stärker von der Konkurrenz abzuheben. Wesentlicher Erfolgsfaktor ist neben dem Absatz innovativer Produkte auch zunehmend die Beschaffung der erforderlichen Komponenten zur Herstellung dieser Produkte. In diesem Zusammenhang hat sich in den letzten Jahren der Begriff Global Sourcing in der Beschaffungsabteilung von Unternehmen etabliert. Dabei geht es um die Ausweitung der Beschaffungsaktivitäten auf weltweite Anbietermärkte. Andere Länder können durch unterschiedliche Bedingungen bestimmte Produkte zu besseren Konditionen anbieten als der Heimatmarkt. Um von diesen Vorteilen profitieren zu können muss überprüft werden, ob Alternativen auf internationalen Märkten bestehen und ob diese nachhaltig genutzt werden können. Der Inhalt der vorliegenden Bachelor-Thesis stellt die Analyse internationaler Beschaffungsmärkte dar. Das Unternehmen ARBURG GmbH + Co KG hat diese Potenziale erkannt und ist bestrebt, diese weiter voranzutreiben. Das Ergebnis dieser Arbeit liefert neue Erkenntnisse bezüglich internationaler Lieferantensuche, - bewertung und -auswahl. Dabei wurde überprüft, ob für bestimmte Produktgruppen alternative Lieferanten identifiziert werden können, die ihre Produkte zu besseren Konditionen als bisherige Lieferanten anbieten. Die Ergebnisse wurden als erfolgsversprechend eingestuft, lassen Schlüsse für weitere Beschaffungsaktivitäten zu und können in eine ganzheitliche Strategieableitung des Unternehmens integriert werden. Ausgewählte Methoden und Konzepte wurden dabei angewendet, um eine nachvollziehbare und zukünftig anwendbare Vorgehensweise zu etablieren.
This paper analyzes the importance of recommender systems for B2C e-Commerce businesses, using extensive literature review as well as a consumer survey. Readers will gain a basic understanding on how the technology behind the recommendation works, how competitiveness in e-Commerce can be defined and what the consumer perspective on recommender systems is. The paper will ultimately provide valuable insights into how recommender systems can create a major competitive advantage for online retailers and why an online-shop without a recommender engine will struggle to stay or become competitive.
Content of this bachelor thesis is to portray the status quo in Germany´s discussion about its welcoming culture and its lack of qualified workers. Government actions as well as efforts from companies are shown in this paper. Two surveys were conducted about the welcoming culture in Germany and German companies. The first survey was asking companies about their need of qualified workers as well as an already might existing welcoming culture. The second survey was sent to qualified immigrants who came through projects to Germany, to find out how they perceived the efforts for a welcoming culture in Germany. The results of the whole research are summed up in the last part of the thesis with a critical eflection. The surveys were conducted with the support of Synergie Personal GmbH Deutschland, as well as with the help of the companies that participated in the projects of the Fachkräfteallianz Gewinnerregion.
In cooperation with the Customer Relationship Management and Communication department at Volkswagen AG the thesis “The future of Service Marketing in the automotive industry” was written. The sales part of After Sales is relatively small compared to the total turnover, but it is the biggest part of benefits of a car manufacturer. This is just one reason why After Sales has such a big relevance in the automotive industry. This thesis defines After Sales and Service Marketing, gives reasons for the importance of After Sales and details how to attract the right customer groups in the context of After Sales. Additionally, it is discussed how customer needs are best addressed and fulfilled, and what kind of new Service Marketing tools could help Volkswagen to exploit the full market potential of its after sales division. The data on which this paper is based was drawn from various company-internal and external sources. The most important company-external data sources were articles about the after sales practices of other car manufacturers and companies of completely different industries. With regards to internal sources, this paper is based on internal best practices and data collected in an expert workshop regarding the internal visions that are shaping the future of Service Marketing. The given data was qualitatively analysed and resulted in a collection of potential Service Marketing tools for the international Brand Volkswagen Cars markets. The most important findings are new digital communication tools, new customer relationship tools and point of sales tools.
The aim of this Bachelor Thesis is to analyze the child safety lock offered by Samsung, which is one of the latest inventions on the market for Smartphones. It will be discussed if its abilities are a solution for ethical problems, which come along with Mobile Marketing on children. Furthermore it will be identified if the child safety lock, as a product, keeps the promises Samsung made to the consumers. Smartphones are gaining greater importance in today’s society and are not only used by adults, but by a great amount of children. A smartphone gives kids the possibility to enter the internet without barriers. They have access to all the offered websites and programs the internet contains, which opens up a lot of dangers. Marketing on children is getting more intensive, because children play a more important role in the buying decisions of their families than they did in the past. There are plenty of studies where children´s perception of advertisement was analyzed. A relationship between their perception of advertisement and the development of their cognitive thinking was detected. The more distinctive the cognitive thinking is, the better is their perception of advertisement.
Advertisement and other marketing methods can influence and manipulate children, without them realizing it. Due to that there a discussions on ethical level about the fairness of confronting children with contents they can´t understand because of their stage of development. Notably mobile marketing describes a lot of dangers for children owing to its availability on a Smartphone 24/7.
The two most important laws regarding media protection for children is the “Jugendschutzgesetz” (JuSchG), which is administrated by the German government and the “Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag”, which is in hands of the 16 federal states in Germany. The opinion of experts in the field of media education, as well as the opinion of parents and teachers about the mentioned topics is essential to bring different stakeholders into the account. This paper contains several empirical research methods which discuss these opinions. Key words: Marketing and Ethics, Smartphones, Marketing aimed on children, Mobile Marketing, Media Protection for children
The purpose of this study is to research the impact of enterprise social software on performance management in order to explain the statement of this thesis: performance management can benefit from social software. The thesis first defines the emergent collaborative performance management and enterprise social software systems against the background of the need for ‘modernized’ Human Resource systems. Then, interviews were conducted in order to determine the critical success factors of implementing enterprise social software into business systems and processes. Finally, the derived critical success factors are discussed and compared to different assumptions that are made in literature about the impact of enterprise social software on performance management.
It was concluded that performance management can benefit from enterprise social software, but under specific conditions such as rules and policies. Organizations that embrace new technologies and use enterprise social software in compliance with their objectives, strategies and policies can enjoy increased productivity and a collaborative business culture with highly engaged employees.
The topic of change management gained significant importance within recent years. Through the internationalization of markets, became relevant to consider factors such as intercultural management and communication. Often managers are not able to control and coordinate these projects in an adequate manner.
One of the main reasons is the c different mindsets, expectations, ideas and working styles. During the planning and execution of change projects there is much focus on the strategy and the lead project teams. Nevertheless, employ because the foreign workforce as a whole consists of many different people from various
countries and cultures. Ensuring that a change can successfully be applied at all locations is a major task and failing in managing those varieties can lead to failure of the entire change. The regional management is often faced with inadequate decisions or poor communication by the headquarters. Additionally, even more than normal mid able to work with decisions they do not understand or support required to follow instructions from the other side of the world requires various skills. The purpose of this research is to identify the requirements of good communication a
management in regional offices in this context and to analyze how a well defined scope of responsibilities can lead an international change project to success.
