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Beim Kauf eines Produktes achten Kunden heutzutage nicht mehr ausschließlich auf den Preis. Durch das Internet lassen sich alle Aspekte von Kaufpreis über Produktfeatures einfach und unkompliziert vergleichen. Vor allem in Krisenzeiten gewinnen Aspekte aus dem Servicebereich, wie Garantie, immer mehr an Bedeutung. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, für die KaVo Dental GmbH eine Strategie im Servicebereich mit Fokus auf die Garantiebestimmungen in der Business Unit Instrumente zu entwickeln, mit der die auftretenden Probleme minimiert werden können. Dazu wird der Dentalmarkt und der Wettbewerb analysiert und anhand eines definierten Produktportfolios die Probleme und Herausforderungen erarbeitet. Daraus resultieren zu kurze Garantiezeiten und hoher Druck der Konkurrenz. Mithilfe einer Unternehmen- und Complaintanalyse wird die interne Situation des Unternehmens betrachtet. In dieser Arbeit werden Ansätze erarbeitet, wie diesen Herausforderungen entgegengewirkt werden kann, Diese Ansätze werden mit einer Entscheidungsmatrix miteinander verglichen und bewertet. Aus dieser Bewertung lässt sich die Handlungsempfehlung für das Unternehmen ableiten. Mit der Umsetzung dieser definierten Empfehlung kann das Unternehmen und die Marke KaVo am Markt mit Innovation und „Service Excellence“ profitieren.
Das Unternehmen XYZ befindet sich in einer entscheidenden Phase in der Umsetzung der Digitalisierungsstrategie. Im Rahmen dieser Strategie wird die neue Unternehmenshomepage mit dem neuen Onlineshop gekoppelt. Die Plattform fungiert zum einen als zeitgemäßer Onlineauftritt und zum anderen soll dadurch ein neues Rollenverständnis für das Unternehmen geschaffen werden. Herzstück der Plattform ist die mit dem Onlineshop verbundene Onsite Suchfunktion.
Ziel dieser Arbeit ist Teile der Strategie zu analysieren und teilweise kritisch zu würdigen. Um die Suchfunktion für den neuen Onlineshop neben grundlegenden sprachlichen Features zu erweitern, wurde eine Umfrage mit ausgewählten Mitarbeitern durchgeführt.
Die Ausgangssituation dieser Arbeit ist das Unternehmen zu präsentieren. Darauf aufbauend wird die Schnelllebigkeit der Digitalisierung erläutert, sowie die Reaktion des Unternehmens darauf. Kern der Arbeit ist die Analyse von User Experience (UX)- und User Interface (UI)-Komponenten des Shops sowie die Suchfunktion im Allgemeinen, als auch im Kontext von XYZ zu beschreiben.
Darauf erfolgt die Erklärung der Methodik der qualitativen Datenerhebung, welche für die Umfrage eingesetzt wurde. Anschließend werden Ablauf, sowie die dazugehörigen Ergebnisse dargelegt. Das letzte Kapitel liefert einen wertenden Ausblick auf Teile der Ergebnisse und fasst die gesamte Arbeit nochmals reflektierend zusammen. Abschluss der Arbeit bildet eine Diskussion, sowie ein persönliches Fazit.
The project business in the packaging machine industry is highly volatile. Although the industry is steadily growing, firms face increasing financial constraints due to external, difficult to control, factors. This thesis examines the underlying concepts and processes of a Supply Chain Finance implementation, using the Syntegon Group as an empirical example. Due to the extended payment terms of customers and the currently undergoing refinancing measures, the analysis about potential liquidity increasing measures becomes extremely relevant for Syntegon. The research questions covered focus on cash liquidity increases, working capital improvement and alternatives to Supply Chain Finance solutions.
This research aims to provide an informed recommendation about the implementation of Supply Chain Finance. The research is divided into two major parts. The first part discusses the underlying theoretical frameworks to understand the concept of working capital and supply chain management. These concepts are of great importance for the understanding of Supply Chain Finance and its relevance in today’s globalized world. The second part focuses on a detailed empirical analysis of the Syntegon Group. Hereby, the qualitative research involves expert interviews with various departments of the Syntegon Group. The answers of the interviewees are evaluated based on the different categories. This allows for a direct comparison of the interviewee’s answers.
The quantitative analysis consists of the key figure analyses. These allow an informed statement about the current financial situation of the group. By calculating potential payment term extensions and the consequential cash flow opportunities, an estimation about the benefit of the implementation of Supply Chain Finance can be made. Lastly, the cost-benefit analysis of implementing such a solution versus receiving the money as a bank loan is determined.
The results of the calculation and analyses have shown that payment term extensions offer large cash flow opportunities for the Syntegon Group. Receiving a bank loan in the same amount as the unlocked working capital would result in a lower benefit.
Although further research beyond this thesis is needed, the clear benefits of implementing a Supply Chain Finance solution to increase liquidity are demonstrated.
This thesis deals with the CO2 footprint of the Porsche Taycan. Porsche aims to become a carbon neutral company by 2030 and is therefore looking for potentials of improvement. This thesis intends to find solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of the Porsche Taycan over its entire life cycle.
First, the thesis deals with the theoretical framework of conducting a Life Cycle Assessment based on the DIN EN ISO 14040 and DIN EN ISO 14044 standards. Then, the Porsche Taycan and its battery system are introduced.
A CO2 hotspot analysis is carried out for the entire life cycle of the battery of the Porsche Taycan Turbo S and thus potential for improvement is identified. The main CO2 hotspots are… [DELTED FOR CONFIDENTIALITY REASONS].
Furthermore, an Excel tool is built to model the entire life cycle of the Taycan. This tool is used to carry out a sensitivity analysis for selected parameters. The analysis shows how sensitive the carbon footprint reacts to changes and thus helps making decisions upon where improvements can be made.
Based on the two analyses it is, among other things, recommended that Porsche… [DELTED FOR CONFIDENTIALITY REASONS].
In Anbetracht der anthropogen verursachten Veränderung des Klimas seit Beginn der Industrialisierung werden Unternehmen zur Verantwortung gerufen. Das Treibhausgas Kohlenstoffdioxid und seine Erfassung dienen Firmen als Werkzeug, ihre umweltschädigenden Praktiken zu messen und Reduktionsmaßnahmen durchzuführen. Dies ist besonders für energieintensive Sektoren, wie der deutschen Automobilindustrie, von Bedeutung. Viele Unternehmen konzentrieren sich auf Reduktionen des CO2-Ausstoßes innerhalb der eigenen Produktion, jedoch werden diese innerhalb der Lieferkette Experten zufolge nicht genügend ausgeschöpft. In diesem Zusammenhang wird in dieser Bachelorarbeit der Status Quo bei Automobilherstellern und Maßnahmen zur Reduzierung der CO2 Ausstöße entlang der Lieferkette betrachtet.
Zunächst wird der Nachhaltigkeitsbegriff und seine politischen Rahmenbedingungen vorgestellt, um die Komplexität und die Multilateralität des Begriffs festzulegen. Anschließend wird die deutsche Automobilindustrie, ihr CO2-Fußabdruck und Möglichkeiten, ihn zu reduzieren, näher betrachtet. Als Fazit kann festgehalten werden, dass zahlreiche Maßnahmen zur Messung und Reduktion der Emissionen existieren, es jedoch der Branche, Experten zufolge, noch einer gewissen Einheitlichkeit bezüglich der Berechnungs- und Erfassungsmethoden bedarf.
Außerdem müssen Potenziale zu CO2-Reduktionen innerhalb der Lieferkette noch weiter ausgeschöpft werden. Bedeutende Hindernisse sind jedoch die massiven Investitionen, die Zulieferer zur Einhaltung von CO2-Grenzwerten tätigen müssen.
Ferner stellt das praktische Fallbeispiel Maßnahmen und Ambitionen des Automobilherstellers Daimler vor und vergleicht diese mit dem Konkurrenten BMW. Die Maßnahmen der beiden Hersteller zeigen Gemeinsamkeiten auf, jedoch unterscheiden sich die Strategien hauptsächlich in den unmittelbaren Hauptschwerpunkten und den Planungshorizonten. Außerdem kritisieren Experten besonders die widersprüchlichen Ziele und ihre Auswirkungen, wie beispielsweise der stets wachsende Materialverbrauch.
In der Gesamtbetrachtung lässt sich folgendes Fazit ziehen: Unternehmen sind sich ihrer Verantwortung bewusst, der Erfolg der Maßnahmen wird sich jedoch erst in Zukunft zeigen. In Anbetracht potenziell strenger werdender Richtlinien und weiter fortschreitenden Megatrends befindet sich die Zukunft der automobilen Lieferkette in einem spannenden Umbruch.
Global warming and its impacts on the environment, the human being and the economy are one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. With the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration being the main driver of global warming, the necessity arises to address the issue of carbon dioxide emissions. Next to the avoidance, the reduction and the compensation of emissions, negative emissions are moving into the focus of decision-makers in politics and in the economy. These can be created using either nature-based methods or negative emission technologies. The paper “Methods for generating negative emissions: Are negative emission technologies a climatically and economically viable alternative to nature-based methods?” aims to answer the research questions whether negative emission technologies are a more effective instrument to create negative emissions than nature-based methods and, under which circumstances an investment in these technologies is reasonable for a company.
The method used to answer the questions is a literature research to perform a comparison of two examples. The afforestation project Bonn Challenge serves as example for a nature-based method to create negative emissions while the Direct-Air-Capture plant “Orca” by the company climeworks AG is used as an example for a negative emission technology. A benefit analysis is conducted to assess the effect on carbon dioxide concentration and a net present value calculation is carried out to enable an investment decision under different scenarios.
The paper finds that Direct Air Capture is a more effective way to reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide than the afforestation. The crucial advantage of the technology is the permanent storage of the removed carbon dioxide and the immediate carbon dioxide effect. Furthermore, the results of the net present value calculation imply that in the short-term an investment in negative emissions is not economical. In the long run, rising prices for emission certificates and the possibility to sell removed and stored carbon dioxide or to offer carbon dioxide removal as a service can make an investment in negative emission technologies like Direct Air Capture reasonable. A condition for that is that the cost of carbon dioxide removal with Direct Air Capture is reduced to 100 $/tCO2 between 2026 and 2031 depending on the applied interest rate.
Based on the found results, the paper suggests that from a climate protection perspective, negative emission technologies should not be seen as alternatives to nature-based methods but that different approaches to create negative emissions must be combined to meet climate targets. The paper also proposes that prices for emission certificates in the EU-ETS should be increased as soon as possible in order to promote an investment in negative emission technologies. Also, further research using more detailed data and covering more aspects is recommended.
There is a growing trend for multinational enterprises to send their expatriate employees on international assignments to achieve corporate development, human resource goals and to gain a competitive advantage in the global context. Therefore, the performance and productivity of international assignees play a major role for them and the organization. However, expatriate research has so far rarely taken into account the factors that do not directly relate to expatriate performance. Instead, research has focused on expatriate success and failure. However, the literature shows that neither can yet be clearly defined. Therefore, this study instead focuses on expatriate performance and productivity by placing special emphasis on literature gaps. Hence, in this study the importance of several factors is tested, namely: 1) overall international experience, 2) informal social networks, and 3) expatriate family. As this research aims to develop practical approaches to managing critical circumstances when relocating overseas, a link between theory and previous study findings has been established. To provide a point of departure for Global People Transitions GmbH, a special focus has been placed on organizational support and intercultural training. The data have been collected through guided expert interviews with six participants, three of them expatriates, two expatriate spouses, and one repatriate. The study results have found that the tested factors have an impact on expatriate adjustment and, consequently, on expatriate performance and productivity. In addition, several aspects to improve expatriate performance and productivity have been identified, such as providing organizational support or creating structures and routines. Lastly, it has become clear that research on international assignments is very elusive due to several underlying factors that influence the matter.
Durch die Covid-19 Pandemie kam das Thema Home-Office in aller Munde. Die Arbeitsweise des mobilen Arbeitens eignet sich hierbei nicht für jede Tätigkeit gleichermaßen.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden die Führungskräfte betrachtet. Das Ziel ist es zu untersuchen, ob ein bestimmter dominierender Führungsstil sich besonders für das Führen von Mitarbeitenden im Home-Office eignet und ob Führungskräfte mit verschiedenen Führungsstilen diese Arbeitsweise anders einschätzen. Dafür wurde eine quantitative Studie durchgeführt, die von Führungskräften Einschätzungen zur Eignung von kreierten Szenarien sowohl im Büro als auch im Home-Office einholt. Spezifisch wurden die Teilnehmenden dabei in die dominierenden Führungsstile des Bosses und des Coaches klassifiziert und anschließend zu ihrer Einschätzung der Eignung des Arbeitsortes in verschiedenen Szenarien befragt. Diese Studie zeigte, dass die hier betrachteten Führungsstile und der Arbeitsort einen Effekt auf die Einschätzung der Eignung hatten. Hierbei zeigte sich, dass die Teilnehmenden, die mit dem dominierenden Führungsstil des Coaches klassifiziert wurden, die Eignung der Szenarien für die Arbeit im Home-Office positiver einschätzten.
