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The impact of store atmosphere elements on the purchase behaviour and emotions of customers has an important significance in modern marketing. How to design and conceptualize a store atmosphere in such a way that it provides an unforgettable experience for the customer and entices him or her to arouse an interest in the store environment is one of the most fundamental concerns merchants and marketers must ask and think through these days – likewise, the role of culture in connection with store atmosphere is necessary to understand. The goal of this paper is to answer the question on how behavioural and emotional responses to store atmospheric elements such as visual, aural, olfactory, tactile, social, exterior design, interior design and layout & design differ across individualist and collectivist cultures. A cross-cultural analysis between Germans and non-Germans is made in respect to the posed question. A quantitative online survey was conducted, in which a total of 99 valid participants took part, of which 57 were Germans and 42 were non-Germans. This research extended the study of Barros et al. (2019) and added two more separate store atmospheric elements which are the general exterior design and the general interior design. The data was then analyzed, and the findings were ultimately presented. The findings showed that overall store atmosphere elements have similar emotional and behavioural effects on individualist and collectivist cultures with the exception of the general exterior design element, where a significant difference was found. This paper gives a comprehensive overview on the importance of store atmospheric elements in retail and the comparison between Germany which acts as a country that scored relatively high on the Individualism dimension of Hofstede’s national culture model and the countries Turkey, Russia, Portugal, Albania, Bosnia, Romania, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Iraq which serve as a union of cultures that performed high on the Collectivism dimension. Additional research on the topic needs to be done on how culture affects shopper’s emotional and behavioural responses.
Jährlich sterben etwa 3.000 Menschen bei Verkehrsunfällen in Deutschland. Trotz technischen Fortschrittes der Fahrzeuge und steigender Sicherheit im Straßenverkehr nimmt die Anzahl an Verkehrstoten nur minimal ab. Im Vergleich zu 1950 hat die Zahl an zugelassenen PKW in Deutschland deutlich zugenommen. Um die Anzahl der Todesfälle zu verringern, wurde durch die Europäische Union das 112-eCall Notrufsystem für alle PKW und leichten Nutzfahrzeugen mit einer vollen Typenzulassung ab dem 31.03.2018 verpflichtend eingeführt. Öffentliche Notrufleitstellen sowie der ADAC klagen über häufige Probleme mit dem eCall System. Fahrzeughersteller und andere Firmen dürfen auch ein eigenes eCall Angebot anbieten, wenn gewisse Bedingungen erfüllt sind. Bei Verkehrsunfällen ist eine schnelle Rettung und Transport in ein geeignetes Traumazentrum maßgeblich dafür verantwortlich, welche Überlebenschancen die verletzte Person hat. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die verschiedenen eCall Arten anhand von Leitstellendaten zu untersuchen und zu ermitteln, wie viele dieser Einsätze in den Leitstellen eingegangen sind. Es sollen außerdem die Qualität und die Unterschiede der beiden Systeme in einer örtlichen Analyse ermittelt werden.
In dieser Bachelorarbeit wird die Bedrohungslage durch den Einsatz von frei erhältlichen Drohnen zur Beeinträchtigung der Informationssicherheit von Organisationen umfassend untersucht. Unter Verwendung einer Kombination aus Literaturanalyse, Experteninterviews und Fallstudie wird die Vielfalt der Bedrohungen und die Machbarkeit von Drohnenunterstützte Angriffen auf die Informationssicherheit detailliert beleuchtet. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Drohnen eine reale und vielschichtige Gefahr darstellen. Die Einschätzung der Eintrittswahrscheinlichkeit solcher Angriffe ist aufgrund der dynamischen Entwicklung der Drohnentechnologie und der Vielfalt der Anwendungsmöglichkeiten komplex. Diese Arbeit betont die Notwendigkeit für Organisationen, effektive Abwehrstrategien zu entwickeln, und weist auf die Wichtigkeit weiterer Forschung in diesem Bereich hin, um den Herausforderungen der technologischen Entwicklungen und der sich ständig ändernden Bedrohungslandschaft gerecht zu werden.
This thesis aims to ascertain whether the concept of job sharing might be a solution for organizations to adapt their company values to meet the changing principles of society. The shift in demands results from the younger generations seeking different values in their free time, which also influences the demands at work. The disbalance between organizational and individual values leads to employee dissatisfaction and increasing turnover rates. The part-time concept of job sharing is on the rise regarding new work opportunities. Therefore, subtopics including flexibility, work-life balance, gender balance, and diversity in the workforce are positively encouraged through job sharing. The data and research in this thesis are obtained from existing literature on the work concept. Most previous research has focused on the influences on individuals and less on multiple levels within a company. The findings of this paper state that job sharing can significantly impact the value shift of a company in many different facets. Nevertheless, the concept also provides a large number of requirements on several levels which need to be adjusted to benefit from the concept.
This paper analyses five different Cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin and Litecoin, and studies their impact on traditional financial portfolios under different allocation strategies. The allocation strategies under consideration in this paper are the modern portfolio theory according to Markowitz, an extension of it such as the tangency portfolio, and the equally weighted portfolio. Further, this study explores the effect on the efficient frontier when Cryptocurrencies are added to the efficient portfolios. In addition to that, the paper aims to examine whether the mean – variance portfolio optimization according to Markowitz outperforms the naïve and tangency portfolio strategy. The portfolio performance is evaluated based on the Sharpe ratio. The quantitative analysis of this paper covers the time period from 2017 to 2022, in total five years. In accordance with the existing literature on portfolio optimization with Cryptocurrencies, the study reveals that besides some issues related with Cryptocurrencies such as cybercrime and a lack of regulations, Cryptocurrencies can be beneficial for portfolio diversification with traditional financial assets. Referring to the portfolio strategies, the study highlights that the optimal mean – variance portfolio and tangency portfolio do not differ significantly in terms of Sharpe ratio. However, both strategies outperform equally weighted portfolios.
University-Industry Collaboration (UIC) is considered by academics and industry as a vital factor that has the power to both positively and negatively impact the open innovation (OI). To contribute to the literature and to identify challenges as well as to conceptualize some recommendations to help industries, this thesis raised a question:
what are the challenges of UIC and what recommendations can be made to solve the challenges. The main research objective was to recognize the determinants of UIC challenges. An empirical study was conducted in order to give an answer to the research questions and to meet the research objective. This research explicitly focused on students/interns and internships to analyze and to discover the challenges and solutions since students or internships are the least researched area in the field of UIC research. Participants were personally contacted with the survey link that was created online to conduct explorative research with the help of close-ended (quantitative) and open-ended (qualitative) questions. The results reveal that there are numerous challenges students face during the internship and thus these most likely hinder the successful UIC and ultimately successful OI. According to the results obtained from both quantitative and qualitative sections obvious and major challenges lie in innovation mediators ‘organizational culture’. From the quantitative result perspective only, major challenges are in the area of absorptive capacity and supervisors' support, internalization, and trust. Similarly, from the qualitative results perspective only, major challenges are bad crisis management, communication, and hierarchical structure.