The German-French personnel consultancy Rheinbrücke Consulting intended to gain a deeper knowledge of the German market for personnel consulting. Due to the lack
of comprehensive literature, expert interviews were conducted in the framework of this thesis in order to analyse the structure of the German market for personnel consulting how it is changing and to derive consequences for the positioning of Rheinbrücke Consulting today and in the future. The result is that the German market for personnel consulting is opaque and that a lot of companies from sole entrepreneurs to personnel consulting concerns supply a lot of services that vary considerably in their quality. Potential clients prefer to employ recommended personnel consultancies that are specialised and supply performance-based billing. They aim for long term business partnerships with personnel consultancies wherefore the author recommends to Rheinbrücke Consulting to follow up in their strategy work with the key subjects networking, relationship between customer and personnel consultancy, specialisation and remuneration.
Numerous, if not all, companies are faced with the very same challenge: To train their employees and to qualify them regarding ever new topics. But whilst enterprises are already cooperating in other business areas for quite some time, they do not (yet) share training materials treating the same topical areas. This thesis approaches this issue and thereby takes the first step in developing research on cross-company Content Sharing. This means the sharing of training materials between businesses. More specifically, the paper examines the question how the success of such a cooperation can be measured, to which extent success is likely to be achieved and how it can be developed. The work’s basis is formed by the scientific knowledge on inter-organizational cooperations and on learning objects. Starting from this point in-depth literature analysis and expert interviews were carried out. This resulted in the creation of the Evaluation-Criteria Framework for Content Sharing Cooperations. This model consists of four categories that group together ten evaluation criteria, 33 sub-criteria and 76 examination
elements. Subsequently the model was applied to a collaboration between Robert Bosch GmbH and DEKRA S.E., aiming at the joint development of training documents. To examine this inter-organizational relation a case study research was carried out. For this end various qualitative (interview, participant observation) and quantitative (questionnaire, cost calculation) methods. Seven out of then criteria were identified as fulfilled. The saving of five working days’ time as well as participant’s satisfaction can be emphasized. An unambiguous statement regarding costs, however, cannot be made. Finally, identified problems suggest that a thorough definition of target groups and their needs and requirements are of utmost importance for content sharing cooperations. The same holds for establishing the role of a (ideally company-independent) coordinator. In conclusion it can be recognized, that the Evaluation-Criteria Framework constitutes a reality-tested model which is also suitable for future research; like, for example, additional case studies to confirm validity of the second insight gained in this paper: Sharing training contents seems to be a promising approach for companies operating within the
knowledge society.
Over the past years, operating conditions of German retail banks have been significantly altered by increased regulation, digitalization and new competitors. Consequently, numerous market participants have begun supplementing or replacing traditional processes with technology-based ones. Wüstenrot Bank AG Pfandbriefbank (WBP), a midsize financial corporation located in Ludwigsburg, Germany, is a primary example for this development. Notwithstanding all reforms, WBP suspects that many of its online products are unprofitable, yet has been unable to perform accurate measurements. Research shows that this is by far no exception and that in spite of digitalization’s proven impact in other industries there are very few empirical studies comparing traditional and technology-based processes in retail banking. This paper aims at filling this gap by determining the present efficiency of technology-based processes at WBP and their potential for aiding optimizations in the field. The paper uses process costing for evaluating present profitability, a methodology proven in manufacturing and other service industries yet relatively new to banking, and thus also sets a methodological recedent. For this method processes are first modeled using the ARIS concept of Scheer (1990); following Cooper and Kaplan (1988) and Horváth and Mayer (1995) costs are then determined for individual process steps based on their resource consumption and finally aggregated into the entire process. In a second step the present
situation serves as basis for simulating hypothetical scenarios used for assessing the effectiveness and impact of technology on further optimizations.
The research finds that in the case of daily money, a typical online product, neither WBP’s traditional nor its technology-based processes are profitable in the first year after account generation. In fact, losses are so extensive it is likely the product is generally unprofitable. In addition, the analysis finds that, contrary to the initial hypothesis, technology-based processes are even less efficient than traditional ones. Through subsequent simulations it becomes clear, however, that rather than digitalization all together, it is the insufficient degree of use of technology that causes costs to be so high. Therefore, optimization potential is much higher for technology-based than for traditional processes. Consequently, the paper recommends further increasing the use of digital technologies and finds process costing to be the ideal tool for capturing the best of digitalization both within WBP and in the industry.
The Bachelor Thesis is about the efficiency of adidas’ sport sponsoring efforts at the Football World Cup 2014 – measured on the basis of digital marketing successes. This study has two major purposes: Firstly, to find out whether adidas was able to reach its pre-defined goals on digital platforms and secondly, to compare the digital effects of an official sponsor (adidas) with a on-official sponsor/ambush-marketer (Nike)showing that the extra costs were well invested. The author suggests that mbushmarketers - although they don’t have the official right to use the World Cup as their advertising rostrum - are also able to benefit from the World Cup itself and from starting some World Cup-related campaigns in social platforms, but not to the same extent as official sponsors. The thesis is divided into two parts - the theoretical part, that gives a theoretical background to the main topic and the practical part that analyses the two main questions of the empirical study. The analysis shows that adidas’ sport sponsoring efforts in social platforms were highly successful regarding the fact that they were able to achieve seven out of ten pre-defined goals. With regards to the three (pretty ambitious) goals that weren’t reached, the author further gives improvement proposals with precise ideas about what needs to be done in order to achieve them in the future. In the next step the author gives an overview of the privilegues that official sponsors of the World Cup possess in contrast to ambush-marketers and outlines the major differences. The comparison of the performance of an official sponsor with an ambushmarketer in digital platforms shows that most of the time indeed the official sponsor achieved higher effects than the ambush-marketer. But since there are also some other factors besides being an official or non-official sponsor that have an impact on the marketing effects of a company (like for example the success of the sponsored team, the degree of popularity of adidas/Nike and its testimonials etc.) the author also provides a critical acclaim about the findings of the thesis. Since adidas performed so well on digital platforms and achieved or even exceeded almost all of their pre-defined goals it can be concluded that sport sponsoring in social media platforms is a very potent and effective marketing method. Also the ambushmarketer Nike achieved some effects on digital platforms but not to the same extent as the official sponsor adidas.
Diese Bachelor-Thesis befasst sich mit der Analyse des aktuellen Konsolidierungsprozesses bei der Hectronic-Gruppe, der Identifizierung der Problemstellen sowie möglichen Lösungsansätzen zu dessen Optimierung und Standardisierung im Rahmen des Konzernabschlusses.
Dabei werden zuerst wichtige Begriffe, Gesetzesgrundlagen in der Schweiz sowie Konsolidierungsmethoden und Trends, die für ein Grundverständnis der Thematik notwendig sind, erklärt. Anschließend wird der Konsolidierungsprozess analysiert und die Problematik Excel als Tool zur Durchführung der Konsolidierung aufgegriffen. Des Weiteren werden anhand der Fachliteratur, aktueller Studien und Trends drei Optimierungsvorschläge entwickelt: der Wechsel des Rechnungslegungs-Standards von OR zu Swiss GAAP FER, der Einsatz einer Software-Lösung und das Outsourcing des Konsolidierungsprozesses.