Weitere Forschung hierzu könnte sich sowohl mit der Sicht der Mitarbeitenden auf die Führungsstile beschäftigen als auch weitere spezifische Gruppen und Tätigkeiten betrachten.
Die Fast-Fashion-Industrie ist Vorwürfen der mangelhaften Umsetzung von Nachhaltigkeitsstandards ausgesetzt. Die einzelnen externen Stakeholder fordern deshalb, nachhaltige Unternehmensstrategien konsequenter umzusetzen. Zielsetzung dieser Arbeit ist es, die Fortschritte innerhalb der nachhaltigen Entwicklung der Textilwirtschaft zu durchleuchten sowie den Istzustand anhand zweier repräsentativer Unternehmen festzustellen. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf den sozialen und ökologischen Aspekten des Sustainable Supply Chain Managements. Eine Betrachtung der aktuellen Entwicklungsfortschritte in der nachhaltigen Baumwollgewinnung, der umweltfreundlichen Verpackungsherstellung sowie der Reversen Logistik bildet dabei den Schwerpunkt der Analyse, da diese Faktoren bisher nur unzureichend in der Literatur untersucht wurden.
Anhand der beiden Firmen H&M Group und Inditex wird aufgezeigt, inwieweit diese nachhaltigen Praktiken in den beiden Großkonzernen bereits aktiv gelebt werden. Die abschließende Betrachtung zeigt auf, dass insbesondere in der ökologischen Dimension der Textilwirtschaft erste Fortschritte vorhanden sind. Im Hinblick auf geplante gesetzliche Lieferkettenbestimmungen ist es künftig entscheidend, auf die praktische Umsetzung der sozialen Dimension einzugehen, um über die Gesetzgeberseite positive Impulse auszulösen.
The objective of this paper is to build on well-established theories like extremeness aversion and extend those to a spatial context. Extremeness aversion occurs as disadvantages loom larger than advantages. Therefore decision-makers tend to avoid the extremes and choose the middle alternative, implying that a product that becomes the intermediate alternative becomes more attractive. However, a vast majority of literature seems to neglect spatial aspects. Therefore, we propose that positioning a product in the middle of a choice architecture will lead to a relative increase in likelihood of its being chosen. In a six-week field experiment in a retail market, we displayed three choice sets of different categories. Results are inconsistent with previous research, as there was no increase in choice for the product positioned in the middle of the choice architecture.
Service in industrial manufacturing is a field with a lot of potential for development. The industrial automation company SICK rises to the challenge by developing a service-oriented business model. The disadvantages of the free of charge loan for customers, created the idea to implement a rental model for the testing phase. This bachelor thesis analyzes the service implementation in manufacturing industries and classifies the rental model in the context of service-oriented business models. Further the rental model on the example of a non-contact motion sensor is evaluated and further characteristics are developed. Moreover, the loan and rental process are compared in order to analyze the effort created by the rental model. The main goal is to analyze the need of a service-oriented business model to make a recommendation about the implementation for other products besides the non contact motion sensor. To develop a theoretical background of the topic of service-oriented business models, the researcher refers to literature in the field of service in manufacturing and business models. A practical approach applies to the analysis of the development of the rental model as a business model. Further,expert interviews are conducted to make a recommendation based on the expert’s opinions. In conclusion, manufacturers have further potential to develop service-oriented business models. The core business of the industry is manufacturing which makes it risky to further develop the service portfolio. The findings indicate that the rental model as a service-oriented business model should be an additional option for the testing phase for higher priced products at SICK.
The health of employees has been gaining in importance for several years and has become a strategic competitive advantage over other companies. With the increased attention to the health of employees, the importance of corporate health management is also growing. In the meantime, the number of offers for health promotion in the company is increasing. Nevertheless, many employees cannot be reached with these offers. However, many of them would need to change to a health-promoting lifestyle.
For this reason, it is even more important not only to concentrate on the sporty employees, but to create effective access to the inactive employees. Accordingly, this paper addresses the important question of how to reach these hard-to-reach employees and motivate them for a sustainable and health-promoting change in behaviour.
For this purpose, a qualitative study was conducted through interviews with former participants of a behaviour change programme at the Horb plant of Bosch Rexroth AG. The focus was on answering the question on how to create access to the hard-to-reach employees. Moreover, the question was asked about ways to support employees in maintaining this behaviour.
The research results showed that talking to employees in combination with a direct proposal for action is the biggest driver for change. This conversation can happen at different levels, through former participants and colleagues, managers, but also through experts or the company medical officer. Creating a programme for employees that is attractive and provides great benefits is crucial. A significant benefit is also the creation of a group dynamic. In addition, it is important for participants to both maintain the behaviour and receive support from the employer after the programme. By incorporating these strategies into the programme, the employee can successfully change their behaviour and subsequently sustain it.
One size fits all? A multicultural marketing perspective on the U.S. market for luxury watches
(2021)
The purchase of luxury goods like mechanical watches is experiencing steady growth and it is increasingly shifting to e-commerce platforms, also due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, there are culture-related different motivations to purchase those items. One size fits all? According to this question it was investigated if there can be several cultures detected and if they show a different purchase behavior along the customer journey that can be explained with one of the six dimensions of Geert Hofstede (2001). Therefore, several hypotheses along the customer journey are set to find out if there are still ethnical backgrounds that have an influence on the buying process of the U.S. customers. The focus for this research lies on Asian Americans and Hispanics in comparison with the 'Rest of the USA', including ethnic groups like White Caucasians, Afro Americans, and many more.
In order to answer the research question, a quantitative study was deducted with the help of Google Analytics. It provided several Key Performance Indicators like for example sessions, bounce rates, session durations, purchased brands, and many more on Chrono24’s marketplace in the USA.
The study shows that the observed cultures in fact have different characteristics along the customer journey, but not every hypothesis could be explained conformingly with one of Hofstede’s dimensions. Consequently, a one size fits all customer journey does not exist. Additionally, the work suggests how further research and cultural adaptions can lead to optimized customer journeys on a marketplace.
Demografische Entwicklungen, wie der zukünftige Nachwuchskräftemangel aufgrund einer alternden Gesellschaft und dem Geburtenrückgang, stellen Unternehmen zunehmend vor neue Herausforderungen. Die Personalentwicklung im Unternehmen muss, auf die aus den verschiedenen Entwicklungen resultierenden Bedürfnissen der einzelnen Mitarbeitenden in einzelnen Lebensphasen angepasst werden.
Daraus ergibt sich folgende Forschungsfrage: Wie kann Maxon seine Personalentwicklung, unter Berücksichtigung der Ziele und Ressourcen des Unternehmens, anpassen, sodass die Bedürfnisse der Mitarbeitenden in ihren Lebensphasen befriedigt werden und gleichermaßen attraktive Angebote für jede Generation verfügbar sind?
Um diese Forschungsfrage zu beantworten, wurden qualitative Interviews mit Mitarbeitenden des Unternehmens durchgeführt. 16 Mitarbeitende aus dem technischen und kaufmännischen Bereich wurden zu den Themen Lebens- und Berufsphasen, Personalentwicklung, sowie zwei weiteren Benefits, betriebliches Gesundheitsmanagement und Sozialleistungen, befragt. Die Interviews geben Aufschluss über die Bedürfnisse der befragten Personen in den unterschiedlichen Generationen und Lebensphasen. Es geht hervor, dass vor allem Flexibilität in der Einteilung der Arbeitszeit eine große Rolle spielt. Dies trifft vor allem auf die befragten Personen, in der Lebensphase Elternzeit, Pflege oder selbst initiierte Weiterbildungen, zu. Auch der Wunsch nach einer flexibleren Gestaltung der Personalentwicklung wird geäußert. Dies kann vor allem durch Online-Weiterbildungen realisiert werden, die rundum positiv bewertet werden. Persönlichkeitsentwicklung und mentale Gesundheit haben vor allem bei der Generation X und Y einen hohen Stellenwert. Diese Generationen äußern das Bedürfnis, diese Themen im Rahmen der Personalentwicklung intensiver zu behandeln, um Stress und Burnout vorzubeugen. Die befragten Personen der Generation 50+ wünschen sich mehr Personalentwicklungsangebote für ihre Altersgruppe. Bei dem Umgang mit digitalen Medien ist bei dieser Generation ebenso Entwicklungsbedarf festgestellt worden.
Durch die Coronapandemie wurden die kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen (KMU) in eine schwere finanzielle Lage gebracht. Die von Bund beschlossenen Coronahilfen sollten den angeschlagenen Unternehmen helfen, ihre Umsatzeinbußen auszugleichen. Durch eine Umfrage bei KMU und Experteninterviews wurde die Situation der Unternehmen im Bezug auf die Hilfen betrachtet und neue Lösungsvorschläge erarbeitet.
Social Media spielt in der heutigen Zeit für viele deutsche User eine wichtige Rolle im Alltag. Doch aufgrund der hohen Nutzungszahlen, werden die sozialen Netzwerke inzwischen nicht mehr nur für freizeitliche Aktivitäten benutzt, sondern sind auch bei Unternehmen eine beliebte Möglichkeit Konsumenten auf sich aufmerksam zu machen.
Und nicht nur im B2C-Bereich werden die sozialen Netzwerke genutzt, sondern auch immer mehr B2B Unternehmen verwenden die sozialen Netzwerke um Aufmerksamkeit für sich und ihre Produkte zu wecken. Aufgrund der geringen Ressourcen die dafür aufgewendet werden müssen, bieten sich bei Social Media vor allem für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen viele Möglichkeiten.
Die vorliegende Arbeit wird daher zunächst die theoretischen Grundlagen über die Zielgruppe und die bevorzugten Interaktionsmöglichkeiten der User erläutern, während im nächsten Schritt Social Media und insbesondere die Plattformen Facebook und LinkedIn inklusive ihrer Nutzer analysiert werden. Dabei werden zur Veranschaulichung Best-Practice-Beispiele vorgestellt, welche bereits in den sozialen Netzwerken erfolgreich sind.
Ziel ist es, ausgearbeitete Handlungsempfehlungen aufzuzeigen, welche es gewerblichen Unternehmen mit begrenzten Ressourcen ermöglichen ihre Reichweite durch die Plattformen Facebook und LinkedIn zu erweitern.
This bachelor thesis addresses the topic of digitalization in the healthcare industry and the resulting integration of Artificial Intelligence into medical care. The aim of this thesis is to develop new business model ideas for an international medical device manufacturer, enabled by the integration of a digital solution into the product portfolio. Furthermore, measures for the successful implementation of the business model ideas and positioning of the organization are to be developed.
To achieve this goal, a market research on the impact of digitalization in the healthcare industry and the resulting integration of Artificial Intelligence into medical care was conducted based on the relevant literature. In addition, the resulting opportunities and risks for the specific use case were identified.
Within the scope of this thesis, the following business model ideas were identified:
- BMI 1: Individual module-based offering,
- BMI 2: Comprehensive product and service solutions,
- BMI 3: Integrated supply and patient pathway solutions,
- BMI 4: Data platform provider.
Recommendations for successful positioning include (1) strengthening organizational structures for process orientation, (2) placing the digital solution not only as a solution for the patient pathway, but also as an enabler for ambulatory procedures, (3) expanding the digital solution with secondary process applications, (4) building a skilled workforce, and (5) partnering with technology companies to manage implementation of the platform-based business model idea.
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.
The research defines the optimization possibilities of listing content for entrepreneurs on Amazon. The research aims to provide insights into the measures to the improvement of the ranking and the user experience. This thesis examines the strategies leading to Amazon's current market position. Due to Amazon's customer-focused orientation, this strategy enables cross-market development.
The theoretical background indicates the success strategy of Amazon, driven by the Content Marketing Strategy (CMS) in which the compilation of content elements is performed in a value-added manner. Amazon's Content Marketing Strategy is an unbeaten strategy that contributes to today's customer reach. This is driving all retailers to embrace the concept of CMS and integrate it as part of their business to benefit from amazon's success and effectiveness in the future.
Based on the frameworks used, the relevance factors and the performance factors, which have a direct and indirect influence on the ranking of the products are analyzed. The result of the analysis describes how keywords, authority, conversion rate, and the Click- Through-Rate are shaping ranking components. In addition, there is a need for the right approach to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
By optimizing the content components, the listing is received with better interest by the target audience, which leads to direct increases in traffic. Successfully implementing SEO measures result in a unique and excellent user experience, which in turn drives the need and buying behavior of the users.
The results prove the importance of such measures to enable successful and effective participation of entrepreneurs on Amazon. Thus, the entrepreneur is considered a relevant and trustworthy retailer who encourages users to buy.