This paper aims to create a foundation for further, in-depth research of the topic Indigenous entrepreneurship in Colombia and other countries, as well as to facilitate the analysis of obstacles in Indigenous businesses. To answer the research question, seven experts are interviewed using semi-structured interview guides based on several deductive categories. The findings are then analysed through a thematic content analysis before they are presented and discussed.
The results show that there are various inter-connected obstacles impeding more success of Indigenous businesses in Colombia, which are not sufficiently studied and addressed. The most important obstacles are corruption and marginalization, as well as resulting conditions like a lack of infrastructure and education. This study emphasizes the importance of, and encourages the realization of further,
profound research regarding this and related topics.
An average investor trying to allocate his wealth among multiple assets ideally has nearly infinite possibilities to do so. However, asset allocation strategies try to facilitate this process. Nevertheless, no consensus exists on which strategy is ideal and yields the best performance. Therefore, this paper aims to determine an ideal asset allocation strategy for an average investor by comparing two asset allocation strategies.
The focus is on comparing the practical application of Markowitz’s Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), a sophisticated asset allocation strategy, with an equally weighted asset allocation, namely the 1/N strategy. The past performance of these two strategies is compared with the help of a calculation example based on historical data. The quantitative analysis covers three time periods of different lengths between 1991 and 2022. Also, the strategies are applied to portfolios with different amounts of assets during these periods. Although the existing literature is very controversial concerning the performance of the two strategies, this research shows a clear result. Compared to the 1/N strategy, this study’s findings show an outperformance of the MPT strategy during every period and each portfolio combination. However, the difference in performance regarding return and risk is minimal in most scenarios and would not significantly affect an average investor who invests over a long-term horizon.
Agri-Photovoltaics is a novel renewable energy technology. Amid rising climate change concerns, integrated photovoltaic systems are gaining in importance. Problems such as the increasing scarcity of land and the sealing of fertile soils are becoming more and more serious. Land consumption is often at the expense of agriculture. Farmers are struggling to cope with the ever more difficult conditions due to the effects of climate change. Therefore, the world must increasingly deal with dual use of land. However, especially in Germany the technology of agri-photovoltaics is not yet very advanced. The objective of this thesis is to identify the potential of this technology for the energy transition in Germany. Furthermore, the economic potential for regional farmers in Germany will be elaborated based on an investment appraisal of a vertical agri-photovoltaic system. The application possibilities of agri-photovoltaics are versatile. The work shows that already today farmers in Germany can diversify their income by investing in an agri-photovoltaic system. The costs are higher than for ordinary ground mounted systems, however the land can still be used for agricultural purposes. The investment calculation is carried out in different scenarios. Particularly, the remuneration per kWh as well as the discount factor are decisive for a positive net present value project. The results of this work show that the potential of agri photovoltaics is high for both the energy transition in Germany and the economic benefits for regional farmers. For an increasing expansion of the technology, more precise legislation and appropriate subsidies for agri-photovoltaics are needed.
Currently, the technology is insufficiently covered in German legislation, which needs to be addressed.
The following study examines the influence selected variables have on the price of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin by utilizing a multiple linear regression model. Data of 267 observations for each variable during a five-year period from 13 August 2016 to 1 October 2021 are analyzed. The results present empirical evidence on the relationship of Bitcoin and external determinants such as traditional financial assets, in particular the stock market, the bond market, domestic currencies, the real estate market, gold, and the popularity of Bitcoin, represented by a Google Trends analysis. The findings imply that only the stock market and the real estate market proxies significantly influence the price of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
Private equity investors acquire companies, aim to increase the company’s corporate value and thus aim at selling the respective company at a profit after some time. To increase the value of their portfolio companies, private equity investors employ three main value creation strategies. Financial leverage, multiple expansion, and operational value creation. There has been a significant shift in importance between these three value drivers. While in the 1980s more than 50% of value creation was achieved by leveraging equity with the help of debt capital, this value driver only accounted for 15% in the 2010s. Instead, the value driver operational value creation has gained significantly in importance. It alone accounted for 55% of total value creation in the 2010s, more than financial leverage and multiple expansion combined. The aim of this thesis is to answer the question which operational value creation levers private equity investors use to increase the value of their portfolio companies during the holding phase. In addition, the thesis deals with the question of operational value creation drivers of the future. These are derived based on prevailing megatrends of the future. Research on the operational value drivers used by private equity investors revealed that these drivers can be assigned to three main aspects.
These aspects are, on the one hand, financial aspects, where private equity investors take measures to improve working capital. Moreover, within the framework of financial aspects private equity investors influence the cost structure as well as the cost of capital and the capital structure. Furthermore, private equity investors assert influence on the governance structures of their portfolio companies. For the aspect of governance, measures such as replacement of management/change of management structure, monitoring and controlling as well as incentive systems were identified to increase the value of the company. Another identified aspect for value creation are strategic aspects. In terms of strategic aspects, private equity investors use the levers of mergers and acquisitions, organic expansion, outsourcing/insourcing as well as product and pricing strategies.
The research on the value creation levers that private equity investors will have to apply in the future in order to ensure value creation of their portfolio companies is based on the megatrends of digitalization, demographic change and sustainability. The research revealed the implementation of digitalization measures, employee, and talent management as well as the implementation of ESG criteria.
This thesis has structurally outlined value drivers that contribute to value creation in private equity investments. The research also showed that value creation levers taken can directly and indirectly influence the value of the portfolio company. Value drivers II with a direct effect on the change in equity value affect either revenue, margin or net debt, while the indirect value drivers affect the valuation multiple.
Cybersecurity threads are a huge problem for all sizes of businesses. The traditional way of protecting valuable resources in the IT-Industry is a perimeter based security strategy. To ensure proper access rights for resources, firewalls, and other network-based inspection tools were used. The current move to the cloud undermines classic security strategies by blurring borders. The Zero Trust approach does not rely on edges and borders to ensure network security. Instead, all connections have to be verified and authenticated individually. In this thesis, a zero trust security model in a heterogeneous open source environment was verified. The three main observations were:
A zero trust architecture is possible, but the implementation is difficult. Half of the issues discovered must be covered by organisational measures. The tools available to cover technical measures are not developed enough. This is expected to change in the near future, as varoius companies already identified this issue.
This research identifies positive and negative influence factors by examining the effectiveness of digital video advertising. The objective is to discover ways of leveraging
these factors successfully through an extensive literature review. As this ad format has developed into a staple in most brands' media strategy, it is valuable to drive
understanding of effective implementation forward. Three brands that utilize digital video advertising are selected for an analysis of their recently published ads. This analysis is supported by a suggested model that was developed based on advertising literature to assess ad effectiveness. Results show that the perceived intrusiveness of an ad and the consequential ad avoidance behaviours in consumers represent a hindrance to ad effectiveness. In contrast, elements used in an advertisement that increase its value facilitated ad effectiveness. Credibility, entertainment and informativeness are ad value contributors and impact ad recall, the gateway to positive marketing outcomes such as purchasing decisions. The circumstances under which consumers are exposed to digital video advertisements play a role in if the ad message can effectively be conveyed.