Die Software-Auswahl fand anhand einer Nutzwertanalyse statt, die mit Hilfe von Experteninterviews und eines Fragebogens durchgeführt wurde. Dabei schnitt die Software-Lösung der LucaNet AG am besten ab. Das Outsourcing, das anhand von Fragebögen (=E-Mails BPO-Anbieter) evaluiert wurde, bietet sich weniger für die Hectronic-Gruppe an, da sich zeigte, dass die Alternative auf lange Sicht gesehen teurer ist und es sich als schwierig erwiesen hat, einen geeigneten Outsourcing-Anbieter zu finden.
Nach der Gegenüberstellung der Alternativen mit ihren jeweiligen Vor- und Nachteilen sowie der Kosten wird der Hectronic-Gruppe empfohlen, den Rechnungslegungs-Standard von OR zu Swiss GAAP FER zu wechseln sowie den Einsatz einer Software-Lösung dem Outsourcing vorzuziehen.
Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht auf der Basis einer umfassenden B2B-Kundenanalyse, wie sich ein erster Marktsegmentierungsansatz bezüglich der gewerblichen Kunden von E-Mobility aus Sicht des Automobilhandels ausgestalten könnte und welche strategischen Implikationen sich daraus für die Kommunikation mit dem Zielmarkt ergeben. Basierend auf diesen Erkenntnissen, wird in einem weiteren Schritt analysiert, welche B2B-Geschäftsmodelle sich besonders für dieses Kundensegment eignen. Die Gesamtheit der Erkenntnisse werden abschließend zur Konzeption eigener B2B-Geschäftsmodellideen genutzt, welche sich aufgrund einer umfassenden Wirtschaftlichkeitsberechnung als besonders attraktiv sowohl für den Zielmarkt als auch für den Automobilhandel erweisen.
In recent years the Green Bond market has shown a tremendous growth. It would be interesting to see where the motivation of the issuing companies comes from. One theory is that they expect to have a lower credit spread in this new market segment then in the normal bond market. It is the goal of this paper to analyse if this is the case or not. To do such an analyse it is necessary to find a connection between sustainability and classical capital market theories. Due to a lack of common understanding and measurability of sustainability this is not easy to do. Nowadays it is not possible to give a price for social benefit and as a result it is also not seen in the credit spread.
Gegenstand der hier vorgestellten Bachelorarbeit ist das Konsumentenverhalten der Automobilkäufer. Die einzelnen Faktoren, die einen Einfluss auf das Konsumentenverhalten haben, werden hierfür analysiert. Auf Geschlechterunterschiede wird dabei weit möglichst eingegangen. Der Untersuchungsschwerpunkt wird auf die Beeinflussungsfaktoren der Informationssuche von den Individuen vor einem Autokauf gelegt. Als Unterstützung wird eine empirische Studie in Form einer Umfrage an Studenten und Absolventen gesendet. Zu diesem Zweck wird die Nutzung von persönlichen und unpersönlichen Informationsquellen, im Zusammenhang mit subjektivem und objektivem Wissen untersucht. Zusätzlich wird der Wert der persönlichen Erfahrungen der Konsumenten hinterfragt. Es konnte festgestellt werden, dass signifikante Unterschiede bezüglich der persönlichen, aber nicht der unpersönlichen Informationsquellen bestehen. Außerdem ergab die Umfrage, dass die weiblichen Probanden ihr subjektives Wissen deutlich geringer einschätzen, als die männlichen Teilnehmer.
Mögliche Implikationen und Zukunftsaussichten für die Automobilindustrie werden diskutiert.
Diese Bachelorarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Erstellung eines strategischen Marketingkonzepts für das B-to-B IT-Serviceproviderunternehmen agilTech Information Technologies GmbH. Durch mangelnde strategische Ausrichtung und die vorherrschende Projektarbeit als Individualsoftware entwickler und IT-Berater, sah sich das Unternehmen bisher einem großen Absatzrisiko und einer volatilen Nachfrage ausgesetzt. So hat sich das Unternehmen opportunistisch am Markt bewegt, keine konkreten Unternehmensziele definiert und konzeptlose Marketingmaßnahmen ohne Zielgruppenbestimmung durchgeführt. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist somit die Entwicklung eines strategischen Marketingkonzepts, um agilTech wettbewerbsfähig am Markt zu positionieren, mehr Projektanfragen zu generieren und so ein strategisches Unternehmenswachstum im fragmentierten Individualsoftwaremarkt zu ermöglichen. Der Lösungsansatz dieser Arbeit basiert auf Taylor’s (2015) strategischem Marketingplanungsprozess, der sich in die Phasen Ziele und Marktanalysen, Strategieentwicklung und operatives Marketing einteilen lässt. Als Ergebnis entstand eine Marketingstrategie, Servicemarketing Mix-Maßnahmen und Kommunikationsmittel wurden identifiziert sowie Handlungsvorschläge unterbreitet. Für die Organisation und Implementierung der Servicemarketing Mix-Maßnahmen wurde ein detaillierter Plan erstellt, für die Marketing-Kontrolle je Servicemarketing Mix-Maßnahme mehrere Key Performance Indicators definiert und Messinstrumente vorgestellt. Damit das erarbeitete, strategische Marketingkonzept positive Resultate erzielen kann, ist jedoch Top Management Support in Form von Engagement sowie zeitliches und finanzielles Investment notwendig.
With the ED/2013/6 the IASB and the FASB issued an exposure draft that proposes a departure from the current leasing model. The risk-and-reward approach shall be replaced by the asset-and –liabilityapproach.
The thesis examines the impact of this reform on the basis of a case study on the GFT Group. The thesis shall provide an overview of the existing and future lease accounting and examined the effects on the consolidated balance sheet through a simulated application of accounting rules set out in the exposure draft, followed by quantification by the use of selected financial ratios. Result of this work is an insignificant change in most financial ratios. Substantial amendments have been found regarding the leverage ratio. The results are scrutinized with information from the simulation and the current state of discussion. Furthermore, suggestions and advice regarding the findings are given to the GFT Group.
The present thesis on "recruiting skilled employees in the field of apprenticeship for SMEs in the crafts using the example of best practice companies" consists of a theoretical and a practical part.
In theory the terms “crafts” and “small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” are defined. The current situation of recruiting skilled employees in the field of apprenticeship is also explained in more detail. It can be seen that the number of new vocational training contracts decreases progressively. For the most part the reason for this is the failure of merging companies and young people. Furthermore the concept of “best practice” is discussed. The practical part consists of a description of the institution “Chamber of Crafts Karlsruhe” in general and particularly in relation to the topic of apprenticeship. The Chamber represents the interests and concerns of the craft, advises and assists the member companies in different areas especially in the search and placement of apprentices. Companies are examined, which set a good example for the recruitment of apprentices. Based on interviews with 21 “best practice craft enterprises” (17 SMEs, 4 larger companies) different ways of acquisition of apprentices are demonstrated. For each company, the recruiting measures used are represented by percentage depending on the success rate of the obtained apprentices. As a result, the applications for the acquisition of apprentices of SMEs and larger companies are summarized and compared. The aim of the thesis is that the craft industry, be it SMEs or larger businesses, learn and benefit from each other. They should get an overview of what other companies do for the acquisition of apprentices and how they adapt and expand their recruitment activities to the situation of labor shortages in the area of apprenticeship.