Key words: e-commerce, search engine optimization, content marketing, content optimization, user experience
Das Ziel der vorliegenden Bachelorarbeit war es auf Grundlage der wichtigsten theoretischen Konzepte der Kostenrechnung die Integration der Spartenrechnung im neuen ERP-System der AGVS Aluminium Werke GmbH und die damit verbundene Vorbereitung auf eine Profit-Center-Analyse der Produktionssparten zu erläutern. Weiterführend sollte noch die Möglichkeit einer Teilkostenrechnung der vorhandenen Vollkostenrechnung gegenübergestellt werden. Die theoretische Beleuchtung von Systemen der Vollkosten- sowie Teilkostenrechnung als auch des Profit-Center-Konzepts ermöglichte die fachliche Erörterung der Kostenrechnung innerhalb der AGVS Aluminium Werke GmbH und der Integration der Spartenrechnung in das System. Dabei wurden bestehende und angestrebte Vorgehensweisen als auch Probleme und Lösungen aufgezeigt. Das Vorhaben einer erfolgreichen Systemintegration der vorhandenen Spartenrechnung wurde umgesetzt und darüber hinaus wurden Optimierungen und Potenziale bezüglich der Rechnung geschaffen.
Currently, a digital transformation is taking place in logistics and manufacturing environments of the Robert Bosch GmbH. This digital transformation consists of several central initiatives, resulting in big impacts on the organizations of the business units. This paper aims to provide an overview of these organizational changes with regard to the role of change management. After identifying the organizational setting at Bosch, the ongoing digital transformation at the business unit Powertrain Solutions is analyzed by focusing on the future collaboration strategy between logistics and manufacturing as well as the organizational transformation along the Value Stream Integrated Processes and IT program. The complexity of the ongoing transformation is narrowed down to the changes in processes and IT-landscapes before elaborating the future interaction between the landscape documentation tools “scout.it” and “Lean IX”. The readiness of plants in preparation for the Bosch Manufacturing and Logistics Platform is determined by creating a dashboard using Microsoft Power BI.
Ahead of the analytical work, the paper considers theoretical insights about the current state of research in terms of the digital development and change management to ensure successful planning, implementation and preservation of future organizational changes at Bosch.
What is integrity and how does it impact the individual, culture or organization? Research has shown that the presence of integrity tend to correlate with positive outcomes in the business or private life, regardless of the surrounding. Additionally, integrity impacts and shapes the individual or organization behavior. The paper aims to determine how important integrity role in leadership is and wether it matters to perceive it as a must-have value. For this study, an in-depth review of secondary literature was conducted. The secondary data was collected in two approaches, online and offline. Thorough analysis of the data showed a tendency of integrity in leadership.
This thesis refers to Western multinational corporations (MNCs) that expanded their business activities in China significantly within recent years. These organizations operate in highly complex cultural environments, based on the infinite number of teachings drawn from past dynasties. The culture scope is difficult to assess, which explains the limited research available. The thesis examines whether classic performance evaluation systems in German MNC’s operating in China prove to be efficient. Furthermore, reference is drawn to the influences of controversial discussions on performance appraisals in German headquarters, whereby it is examined if Western alternatives would be compatible within a Chinese setting. Underlying cultural concepts; Confucianism, face dynamics, etc., and their implications are studied due to their high impact on the regulation of social interactions between German expatriates and Chinese business leaders. As part of the research, qualitative expert interviews were conducted with expatriates in China originating from both German SME’s and corporations. The results showed that hierarchies largely dominate corporate culture, which is partly due to partisan influences on the organization. Traditional performance appraisal systems largely prove to work efficiently. Lateral collaboration is evaluated as close to non-existent. Praise is rarely expressed. Furthermore, Chinese leaders and cultural, political underpinnings consolidate companies within their strict hierarchy and largely prevent the introduction of agile approaches, therefore alternative approaches can only be partially implemented.
Die Bachelorarbeit „Erweiterung des Produktportfolios eines Unternehmens als Reaktion auf die Corona-Krise“ beschreibt die strategische Vorgehensweise eines Unternehmers bei der Einführung eines neuen Produktes. Dabei war das Projektziel möglichst viel zusätzlichen Gewinn bei möglichst geringem Risiko zu erwirtschaften. Es werden verschiedene Einflüsse erklärt, die den Projekterfolg maßgeblich gestalten. Die Vorgehensweise bei der Segmentierung sowie die Positionierung innerhalb einer Nische wurde dargestellt.
Der Projekterfolg wurde gemessen an ROI und EBIT.
This paper investigates the influence of manipulated attention on the perceived severity of financial risks. Participants undertake an online survey where they get exposed to images of various financial risk sources, while their attention is directed towards one of five available visual images of financial risk hazards.
Beforehand, they are instructed to remember and repeat the respective labeling of all pictures. It is ensured that the attended picture is randomly chosen, and the participants are aware of the corresponding names. Subsequently, participants are asked to rate the risk on four related characteristics.
Considering the responses of 292 people, only the numerical values indicate differences between attended and unattended risks, but the applied statistical measures provide no evidence for this hypothesis.
This thesis aims to investigate the presence of herding behaviour in the German DAX40 market during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Herding behaviour is a phenomenon in behavioural finance where investors ignore their own information and base their decisions on fellow market participants. This behaviour most often presents during times of high market volatility. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a critical effect on the German financial markets, making it an appropriate time period to detect herding behaviour among investors of the DAX40.To begin this investigation, a literature review is used to build a good understanding of the causes and effects of herding behaviour. The literature review also presents some of the most influential models which aim to explain herding behaviour in financial markets. This is followed by using the methodology of the Cross-sectional standard deviation (CSSD) and the cross-sectional absolute deviation (CSAD), two empirical models to detect herding in financial markets. For the investigation, daily stock data of the DAX40 performance index and the DAX40 companies was collected for two years surrounding the pandemic's beginning in March 2020. No significant evidence of herding was detected in the DAX40 market during the sampling period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Im Ingenieurwesen herrscht trotz laufender Bemühungen nach wie vor eine starke geschlechtsspezifische Segregation. Die weibliche Unterrepräsentation von Frauen hat mehrere Gründe: Stereotype bedrohen die Selbstwirksamkeit von Frauen,
was sie oft davon abhält, sich für einen Ingenieurberuf zu entscheiden. Außerdem wird der Ingenieurberuf häufig mit stereotypisch männlichen Attributen in Verbindung gebracht. Dennoch ist die Erhöhung des Frauenanteils in den Ingenieurberufen aus Gründen der Chancengleichheit und Gleichberechtigung, aber auch aufgrund des demografischen Wandels von großer Bedeutung. Ziel dieser Bachelorarbeit ist es daher, die Erfolgsfaktoren von Ingenieurinnen zu identifizieren. Die Studie zeigt, dass erfolgreiche Ingenieurinnen oft schon in der frühen Kindheit technische Berührungspunkte hatten und in einem technischen Familienumfeld aufgewachsen sind. Neben einem hohen Maß an intrinsischer Motivation, weisen Ingenieurinnen auch eine hohe Identifikation mit der Technik auf, genau wie ihre männlichen Kollegen. Darüber hinaus zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass weibliche Unterstützungsnetzwerke eine zentrale Rolle für den Erfolg von Ingenieurinnen spielen. Auch berufliche Vorbilder tragen zum Erfolg bei, wobei das Geschlecht hier nur eine untergeordnete Rolle spielt. Die Ingenieurinnen nehmen sowohl männliche als auch weibliche Kollegen zum Vorbild. Die meisten Befragten lehnen eine Frauenquote ab, da im beruflichen Kontext keine geschlechtsspezifische Diskriminierung wahrgenommen werde.
This paper reflects the topic of risk regarding an individual’s propensity to engage in risky behavior. Therefore, a survey was conducted among four different cultures to study cultural effects on risk-taking behavior. These contained Germany, France, China, and Latin America with a total sample size of 655. The applied questionnaire covered seven different domains regarding social, recreational, health/safety, ethical, investment, gambling, and business risk for which the participants had to assess the likelihood to engage in theoretical situations on a scale of 1 to 6. Significant cultural differences, as well as domain-specificity, could be confirmed using several one-way ANOVAs for the statistical evaluation. In this case, in comparison with the other cultures, Germany showed the highest risk propensity in the social domain, France for recreational and ethical risk, Latin America in the business as well as health/safety sector, and China in the investment and gambling domain.
The recent launch of the app MeasureOn by Robert Bosch Power Tools GmbH, which focuses on the connection of measuring tools to smartphone or tablet, floor planning and photo functions has raised new challenges and questions within the company. The app, which targets pro and ‘do-it-yourself’ users of Bosch PT will soon receive additional features and is set to be divided into a free (no cost) version and a pro (paid) version.
Intention of the thesis is to provide its reader with a classification of the current basic plan and potential as well as missing functions of MeasureOn with respect to its predecessors, competitors, and customer feedback.
Furthermore, recommendations for the classification of planned functions as well as the identification of functions whose misclassification could prove critical, will be provided.
In a last step, a strategy, which will serve as a guide for how to find out which future features should be included in the free plan, and which should be included in the pro plan will be presented.
The results of the thesis are based on the consolidation of data regarding former apps and app concepts offered by Bosch PT, data concerning MeasureOn and insights, which can be derived when comparing MeasureOn to competitor apps.
It is concluded that the currently defined free functions primarily cover the needs of the users. However, the function of exporting projects and exporting workspaces is considered difficult to classify, as risks and potentials are indicated in equal measure. Furthermore, the sales potential is identified, especially with 3D functionality and export, and a template for a survey is created to assess the ambiguities about the export functions as well as functions planned but not yet defined.
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.
The thesis examines challenges of virtual feedback and possible differences to face-to-face communication with the aim of finding out which challenges and advantages employees perceive regarding virtual feedback and virtual communication. Based on the challenges mentioned, recommendations are developed that can be used by companies to counteract the challenges of virtual communication. It is crucial to look at the challenges of virtual communication because the Corona pandemic caused an increase in virtual working and, according to some forecasts, virtual working will continue to gain importance after the pandemic. To find out how the change to home office affects feedback from the employee's perspective, an online survey was created in which 15 employees from different industries were interviewed. The results show that employees in the virtual context receive less feedback, but most employees in the home office still feel sufficiently praised. In addition, there is an increased inhibition threshold to contact others in the virtual context, which means that employees solve problems themselves more often, but employees ask for the same amount of feedback from their manager virtually as they do on site in the company. In addition, spontaneous and informal communication is significantly reduced in the virtual context and new communication tools are sometimes introduced in the virtual context, for example the use of MS Teams has risen strongly in many companies since the corona pandemic.
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.
The subject of this paper is the effectiveness of radio advertising with a focus on attracting technical specialists from regional medium-sized companies. This is done on the basis of BDT Media Automation GmbH, a medium-sized B2B company from Rottweil. For this purpose, the target group is first determined and analyzed. Subsequently, five hypotheses are formed in view of the employer branding concept and an extensive literature research regarding radio advertising. These hypotheses will be examined in the empirical part of this paper by means of a study with 31 human resources managers and recruiters, and their accuracy will be tested. After evaluating the data, the results of the study are presented in order to provide BDT as well as other medium sized companies with recommendations for action regarding the effectiveness of radio as a communication tool for employee recruitment.
The objective of this study is to answer the question of what effects and modes of action are noticeable after the implementation of in-house FuckUp events. In order to answer this question, a qualitative research based on guided interviews with experts was conducted. Eight interviews were performed with persons who organize FuckUp events. The results of the expert interviews show the trend of an increasing positive attitude towards mistakes in organizations. Furthermore, a homogeneity within the ex- pert statements could be determined, regarding the effects and modes of action of the FuckUp Events. On the basis of the knowledge gained, the statements could be compared with the literature, whereby hypotheses could be generated.
The new VUCA world leads to faster processes in companies, why the strategic planning
for employee training has changed.
The company Continental AG in Villingen therefore wants to introduce an LMS in shopfloor. The introduction of a new learning platform leads to a change in the learning culture. This paper aims to answer the research question:
“How can a learning culture be created with the help of the introduction of an LMS?”
Thereby barriers and success factors that promote a learning culture by using an LMS will be noted. To answer the research question, a qualitative research study was
conducted. Based on conducted expert interviews, formed categories were used to answer
the research question. The analysis shows that marketing of LMS leads to an increase in
acceptance of the LMS. Created frameworks support continuous learning and by means of the defined strategy the implementation of independent learning can take place. With
the help of the effectiveness and the implementation of the goals, the learning culture can now be measured and promoted. Further research could be to determine the influence of voluntary use on the learning culture.
Pricing decisions are some of the most important marketing considerations and require knowledge on the value that customers associate with a company’s offerings when optimizing revenues and product positioning in a market. However, measuring the customers’ willingness to pay (WTP) remains a challenging task, because numerous biases, psychological phenomena, and social norms cause distorted answers in methods that are commonly used to assess the WTP, which leads to misguiding data and false assumptions with regard to price-sales relationships. This study recognizes the importance of reliable and accurate data that adequately reflects the real market situation. In this context, controlling as a business function plays a major role, being the intersection between financial consideration and business functions such as marketing and sales, providing important data that is used as a foundation for strategic decision-making. Therefore, this study has the objective to investigate how implicit price research can support the planning of strategic decisions in the context of digitized controlling by implementing an online reaction time tool as an integrated module into a controlling software.