While negative influence factors have their detriment, they can still be counteracted and leveraged. Advertisers and ad-supported video streaming sites like YouTube can find
ways to broadcast ads without significantly impeding the user experience and, in doing so, secure the continued profitability of this promotion format that depends on users
watching ads.
Einfluss des Klimawandels auf die deutsche Weinindustrie - Zukunftsanalyse für die deutschen Winzer
(2022)
Die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit gibt einen Überblick über die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf die deutsche Weinindustrie. Das Ziel war es, die zukünftigen Risiken wie auch Chancen für die deutschen Winzer zu ermitteln und anhand der Ergebnisse Handlungsempfehlungen für die zukünftige Weinindustrie zu entwickeln. Um die Forschungsfragen zu beantworten, wurde eine Szenario- Analyse durchgeführt, welche sich an den deutschen Winzern orientiert. Dabei wurden die Einflüsse betrachtet und anhand dieser wurden unterschiedliche Zukunftsprojektionen erstellt. Die Szenario-Analyse zeigte, dass die deutsche Weinindustrie bei den aktuellen Entwicklungen des Klimawandels deutlich als Gewinner hervorgeht. Dennoch müssen Winzer und andere Akteure der Wein- industrie heute bereits wichtige Entscheidungen treffen und sich den Bedingun- gen anpassen um in der Zukunft die entstehen Chancen nutzen zu können.
Prior research found extremeness aversion effects to be common and robust. Nevertheless, most research neglected the spatial arrangement's influence on a consumer's choice and placed the compromise option of a choice set simultaneously in the spatial middle. Following these findings, five bachelor theses were conducted to investigate both aspects by analyzing numerical and spatial choice architectures – their data comprised three online surveys and three field experiments. This study aimed to compare their findings and analyze their data sets to search for overarching effects. Therefore, we hypothesized that there is either information-format compatibility or a general tendency towards the spatial middle of a choice set. To research this hypothesis, we brought the data sets into a comparable format, analyzed our findings, and conducted t-tests to test for statistical significance. Even though the study could not find overarching effects across the data, it supports the notion that a choice set's spatial arrangement, like the numerical one, can influence consumer behavior. Furthermore, it led to valuable insights for future research approaches concerning expanding extremeness aversion into a spatial dimension.
Growing environmental awareness, especially among young generations, is reflected in the willingness to accept price premiums for sustainable and recyclable products. In recent years, marketers have focused on reinforcing consumers’ attention and interest in green goods by increasing the effectiveness of various sustainability information on product packaging.
In this thesis, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) investigated the effect of visual and verbal recycling claims on product packaging upon the willingness to pay (WTP). Although findings showed no changes in WTP related to a visual claim, the presence of a verbal claim positively impacted the WTP in two of four cases. Further, significant interactions between the two factors were detected. The results suggest that students considered an imagery seal irrelevant during product evaluation, whilst communicating recycling information with a textual message or with a conjunction of both claims showed a tendency to improve price-value perception. However, results for the verbal and interaction effects showed variations across products. Therefore, one may not draw unequivocal assumptions from the findings of this study without research replication on a larger scale.
Due to technical advances, multisensory technologies have gained traction in the research and development of many industries. With the launch of virtual and augmented reality systems, the potential for these technologies increased even further. The senses of vision and hearing have long been integrated into current products, leading to the assumption that olfactory stimuli are likely to be included soon to stimulate the sense of smell.
With this trend, the issue of implementation into current digital products and services arises, as odors currently cannot be captured in one place and released in another on a large scale. Therefore, this thesis deals with the nature of smell from a cognitive psychological and technological viewpoint. We show why it makes sense to stimulate the sense of smell in multisensory experiences and present early and current technical standards. In addition to this, we conducted expert interviews enabling us to provide insights into the digital scent and olfaction industry. Among other aspects, our results suggest that there are fundamental challenges that developers have to overcome and that a successful implementation depends on the business application.
In two experiments, this empirical research examines consumers’ willingness to pay and the likelihood of purchase decisions by thoroughly investigating the neural, behavioral, and psychological properties of packaging design. A general theory is tested by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a NeuroPricing online survey on consumer behavior using the example product Tassimo. Hypotheses are tested with 592 German consumers who evaluated the packaging of Tassimo coffee. A closer look at the neural data from the brain imaging experiment shows that uncertainty can arise among consumers with regard to sustainable packaging and this can have a negative impact on the purchase decision and willingness to pay. The results from both experiments show that it is not possible to make a holistic statement as to which sustainable or enjoyment-focused packaging design increases the likelihood of a purchase decision or the willingness to pay. Implications for future packaging design research and underlying complexities with sustainable packaging are discussed.
This paper aims to evaluate the European Green Bond market's current state by analyzing the issuer countries, types, and sectors. Moreover, the impact of regulatory developments in the last two years on the market is analyzed. As a basis for discussion, both literature review and qualitative research in the form of a semi-structured interview were conducted. The interviews were held with four market experts to gain insight into the actual market's reaction to the EU Green Bond Standard and the upcoming EU Taxonomy. In detail, the following questions are answered: What is the current state of the European Green Bond Market? How many bonds are currently issued in Europe and in which countries? Which entities are the most active issuers, and to which sectors do they belong? What are the current developments with regards to regulations? How might upcoming regulations affect the market actors? The European green bond market made up 45% of the global market in 2019, dominated by Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, and Italy. The market is still in its growth phase, with the amount issued nearly doubling each year. With the introduction of an EU Green Bond Standard, detailed standardization and framework is established. It will help issuers to overcome market barriers such as the risk of greenwashing and helps in identifying eligible projects. However, with the alignment of the EU GBS, an entity has to align with the extensive EU Taxonomy as well, which represents entry barriers to else willing corporations. Whether an activity counts as green or not based on thresholds is defined by the classification of economic activities. The thresholds are heavily discussed in the market as either too high and excluding whole sectors from the market or too low and not ambitious enough. The alignment with the EU GBS and thus with the EU Taxonomy is connected to various efforts. Nonetheless, it offers a great chance for the market by emphasizing the need for climate action. Through this, a strong green market can emerge and hopefully impacts the world positively.
Many entrepreneurs are still conducting business today according to the principle "the purpose of business is business". The focus here is primarily placed on the corporation’s profits while human relations within the enterprise are almost completely ignored. Humanity and business are, after all, seen as two mutually exclusive concepts. However, results of studies undertaken by well-known research institutes, such as Gallup, indicate this management style to be inefficient for businesses in the long run as the resulting low emotional bond of employees with their companies generates high costs for organizations.