This thesis deals with the investigation of internationally operating project teams, using the automotive division of the cooperation partner and topic initiator Marquardt Group. The overall research question examines which skills in terms of emotions, culture and know how are required from program managers as a result of globalization. Background information about globalization, project management and the company itself is provided as a first step. In order to get an overview, qualitative expert interviews are conducted with program managers, their superiors, disciplinary supervisors and team members. The interview process serves to gain a stronger knowledge of the weaknesses in project management within the Marquardt Group. The results reveal clear problems, particularly in the analyzed subject areas processes, intercultural competence and communication.
Further information concentrating on intercultural competence and its potential training measures, as well as communication in so-called virtual teams due to the lacking face-to-face communication is given, followed by recommendations for improvements for the analyzed fields with weak points. It can be concluded that globalization and the consequent internationalization have a major impact on project teams requiring especially the advancement of professional, the related methodological, as well as leadership and social competences of program managers.
Der steigende Kosten- und Wettbewerbsdruck stellt Unternehmen immer wieder vor neue Herausforderungen bei der Entwicklung und Gestaltung von Produkten. Die Ausweitung der Lean-Philosophie auf die Produktentwicklung bietet ein enormes Potenzial, um in der Produktion anfallende Verschwendung bereits während der Entwicklung zu reduzieren. In dieser wissenschaftlichen Arbeit wird ein Modell entwickelt, durch welches der Wirkzusammenhang zwischen einzelnen Produktgestaltungsrichtlinien und die in der Produktion anfallende Verschwendung bewertet werden kann. Der Fokus dieser Bewertung liegt vor Allem auf den Ursachen, die zu Verschwendung führen.
This thesis focuses on the development of a business plan for a planed nonprofit organization for single mothers located in Mexico.
It contains on the one hand a theoretical explanation of the most important differences between the nonprofit sector and profit driven sectors. On the other hand it provides an empirical study about the target group and the competition of the planned organization. Therefore the method used for this work is a combination of a theoretical as well as an empirical approach, which provides a wider view on the issue. Based on this obtained data from these researches, the business plan is developed.
During the work it is found that there is a big demand for the planned organization from its target group. In addition there is little competition in this specific sector and the business plan shows a good feasibility of the project as well as growth opportunity of this specific nonprofit organization.
Business includes interactions both in societal and organizational dimension. And interactions are done through communication. Communication is not just about sharing ideas through words. Communication is anyway a complex phenomenon. However in the age of the global business, where culture has become the core and with that more complex and therefore is neglected more than before. Besides, cultural aspects seem not to have given enough importance, in spite of doing business internationally, where culture plays an essential role. Thus global business, in form of overseas, offshoring, outsourcing, franchising, expatriates, investment etc. is a game where international entrepreneurship, intercultural challenges, culture, communication and results, leading either to successful and effective cooperation or disputes and conflicts, have a main role. Hence, this thesis, Intercultural challenges for international Entrepreneurs in Nepal and guidelines, instruments and recommendations for solving them, is all about how to combine these elements and deploy strategies by entrepreneurs from Germanic Europe while doing business in Nepal, considering the cultural differences of both cultures. Consequently the aim of this thesis is to provide with essential components concerning cultural differences that should be considered seriously while doing business in Nepal. A research conducted through questionnaire to obtain results in order to identify the most important cultural differences in terms of dimensions facilitated to develop strategies. To get to the recommendations, as the end part of this thesis, first some basic terminologies and concepts will be conceptualized. After, deeper concepts regarding the role of communication and language will be provided to reach the research part. Once, some concepts are explained in research part, results and findings will be illustrated before reaching to recommendations and conclusion. To conclude, strategies in this thesis are presented in form of recommendations and instruments according to the results, which show that there are few differences in some cultural dimensions and there are huge differences in some cultural dimensions, to foster cross-cultural cooperation without conflicts and disputes.
Jobsharing in Management
(2015)
According to a recent German law companies are obliged to increase the proportion of female managers in strategic significant departments because women are nationally and even globally underrepresented in management. Simply raising their share, however, won’t solve the more profound problem. Part of the thesis is the consideration of reasons to the current situation. Mentioned reasons are the management framework conditions and social norms. Furthermore the working model jobsharing in management will be presented as method that realizes a sustainable change in gender diversity. There are already companies which started projects for gender diversity management in order to acknowledge gender disparity and deal with it. A fact referring to social norms is that women still struggle more between their professional career and family than men do. Besides, society pushes women into their classical roles as home keeper. Studies prove that the main reason for women to quit their job is more time for their family. Another fact referring the management framework conditions is that managers often have to work more than 100 percent based on average working time. Jobsharing in management, later on called leadsharing, may enable qualified women not to choose either a management position or their family. Hence, companies may save experienced executives. In this time flexible working model two mangers own the same position and share their job related responsibilities. The characteristics of leadsharing as well as its benefits and challenges will be introduced in relation to eight reports of experienced leadsharers. Leadsharing has proven to be possible and successful but it’s anyway negatively associated with huge effort in communication, dependency within the leadsharing team and infeasibility in management. Thus, the most important requirement for leadsharing is a receptive cooperating company and the perfect partner who can be trusted. The German start-up Tandemploy is specialized on matching jobsharing interested employees and companies. Today’s technologies and circumstances on the shrinking specialists and executive staff market may also support a jobsharing popularity. For companies which are against stagnation and honestly promote gender equality the adoption of leadsharing is apparently a chance to ensure sustainable gender parity in management.
In recent times, China’s role in the clothing industry has been threatened. China’s ability to compete on a cost basis is diminishing and urges the country to find a new means of competition. The aim of this study is to assess China’s future role in the industry with special regards to European apparel manufactures. This is done by taking a closer look at several factors that have an impact on the industry. The analysis of published data, conducted studies and expert opinions brought to light how the government is actively involved in the pursue of maintaining China’s leading role in the textile and clothing industries as these are important contributors to China’s economic well-being. Two strategies have been emphasized. Firstly, the upgrading of the industry as a means of differentiation that allows China’s clothing industry to compete on other factors than costs. Secondly, the boost of China’s domestic market in order to mitigate against the risk arising from the volatility of markets and increased need for speed in the industry. While China’s role is undoubtedly changing, it seems like the country has found opportunities to maintain an important position in the future of the clothing industry.