The present paper proposes to contribute to this topic by applying an experimental pricing research method – NeuroPricing® Online – using implicitly assessed reaction time data to investigate the subjects' unconscious willingness to pay in two distinct case studies in the mineral water market.
The results of the first case study indicate the existence of the willingness to pay a price premium for organically labeled water but suggest a strong dependence on the container type and the distinct price segment in which the water is offered. The second case study revealed that the perceived value of identical products of a brand could be considerably different between potential customers in established and new sales regions.
Our research contributes to a better understanding of consumers’ valuation and emphasizes the importance of implicit pricing research as a method to support digitized controlling as an interconnecting business function between financial considerations, consumer behavior, and strategic management.
This bachelor thesis is dedicated to the topic of insurance in the outdoor sports sector. The range of services offered by personal liability insurances, business liability insurances, association liability insurances and accident insurances were examined. For this purpose, all insurance terms and conditions available or obtainable in spring 2021 by companies organized in the German Insurance Association
(Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V.) were compiled and examined for commonalities and differences. Exclusions, inclusions, and special features by the insurance companies were also considered. The results are presented in a tabular overview. As a result, it was possible to determine that in the case of personal liability insurances, coverage for all types of sports is basically provided by all insurance companies without distinction. Deviations can only be found in the areas of horses/riding, water sports and air sports. Only in this spectrum personal liability insurers each make their own offer, which can clearly distinguish them from their competitors. In the case of business liability, no generalized regulations could be identified, except that the respective business purpose is insured.
Thus, specialized outdoor sports companies or outdoor events of other companies are insured. In conclusion, competition among insurance companies is likely to be most pronounced in business liability insurances. Association liability insurances lag behind these major liability areas because sports associations can obtain coverage from a major insurer. The offers by the insurance companies focus on the purpose of the association and are evaluated individually. With the exception of air sports activities, accident insurances indiscriminately insure all bodily injuries that occur as a result of an accident in a private context in outdoor sports. In general, outdoor sports activities of all kinds are always insured or can be insured through appropriate rate or contract negotiations.
Forecasting demand is a mission-critical but non-trivial pursuit in strategic planning for any brand. However, long-established explicit pricing research methodologies suffer from well-described biases, thus posing a significant obstacle to accurate forecasting. One way to tackle this challenge is resorting to implicit measures inspired by paradigms from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Hence, as carried out with NeuroPricing Online, implicit price research can help identify a consumer's Willingness to Pay (WTP) for a product or service. Consequently, the entire sample´s distribution of WTPs can be converted into a population model of demand vs price. A subsequent model of revenue has, to date, in marketing research, typically been based on indexed values, providing the user of the data with non-intuitive and rather abstract measures. Here, using the case of a Mineral Water bottler, we have integrated the demand model directly in a well-maintained digital controlling tool of said cooperation. Central figures such as gross sales and contribution margin were modelled based on realistic cost and market estimates. Thus, assuming the same conditions, the data leads to a fact-based and accurate prediction of the results of a price change. The insights allow the company to gain concrete insights into the context of its pricing strategy and, if necessary, reposition itself to achieve a competitive advantage. For instance, the pricing model integrated into the controlling tool allows for comparing various bottle types in terms of revenue and contribution margin. As such, the specific impact on the financial performance of, say, a revenue maximising or contribution margin maximising strategy can be predicted.
Durch eine ständig wandelnde Unternehmensumwelt sowie der Komplexität der Globalisierung sehen sich immer mehr Unternehmen gefordert systematisches, effektives und effizientes Risikomanagement zu betreiben. Vor allem Rohstoffmärkte sind durch weltweite Wechselbeziehungen sehr undurchschaubar. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der praktischen Anwendbarkeit eines beschaffungsseitigen idealtypischen Frühaufklärungssystems am Beispiel der Unternehmensgruppe bott herangezogen, welches die Preisentwicklung der Beschaffung von Aluminiumstrangpressprofilen in den Fokus stellt. Zudem wird analysiert welche Faktoren für die Treffgenauigkeit des Systems zu beachten sind. Die Forschung erfolgt anhand von Literaturarbeit sowie semistrukturierten Leitfrageninterviews.
Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das modellhafte Frühaufklärungssystem ein großes Potenzial hat die Unternehmensgruppe bei der Beschaffung von Aluminiumstrangpressprofilen zu unterstützen, jedoch eine Kombinationslösung mit verwandten Systemen zielführender sein kann. Ebenfalls riefen manche theoretische Erfolgsfaktoren des Systems praktische Hinterfragungen hervor.
Advancements in digital technologies, such as the Industrial Internet of Things, enabled machinery manufacturers to develop software products that complement and enhance existing products, such as production systems. Some of these software products aim to improve industrial production by assisting users, primarily machine operators, with their work. Although it is essential for a successful market launch that the software product meets users' needs, some manufacturers have difficulties identifying them. This situation is because the interface of their software products to users, especially user input mechanisms, encounters shortcomings. Typically, user input mechanisms enable user input, such as feature requests, to occur, which ultimately can assist in identifying users' needs.
This thesis investigates Syntegon Packaging Systems AG and their software product myShopfloor as an exemplary machinery manufacturer within a case study. The case study's findings exemplify that the contextual conditions in the business-to-business domain, particularly the food industry, and internal shortcomings present challenges in gathering user input to identify and meet users' needs. Therefore, this case study proposed and conducted a solution for improving the interface of myShopfloor.
The solution started by conducting market research to identify user input mechanisms and tools used in the software industry. Afterward, the identified user input mechanisms were evaluated in a survey with Syntegon Packaging Systems AG employees based on their usefulness for myShopfloor. The evaluation of the survey resulted in selecting user input mechanisms rated as very useful by these employees. In contrast, a subsequent evaluation of the identified tools resulted in an appropriate combination of tools covering the selected user input mechanisms.
Finally, an implementation strategy for myShopfloor was outlined as the last part of the solution. First, use cases resulting from each user input mechanism were described to illustrate how specific user flows could lead to user input.
Afterward, an adjustment of the Scrum software development process of myShopfloor suggested how to handle and convert the emerging user input into implementable product backlog items. Thereby, this thesis exemplified how to improve the interface of software products by investigating and recommending a solution to myShopfloor. This example was then used for generalizing the results for other companies.
In times of demographic change, globalization, digitalization and change in the coming generations, human resources development with the qualification and further development of executives is becoming increasingly important. The company Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG has introduced the new management level of team leader for sales and administration since the beginning of 2021. In addition to the team leaders in sales and administration, there is an unofficial management level in logistics. The team leader level at Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG has already existed for several years but has received little attention in terms of development and qualification.
The topic of the paper deals with the importance of the qualification of managers on team leader level in the logistics of Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG. Thereby the work deals with the construct of leading, the manager in general and the development measures in a company. A deeper insight is given in this area into the various qualification programs of Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG.
The qualitative content analysis according to Mayring is applied for the question to be answered, whether the qualification of the managers on team leader level is attributed an importance and if so, how this is weighted. The results of the interviews indicate that the Würth company attaches great importance to the qualification of managers at team leader level, and thus a high significance. This is made clear by appropriate points, such as the influence on the employees by their shown behavior and actions. Furthermore, this is in direct connection with the leadership styles and leadership behavior, which can be influenced by the development and promotion of competencies.
When translanguaging, individuals use and combine all their available language repertoires in order to increase comprehension. The use of different languages together
implies that there is no strict language separation. First studied in a school context, the primary purposes of this concept are the complete understanding of subject matter and the simultaneous development of additional languages. Recent studies in different business contexts show the concept’s transferability to other environments. This brings forth questions about, firstly, the implementation of translanguaging in a workplace and, secondly, the possible effects of translanguaging on interpersonal relationships in work teams. The focus of the analysis hereby lies on work teams with intellectual and creative
tasks. The transferability of International High School’s eight core principles, which are meant to improve students’ translanguaging skills, into a business context is discussed. The theoretical analysis results show that the eight principles are, in theory, all applicable
to creative and intellectual teams, but further challenges may arise. No definite answer is presented regarding the effect on interpersonal relationships; both positive and negative effects are possible. Results are all context-dependent, and further empirical research is needed to study the theoretical assumptions made in the present paper.
Many of the traditional alternative food networks are facing logistical challenges that impede them from increasing their scale and emerging from the market niche they currently operate in. Food hubs, as innovative business models, may be able to overcome these challenges and bridge the infrastructural gap between small and medium-sized local farmers and large-scale demand for local food products. Although the food hub concept has enjoyed only relatively little popularity in Europe, this might change with the European Commission’s plan for a more sustainable food system – the Farm to Fork strategy. This thesis aims to analyze the potential impact that this initiative as an external market force may have on the future of food hubs, so that it can be considered in their strategic decisions today. Nonquantitative scenario planning was used to develop four plausible future states, each characterized by a different level of success of the Farm to Fork strategy. The results indicate that it provides significant development opportunities for food hubs. Especially the regulations in institutional food procurement, the internalization of the true costs and changing perceptions of the value of food are potentially beneficial. However, this requires food hubs to pay close attention to the upcoming legal regulations when making portfolio decisions. A product offer that is based on environmental and social sustainability and healthiness in addition to local origin should put them in a favorable position to benefit off of these impending changes. At the same time, food hubs need to maintain their flexibility and respond adequately to consumer preferences in order to deal with the challenge of increasing competition with conventional retailers.
The present paper aims to identify role conflicts according to social role theory that leaders acting as managerial coach might be exposed to during their work. Therefore, several behavioral approaches that are characterizing for managerial are identified through literature assessment. These distinctive behavioral patterns are analyzed upon alternative reasonable expectations that role senders might have in regard of leadership.
Hereby this study can identify several potential sources of person-role conflict due to incongruencies between expectations of role senders and the actual leadership behavior of a managerial coach. As literature indicates that role conflicts have serious impacts on the effectiveness of leadership behavior, this study furthermore presents a guideline for organizations and managerial coaches on how to support the acceptance of coaching.
Important prior studies regarding customers purchasing behaviour proved that customers tend to avoid products showing extreme deflections in attributes and feel more comfortable purchasing articles with a balance in attributes (compromise option). Hence, for marketers, supermarket chains etc., it can be of an advantage knowing whether this effect can also be measured or even be amplified in where the spatial middle of a shelf is occupied with the compromise option. We hypothesized that the tendency towards the compromise option, eventually even higher in the spatial middle position, can also be observed in an in-store experiment with real-life circumstances. In order to fulfil our study, we worked with a hardware store in southern Germany. In total, we sold 610 items consisting of 5 different products with each 3 alternatives. The result corroborated our hypothesis partly as it showed in some cases, the compromise option was indeed preferred when in the middle of a choice set. Nevertheless, in many cases, products on extreme position with “extreme” attributes were preferred. Leading to the conclusion that other factors like the brand may have higher importance in purchasing decisions.
Starting from the direct exchange of goods and services to the first traces of money almost 3,000 years ago to contactless payments with our smartphones and bank cards in the 21st century. Along the way we have recorded a lot of innovation in the field of payments like the invention of the credit card in the 1940s or the implementation of a debit system for debit cards in the 1980s.
Each of those innovations was greeted with skepticism at the time of their introduction. The concerns of the people are understandable since the innovation in this field touches a very important topic to most humans: money.
At first people did not trust physical money when they did not exchange goods and services directly anymore since it did not feel like it is a fair exchange. Then people were not believing that plastic cards will one day substitute cash. Now people are pessimistic about contactless payment methods that don’t even require those plastic cards anymore.
Yet experts agree on the idea that the future of payment is contactless.
In my thesis I am focusing one of the technologies used for contactless payments called NFC.
The goal of this thesis is to give an overview over the usage, chances, risks and the competitors of this contactless technology, highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and answer the following question based on empirical data:
“Is NFC the best method to handle contactless payments?”
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
Oversupply on the market and excessive consumption by consumers are a by-product of a globalized world, causing severe societal and environmental damages. These factors have increased society's fears and have resulted in a loss of trust in corporate’s business operations, leading companies to gradually lose market share. Modern society is increasingly becoming aware of the necessity to behave sustainably, resulting in higher expectations towards sustainable practices of businesses. As a result, a growing number of consumers are demanding companies to operate in a more environmentally friendly way, with more transparency, collaboration, and consumer participation to alleviate societal fears. Consequently, responding to customer needs and desires is crucial for the company's success and future survival. In general, companies are now expected to attract and retain a loyal customer base and help make the world a better place by developing a sustainable corporate brand.
This paper studies based on a selected case study, the impact a Purpose-Driven Marketing Strategy can have on business operations, illustrating how the latter societal requirements can be addressed and fulfilled through a Purpose-Driven Marketing Strategy.