For this reason, the present paper examines the extent to which humanity and business are really two mutually exclusive ideas and provides an answer to the research question of whether taking a human approach in a business is a crucial factor for its success. In addition, the possible effects resulting through the integration of humanity in business are analyzed.
To provide an answer to the research question, the currently most recent working challenges in organizations as well as their corresponding demands were first worked out. Subsequently, the human being - with a specific focus on human emotions and emotional needs – was closer examined due to its significance in the company. Finally, the possible effects achieved by taking a human approach in a business were presented on the basis of two already human-oriented corporations. All researches were predominantly based on primary sources as well as on the results of a self-conducted qualitative interview.
The results of all investigations clearly suggest that taking a human approach in an organization is a decisive factor for its success. In addition, it was established that human interactions even help enterprises in achieving astonishingly quick and long-lasting financial successes.
It is therefore plain that it is necessary for companies pursuing the goal to be successful in the long-term to break free from the common principle of "the purpose of business is business" and instead be more open to new forms of management, such as "Humanity and Business".
Zur Stabilisierung der Konjunktur im Zuge der Covid-19-Krise hat die Bundesregierung Deutschlands mit der vom 01. Juli bis 31. Dezember 2020 eingeführten temporären Mehrwertsteuersenkung auf ein noch neuartiges konjunkturpolitisches Instrument zurückgegriffen. Dieses ist zentraler Teil eines mit 130 Milliarden dotierten Konjunkturpakets.
Ziel dieser Arbeit ist, die Wirksamkeit zentraler Elemente der Konjunkturpolitik anhand der damit verbundenen Anforderungen zu untersuchen und die Mehrwertsteuersenkung in diesem Kontext auf ihre Eignung zur Konjunkturstimulierung zu überprüfen. Zur empirischen Untersuchung wurden Experteninterviews mit Wirtschaftswissenschaftlern und betroffenen Verbänden durchgeführt. Die ersten richtungsweisenden Erkenntnisse aus den Interviews, Praxisbeispielen und bestehender Theorie zeigen, dass die Mehrwertsteuersenkung zwar zeitnah und temporär umgesetzt werden konnte, jedoch als wenig zielgerichtet und effektiv zu bewerten ist. Der von der Bundesregierung erhoffte Konjunktureffekt ist als gering zu beurteilen und kam Krisengewinnern stärker zu Gute als besonders betroffenen Branchen. Im Kontext der pandemiebedingten Krise wird zudem die grundsätzliche Wirksamkeit nachfrageorientierter Maßnahmen sowie die praktische Handhabung und zeitliche Koordinierung der Mehrwertsteuersenkung kritisch hinterfragt.
In 2013 China's President Xi Jinping announced a new project. In his vision, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) creates and opens trade routes between China and western countries, mostly the Middle East, Central Asia, Afrika, and Europe, via maritime and land routes. These trade corridors should establish and improve trade relationships often by high investments in the infrastructure.
The motivation behind the initiative is manifold. On the one hand, China wants to become more independent from the Western industrialized countries by building a new economic system. On the other hand, it wants to consolidate and expand its geopolitical influence.
China's state-owned banks have been the largest investors in the Belt and Road Initiative so far, but China has also been able to attract major EU countries such as Germany, France, the UK, and others to jointly establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and invest in BRI projects through it.
Although German companies are hoping to participate in the Belt and Road because they expect significant economic benefits, the German government is refraining from concluding an agreement with China for the time being. The EU is somewhat skeptical about the initiative, but no sanctions or interventions have been taken from its side so far. Yet, the EU is split, and countries such as Greece or Italy have already signed an agreement with China and thus received financial support for their infrastructure.
This bachelor thesis explains the Belt and Road Initiative in detail, tries to highlight the motives behind it and illustrates the impact the Belt and Road Initiative has on Germany and the EU and which implications this has for the German economy.
The topic of traditional fashion retailers fighting for their position against growing e-commerce suppliers has been omnipresent in recent years. Therefore, it is important to understand what possibilities modern technology and innovation has to offer, and how these innovative technologies can be leveraged to achieve traditional brick-and-mortar-retailer’s goal of staying relevant and competitive.
The objective of this thesis is to examine and compare the effectiveness of different in-store digitalization concepts and technologies in retail organisations, analyzing different challenges such as the practical implementation in stores, customer adoption and acceptance factors in context of socio-demographic, and measuring the success of the concepts. Also, the current situation will be explored to see what is already being done today and where there is more potential using different approaches and technologies. For this purpose, a variety of studies, papers and other literature will be analyzed and put into context with the research topic.
Concluding the thesis, we find that all technologies and its practical applications affect relevant variables in different models such as TAM, the convenience/social presence model, and the customer decision-making process. Besides that, the socio-demographic variables geography, age and gender all influence adoption and readiness towards technology to a certain extent. Finally, we give examples on how the technologies can influence classic fashion retail KPIs.
Die bisherige Forschung zu nachhaltigen und sozial verantwortlichen Investitionen konnte finanzielle, nichtfinanzielle und soziale Einflussfaktoren für die Investitionsentscheidung nachweisen. Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Identifikation der wichtigsten Motiven und Barrieren, die junge Menschen in Deutschland beim Investieren wahrnehmen. Dafür wurde eine Umfrage mit 354 Teilnehmern, die zwischen 18 und 25 Jahre alt waren, durchgeführt. Es wurden Daten zu neun Motiven und elf Barrieren erhoben. Entgegen der Annahme, dass nichtfinanzielle Motive überwiegen, zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass junge Menschen vor allem an einen Trend von nachhaltigen und sozial verantwortlichen Geldanlagen glauben und davon profitieren möchten. Junge Menschen sind demnach vom Wachstum des Marktes überzeugt. Als wichtigste Barriere wurde Informationsdefizite der Anleger angenommen. Die Erkenntnisse aus der Studie zeigen jedoch, dass für junge Menschen die Intransparenz der Anlagen die relevanteste Barriere darstellt. Unternehmen, Anbieter und regulierende Marktteilnehmer sollten, um das Wachstum des Marktes zu fördern, Maßnahmen einleiten, die diese Barriere abbaut.
Do Meat-Eating Consumers Use Organic Meat to Rationalize the Consumption of Conventional Meat?
(2021)
This thesis explores how meat-eating consumers may be able to rationalize the consumption of conventional meat by believing to substitute a certain amount of it for organic meat. The underlying rationale is that the positive associations elicited by the organic label and the favorable beliefs consumers have formed about organic meat enable them to use it as a moral license. Building on cognitive dissonance theory, this work specifically investigated whether (1) meat-eaters perceive organic meat better than vegetarians and (2) meat-eaters overestimate how much organic meat they consume. German meat-eating and vegetarian participants were recruited for a study (n=156) to answer these questions. The results show, first, that organic was generally rated as better than conventional meat on all dimensions surveyed, and to a greater extent by meat-eating than by vegetarian respondents. Second, meat-eating participants on average reported estimates of organic meat consumption that were significantly higher than the population mean, indicating that consumers may not eat as much organic meat as they believe. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that organic meat might be used to rationalize unsustainable food choices.