Das äußere Erscheinungsbild eines Fahrzeugs beeinflusst die Kaufentscheidung des Kunden. Hierbei ist das Spalt- und Passungsbild ein wichtiges Qualitätsmerkmal. Durch den Anstieg der Anforderungen in der Automobilbranche und die stetige Medienpräsenz wird dieser Aspekt immer bedeutender. Das Frontend eines Fahrzeugs ist aus zahlreichen Bauteilen zusammengesetzt. Sie bilden eine lange Toleranzkette, die im Spalt- und Passungsbild sichtbar wird. In der aktuellen Entwicklung bei der Ford Werke GmbH, sollen die Spaltmaße im Frontend optimiert werden. Hierfür werden zunächst alle Beitragsleister der Toleranzkette in diesem Bereich ausfindig gemacht und in all ihren Aspekten detailliert untersucht. Diese Untersuchung erstreckt sich von den Fertigungsverfahren der Bauteile bis hin zu ihrem Einbau in das Fahrzeug. Im Anschluss wird eine interne und externe Benchmarking Studie durchgeführt um ähnliche Designmerkmale gegenüberzustellen und Fügeprozesse nachvollziehen zu können. Mit Hilfe der gewonnenen Erkenntnisse werden am Ende der Arbeit Optimierungsmöglichkeiten vorgestellt. Diese werden unter den Aspekten Kosten und Nutzen verglichen, um eine sinnvolle Entscheidung treffen zu können.
Telearbeit, also das Arbeiten von zu Hause aus oder von jeden anderen beliebigen Ort abseits des herkömmlichen Arbeitsplatzes im Unternehmen, ist ein flexibles Arbeitsmodell das sich seit der Jahrtausendwende weltweit sehr stark verbreitet hat. Dies liegt vor allem an der rasanten Entwicklung der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie und der immer besseren Netzabdeckung. Wichtige Faktoren sind aber auch die teilweise veränderten Wertevorstellungen der Generationen X und Y. Die traditionelle Arbeitszeit von 8-17 Uhr wird immer unattraktiver, vielmehr möchten Arbeitnehmer über die Souveränität verfügen den Zeitpunkt und die Lage ihrer Arbeit weitestgehend selber bestimmen um somit ihr Privat- und Berufsleben besser miteinander vereinen zu können. Bezeichnet dafür ist das Ergebnis einer Umfrage: Jeder zweite Deutsche würde gelegentlich außerhalb des Büros arbeiten wenn er die Möglichkeit dazu bekäme. Weltweit hegten diesen Wunsch sogar 63% der Befragten. Viele Unternehmen bieten bereits verschiedene Telearbeitsmodelle an, eine Vielzahl von Experten hält dies aber immer noch für zu wenig. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt, dass Telearbeit unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen zu einer win-win-Situation für alle Beteiligten wird. Je nach Unternehmensgröße können Einsparungen in Millionenhöhe auf Grund sinkender Betriebskosten und steigender Produktivität erzielt werden. Mitarbeiter sind motivierter und empfinden weniger Stress was sich positiv auf die Gesundheit auswirken kann. Sogar Verkehrsnetze können durch Telearbeit entlastet und der Ausstoß von C02-Emissionen verringert werden. Jedoch sind viele Tätigkeiten schlichtweg nicht in Telearbeit umsetzbar. Betroffen sind vor allem der Einzelhandel sowie handwerkliche und produzierende Gewerbe. Auch nicht jeder Arbeitnehmer ist für Telearbeit geeignet. Je höher der Bildungsgrad und je komplexer die Aufgabe desto größer ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit jene Aufgaben außerhalb des Büros erledigen zu können. Die wichtigsten Faktoren für eine erfolgreiche Umsetzung von Telearbeitsprogrammen sind aber in erster Linie die Vorgesetzten. Vertrauen in die Fähigkeiten und die Selbständigkeit der Mitarbeiter und die damit verbundene Bereitschaft direkte Kontrolle abzugeben
In a fast-paced change and development of the work environment, organizations are faced with the need to adapt efficient and proactively on a continuous basis. Correspondingly it is important for companies to readjust their tools, requirements and processes. Performance appraisal is not an exception. Moreover it is an important part of an organization’s performance management system that assures an integer alignment of the employees’ activities and performances with the company’s strategy and goals. It is a tool, which directly addresses companies’ most important and susceptible to change resources - it’s employees and strategy. Therefore the scope of this paper was to analyze whether the traditionally used performance appraisal system of the present, would work and fit under the challenges and changes of the future of work trends. First, the paper focuses on the analysis of the future of work environment. There are initially researched the forces that will influence future organizations and then the impact on organizations is described. The above mentioned were followed by the analysis of the currently perceived drawbacks of performance appraisal as from studies and researches done by experts in the domain. The analysis points out the most important features referred to as being of a tremendous impact on the success and result of the tool. These faults of the traditional approach would be then compared with the main trends determining future of work, and as a result of the study is the determination whether the tool would perform better in the future organizational setting or worse depending on how the criteria concluded as being most influential would co-work. In conclusion it was observed that performance appraisal as such would still be an important tool in the future organization as it’s commonly perceived scope would gain in importance. However, the approach and implementation would have to be drastically reconsidered. As most of it’s currently perceived drawbacks would be in an even more devastating conflict in the upcoming time of business and employment. It refers to it’s form, owner, customer and implantation, all of these would need an radical transformation.
Today Outdoor-Trainings are an element in the modern world of work which increases steadily. It is about an activity-oriented method where vital key skills are developed. Outdoor-Trainings are particularly used as a learning method for management qualifications and teambuilding skills. During Outdoor-Settings participants are learning key skills by action and experience. Nevertheless Outdoor-Trainings are controversially discussed. Purpose of the present thesis is the elective “White Water Principles of Management“ of Hochschule Furtwangen University. Management skills are a learning target taught during an excursion by kayaking on a white water river. There are just a few empirical studies regarding effectiveness and efficiency of Outdoor-Trainings. This is why the following study is analysing the outcome and effectiveness of “White Water Training” for management education. Moreover the elaboration explores the coherence between the characteristics of the students and their management skills. The method used for data collection is a questionnaire where probands indicate their level of agreement towards their management skills on a rating scale. The present study consists of a quasi-experimental design where test persons are classified in an experimental and a control group by criteria of participation or non-participation. This means that people are not randomly assigned to a group. Data are collected two points in time, before and after the measure respectively the workshop. The purpose of the study is to find out whether the experimental group changed more than the control group. The effect of the workshop is measured by the difference in the amount of change between the experimental and the control group.
After evaluating the collected data the study shows that the experimental group respectively the group which participated in the elective, changed clearly more than the control group. Regarding the coherence analysis a connection between business studies and the outcome of the study can be clearly observed. Students of business studies achieved the highest outcomes compared to students of other fields of studies. Moreover it was discovered that students who already had done an apprenticeship had higher levels of agreement before the measure as their colleagues without apprenticeships.
Change management is a very diverse subject which can be found and applied in every department of a big company. One area, where it often could be found is Business Process Management (BPM). BPM links the company’s goals, and also eases the day-to-day workload of the people, and increases the performance of the company by implementing technologies. These technologies range from something really simple to really big-scaled, e.g. a new operational platform. However, when something like that is undertaken change management methodology has to be applied. Since BPM is implementing a new technology in that field, change management methodology has to be applied, IT change management. The theoretical part of this research paper identifies the possible IT change management model. Examples mentioned include BPR, STS and PROGRESS that could be applied in a big scale project. This is the first set of challenges that has to be resolved. The second set of challenges that was identified is namely what role the IT consultant is going to assume - an Expert role, Pair of Hands role or a Collaborative role. Thirdly, it has be seen in theory what are the pre-requests for an IT change management project or a possible check list that has to be taken into account when undergoing an IT change project. The second part of the paper evaluates how the challenges, identified in the theoretical part, are observed in practice. In particular, if they have been experienced in the past or also after Platform B was being implemented in Organization A. The information provided in this research paper is based on primary research with seven interviews of people from Organization A, one survey amongst a particular group in Organization A, and secondary research incorporates literature review on relevant points and also corporate documents of Organization A.