The aim of this study is to understand the concept of Ethical Branding from the perspective of Generation Z. This umbrella question was divided into three research questions: 1. What constitutes an ethical brand for Generation Z, 2. What is Generation Z´s attitude towards ethical brands, and 3. How will the future of ethical brands look like? For this, ten individual online interviews with undergraduate students were conducted. Findings reveal that young people view Ethical Branding as an important personal issue. Members of Generation Z view an ethical brand as holding values such as fairness, honesty, integrity, and consideration at its core and consistently acting according to these values. This manifests itself in the fulfillment of environmental, social, legal, and economic responsibilities. Participants depict a largely positive outlook for ethical brands as society – in particular young consumers – becomes more aware of the importance of mindful and responsible consumption, challenging existing brands in the future. Companies should therefore focus on delivering what they promise and aligning all business activities if they want to be perceived by Generation Z as a truly ethical brand.
Diese Arbeit dient dazu, die Angebots,- und Nachfrageseite von Private-Equity detaillierter zu beleuchten. Basierend auf den negativen Assoziationen durch die „Heuschrecken“- Debatte und neuer Supertrend, soll dies objektiv in einen neuen, zeitgerechten Kontext gebracht werden. Denn sowohl die Anbieter von Private Equity als auch die Nachfrager verfolgen bestimmte Ziele, haben gegebenenfalls differierende Interessen und können nicht nur auf einzelne Aktivitäten reduziert werden, wie diese in der Vergangenheit dargestellt wurden. Dazu werden die folgenden beiden Forschungsfragen gestellt: Wie sind die Aktivitäten von Anbietern und Nachfragern von Private Equity in einem neuzeitlichen Kontext zu bewerten? (1) und Welche Rolle können Privatanleger als potenzielle Investoren bei einer Private Equity- Transaktion einnehmen? (2)
Um die Forschungsfragen zu beantworten, wurden Experteninterviews mit drei Mitarbeitern von Private Equity- Fondsgesellschaften geführt, welche ihre Expertise einbringen konnten. Im Rahmen einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse wurden die Ergebnisse erhoben und ausgewertet.
Anhand der daraus erzielten Ergebnisse und mit Bezug auf die Forschungsfrage 1 konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Anbieter und Nachfrager nicht grundsätzlich als „Heuschrecken“ bezeichnet werden können, sondern weitere Aktivitäten deren Geschäftstätigkeiten beschreiben, die nicht Bestandteil der Diskussion um Franz Münteferings Aussage waren. Anhand der erzielten Ergebnisse und mit Bezug auf die Forschungsfrage 2 konnte gezeigt werden, dass Privatanleger durchaus eine Rolle hinsichtlich Private Equity einnehmen können, diese aber aufgrund von Restriktionen der Anlage und indirekter Partizipation nicht zwangsläufig in Frage kommen.
The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the supply and demand side of private equity. Based on the negative associations by the "Heuschrecken" deabtte and new super trend, this is to be brought objectively into a new, contemporary context. After all, both the providers of private equity and the demanders pursue certain goals, may have different interests, and cannot be reduced to individual activities only, as they have been presented in the past. To this end, the following two research questions are posed: How should activities providers and demanders of private equity be evaluated in a modern context? (2) and What role can private investors play as potential investors in a private equity transaction? (1)
To answer the research questions, interviews with experts were conducted with three employees of private equity fund companies who were able to contribute their expertise. Within the framework of a qualitative content analysis, the results were collected and evaluated.
On the basis of the results obtained and with reference to research question 1, it was possible to show that the providers and demanders cannot fundamentally be described as "Heuschrecken", but rather describe further determinants of their business activities that were not part of the discussion surrounding Franz Müntefering's statement. On the basis of the results obtained and with reference to research question 2, it could be shown that private investors can certainly play a role with regard to private equity, but that they are not necessarily eligible due to restrictions on investment and indirect participation.
Travel bans, lockdowns, and social distancing shape the daily pandemic rou- tine and force marketers, producers, business, and consumers to changed buying behavior and disrupted buying habits. Online sales are sky rocking and hence the comprehension of changes in consumer behavior towards online shopping play an important role for the economy. The aim of the present thesis is to investigate changes in consumer behavior due to COVID-19 and give insights whether these changes last or not. Subordinately, it is examined whether – and if, how – online and offline buying motives are linked to possible lasting changes. Therefore, a deductive quantitative method, namely an online questionnaire, was chosen to conduct, and descriptive statistics to display and analyze data. The conducted data confirms a surge in online shopping fre- quency during the pandemic, but also shows that the respondents will not re- turn to old buying frequency habits and keep buying online as much as during the pandemic. Besides that, the present work confirms the assumption that COVID-19 raised awareness to support local stores. I further conclude that the research subjects gain trust in shopping online and will repeat new online shopping experiences. Hence, adopted consumer behavior will be repeated respectively and old buying habits are being refrained.
How does corporate communications succeed in reaching non-desk employees with important news and which communication channel is most suitable for this purpose? Due to the continuous changes in technology, companies must also consider how they can update and improve their information distribution channels. Digitalization is making operational processes increasingly flexible and more efficient in many areas.
The goal of this bachelor thesis is to answer the research question "Does a podcast help to sustainably increase the information level of manufacturing employees at Roche Diagnostics Automation Solutions GmbH (RDA)?" using qualitative interviews.
A total of two surveys were conducted with guided interviews with employees from the manufacturing division of RDA. The first round of interviews focused on determining the status quo of the level of information of the production employees, while the second round of interviews addressed the perception of the podcast in the manufacturing area of the RDA.
The results of the qualitative research demonstrate the great importance of internal communication and reveal the value added and success factors of a podcast in the operational area of a company. The central findings of the interviews were the flexibility, convenience and time savings that a corporate podcast provides.
The Chinese company Orient Industrial Import & Export (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. operates in the field of aluminum foil and paper products. It is an international trading firm which supplies both the beauty and the household industries. Concerning the household industry, Orient would like to enter the German household foil market, as its sales in the European continent are still expandable, whereas it already has good sales in other regions of the world especially in the Asian region.
This thesis investigates the macro and micro environmental factors affecting the German market. It analyzes Orient’s different product types and potential customer segments (including consumers), profiles competitors, addresses the nature of the targeted industry and defines the features of the products. To come to a conclusion regarding the appropriate entry into the German market, this thesis also examines various market entry strategies and distribution channels.
Prior to the actual analytical work, this thesis reviews critically the different theoretical models used for analysis, which are: ABC Analysis, PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces Model, SWOT analysis, and theoretical concepts of market entry strategies as well as of distribution channel strategies.
The paper deals with the German Supply Chain Act ("Lieferkettengesetz") and the impact it will have on the retail sector - in particular the textile industry. To illustrate this development, the historical predecessors are first discussed, which are decisive for the further development of national plans and legislation. Other national legislations are also discussed, which have the same goal of a sustainable, decent working situation and the protection of the environment.
Since the German law was passed only a few months ago, statements on its effectiveness as well as on possible problems associated with it can only be made with extreme caution, but a comparison is nevertheless possible to a certain extent and the voluntary commitments that existed previously are also included in further consideration.
It can be seen that the Supply Chain Act is not without criticism, and in this context, numerous problems are attested, as is already the case with the international equivalents, which have already been in existence for a few years.
The paper examines these connections and concludes that the Supply Chain Act is an important decision in the right direction to ensure humane conditions along the entire supply chain and to consistently prosecute human rights violations. However, this will require an enormous effort by companies at the current time. Nonetheless, these efforts must be made and it seems that this is also where future competitive advantages can be gained.
It remains to be seen what resistance the Supply Chain Act will still have to face before it is seen as an established standard for German companies and is implemented consistently.
Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, einen Lösungsansatz für den Zwiespalt zwischen dem grossen Marketingsegment für Werbung für Programme für Gewichtsverlust und der steigenden Fettleibigkeit der Gesellschaft zu finden. Neben der physischen, soll die psychische Gesundheit in Bezug auf das Selbstbild der weiblichen Gesellschaft langfristig geschützt werden, weswegen die Darstellung der Frauen in Werbung genau analysiert wird.
Besonderes Augenmerk liegt hierfür bei der ASA (Advertising Standards Authority), wie sie bereits in Großbritannien existiert. Es soll geklärt werden, ob dieses Konzept ebenso für die in dieser Arbeit angesprochene Problematik funktionieren könnte.
Als Ergebnis wird die Werbung für Gewichtsverlust als Folge für ein grundlegendes gesellschaftliches Problem genannt. Es werden mehrere praktische Lösungsansätze geboten, bei der alle Unternehmen zusammenarbeiten müssten. Das Prinzip der ASA stellt dabei einen guten Anfang dar.
The leisure industry experiences a shift in selling their services online. While external sales channels have been dominating the online ticket sales in the last decade, a new trend of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) sales through individual platforms has been on the rise. This study aimed to research on the usage of external and direct sales channels in the leisure industry and tried to find reasons for the rapid increase of leisure venues shifting their sales channels on their own online platform and abandoning external sales channels. For this study, a primary research with leisure venues across Germany, Switzerland and Austria in the form of a questionnaire with 104 participants was conducted. The topic of the questionnaire was the usage of external and direct sales channels and ticket reseller as well as promotion methods of the leisure venues participating. Furthermore, an expert interview with the CEO of a wellness centre was conducted to gain first-hand knowledge on the research topic. The thesis ends with an analysis of the survey results and conclusions on what the usage of external and direct sales channels in the leisure industry are and how the DTC trend emerged from the state of the industry.
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.
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".
The impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has driven companies towards an ongoing digital transformation. This creates a considerable market push and pull from consumers for innovative technologies given the benefits they convey. In the corporate world this translates to the objectives of companies for gaining competitive advantages, created by the integration of new digital solutions, for the creation of value.
The advantages of a continuous integration of technologies within all areas of an organizations conveys the need for more adaptive resources. A major player in charge of leading said transformation for the obtention of unprecedented benefits is the Information Technology Department (IT). Therefore, the ongoing accelerated demand for digital solutions requires an accelerated delivery as well from the IT.
The limited resources, particularly from employees capable of continuously developing digital solutions, represents an unsustainable approach given the gap between growing demand and supply for new technological advancements.
Employees within the organizational context of MHP Management- und IT Beratung GmbH, who are addressed in this thesis as the customers of the MHP-IT, are presented with an alternative approach to fulfil the current demand for digital solutions through their integration in the process; this would empower them to contribute in the companies digital transformation journey. The proposed way of doing so is through the introduction of the Power Platform tools in corporate MHP.
The objective of this thesis focuses on the fundamental change that the incorporation of the Power Platform conveys on individuals within their work environment. This is aimed at the identification of possible approaches that can foment organizational acceptance, for the abovementioned platform, as an alternative way of creating value. This is achieved through the evaluation of individual values for their successful incorporation as citizen developers empowered to create.
The Organizational Cultural Assessment Instrument has been chosen as a methodology for answering the research objectives of identifying the current values that employees have in their work environment, as well as to bring forward tailored recommendations as adequate measures to drive the incorporation of the Power Platform. Complementing this is the identification of predispositions from potential users via qualitative and quantitative methods.
Given the benefits that the Power Platform creates in different operational fields, results indicate a premature acceptance for the introduction of the same as a suitable alternative for creating digital solutions. Furthermore, the conducted organizational environment study, also referred to as culture, highlights the dominant values present among the workers of MHP. This delineates a tailored approach of different measures that can be taken for introducing the Power Platform, as a digital transformation tool, and empowerment of citizen developers.
Emphasise is given to the identified inclinations from employees, as these constitutes the prioritization of procedures according to their values, through which the implementation of change can be coped with and the acceptance of the Power Platform tools increased.
This thesis intends to develop a key performance indicator system for the operational controlling of the Talent Relationship Management for the Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG. The main complexity is to select exclusively the most relevant key figures to link them to the process objectives of the company. Therefore, the following research question is raised: Which key performance indicators are relevant for the controlling of the Talent Relationship Management? In order to answer the research question and assess the relevance of the parameters, a qualitative research was conducted on the basis of expert interviews. The study revealed a total of 15 relevant key figures, which were allocated to the process objectives in the key performance indicator system. However, the study revealed that some metrics of the results do not entirely cover the company’s objectives for the Talent Relationship Management. Thus, a universal controlling of the process is ineffective. The thesis provides practical orientation for the controlling of the Talent Relationship Management, nonetheless, further company-specific selection is recommended.
Understanding how consumers choose between alternatives and how they use the context in doing so is the aim of numerous consumer behaviour studies. The effect of extremeness aversion has been found to be a replicable phenomenon in this field. According to this context effect, alternatives with extreme numerical attributes are less likely to be chosen than the alternative with intermediate attributes in a choice set. A new research direction regarding extremeness aversion considers not only these numerical attributes of a choice set but also the implications of the spatial dimension. Therefore, it has been hypothesized that there could also be a preference for the spatial middle in a choice set. As the phenomenon of extremeness aversion corresponds with decision uncertainty, this research aimed to investigate numerical and spatial extremeness aversion in a product class of high uncertainty and complexity. Thus, consumer preferences regarding the product class of wine were analysed in different choice architectures. Interviews in a wine specialist store and an online survey were conducted with a total number of 924 participants. The study’s results are not consistent over both data collection methods. However, independently of each other, they support the notion that consumer choices may be partly influenced by a preference for the numerical middle option, as well as by a preference for the spatial middle option.