Sustainability, encompassing the economy, the environment, and society in equal parts, is an increasingly prominent topic that is gaining in importance and awareness due to the climate crisis and the resulting urgent need for action. It is essential to simultaneously focus on the global and on the local scale in order to create a paradigm shift. This study addresses the attitude-behavior gap of employees in the daily operations within companies and evaluates how nudges can be implemented to narrow this gap. A literature review was conducted to understand the separate topics of sustainability, the attitude-behavior gap, and nudging. Based on these three topics and their interrelation, exemplary nudges on habits and on infrastructure to be applied in a company and modified to its needs are developed. The method of implementation of nudges cannot be generalized because (1) attitudes and behavior and their interrelation are individual and influenceable factors and (2) the corporate context and how nudges are communicated impact the effectiveness of the interventions. Investing in internal sustainability practices in combination with indispensable external practices leads companies to a holistic, authentic, and successful approach towards becoming a sustainable business.
Keywords: Attitude-Behavior Gap, Nudging, Corporate sustainability
Die vorliegende Bachelor-Thesis beschäftigt sich mit der Täuschung auf maschinellem Lernen basierender Schadsoftwareerkennung unter realitätsnahen Bedingungen.
Neben der detaillierten Betrachtung des Forschungsgegenstandes werden hierfür, die vom aktuellen Forschungsstand hervorgebrachten Angriffe, hinsichtlich des Effektivitätskriteriums der Über- tragbarkeit auf zum Angriffszeitpunkt unbekannte Modelle, evaluiert und ein speziell für diese Bedingungen konzipierter, iterativer Ensemble-Ansatz zur Generierung von übertragbaren Adversarial Examples vorgestellt.
Die aus den Untersuchungen stammenden Ergebnissen zeigen, dass die Leistung herkömmlicher Verfahren, unter wirklichkeitsnahen Bedingungen oder im Einsatz gegen kommerzielle Produkte, stark abnimmt. Weitere Erkenntnisse der Forschung umfassen den Ausschluss eines linearen Zusammenhanges zwischen verfügbarem Wissen und Evasionserfolg, die Steigerung der Übertragbarkeit durch Zunahme der Ensemblegröße sowie die Einsatzfähigkeit der entwickelten Methodik gegen kommerzielle Antivirus Produkte.
Die Inhalte der vorliegenden Thesis verfolgen dabei einen rein edukatorischen Ansatz, der durch das Aufdecken von sicherheitsrelevanten Schwachstellen als Handlungsimpuls für Betreiber kommerzieller Antivirus-Lösungen dienen und nicht zum Begehen von Straftaten animieren soll.
Der Frauenanteil in den Führungsetagen der deutschen Wirtschaft stagniert seit Jahren auf einem niedrigen Niveau und spiegelt nicht im Entferntesten den Anteil weiblicher Beschäftigter wider (vgl. Tonn 2016, S. 11). Vor allem im Top-Management sind Frauen deutlich unterrepräsentiert. Die Grundannahme dieser Bachelorarbeit besteht darin, dass Frauen grundsätzlich motiviert sind, Führung zu übernehmen und die gleichen Potentiale wie Männer besitzen. Um eine Führungsposition einzunehmen, müssen die Rahmenbedingungen passen. Aufgrund biologischer Unterschiede und der Sozialisation präferieren Frauen andere Rahmenbedingungen als Männer. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Frage untersucht, was sich aus Sicht der Frauen verändern müsste, damit sie ihr Potential entfalten können. Dazu wurden 50 weibliche Probandinnen aus unterschiedlichen Branchen befragt. Die systematische Betrachtung der Aussagen ergab im Wesentlichen folgende sieben Aspekte: Gestaltungsfreiheit, Unterstützung zu Beginn und in der Führungsposition, Vertrauen, eine gute Feedback- und Fehlerkultur, die Vereinbarkeit mit dem Privatleben, Menschlichkeit im Fokus und attraktive Anreize. Des Weiteren konnten durch die Ergebnisse Handlungsoptionen abgeleitet werden, um strukturelle und kulturelle Rahmenbedingungen zu gestalten, die talentierten und motivierten Frauen einen einfacheren Zugang zu mehr Führungsverantwortung verschaffen.
Many companies are struggling with the decision of whether they should invest resources in the new app TikTok to communicate and develop their employer brand. Therefore, this thesis addresses, the question: Should German companies invest in TikTok as an employer branding tool? As this topic is not well researched yet, this work is based on individual opinions of HR professionals and opinions on the internet. There is no scientific verification of the accuracy of the statements made in this paper.
To answer this question, interviews with 14 German HR experts have been conducted. Afterwards, the interviews have been summarized and evaluated. The results show that the answer to the research question depends on several factors.
TikTok is considered as a suitable tool if the company’s DNA correspond to that of the application and if enough personal resources are available. Also, if the target group and their needs match the young audience and if the company has already gained experiences on social media. Furthermore, the uploaded content should be authentic and involve motivated representatives of the target group (age 16 to 24). The company must give those employees full support, trust and freedom. Nevertheless, they should also invest in their training and let them know what is desired. The content on TikTok should be informative, short, in the language of the audience and the company should act as an adviser. Employer branding content should be published infrequently and only once a community has been built. The app should be understood as an awareness channel and it should not be expected to bring many applicants immediately. Firms should weigh the positive and negative sides and use the above factors to decide whether TikTok fits their own company.
The success of TikTok can be explained, for example, due to the dopamine release when watching videos on social media and the complex algorithm behind the app, which filters only relevant videos for the individual preferences of each user. Moreover, other hormones such as adrenalin and oxytocin are released, as well. The variety of sounds available and the possibility to share the content with other social media platforms, could also lead to a high popularity of the app. The short videos are favorable for the short attention span of social media users and not often being interrupted by any comments or advertisements makes watching TikTok videos fun.
This research examines whether a company's popularity is a determining factor for its attractiveness among employees. For this purpose, two groups of subjects were asked to rate the attractiveness of an identical job advertisement. The only difference between the groups was that one group was led to believe that it was the job advertisement of a well-known company, whereas the other group was presented with the advertisement of a rather unknown, but in terms of activity and prestige comparable company. The results suggest that the familiarity of the company does indeed influence popularity to a significant degree. Implications of this finding are also further explored.