In der vorliegenden Bachelorarbeit wird der Vertriebsprozess des externen Bahnmotorenvertriebs der MAN Truck & Bus AG im Werk Nürnberg analysiert. Die Optimierung erfolgt im Vergleich mit einem zweiten Prozess, dem Busvertrieb der MAN Truck & Bus AG in München und der in Büchern beschriebenen Theorie. Ziel der Thesis ist das Erkennen von Optimierungspotentialen, die sich im Vergleich zeigen. Die Theorie wurde mittels Fachbücher zum Thema Vertrieb erarbeitet. Diese stellen den theoretischen Hintergrund zur Praxis dar und sollen erste Einblicke in das Thema ermöglichen. Bei der Aufnahme der Prozesse wurde viel praktisch gearbeitet. Die Anweisungen des Unternehmens wurden als allgemeine Grundlage angesehen. Basierend auf den Experteninterviews und den Dokumenten aus dem Alltagsgeschäft, konnte der eigentliche Prozessablauf der beiden Standorte aufgenommen werden. Nach der Erfassung der Theorie und beider Vorgehensweisen stellten sich nach detaillierter Analyse einige Optimierungspotentiale dar. Würden diese umgesetzt werden, könnten sie zu einem effizienteren Prozessablauf führen und somit die Arbeit erleichtern.
Fast Fashion industry is a great example of a market with similar products and similar target groups of customers where marketing plays a key role in the competition for market share. In the era of Web 2.0. and Social Media boom businesses are facing a rise in customers’ forces and its pressure by influencing corporate communications and marketing campaigns. Ordinary people turn to influentials who reach broad consumer audiences and often have an impact on the decision-making-processes. In this way, brands are less protected by PR and advertising tools, as well as more vulnerable. Therefore, understanding the current communication environment and in particular how, when, where and who interferes with corporate image is important from managerial point of view and what strategy to be deployed. For these reasons, the thesis focuses on multichannel marketing in order to provide an understanding of how businesses have been connecting to
people and then it continues with exploration of social media and the blogosphere as ways consumers have been complicating and influencing channels. In the end, it has been concluded that Social Media and the phenomenon of Blogosphere has led to the appearance of new self-made opinion leaders who tend to influence consumer behavior and respectively company’s reputation and brands’ image. On the other hand, it has been observed this can be positive for businesses since it provides relatively useful market information which could be helpful for marketing and communications managers by enabling them to observe their target groups in a more efficient ways. In the pursue of findings, the thesis includes primary research with two interviews with a bloggers and a fashion brand affiliate person, and secondary research covering literature review on relevant topics.
Der Autor stellt in dieser Arbeit einen Referenzprozess dar, der die wichtigen Faktoren für die Implementierung der Quality Gate Systematik in ein Unternehmen detailliert betrachtet. Um die Zielführung der Quality Gate Systematik zu gewährleisten, stellt der Autor eine genaue Vorgehensweise für die Erstellung einer Quality Gate Checkliste bereit. Der Referenzprozess orientiert sich an bereits vorhandenen Quality Gate Systematiken. Er nutzt die Erkenntnisse dieser Vorgehensweisen, um eine detaillierte Beschreibung der wichtigsten Bausteine bereitzustellen. Die Erstellung der Quality Gate Checkliste steht dabei unter dem zentralen Punkt der Identifikation der zielführenden Checklisteninhalte. Zur Unterstützung dieses Vorgangs stellt der Autor verschiedene Analyse Methoden bereit, die eine zielführende und aussagekräftige Festlegung des Checklisteninhalts gewährleisten sollen.
The title for this thesis “An Economic Analysis of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)” has been selected due to its topicality and its explosiveness. The stimulus to write this paper originates in the wish to get a deeper insight into the topic, which has been treated majorly under exclusion of the public, and to be able to make a clear statement whether to support or to oppose the partnership. In order to answer this final question, it is also tested whether results from former agreements like NAFTA or Mercosur can serve as a guideline to what can be expected of TTIP. Additionally, the paper aims at making a final statement about the implications of the partnership for the future. To do this, the present paper covers two main subjects. First, it provides an overview of the history of free trade, the different forms of agreements, as well as an insight into the experiences made with NAFTA and Mercosur. This first part is concluded with an estimation of the results and motivations of and for free trade agreements, as well as a transition to the second main subject by naming the impacts of the findings for the planned TTIP treaty. Secondly, after providing a broad overview of TTIP by giving an insight into the definition and the process of formation of the partnership, the benefits and concerns of the deal are revealed. This part is followed by a broad study of ten indicators, which outline the real effects of TTIP on the economy, by distinguishing between three different scenarios. The thesis is concluded by presenting the findings from the former analysis. Although NAFTA and Mercosur do not provide applicable experiences, they still serve as points of orientation and suggest that free trade should be supported. Thus, the planned partnership should also be agreed upon in order to go with the pace of time and to stay competitive. If this is the case, TTIP will be a leading example in the future, motivating more nations to either join the partnership or to form ones by themselves.
Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit in internationalen After-Sales Organisationen am Beispiel der Daimler AG
(2015)
Leading from the thesis that customer satisfaction depends on the level of employee satisfaction, the following work provides an analysis of different criteria which contribute to the satisfaction of employees. Furthermore, the demand for homogeneously designed concepts at Daimler AG provides a basis for the following question:
Is there a common denominator for employee satisfaction in the worldwide After-Sales Organisation of Daimler AG, considering cultural and organisational differences?
Based on selected literature the concept of employee satisfaction in international After-Sales organisations is discussed by linking the term of employee satisfaction to employee motivation and intercultural differences.
The centre of this work is an international employee survey which consists of a comparison of nine employee satisfaction criteria, implying that the interviewee has to decide which criterion contributes more to his employee satisfaction.
The different survey results of each nationality are discussed and compared regarding the differently weighted satisfaction criteria. There is no criterion which is commonly ranked to be most important among all three nationalities. The criterion which is ranked either on the first or on the second place in all three nationalities is the “income” of an employee, the second most important criterion is “working climate”. Linking these results to a model of interdependencies, it is revealed that “working climate” is the criterion which most influences the other criteria and can furthermore be easily influenced. As “working climate” is not only the second most important criterion to influence employee satisfaction, but is also the most influencing and influenced criterion, it can be said that “working climate” requires the most attention on behalf of the employer to increase general employee satisfaction.
The statement of this work is that there is no single criterion which accomplishes overall employee satisfaction but there are a few criteria which contribute more to the employees’ satisfaction than other criteria do.