Candidate experience management is gaining in importance: The recruiter experience study in 2018 revealed that 63% of the recruiters questioned throughout Germany considered optimizing the candidate experience to be one of the top priorities for future actions.
Why is that? It is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to recruit top talents. Because of demographic changes, the workforce supply is declining and the competition among firms is growing.
What does that mean for companies? Firms need to counter-tactics and ensure that talented people stay in the application process instead of opting for the competition. The goal is to attract talented individuals and ultimately win them over for the corporation.
How can companies successfully manage it? To be successful as an employer, it is well worth optimizing contact points along the application process and providing the best possible experience for candidates. Ideally, this can also help to strengthen the employer brand.
Literature, including previous findings, as well as insights about the collaborating company Marc Cain provide a baseline. A qualitative research examines how different candidates Marc Cain recently hired perceive the candidate journey and its resulting candidate experience.
For this purpose, interviews are conducted along the established candidate journey model of Athanas and Wald. The aim of this work is to answer the overall research question of the title:
Optimizing the Candidate Experience at Marc Cain GmbH –
Can this Investment sustainably strengthen the Employer Brand?
The research indicates that essential attributes for candidates during the application process are transparency, communication, authenticity, a personal approach, and feedback. Moreover, it shows that Marc Cain does not have a bad status quo or starting point, but regarding future developments does have the potential for optimization.
How exactly Marc Cain can counter this shortage of talent through an improved candidate experience, and how the employer brand benefits from it, is examined in the following work. Further, recommendations for action are meant to express direct suggestions for the company.
With increasing globalization, the importance of logistics services within companies is also growing. In the automotive industry, logistics is equally important with the aim of achieving optimum logistics performance in terms of vehicle transports. To optimize logistics performance in vehicle logistics, there must be a balance or trade-off between logistics service and logistics costs. Even though vehicle transportation has a significant role in enterprise logistics, there has been little research in this area. This thesis aims to close this research gap by comparing three transport concepts with the actual situation in the test and technology center of Mercedes Benz AG in Immendingen. Four expert interviews were conducted at Mercedes Benz AG, in which the individual concepts were compared with the actual status in terms of logistics performance and evaluated. The extent to which the concepts are applicable to the site in Immendingen was evaluated. In addition, opportunities and risks of the concepts and the current status were identified. It was determined that there is no single correct concept, but that a mixture of concepts is most effective.
In the wake of global warming, consumers and companies are increasingly attaching importance to a more sustainable performance. Nowadays, this performance is often disclosed in so-called Integrated Reports, which focus on sustainable and non-financial information. However, the problem is that there are still no uniform accounting and auditing standards for disclosing such information.
For this reason, this work aims to investigate whether one can apply traditional financial auditing concepts to the audit of sustainable and non-financial information in an Integrated Report.
To answer the research question, qualitative research was conducted through an expert interview with staff from the Climate Change and Sustainability Services department at Ernst & Young Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschafts GmbH. The focus was on four key audit concepts: Understand the Business, Determining Materiality, Accounting Estimates, and Identification of Fraud Risk. In addition, this research examined how the traditional job description of the auditor will change in the future, considering the increasing importance of sustainable and non-financial information.
The research results showed that the financial audit concepts often serve as the basis for auditing non-financial and sustainable information. However, it was also found that transfer was not possible in some places. This was due to the lack of taxonomy, processes, or difficulty in quantifying qualitative information. In addition, research made it possible to identify new risks, such as the creation of new incentives through variable compensation linked to sustainability performance. Furthermore, challenges, and opportunities for the future of the Integrated Report and suggestions for the application of the concepts, could be elaborated.
Die COVID-19-Pandemie ist Treiber der Digitalisierung, welcher das Verhalten von Menschen nachhaltig beeinflusst und Organisationen vor neue digitale Herausforderun-gen stellt. Diese Forschung untersucht hierzu 75 Sparkassen aller Größenklassen und Regionen Deutschlands auf deren Digitalisierungsstand während der COVID-19-Pandemie. Der DSV-Gruppe als zentraler Lösungsanbieter der Sparkassen, liegt derzeit keine aktuelle Forschung zu Einstellungen und Maßnahmen bezüglich der Digitalisie-rung in den Sparkassen vor. Daher sollen die Forschungsfragen „Welche digitalen Her-ausforderungen bestehen zum aktuellen Stand bei den Sparkassen?“ und „An welchen Punkten kann die DSV-Gruppe ansetzen, um die Sparkassen bestmöglich in ihren digita-len Herausforderungen zu unterstützen?“, durch eine quantitative Online-Umfrage be-antwortet werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die befragten Sparkassen Unterstüt-zungsbedarf in der Digitalisierung von Prozessen, vor allem für Beratungsgespräche und Home-Office, aufweisen. Zudem wurden Defizite in der Agilität und Gewinnung digi-tal geschulter Mitarbeitenden identifiziert. Die DSV-Gruppe könnte den befragten Sparkassen in der Digitalisierung mehr Führung durch zentralere Steuerung zeigen und eine individuellere strategische Beratung bieten. Außerdem könnte die Schulung von Mitarbeitenden in ihrer digitalen Fitness unterstützt und tiefergehende Forschungen zum Zusammenhang zwischen dem Kostendruck, der digitalen Einstellung und den digitalen Maßnahmen der befragten Sparkassen angestellt werden. Die Forschung erkennt Relati-onen, welche die DSV-Gruppe in weiteren Forschungen auf Kausalität untersuchen soll-te, um die untersuchten Sparkassen bei der Anpassung ihrer Geschäftsmodelle an die veränderten Gegebenheiten der Digitalisierung zu unterstützen und somit die Ge-schäftsbeziehung zu den Sparkassen nachhaltig zu festigen.
This bachelor thesis is about the digital transformation and the resulting need for new business models. Additionally, the Servitization is changing the business environment as well. Together with new technologies such as the Internet of Things, this digital Servitization is creating threats and new opportunities for businesses. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to conceptualize a Smart Home as-a-Service business model for a drive- and control technology manufacturer with the example of Somfy and to test it in qualitative expert interviews with potential Business-to-Business customers.
The research questions addressed and answered in this thesis are:
(a) „How can a concept of an as-a-Service business model in the field of smart home to expand the market segment from single to multi-family houses by a new target group of a drive and control technology manufacturer look like?“
Question (a) is answered with a concept based on the Service Business Model Canvas. It is a Business-to-Business-to-Consumer business model, where the residential construction companies build in the necessary hardware in new residential buildings. This is the prerequisite for the focal company Somfy to offer tenants smart home applications in a subscription model.
(b) „How is the relevance, value, and feasibility of the Smart Home as-a-Service concept assessed by residential construction companies?“
Question (b) is tested with qualitative expert interviews. The results indicate a high relevance for the Business-to-Business customers. Additionally, offering Smart Home as-a-Service would create various values for residential construction companies, such as an additional selling feature, while the model is being assessed as generally feasible. Further research is suggested for example in the take-rate of the tenants.
The aim of this research is to provide a holistic overview of the influences on the intention to invest in the context of behavioral finance. For this purpose, a model was created in which the effects of the theory of planned behavior, financial risk propen-sity, and the self-determination theory on the intention to invest were examined. With the help of nine hypotheses, the significance of the relations within the model, as well as a mediation effect were analyzed. In order to test these hypotheses, a quantitative survey querying the above-mentioned possible factors and further questions about the participants' investment behavior was created and sent to all students at Furtwangen University. Results showed that all relations within the model were significant and that especially attitudes and financial risk propensity had a pronounced influence on the intention to invest. However, several variables for self-determination theory had to be eliminated to guarantee validity and reliability of the model. The findings of this study enable financial institutions, such as banks, to actively influence and en-courage customers to invest or to purposefully develop new investment products to gain additional customers.
The world is constantly changing, and cosmetic companies need to adapt to these changes to survive. In particular, cosmetic companies should not underestimate changes in how customers value information from different sources because proper marketing can lead to increased sales. Therefore, this thesis aims to determine which information sources customers of Generation Y are using and how they weight the information from these different sources. A survey was conducted with people of Generation Y to answer the research question. The survey showed that the most frequently used and highest weighted sources for getting information are search engines, friends and family, and product ratings. Furthermore, the results indicate that information gathered from offline sources has a more significant impact on purchase behavior than information gathered from online sources. Potential customers using search engines are more likely to buy a product online. However, the price of a product does not influence how consumers weight the opinions of friends and family, and age does not impact the weighting of social media or the total number of sources a customer uses. To conclude, a company should not ignore the importance of offline information sources because the data shows that offline sources significantly impact buying behavior. They should also aim to have their online shop appear as one of the top search engine results because this will impact the likelihood that customers visit their websites and buy their products.
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.
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.
Marketing strategy remains a critical driver of customer satisfaction and competitiveness in the banking industry globally. Despite this, private and government banks in Germany are yet to attain required customer satisfaction levels. Studies on the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction revealed both positive and negative results. The main purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of service quality on customer satisfaction in the German Banking sector. Deutsche bank offenbach am main branch was used as a case. The target population was 2000 customers; holders of either a savings account, current account or both. 120 questionnaires were administered using a non- probability sampling technique known as the convenience sampling. 100 out of the 120 questionnaires came back complete. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 25. The results revealed that service quality significantly contributed to customer satisfaction at (Adjusted R2 = 0.733, p<.05). It was concluded that service quality contributes to customer satisfaction. From the survey, other factors that influence customer satisfaction in the German banking sector include, account security, proximity, customer expectations and perceived valued of service quality, employee’s behavior and management. The study recommends a more emphasis on improving and maintaining high service quality levels translating to customer satisfaction. Therefore, the research provides a validated service quality model that can be used to clearly measure levels of service quality in relation to levels of customer satisfaction
In dieser Arbeit wird eine Analyse von Bewertungsverfahren durchgeführt. Das Ziel die- ser Untersuchung ist es, jene Bewertungsverfahren zu identifizieren, die für die Bewer- tung der hTRIUS GmbH, einem Start-up, am geeignetsten sind. Diese qualitative Arbeit befasst sich nicht ausschließlich mit dem theoretischen Hintergrund, sondern bezieht die praktische Unternehmensbewertung der hTRIUS GmbH sowie ein Experteninterview mit ein. Die Unternehmensbewertung von Start-ups ist zum einen stark von der Planung und zum anderen von der Unternehmensphase abhängig. Andere Faktoren wie ein Unterneh- mensverkauf spielen bei der Wahl des Bewertungsverfahrens ebenfalls eine große Rolle. Für die hTRIUS GmbH stellt sich das DCF-Verfahren als am geeignetsten heraus, jedoch weisen jegliche Bewertungsverfahren Schwachpunkte auf. Diese bestehen darin, dass Faktoren, die nicht in Form einer finanzwirtschaftlichen Kennzahl zu erfassen sind, bei der Unternehmenswertermittlung exkludiert werden. Demzufolge muss in der Zukunft eine Lösung gefunden werden, diese Werte ebenfalls in die Bewertung aufzunehmen.
Der Investitionsprozess stellt einen wesentlichen operativen Bestandteil zur Zielerreichung der Unternehmensstrategie dar. Durch das Tätigen von Investitionen kann eine nachhaltige Wertsteigerung, ein langfristiges Wachstum oder die Sicherung des Unternehmens in Bezug auf den Wettbewerb gewährleistet werden. Das zentrale Problem besteht jedoch darin, die richtige Wahl der Investition zu treffen und vor allem unter Berücksichtigung eines begrenzt zur Verfügung stehenden Budgets einen effizienten Einsatz der finanziellen Mittel sicherzustellen. Anhand theoretischer Grundlagen der Investitionsrechnung wurde in Bezug auf den Bauchemie-Konzern Sto SE & Co. KGaA ein Investitionsprozess erarbeitet, welchem es ermöglicht, Investitionen zunächst zu kategorisieren und diese anschließend anhand ihrer quantitativen sowie qualitativen Nutzen zu bewerten, um letzten Endes eine objektive Grundlage für die Realisationsentscheidung zu schaffen. Die Bewertung umfasst dabei modifizierte Formen der klassischen Investitionsrechnungen, die Nutzwertanalyse hinsichtlich der qualitativen Eigenschaften sowie die Einführung eines Risiko-Managements. Mittels Outranking-Verfahrens werden die Investitionen einer Kategorie in Bezug auf die ermittelten Kennzahlen miteinander verglichen und unter der Berücksichtigung der Unternehmensstrategie der Sto SE & Co. KGaA selektiert. Die Selektion des Outranking-Verfahrens erfolgt in Form einer Rangfolge, welche die Investitionen in Bezug auf ihre Vorteilhaftigkeit filtert. Das Unternehmen erhält dadurch eine sachliche Darstellung der sinnvollsten Investitionen, wodurch der Entscheidungsprozess, auch im Falle eines begrenzten Budgets, aktiv unterstützt wird.