A Descriptive Study on Customer Attitudes towards Green Branding in the Fashion Industry in Germany
(2021)
This paper attempts to provide an up-to-date representation and analysis of customers' attitudes towards green branding in the fashion industry and their willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainable and ethical clothing in Germany. Related literature strands are reviewed to understand how the fashion industry works, what green branding means, and how customer attitudes are shaped. After creating an attitude measurement model, an online questionnaire was designed and sent to Furtwangen University students, with 153 valid responses returned. The descriptive analysis sheds light on the three attitudinal components related to sustainability and ethics in the fashion industry. It is noted that customers do not hold a definite attitude. However, a tendency towards the positive end is ascertained. Significant gaps still exist in terms of knowledge and awareness of some commitment by fashion brands. Another huge factor influencing attitudes appears to be a lack of trust. The behavioral component showed that customers are trying to contribute through proper disposal and are willing to buy sustainable and ethical clothing more often. However, there is still some room for improvement in terms of customer education. Nevertheless, it is found that they are willing to accept an additional contribution for sustainable and ethical clothing. In general, it can be concluded that there is a foundation to improve the fashion industry towards more sustainability. However, all stakeholders, i.e., customers and fashion brands, as well as the government, need to work together to change the industry in the long run.
Differences in the perception and their effects on the implementation of organizational agility
(2021)
This thesis paper investigates the differences in organizational agility implementation and links practical approaches to complex theory. Several agile transformations have been studied to provide an overview of the common guidelines that foster agile working. In alignment with the ambivalence of agility, the results show that a symbiotic mixture of bottom- up and top-down features in the application is required. Especially in traditional organizations, where hierarchical structures prevail, the practical implementation requires the approval of managers and the active involvement of employees to be successful. Additionally, companies cannot apply a uniform approach to achieving agile but must alter practices to fit their specific needs. Consequently, this paper can be particularly beneficial to companies attempting an agile change.
Pro-environmental attitude is, on many occasions, a weak indicator for pro-environmental behavior. Personal interests interfere with the human desire to follow normative goals during the decision-making process, which may result in the unpleasant state of attitudinal ambivalence. The more balanced two contrary attitudes are, the higher is the chance for external persuasion as it may decrease the internal ambivalent conflict. However, moral informational interventions seem not to cause the desired behavioral change but may instead increase the sense of resignation and guilt. This paper aims to set focus on the attitude-behavior relationship in the concrete example of plastic-packed food and how post-decisional evaluations vary when either individual (hedonic or gain goal) or collective motives (normative goal) are being followed. Measured indications for actual disengagement or attitude adaption are relatively weak but felt ambivalence in the case of immoral decisions could be demonstrated in the form of response times. Practical conclusions that may facilitate pro-environmental behavior are being presented at the end of the work.
Funding is the key to success for a start-up. Since start-ups are often operating in innovative industries, they rarely receive loans from traditional debt lenders such as banks. However, start-ups do have the option of acquiring money for company growth through equity financing. One possibility for this is venture capital. In this scope, Germany is significantly behind the United States of America due to various aspects. This problem shows the relevance of the topic and justifies the critical examination of this subject. This work aims to analyze the German venture capital market, its development over the last 20 years, its advantages on the one hand and its disadvantages on the other hand as well as its future perspectives. Beyond that, the differences between the German and the American venture capital market and its success factors are presented. To answer all research questions, a broad literature review in combi-nation with several conducted expert interviews, which are evaluated on the principle of the qualitative content analysis according to Mayring, is applied. The results of the analysis indicate that there are mainly three fields that are crucial for a successful venture capital market: Political actions, attitudes of the society, and the economic situation. Within these fields, some aspects of Germany are considered worse than in the U.S. In the United States of America politics often intervenes to create better conditions for investments via venture capital. Besides, the risk affinity of society in the U.S. is a major advantage compared to the risk-averse society in Germany. This is complemented by a pronounced start-up mentality in the U.S. and the positive attitude of society towards the failure of a new start-up. In Germany, the opposite can be found in both aspects. Nevertheless, the German venture capital market has developed positively in recent years and has some advantages, such as a wide range of government grants for start-ups and the opportunity for investors to earn high returns on the initial investment. All experts that were interviewed are very confident that venture capital in Germany will continue to develop positively. They identified the reasons for this evolution in an increasing number of start-ups and better skills among the founders, which increases a start-ups' chances of success. For this reason, the experts forecast rising yield expectations, as well as an increasing number of venture capital providers, and venture capital takers. This research also indicates that the volumes of venture capital funds will rise, and the COVID-19-pandemic will accelerate the development of venture capital in Germany. The results of the research clearly show that despite some weaknesses, the German venture capital market has been on a good path for several years, and that there is a high probability that the growth will continue in the future.
When scaling, startups face managerial challenges and a downfall in innovation. A growing team and the resulting increased communication and organizational complexity bring issues previously not existing. Accountability Systems can assist startups overcome the mentioned issues and maintain their essence of innovation, vital for their success.
This paper discusses the relevance and benefits of implementing formal managerial systems in a growing startup. By mapping out the interdependence of culture, innovation and growth, it is demonstrated how Accountability Systems can support the preservation of an innovative culture when scaling a startup.
In a time when innovation is often disregarded due to a focus on process efficiency, Accountability Systems can provide a valuable tool for managing transition. This thesis serves as a general evaluation of Accountability Systems and their benefits. It is important to note that this paper is not intended to serve as a directly adaptable guide for startups.
This thesis talks about the relation between investor sentiment, stock return and trading volume in the German stock market. Six Granger causality tests were performed in order to determine, whether one of the above mentioned factors is indicative of the others. The results imply that investor sentiment is indicative of both, stock return and trading volume in the specified time period. However, there is no further significant evidence for other relations among the variables. The results are mostly in line with the literature available on this topic and back up the importance of the concept of investor sentiment as investor sentiment delivers an attempt to explain why investors behave irrationally on the stock market. Hence, the factors influencing investor sentiment should be subject to further research in order to gain a broader understanding of the topic.
An analysis of the inter-rater reliability of ESG ratings within the consumer staples industry
(2020)
The aim of this study is to gain further insights into whether ESG ratings of the same firms from different rating agencies differ. To this end, this study examines and compares in particular the ratings of the providers Bloomberg, Sustainalytics and MSCI for companies in the consumer staples industry. The study comes to the conclusion that there are in some cases significant differences between these three providers in terms of the respective ESG ratings. Furthermore, a company-size bias is shown for Bloomberg and Sustainalytics ESG ratings. It appears that these agencies rate companies with a large market capitalization better than firms with a lower market value. These large discrepancies in ESG ratings of companies within the consumer staples industry and individual rating problems, such as the company-size bias, mean that today's ESG ratings tend to be not reliable and not valid. The study shows that ESG ratings will have to change a lot in the near future in order to contribute positively to the investment selection of socially responsible investors.
This thesis proposes the adoption of renewable energies as a means to foster economicdiversification in oil and gas dependent rentier states. Surprisingly, oil and gas endowment does not always imply wealth and prosperity, mirroring the on-going debate whether natural resource dependent countries are blessed or cursed by their resource abundance.
This thesis seeks to bridge this gap by focussing on rentier states and the question whether rentier states are cursed or blessed. Based on the example of Oman, the proposed approach will be closely assessed. Additionally, the Sultanate’s challenges stemming from natural resource dependence and its preparedness for a post-oil era will be investigated.