The possibility of applying psychological negotiation methods at the purchasing department ABW2 of the Robert Bosch GmbH was investigated by undertaking extensive literature review and conducting qualitative expert interviews. Additionally, negotiation models and literature from the criminalistics context were analyzed in order to find opportunities to convert successful methods in this field into the business setting. The psychological methods are based on scientific knowledge about personality, emotions and human perception. Several similarities with forensic psychological methods could be identified, which demonstrated the feasibility of adapting methods, such as rapport-building, de-escalation and communication techniques, to business negotiations. Experiments previously undertaken by other authors have shown the potential benefits and improved negotiation outcomes that can be derived by implementing these techniques in negotiations. However, a limitation factor for translating these results directly to the Robert Bosch GmbH is the setting of these experiments. No real life results exist today to the author’s knowledge. Further limitations, areas for future research, and practical implications are discussed.
Reverse Mentoring
(2015)
The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is to give a detailed description of how Reverse Mentoring is applied in practice. Reverse Mentoring is the mentoring of a senior executive person in a company by a younger employee in topics like Web 2.0 and new technologies. Considering current trends like the demographic change, the multi-generational workforce, the digital transformation and the current demands on knowledge management, it becomes obvious that a new form of learning is required for an organization to stay competitive. Nine people that have experienced Reverse Mentoring in their company served as subjects for a study to further investigate about the practical application of Reverse Mentoring. The study was carried out via telephone interviews. The subjects responded to questions regarding the implementation of the program, the formal structure of the programs, the procedure of matching tandem partners, the characteristics of the program’s participants, the challenges they experienced, the positive and negative experiences and the factors they consider vital for a successful implementation. In a next stage the main aspects of the study’s results were compared to findings in literature in order to verify their generalizability and to develop those findings further in theory. The thesis concludes that Reverse Mentoring can be a tool that helps companies to face current trends, and the reader gets a detailed view on how Reverse Mentoring can be applied in a company.
This paper elaborates on key success factors for German negotiators in business negotiations with the Chinese. By reviewing latest research findings, conducting qualitative interviews and developing case studies, this research paper suggests that key success factors in negotiations with the Chinese are in transition. Therefore, this paper highlights the most essential changes in China’s negotiation style and environment, deriving from political, social and economic changes, and the related implications for German negotiators’ key success factors in 2015. Case studies serve as illustration of key success factors. Managerial implications and research limitations are discussed.
Recent work has pointed out the importance of social media for various components of a firm’s marketing communication strategy. However despite the clear movement to use social media as a marketing tool in general, the topic has captured little attention in academic literature, while limited research in general has closely examined online social media channels in the international content. To address this research gap the primary aim of this paper is to assess whether and to what extent international companies do adjust their marketing activities to the UK market. With the main focus on companies Facebook profiles this research paper focuses on the marketing efforts of the top 5 Facebook brands according to their number of followers from August 2014 to September 2015.
Problem: The thesis is about Marketing options for Sharklet retrofit at Airbus. Sharklets are wingtip devices which cut down on aerodynamic drag by reducing the vortices that are formed at the wingtips of any aircraft during flight.1 Airbus is looking for new Marketing options to increase sales of Sharklets. Market research findings from various fields will be highlighted and the relevance for Sharklet retrofit will be reviewed. The leading question during the thesis will be: How should Airbus continue to market Sharklets?
Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to describe which Sales and Marketing strategy Airbus uses at the moment and to find out where the weak points of the actual strategy are. Furthermore it will be analyzed what the actual brand image and brand communication of Airbus Sharklets is and whether it is in line with the desired brand identity. The thesis evaluates in which way Branding, Neuromarketing and Customer Journey Mapping can contribute to a better Marketing and Sales strategy.
Conclusion: Airbus should continue to market Sharklets by starting with a Customer Journey Map and figuring out what the customer is really looking for and how Airbus can react to the customers’ expectations. Sharklets should be marketed as wingtip devices that are environmentally friendly, fuel-saving and modern by guaranteeing that the Marketing material is consistent. Sharklets should be marketed not only on a rational basis. Emotional Marketing can be used to improve the brand image and the customer’s associations with the product. A mix of rational and emotional Marketing would be the best for Airbus to try how the customer reacts to emotional Marketing first. Last but not least Airbus should use the opportunity to better inform passengers about Sharklets and to provide input for In-flight-magazines to position the company itself and the customer as environmentally friendly and modern.
This Bachelor thesis deals with drawing up a new marketing concept for the Villingen Institute of Public Health and the subsequent implementation of one part of the concept. The institute offers further education in the field of Public Health. The aim of the thesis is to find marketing activities which will increase the publicity of the institute and help to canvass a sufficient number of participants for its different courses. Initially, the term ‚Public Health’, the institute as well as the concept of Blended-Learning and services marketing are presented. Afterwards, there were some analyses conducted. The internal factors like marketing measures taken before, strengths and weaknesses of the institute, just as the external factors like the market environment and the competition, are evaluated. Due to a large number of other providers, it is Difficult to survive against one’s competitors. Therefore, the Villingen Institute of Public Health should try to stand out from them, emphasizing its university status as well as the practical phases and the flexibility of its courses. Having a really low marketing budget (over 500 €), the VIPH should use principally onlinemarketing measures, as they are often lower-cost or even for free and are able to reach a large amount of interested persons. On the basis of the mentioned findings, there was a marketing concept developed. After determining the target groups and the positioning within the market, a marketing-mix was made, consisting of the 7Ps of services marketing (product, price, place, promotion, person, physical evidence, process). By means of direct marketing via e-mail, post or phone, some target groups can be reached directly. Supporting web-marketing measures can help to get better-known and to be perceived by more people. Public relations to local or regional media can increase the publicity for the institute. During this work, it has been decided to produce an image-film and to write an entry in Wikipedia, the internet encyclopedia, which should represent the implementation part. Finally, the planning and the realization as well as the first results of the implementation measures are presented.
Diese Bachelor-Thesis beinhaltet die Erarbeitung und Untersuchung zur technologischen Modernisierung einer 15 Jahre alten Hydraulikpresse mit integriertem Schweißsystem. Die Presse dient der Herstellung und Instandsetzung von supraleitenden Magneten für den Large Hadron Collider am CERN. Die technische Herausforderung bezieht sich wesentlich auf die Erneuerung des Regelungs- und Hydrauliksystems. Die zugrundeliegende Ursache liegt nicht nur in der zukünftigen Generation supraleitender Magneten, sondern auch in der Modernisierung des Schweißprozesses. Nach intensiver Einarbeitung in den Aufbau und Funktion der Presse werden Modernisierungsmöglichkeiten erarbeitet und diskutiert. Die Ergebnisse der Analyse dienen vorwiegend der technischen Ausschreibung zur Angebotseinholung. Die Untersuchungen haben gezeigt, dass für eine robuste Regelung der Hydraulik und Schweißtechnik ein separierter Ansatz zur Regelung erforderlich ist. Die Einbindung individueller, regelungstechnischer Lösungen vermeidet Schnittstellen und verbessert die Abbildung des Gesamtprozesses im Regelungssystem. Die Studie der derzeit eingesetzten Benutzeroberfläche zur Regelung wird als Basis für eine mögliche Verbesserung vorgestellt. Schwachstellen werden diskutiert und erarbeitete Verbesserungen erläutert. Die Bedienoberfläche der Hydraulikregelung wird infolgedessen neu entworfen und Lösungen zur Anpassung an verschiedene Magnetlängen implementiert. Dem Hydrauliksystem werden demnach die Druckregelung einzelner Hydraulikzylinder sowie eine metrologische Bestimmung der Durchbiegung des Hauptträgers ermöglicht. Die Durchbiegung der Trägerenden kann hierbei regelungstechnisch minimiert werden. Die statische Abschätzung der verbleibenden Durchbiegung in Abhängigkeit der Magnetlängen wird in der Arbeit beschrieben. Der letzte Teil der Arbeit behandelt die Thematik des obsoleten Schweißsystems und stellt die Umrüstung auf WIG-Kaltdrahtschweißen vor. Das WIG Verfahren erlaubt eine hinreichend große Vorspannung der supraleitenden Spulen und minimiert die Schweißfehler. Basierend auf der Studie wird somit die effiziente Erarbeitung der Marktstudie und der darauf folgenden Angebotsausschreibung ermöglicht.