While the global economy is suffering from the consequences of COVID-19, China has managed to tackle the crisis and was able to restart the national economy within a few months. The objective of this study is to identify how the German industry in China was able to restart after the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The conducted research is based on two underlying research questions: “How did the German industry in China overcome the COVID-19 crisis?” and “which future trends are emerging in German companies because of the COVID-19 crisis?”. To answer these questions, qualitative expert interviews with representatives of the German industry in China were conducted. As experts for their respective company, the interviewees were able to provide firsthand experience for this research. More specifically, they were questioned about the measures that were taken to combat the epidemic, their impact on the economy and potential trends that may emerge as a result of the crisis. The interviews showed that the Chinese government and German companies both implemented effective measures to fight the economic impact of the epidemic. Furthermore, the study was able to identify future trends that stem from the concepts that were developed to overcome the crisis. The COVID-19 outbreak was a catalyst for these trends. The risk-based containment approach of the Chinese government in combination with the measures taken within the companies, such as the immediate establishment of task forces and the implementation of alternate working models, was a successful strategy to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. Recognizing the trends that emerged from the crisis and acting accordingly will be essential for German companies.
The COVID-19 crisis in 2020 shook the whole world with an enormous impact on the global economy and every belonging area. Mergers and Acquisitions are an integral part of the corporate management used by companies to generate growth from outside the company. Even though mergers and acquisitions are likely to support company’s growth, it carries risks which can enhance in times of crisis. This scientific term paper aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on companies and their mergers and acquisitions. Using interviews with representatives from companies from different branches, the results show that the impact on the mergers and acquisitions activities have been marginal. Companies were able to handle negative impacts from the COVID-19 crisis due to different indicators of crisis resistance. As a result of this research, it proves that mergers and acquisitions do not react causally to business operations due to middle- to long-term orientation. According to experts, the COVID19 crisis did not carry negative impacts only. The crisis showed companies their grievances in digitalization and led to the implementation of more flexible forms of work. The results of this research are useful for companies to benchmark their level of crisis resistance in terms of further crisis.
The video game industry has come a long way from its humble beginnings in a computer lab at the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s instrumentation group to a multi billion-dollar industry. Considering that the gaming industry is a relatively young industry, it has faced a substantial amount of structural changes and shifts that were intensified by mega trends (i.e. Digitalization) that influence every industry in a certain way. One of these structural changes was the emergence of smaller studios, also known as “indie studios”. Even though these studios have always been a part of the industry, they themselves and their games respectively have gained a lot of appreciation and support over the last decade. Some of these titles even managed to upset those of the big and established studios, also referred to as AAA studios. The most dominant factors that allowed for the emergence and the success of smaller studios were the drastically reduced entry barriers (i.e. free development kits, online distribution websites) and the supportive environment offered to them (e.g. university programs, incubators). Yet, some studios manage to generate better results with their games than other studios do and therefore remained capable of competing in the industry. This circumstance inspired this thesis to identify the KSFs (i.e. Key Success Factors), also referred to as CSFs (i.e. Critical Success Factors) that allow for a successful launch of the game. Generally speaking, KSFs are those business areas and activities that, if executed in a proper way, enable a company to compete successfully in a given market. Since their introduction in 1961 by D. Ronald Daniel, a consultant with McKinsey & Company, the KSFs have been the subject of many studies and academic research papers. A majority of the research tends to focus on applying the KSF methods to more established industries (i.e. healthcare, construction). In addition to that most of the research conducted within the field of KSFs tends to gravitate around identifying and forecasting the KSFs that might be of interest for a given time period instead of focusing on a dedicated event such as the launch of a product. This thesis therefore provides the first comprehensive research on the KSFs in the context of the gaming industry, with special regard to the smaller studios (i.e. indie studios) and the launch period of a game.
First and foremost, this study aims to identify the KSFs that are of great importance to the successful launch of a given game. Furthermore, it tries to research how these KSFs are identified and implemented by the studios. Additionally, it will be researched if the studios are using the traditional model outlined by Howell, M. (2010) or if they rely on other methodologies to identify and implement the relevant KSFs for a successful launch. Lastly, it will be analysed, how smaller (i.e. indie studios) determine whether or not a game was a success and what metrics they use for this evaluation.
The study relied on secondary data provided by scientific journals, books, conference papers from the fields of busines, project management, strategic management and gaming. Since the available scientific literature for this specific research topic was considerably scarce, a lot of the needed content and references used in this thesis were acquired through practical research.
The research followed a hybrid approach, indicating that quantitative as well as qualitative research methods were applied. The qualitative research was conducted in the form of interviews with six industry experts that all had contributed in their way to successful game launches in the past. They were thoroughly researched and evaluated before being contacted in order to ensure their ability to contribute to answering the research question. The data and inputs gathered from the qualitative research were used throughout the theoretical part of the thesis in order to compensate for the continous lack of academic resources and to support the claims made by the author. Furthermore, the data was used to create the survey (i.e. quantitative research) that would be distributed among 409 potential participants. Similar to the quantitative research, these participants were also thoroughly researched and evaluated in order to ensure the legitimacy of the results.
Findings suggest that smaller studios (i.e. indie studios) are not familiar with the traditional model proposed by Howell(2010), which tends to be employed larger corporations in rather established industries. Yet they are familiar with the concept of KSFs and determine as well as implement them through agile project management, which has its origins in the software development industry. This way studios are able to adjust and adapt their KSFs at a faster pace, which is essential due to dynamic environment they operate in. The results indicate that a majority of the participating studios use the Scrum development method in order to determine and implement the required KSFs for developing and launching their games. A significant number of studios rely on dedicated agile project management software programs that aid the companies throughout the project lifecycle. The most popular programs being Trello and Jira. The qualitative research identified a total of 22 potential KSFs that are deemed to be important for the successful launch of a game. The most crucial KSFs were considered to be the following:
- Team chemistry & intrinsic motivation & internal communication
- Budgeting & scheduling & scoping
- Selecting distribution channel & front-page promotion
- Presentation of game on websites & USP
- Active community on social networks & strong customer support & transparency
The results indicate that the traditional one dimensional metrics (i.e. sales level) of evaluating the success of a game launch might no longer have the highest weight in the opinion of studios. The success tends to be determined by a set of one-dimensional metrics, which are quantifiable (e.g. sales levels, positive reviews) and multi-dimensional metrics which are not quantifiable (e.g. learning experience, fulfilment).
Summing up, there might not be such a thing as a “magic formular” that will ensure the success of a game launch. Yet, the research aims to provide suggestions based on the findings from practical research that could be of usage to studios when launching their next game.
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.
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to answer the question of what a new world currency system based on a cryptocurrency could look like. For this purpose, the following research questions were posed:
1. What could be the design of an international digital currency?
2. How would a revived gold standard using an international digital currency be designed?
3. How would a revived Bretton Woods System using the Special Drawing Rights from the International Monetary Fund fixed to an international digital currency look like?
To answer these research questions, a comparison was made with the world currency systems that already existed. Here, the problems of the gold standard and Bretton Woods system were deductively crystallised through a literature review and then inductively applied to the possible system.
The study shows that this system is economically feasible and can solve most of the problems of the past world monetary systems. However, as it requires governments and central banks to cede their sovereignty it is unlikely to be actually adopted. Nevertheless, there are advantages of a digital currency issued by the central bank, such as the detachment from interest and money supply, which would also be politically feasible and sensible in the long term.
In light of the rising commoditization of products, manufacturers worldwide are adopting the strategy of offering value-added services to remain competitive. With the emergence of the new single-use technology, it is becoming increasingly difficult for traditional endoscope manufacturers to create competitive advantage by enhancing the product quality.
The aim of this paper is to investigate how value-added services can effectively differentiate the company KARL STORZ in the single-use endoscope market. In this
regard, insights into the decision-making process of customers in the medical technology industry are provided.
Qualitative exploratory research in form of in-depth expert interviews with KARL STORZ sales & marketing managers and physicians were conducted to gather new ideas and perspectives about the research topics.
The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of potential change in consumer behaviour on the carbon footprint in the beverage industry.
This research comprises two fundamental components. The first component establishes a scientific basis through an in-depth literature review by referring to the main concepts. The second component comprises a research study based on the hypothesis of whether consumers who engage in climate-neutral behaviours also demonstrate conscious beverage consumption. The findings of the literature review illustrate that the beverage industry contributes to high levels of emissions and global plastic pollution. Not only does this endanger marine and terrestrial ecosystems, but also humans. For example, through microplastics that enter organisms and contribute to illnesses. The results imply that the impact of human activities will influence environmental development. The nature of consumer behaviour is considered to be the key to society's impact on the environment. Findings obtained through the research study emphasise that environmental awareness exists among the respondents. Furthermore, it is indicated that a statistical relationship exists between climate neutral consumption patterns and conscious beverage consumption. By fundamentally changing the way beverages are consumed, emissions can be mitigated and consequently the goal of achieving climate neutrality in the beverage industry can be achieved. This furthermore contributes to the achievement of global climate neutrality and supports sustainable development.
The food delivery industry is growing rapidly. As the biggest delivery platform in the western world, Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) must adapt its processes according to its growth. This growth is especially reflected in need for delivery drivers. To adapt to this increasing need, JETs current recruitment marketing affiliate campaign is examined by reviewing the literature, such as books, magazines, journals, and business reviews. Best practices and processes within JET are explained in depth to draw a picture of the current campaign status. Through this research, hypotheses on campaigns issues are drawn. Through a qualitative publisher survey, these hypotheses are either accepted or rejected. Furthermore, a SWOT analysis discusses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the program. Finally, conversion strategies are used to discuss where JET can improve by highlighting potential plans for the optimization of recruitment marketing affiliate campaigns.
COVID-19 has caused severe consequences for the tourism sector, many small- to medium sized travel agencies went bankrupt. Furthermore, the digitalization has been an important global trend, which also affects tourism. The question “how a travel agency could survive in these external circumstances?” is now under the spotlight.
With information from secondary literatures, the macroenvironments surrounding the Chinese and German travel markets are examined. This comparison results in two PEST analyses in order to find out the differences. The case of KaiYuan GmbH, a travel company with Sino-German background, represents a survivor of COVID-19. The SWOT analysis on the company´s microenvironment shows that to possess a broad portfolio and to enter new markets are crucial. The results from the macro- and microenvironment analyses lead to the creation of the new business model Intelligent Travel Agency (ITA), which combines digital developments and a diversified product portfolio. Refined marketing strategies as a German travel agency towards Chinese customers are presented, such as utilizing different Chinese media channels. With feasible components and implementation suggestions, ITAs could replace traditional travel agencies and ensure the existence of travel agencies.
Gender Marketing für Kinder - Wie Gender Marketing zum Erhalt veralteter Geschlechternormen beiträgt
(2021)
Die vorliegende Bachelorthesis erörtert wie gängige Gender Marketing Methoden bei Kindern zum Erhalt veralteter Gendernormen und Rollen beitragen. Weiterführend soll gezeigt werden, dass Gender Marketing nicht nur ein Resultat der Gesellschaftsordnung ist, sondern diese durchaus auch beeinflusst. Studien zeigen, dass Stereotypen im Gender Marketing Kinder vermehrt beeinflussen, da ihnen das Wissen und die Reife fehlt um diese zu erkennen. Kinder beginnen schon früh mit der Entwicklung ihrer Persönlichkeit, dabei orientieren sie sich an den Vorbildern ihres Umfelds. Um diese Frage zu beantworten werden in der folgenden Arbeit wissenschaftliche Artikel, Bücher und Studien analysiert.
Die Arbeit ist in vier grundlegende Bereiche aufgeteilt. Diese Bereiche sind die Hinführung zum Thema und der Forschungsfrage, eine Einführung in die Grundlagen der Marktsegmentierung sowie in die Entwicklung moderner Genderkonzepte. Es folgen der Hauptteil und im Anschluss eine abschließende Diskussion verschiedener Kritikpunkte.
Der Hauptteil erörtert anhand der angegeben Literatur, wie Firmen und Marketingexperten Gendermarketing nutzen um ihre Zielgruppen anzusprechen. Des Weiteren wird in diesem Abschnitt gezeigt, dass Gendermarketing Kindern hauptsächlich beibringt wie die Rolle des Mannes und der Frau im Beruf-, Sozial-, und Privatleben aussieht.
Die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit wurde in Kooperation mit der ZF Friedrichshafen AG verfasst, welche am 1. Januar 2021 eine neue unternehmensinterne Division für Elektromobilität gegründet hat. Im Zuge der Umstrukturierung in dem Unternehmen soll die Digitalisierung der internen Kommunikation vorangetrieben werden.