Moreover, this thesis will analyze whether a paradigm shift in Oman’s energy sector can mitigate prevailing challenges and support the country’s economic diversification.
These three research questions will be answered through surveying and analyzing literature and data pertinent to the research topic. Findings indicate that rentier states tend to be more vulnerable to the resource curse and the impending fossil fuel depletion as it could cause public outcry and political and economic turmoil. Oman as a rentier state faces a grim post-oil era, fueled by many challenges, including dwindling oil and financial reserves, productivity losses driven by labor market distortions and rapid population growth.
Finally, findings suggest that the combination of economic and energy diversification can have strong positive effects on the Omani economy, such as freeing oil and gas reserves for export revenues, job creation, and private sector strengthening. However, Oman’s renewable energy industry is still in its infancy and faces various challenges, ranging from absent policies and adequate financing to heavily subsidized fossil fuels. As of now, the proposed approach is overly ambitious as the installed renewable energy capacity is too low to create significant employment opportunities or to free oil and gas for export purposes. However, heightened volatilities and economic shocks in recent years were eyeopening for the Omani government and have resulted in stronger efforts to enforce economic development plans. Similarly, the political transition after the death of Sultan Qaboos injected new impetus into Oman’s economy, which will facilitate the diversification of economic bases.
This study is aimed at valuing two companies in the IT services industry with different valuation approaches. Therefore, the preconditions for an accurate and meaningful business value as well as the procedure, strengths and limitations of these approaches are examined. Additionally, the accuracy of the results is determined through comparison of valuation estimates with their corresponding stock prices occurring within the three months following the business valuations.
Furthermore, it is examined if one valuation approach is superior in terms of accuracy. Finally, to verify the quality and explanatory power of the valuation results, they are compared with the outcomes of the study on the information content of equity analyst reports by Paul Asquith, Michael B. Mikhail and Andrea S. Au. The results of the business valuations show that within the three-month period, no price target was exactly achieved by the corresponding stock prices.
Furthermore, no valuation approach could be determined that is significantly more accurate than the others. It can be concluded that despite some limitations in the explanatory power of the valuations, the average percentage approximations of Mastercard’s and Visa’s stock prices to target prices were only slightly below those of the comparative study. In view of the fact that the research capacities and experience behind these business valuations are significantly lower than those of the top analysts in the comparative study, the results are considered consistent with the outcomes of the study on the information content of equity analyst reports.
New developments in decentralized ledger technologies may have a huge impact on how we perceive and use money now and in the future. Most notably, it has led to the development of cryptocurrencies and a variation thereof –stablecoins. This thesis discusses the potential impact of Proof of Work based cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin on the money market and the central bank’s ability to maintain control over the money supply. The IS-LM model is used to evaluate the effects of a private-issued digital currency. However, due to the characteristics of POW based cryptocurrencies, their impact on the money market is neglectable. In contrast, private-issued stablecoins of large international businesses with the potential of gaining enough users to overcome hindering network effects may pose a serious threat to the financial system, if there is no regulation on their usage.
As a response to this development and combined with the phenomenon of a declining cash usage in many countries, central banks have started to conduct research in their own digital currency, namely central bank digital currency (CBDC). Countries such as Sweden or The Bahamas have already started with the implementation of trial phases of their respective CBDC. However, design choices of the country’s digital currency differ due to financial, geographical, and cultural circumstances, among others. Nevertheless, many countries have utilized decentralized ledger technologies as the underlying technology for CBDC, showing its promising potential for further research and future developments.
Industry 4.0, a term coined at Hannover Messe in Germany in 2011, is believed to be the next disruptive force, driving human progress and innovation. The advent of technologies, such as the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and new Mobile Technologies, fuel this disruption. To enable Industry 4.0, mankind is dependent on technological infrastructure, provided by companies, operating in the semiconductor industry. Over the last years, these companies have increased their profits and their stocks are currently trading near all-time highs. Yet, uncertainty created by the disruption of Industry 4.0, the growing influence of China on the semiconductor market, economic insecurities created by political uncertainties, like the 2020 US Presidential election, and the risk and implications of a second global wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, make the equity valuation of leading and established companies in the semiconductor industry exceptionally challenging. This paper examines, how different equity valuation methods compare under said circumstances and shows sophisticated valuation methods must be used to limit valuation error. Further, this paper gives an estimation of the possible ranges of value and suggests the industry may currently be overvalued.
What happens in a situation in which an individual is given a quality task for no compensation while knowing that someone else receives a reward for the same effort? If a performance drop occurs, does the individual's fairness sensitivity play a dependent role? These questions are approached theoretically and experimentally within this thesis. As a foundation, the most critical insights from the psychological investigation of extrinsic rewards and its impact on intrinsic motivation and performance are reviewed. Furthermore, relevant findings regarding fairness are introduced from varying fields of research. The conducted double-blind experiment suggests with limited confidence that the higher an individual's fairness sensitivity in a situation of perceived unfair treatment, the lower the performance.
This paper proposes to consider the influence of transparency in leadership styles on work performance and satisfaction. In an experimental setting, a pair of strangers were advised to solve a Sudoku in a digital environment under time pressure. With an induced hierarchy, the leader was able to view the task and the timer, whereas only the subordinate was enabled to actively edit the riddle. The treatment group was told to transparently communicate the intended leadership style during the preparation phase. The results indicate that transparency has a significant positive effect on the performance and the satisfaction of the teams. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that transparency may not be the direct cause of improved performance and satisfaction. Yet it might be crucial in establishing trust between the leader and subordinate, causing a positive effect on the two dependent variables. The paper is concluded by discussing limitations, practical implications and considerations for future research.
Prior research on choice in context demonstrated extremeness aversion to be very effective on consumers’ purchasing behaviour. However, it seems that previous studies have neglected to investigate the impact of the spatial arrangements of choice architectures on consumers purchasing behaviour. Based on indications of prior research, we pursued to demonstrate in this study that consumers who are uncertain regarding their
preferences tend to search for alternatives in the middle of a choice architecture. Therefore, we hypothesized that an alternative, positioned in the middle of a choice architecture, will present a relatively higher choice share. To research this hypothesis we conducted an online survey mainly in Central Europe, which involved a total number of
901 respondents at the age between 15 and 95. The study’s results demonstrate that the decision making of the majority of the participants is heavily influenced by a choice architecture’s spatial arrangement. It became evident that the choice share of one
alternative was higher when presented in the middle of a choice architecture than when presented in the periphery.