Die vorliegende Thesis zeigt auf, wie sich die deutsche Kurier-, Express- und Paketbranche (KEP) unter dem Einfluss des bis in die heutige Zeit stark wachsenden E-Commerce verändert hat. Die Entwicklung dieser Branche erstreckt sich vom Brief- und Paketmonopol der Deutschen Bundespost bis hin zur Privatisierung der Deutschen Post AG. Parallel dazu veränderte sich auch die Wirtschaft im Laufe der 90er Jahre durch neue Entwicklungen in der IT-Branche. Seit der letzten Jahrhundertwende hat das Vertriebsmedium Internet kontinuierlich an Relevanz gewonnen, revolutionierte den Warenhandel und digitalisierte viele Branchen des heutigen Einzelhandels.
Besondere Auswirkungen hatte der Aufstieg des Internets auf die KEP-Branche. Infolge der Implementierung von Onlineshops und des Rückgangs des lokalen Einzelhandels, stieg das Paketvolumen im letzten Jahrzehnt aufgrund des damit veränderten Kaufverhaltens und der Digitalisierung des gesamten Warenhandels mit weiterhin wachsender Tendenz deutlich an. Im Laufe dieser Thesis soll daher sowohl die heutige KEP-Branche im Rahmen einer Umwelt- und Wettbewerbsanalyse näher untersucht und analysiert werden als auch der Faktor E-Commerce genauer unter die Lupe genommen werden, um die maßgeblichen Entwicklungen und Innovationen aufzuzeigen. Nach einer kurzen Vorstellung der angewandten Analysewerkzeuge werden die Entwicklungen innerhalb der Branche näher betrachtet. Anschließend erfolgt die Umweltanalyse unter Anwendung von Michael Porters Fünf-Kräfte-Modell und einer PESTLE Analyse sowie die Wettbewerbsanalyse, die sich einer Benchmark Analyse bedient. Eine SWOT Analyse soll die Stärken und Schwächen sowie die Chancen und Risiken der KEP-Branche identifizieren. Abschließend soll eine Prognose Aufschluss über die voraussichtlichen Entwicklungen der Branche, die von vielen externen und internen Faktoren bestimmt wird, sowie des ECommerce geben. Vor allem der große Preisdruck und der Bedarf nach kundenfreundlichen Innovationen sorgt für eine hohe Rivalität innerhalb der Branche. Das E-Commerce agiert dabei als maßgeblicher Wachstumsmotor, der die Branche vor allem durch den enormen Zuwachs im Privatkundenbereich (B2C) weiter antreibt.
Analyse der Berufsgruppe Architekten zur Ermittlung einer zielgruppengerechten Kommunikation für einen Baustoffhersteller
Analysis of the occupational group of architects to determine a communication appropriate to the target audience for a building materials manufacturer
This thesis deals with the specialties of addressing the occupational group of architects in Germany. It examines their role and approach in the process of buying building material with the aim of finding out a suitable way for a building materials manufacturer to communicate with the target audience. For this purpose a secondary analysis of architects is carried out and replenished with a primary data acquisition.
After analyzing the work, role and way of obtaining information of the architect the theory of corporate communication is explained. This chapter shows the requirements and possibilities and examines the features of communication for a business-to-business company. Following the primary data acquisition in the form of expert interviews is carried out. In conclusion the outcome of the secondary and primary research is merged, which allows the derivation of a recommended course of action.
The results show that architects have a powerful role in the buying center and therefore a tremendous influence on the buying process of building materials. However it emerges to be difficult to address the target audience, since they communicate in a passive way. Furthermore the study identifies that architects are artists and builders in one person. This is why it is important to them that their projects do not only look good but are also functional. Another result is that architects often do not feel respected as experts, although they have a wide specialized knowledge. Moreover the research shows that the target audience has to face new challenges with every project, which is why they are always searching for new inspiration and ideas. Finally it emerges that architects feel a special enthusiasm for their occupation and work as well as architecture in general.
From the insights gained it could be derived that the appropriate way to communicate with architects is in two phases. On the first stage the attention of the target audience needs to be won in the right moment, which is why the manufacturer has to show a steady presence. In the second phase the company has to provide all information needed to the architect. In conclusion of this thesis it is highly recommended for building materials manufacturers to address architects in an appropriate way because in the long run it will improve the market position of the company.
This bachelor thesis deals with the topic of a better design for the process of Recruiting of a mid-sized company (WERMA). It should answer the question whether these requirements can be met by the introduction of a digital applicant management system. The goal is to prove whether such a system increases the efficiency and / or effectiveness and how this effect occurs. The question will be discussed with the help of specialist literature, a review of the current candidate process and an employee survey at WERMA. The providers of the digital applicant management systems are consulted likewise for more information. The result shows that it is quite possible to increase the efficiency and effectiveness in Recruitment with the introduction of such a system. The previous processes can be accelerated or they disappear. It emerged clearly that the efficiency is more important for WERMA than effectiveness. The main reason is that the core processes of Recruiting will still be the same. The system helps to operate them faster.
Economic Valuation of Investments in Tangible Fixed Assets of BASF Asia Pacific: Methodology Review
(2015)
The objective of this thesis is to review and evaluate the valuation methodology for investments into fixed tangible assets methodology applied at BASF East Asia Regional Headquarters for the Asia-Pacific region to develop recommendations based on current research. The net present value, adjusted net present value and economic value added approaches are analyzed as well as other key performance indicators, real option analysis and methods of integrating volatility into the valuation criteria. A shift from the currently utilized basic net present value model is suggested as the static nature of the model can oversimplify or exclude many factors relevant to accurate investment valuations. Ultimately, the net present value should be split up to highlight areas of value creation, real options should be integrated into standard methodology and project cash flow volatility should be considered in the process. The latter can be integrated by use of Monte Carlo simulations, which can be re-run at relevant decision tree nods to show volatility differences throughout the projects timeline. These values can then, either via twin-security, market correlation or internally determined scales be integrated into the discount rate, thus effectively adjusting for project specific risk.