Sales promotion are commonly used tool by marketers to manipulate consumer toward a certain offer or product. Attractiveness of a promotion can increase the demand of the promoted product. Monetary and non-monetary are considers the two main types of sales promotions. Monetary sales promotion, also known as price promotion, will provide immediate price discount upon purchase, for example 50% discount. Non-monetary sales promotions or premium promotion, on the other hand, usually grant consumer an extra free product or additional service for free. Previous studies also demonstrated that different sales promotion affect consumer behavior differently. Consumers’ value perception can be influenced by several factors. For instance, marketers use specific “phrase” such as “value pack” to influence consumer price perception. Rationally, consumers’ value perception should remain unchanged regardless of the phrases use to describe the promotion with same discount value. In this study, we examine the impact two sales promotion those are “50% discount” and “buy one get one free” on value perception of Thais consumers. These two deals have equal economic value but perceived differently by consumer. We aim to answer the question “does two different deals with the same value impact value perception of the same product differently?” In order to obtain logical answer, two set of questionnaires were send out to observe the maximum price which consumer willing to pay for “instant noodles” and “soy protein powder”. Unfortunately, the result from our survey were not significant enough for us to derive a concrete conclusion. We also discuss about potential cause of the unexpected result and interpret our result for better understanding. Even without a significant finding, this paper address that different sales promotions impact consumer in various ways supported by other literatures and also self-assumption.
Die Biografie- und Erinnerungspflege stellt eine Behandlungsform für die unheilbare Demenzerkrankung dar. Hierbei wird versucht durch Aktivitäten, welche einen Bezug zu der Vergangenheit des Menschen mit Demenz haben, Erinnerungen auszulösen. Dies hilft der an Demenz erkrankten Person ihr Identitätsgefühl zu festigen.
Im Rahmen dieser Bachelorarbeit wurde eine innovative Anwendung entwickelt, welche interaktive und multimediale Bilder für die Biografie- und Erinnerungspflege bereitstellt. Mit diesen Bildern kann der Mensch mit Demenz interagieren, indem er auf einzelne Objekte drückt und daraufhin ein thematisch passendes Medium präsentiert wird. Die interaktiven Bilder werden automatisch, mittels Machine Learning, erstellt. Des Weiteren wurde ein Recommender System implementiert, welches basierend auf den Präferenzen des Menschen mit Demenz, Inhalte für eine Biografie- und Erinnerungspflegesitzung vorschlägt.
In the light of incremental environmental degradation, social awareness and resource depletion along with high and volatile resource prices, food packaging manufacturers in Germany increasingly perceive pressure towards the implementation of circular business models. However, there does not exist any data neither about the current deployment of circular business models nor about the active efforts dedicated by manufacturers in the German food packaging industry while in many cases there is lacking expertise of how to implement circular business models. This thesis is going to close this gap by conducting a systematic observation of 41 food packaging manufacturers’ product portfolio and company policy in order to identify the current state of deployment and active efforts dedicated to the implementation. Moreover, the most applicable measures will be analysed in order to capture the level of circularity in the focal industry, while providing a step-by-step guidance of how to implement circular business models. There was found that the German food packaging industry is characterised by an open-loop approach since manufacturers focus on circular inputs but neglect the reuse and recycling of packaging materials. Besides, there could be identified six highly applicable metrics, which measure a range of different fundamental aspects of the circular economy. Finally, there was found that the process of implementing circular business models can be structured into four phases, whereas a set of key enablers permits food packaging manufacturers to overcome certain barriers and facilitates the implementation of circular business models. The conclusion was drawn that food packaging manufacturers in Germany still show noticeable potential for enhancement in order to increase circularity, especially by launching circular product designs, the reuse of certain types of food packaging and implementing a more holistic approach of circular business models.
Cultural considerations for Germans working with Japanese in virtual teams for project management
(2019)
In today’s globalized and multinational working world, being part of a team that uses technology in order to cross distance, time zones and even organizations, a so-called virtual team is becoming increasingly common. While extensive research on this topic is available, most of the current research is very theoretical and only in part useful for a member of a virtual team in order to enhance performance. A clear guideline on how to effectively work in an intercultural virtual team is not existent at this point.
This research, aims to produce a clear guideline for Germans working in virtual teams with Japanese in the style of the Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide. Identifying the key challenges of virtual teams and the specific cultural differences of Germans and Japanese, based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model are the starting point for this research. Due to the specificity and the novelty of this research a grounded theory approach has been taken and in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 Japanese employees, who regularly work in virtual teams with Germans. Grounded in the experiences and challenges of the participants, the findings help construct a guideline for Germans working with Japanese in virtual teams.
Results are structured according to 4 of the key challenges virtual teams face: trust, communication, leadership and technology/knowledge sharing. The guideline addresses the different communication styles of Japanese and Germans, differences in hierarchical thinking as well as the more collectivistic point of view of many Japanese. The guideline, that has been produced, is intended as a quick guide including recommendations for Germans to enhance their virtual team work with Japanese.
Many articles claim that the structure of a self-organizing team achieves the highest level of agility. Therefore, this paper examines the assumption about the agility of self-organizing teams. This is done through a qualitative secondary research which answers the following questions:
1. What are the required attributes for a workforce to be agile?
2. What are the characteristics and attributes of self-organizing teams?
3. Do self-organizing teams fulfill the requirements of an agile workforce? If yes, how?
Through literature reviews the requirements that make a workforce agile and the characteristics of self-organizing teams are observed. It is considered that if the characteristics (which makes up the structure) of self-organizing teams fulfill the requirements of an agile workforce, this claim is then believed to be valid.
The results of such an examination shows that an agile workforce needs to be empowered, capable and competent, adaptive and flexible, team oriented, cooperative and collaborative and continuously given feedback and trained. Similarly, the observed characteristics of self-organizing teams describe them to be autonomous, communicative and collaborative, redundant and reconfigurable, cross-functional, team oriented and capable of learning.
Through an analysis of the findings, it is confirmed that self-organizing teams fulfill the basic requirements of an agile workforce. Therefore, self-organizing teams are considered to be agile. Finally, companies that seek agility are advised to adopt the structure of self-organizing teams.
Purpose – To empirically examine the impact of a set of influencing factors on B-to-B sales call success from a buyer, salesperson and neuroscientific perspective
Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was conducted to find potential non-economic influencing factors and a set of hypotheses was generated. Subsequently, findings were verified through an expert interview. Then two surveys examining the buyer and sales perspective were carried out and hypotheses were tested. Lastly, results were aimed to be explained from a neuroscientific perspective.
Findings – The results show that trust, emotion and empathy are positively correlated to sales call success. However, communication, listening skills, empathy, appearance and personality variables were on average still perceived as somewhat important for sales call success by both survey groups. Neuroscientific literature could provide insights into the effects of trust, emotion, appearance and extroversion on sales call outcome.
Research limitations – The sample size permits only a general analysis and conclusions. Buyers participating in the survey tended to evaluate sales calls as rather successful, leading to an underrepresentation of “unsuccessful” sales calls in the data set. Neuroscientific literature provided insights but could not fully explain the suggested model.
Practical implications – Emotional and non-economic factors including trust, positive emotion and empathy should be part of a successful sales methodology so that the effects of these factors are considered to improve the outcome of sales calls