Ziel der Arbeit ist es, im Rahmen der Neugründung der Division zu erarbeiten, wie die bisherige Nutzung digitaler Medien ausgebaut werden kann, wie digitale Medien als Informations- und Kommunikationsmittel bei den verschiedenen Mitarbeitergruppen des Unternehmens wahrgenommen werden und wie die interne Kommunikationsabteilung die Mitarbeiter der neuen Division am besten durch digitale Medien erreichen und beteiligen kann. Für die Analyse wurden interne Dokumente, Experteninterviews sowie eine internationale Mitarbeiterumfrage als Erhebungsinstrument herangezogen.
Anhand der Forschung der Arbeit zu dem Thema der internen Kommunikation mit einem besonderen Fokus auf digitale Medien, kann eine Basis für ein digitales Kommunikationskonzept innerhalb der neuen Division erarbeitet werden. Zusätzlich werden Handlungsempfehlungen bezüglich der Integration der gefundenen Ergebnisse in das bereits bestehende Kommunikationskonzept der internen Kommunikation abgeleitet.
In this bachelor thesis, the basis as well as the methodology of a life cycle assessment are explained. In particular, the focus is on the approach to create a carbon footprint, which can be seen as part of a life cycle assessment. The aim of this thesis is the creation of a product-related carbon footprint for a product of the Marquardt Group in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 14067 standard. For the determination of the product-related carbon footprint, the relevant processes are identified and the necessary data are collected through interviews with individual employees, supplier request and calculation. As a result, a partial product carbon footprint can be calculated. In order to close the gaps identified in this work, it is recommended to improve data availability and to build up the required knowledge within the company. Consequently, Marquardt will then be able to determine a complete product-related carbon footprint in the future.
As market dynamics move at an ever-faster pace, innovation and business partnerships become crucial for every organization. Companies form partnerships to combine and share resources in order to adapt to high technological change rates and short innovation life cycles. Build with the best is SAP’s slogan to master these challenges together with its partners in driving success for their customers, while helping its partners to innovate and monetize their apps, extensions and solutions. Putting partner innovation at the heart of SAP’s product strategy will create a thriving partner ecosystem, support joint innovation, and better address their customers' problems.
The aim of this thesis, under consideration of the theoretical requirements and the requirements by SAP, is to identify relevant key performance indicators for steering the Partner Innovation Business of SAP. This paper's compilation is primarily based on meetings with employees and managers across different departments like Finance & Controlling, Development, HR and Operations. According to the Balanced Scorecard, the identified indicators are categorized into four different perspectives: financial, partner, process and learning & growth. The findings suggest having a mix of KPIs from different business perspectives as well as leading, lagging, quantitative and qualitative indicators for steering the Partner Innovation Business of SAP. Concerning the early stage of the project, the identified key performance indicators can be taken as a guidepost to develop dynamic and interactive dashboards.
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.
In der vorliegenden Bachelorarbeit wurden verschiedene Beschaffungsmodelle für den Breitbandausbau im Landkreis Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis untersucht. Hierbei wurde auf die Anwendung des Private Public Partnership (PPP) eingegangen, welches in einer Wirtschaftlichkeitsuntersuchung bestehend aus Kostenvergleichsrechnung und Nutzerwertanalyse der herkömmlichen Beschaffungsmethode (PSC) gegenübergestellt wurde. Diese Betrachtung ergab, dass PPP eine wirtschaftlichere Alternative sowohl monetär als auch nicht-monetär darstellt.
Außerdem wurden Finanzierungsmodelle ausgearbeitet, mit welchen Bürgerinnen und Bürger einen Beitrag bei der Umsetzung eines solchen Großprojekts leisten können den Haushalt ihrer Gemeinden zu entlasten. In diesem Zuge wurde ermittelt, inwieweit Crowdfunding oder das Netz-Cent-Modell finanzielle Mittel schaffen kann.
Ferner wurde der positive Einfluss einer Passiven-Breitbandinfrastruktur auf die Volkswirtschaft des Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis untersucht und beurteilt, welchen Nutzen Unternehmen und private Haushalte seit Beginn der Ausbauarbeiten im Jahr 2014 daraus ziehen konnten.
Can the different framing of price promotions decrease consumer value perception and their willingness to pay? Prior research provides evidence of differences in consumer perception of economically equivalent monetary and non-monetary price promotions. In detail, many research works suggest that non-monetary promotions positively affect consumer perception and are therefore preferred over monetary ones that are associated with a drop in quality. Results suggest that this biased consumer behavior is caused by the framing of the promotion, causing difference in cognitive processing and dissimilarities in perception of benefits and product quality. We put this theoretical foundation to the test on the Turkish consumer market of non-durable goods, in order to contrast effects on consumers of the economically equivalent formats ‘50% discount’ as a monetary and ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ as a non-monetary promotion. In particular, the focus was set on analyzing attractiveness perception of the two promotion types and the development of WTP pre- and post-promotion. To achieve this, the non-durable goods rice and antibacterial soap were selected as product stimuli to stage scenarios before, during and after a promotion period. Four sets of questionnaires were shared on social media and distributed to a total of 919 participants via randomization generator. The survey results put forward empirical validation of product-related decrease in value perception as a consequence of both promotion types, namely the ‘promotional effect’. Nevertheless, our data provide no evidence for the ‘framing effect’ in neither attractiveness perception nor post-promotional WTP. This paper aims to bridge the gap on empirical research of key theoretical implications of promotional impact on consumer behavior and to benefit domestic and foreign marketing managers conducting business operations on the Turkish market.
Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es zu prüfen, inwiefern der Entwurf des deutschen Sorgfaltspflichtengesetzes für den Schutz der Menschenrechte und Umweltstandards wirksam und notwendig ist. Das Forschungsthema wurde anhand der Textilindustrie beleuchtet. Es wurden internationale Standards, Richtlinien und Vereinbarungen näher betrachtet. Des Weiteren wurden die menschenrechtlichen Sorgfaltspflichten und die Inhalte des Entwurfes für ein allgemeines Grundverständnis evaluiert. Die Arbeit analysierte die Lieferkettengesetze im Ausland und alternative Maßnahmen. Durch Experteninterviews mit Unternehmen aus der Textilbranche wurden neue Erkenntnisse gewonnen. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit zeigten, dass freiwillige Maßnahmen nur eine eingeschränkte Wirksamkeit haben, da nicht alle Unternehmen verpflichtet werden und die Maßnahmen nicht rechtsbindend sind. Jedoch helfen freiwillige Maßnahmen in der Regel dabei, die menschenrechtliche Sorgfaltspflicht und den Entwurf des deutschen Sorgfaltspflichtengesetzes einzuhalten. Grundsätzlich hängt die Wirksamkeit eines Lieferkettengesetzes von der inhaltlichen Ausgestaltung ab. Viele der Auswirkungen des deutschen Sorgfaltspflichtengesetzes sind weitestgehend ungeklärt und werden sich erst nach der Einführung des Gesetzes zeigen. Es wurde festgestellt, dass Lieferkettengesetze mit Sanktionen, wie Geldstrafen und Klagemöglichkeiten meist verstärkt eingehalten werden.
The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to provide an overview on the development, acceptance and the current status quo in the application of the concept of Lean Administration in Germany. In this context, based on an extensive literary and quantitative research, the Japanese concept of Lean Management, its history, principles, related approaches and the according criticisms will be explained. Of particular importance is hereby the concept of Lean Administration, which is intended to transfer the Lean Principles from the direct business divisions to the indirect business divisions of a company. Through the execution of the literary research, it became apparent that the Lean Principles are already well established and acknowledged in many parts of the world. Particularly, manufacturing companies in Japan and Germany create their production systems in accordance to the Lean Approach. In addition to this, the principles of Lean Management are increasingly applied in indirect business areas, predominantly in Japan. But also in Germany, the awareness of the principle of Lean Administration is increasing, although the implementation of the Lean Principles in administrative areas in German companies still appears to be very restrained.
In order to investigate this circumstance in more detail, a quantitative study was subsequently conducted on the topic of "Lean Administration in Germany: Demographic and cultural factors impacting the success of the implementation of the concept“. Therefore, various factors that could have an influence on the acceptance towards the concept of Lean Administration were examined. Particular weight was given to the analysis of the cohesion between age and the level of professional experience of the respective subjects, and the openness towards the application of the concept of Lean Administration. Contrary to the initial hypothesis that both, a young age and a low level of professional experience would have a positive impact on the acceptance towards Lean Administration, the main finding of the statistical analysis is that there is no identifiable relationship between the three variables.
Nevertheless, even though no statistical evidence could be found for the initial hypothesis, the following significant findings could be identified. Accordingly, it seems that particularly subconscious factors have an influence on the acceptance of the concept of Lean Administration in Germany. Due to the habits of common approaches for processing administrative tasks and the fear of uncertainty about Lean Administration in practice, employees often feel insecure or not sufficiently encouraged to try out a new concept in administration. In this context, this bachelor thesis represents an overview and a guideline - especially for managers, department heads and employees in human resources - on the approaches, which can be used to promote Lean Administration in an adequate environment for increasing the resource efficiency in indirect areas in the long term. Consequently, through a well-structured approach and the usage of visual graphics in an appealing design, this thesis explains, what is required to be considered or could be investigated in the future in order to sustainably establish the concept of Lean Administration in German companies.
Agriculture in Tanzania is not only the biggest employer, but also it is the highest contributor of the GDP. Apart from being an important sector in the country, it is characterized by small scale subsistence farming which is not mainly profitable. In order to transform the agriculture from traditional to commercial, young people, who make 35% of the entire population, are the main driver however they are facing many challenges. Having that in mind, Tanzanian government has enacted several policies whose main aim is to make it easy for young people to engage in agriculture.
In this bachelor thesis, the agricultural policies which have been enacted by the government to attract young people will be discussed and it will be analyzed if they have brought the impacts desired by the government. In order to do that, a survey was conducted in a district called Bukombe in Tanzania and in one agricultural university which is found in Eastern Tanzania.
The results of the above mentioned studies show that majority of youth policies which have been enacted in Tanzania do not involve youth from the beginning of the preparation. Also, there the general studies found that not many young people are aware of the policies which have been enacted to protect them or make their farming activities easier.
The limitation for this study is that the study sample which is used is from only one district and one university so it may be difficult to compare that the results represent the whole country. Also another limitation is that there are still not many studies which have been conducted in Tanzania for this matter so it is difficult to find the up to date resources. This leads to the resources used to be a bit older and in most of the time to depend on only resources from the websites of government institutions.
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.
Die vorliegende Bachelorthesis behandelt das Öko-Controlling-Instrument Umweltkostenrechnung. Der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit liegt auf der Materialflusskostenrechnung, welche in der Literatur das größte Potenzial zugeschrieben bekommt. Im Kampf gegen den Klimawandelt bekommt Ressourceneffizienz eine steigende Bedeutung. Unternehmen stehen in der Verantwortung, ihren Betrieb umweltfreundlicher zu gestalten. Die Materialflusskostenrechnung baut auf dem Ansatz der Ressourceneffizienz auf. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit werden die theoretischen Grundlagen des Umweltmanagements und Öko-Controllings ausgearbeitet und die Relevanz in der Praxis dargestellt. Darauffolgend werden die Ansätze der Umweltkostenrechnungen beleuchtet. Eine genauere Betrachtung erhält die Umweltschutzkostenrechnung. Der zweite Teil beschreibt die Theorie der Materialflusskostenrechnung im Detail. Im dritten Teil werden die Effekte der Materialflusskostenrechnung anhand eines Anwendungsbeispiels dargestellt. Darauffolgend werden konkrete Praxisbeispiele vorgestellt und mit ausgewählten Studien der gegenwärtige Stand der Methode dargelegt. Anschließend werden die Stärken und Schwächen erörtert und die Potenziale für Entwicklungen aufgezeigt. Die Arbeit zeigt, dass die Materialflusskostenrechnung die Transparenz der Produktionsprozesse erhöhen und damit Ressourcen- und Kosteneinsparungspotenziale aufdecken kann. Hohe Einsparungspotenziale liegen bei kleinen und mittelständigen Betrieben mit komplexen Produktionsprozessen. Es stellt sich heraus, dass die Methode nur schwach verbreitet ist und vorwiegend aus finanziellen Gründen angewendet wird. Um die ökologische Perspektive in den Fokus zu rücken, wurden Ansätze zur Erweiterung auf die Lieferkette und mit der Ökobilanzierung entwickelt.
The current mechanisms and information sources for international students in Germany are insufficient. This thesis aims to evaluate the need for potential substitutes of preexisting information sources. Specifically, it analyzes if a commercial service provider can operate as a successful alternative. To investigate current mechanisms and their shortcoming, former information sources were assessed and evaluated. Additionally, five expert interviews were conducted gaining a time accurate evaluation of the present situation. The results show that current information sources are too bureaucratic and restricted in their actions. Nonetheless, the findings also display that there is a great need for optimal and effective access points. This thesis concludes with an analysis of a likely business model, and how it would successfully operate within the Chinese market. Conclusively, a commercial service provider has the optimal prerequisites to fulfill the current demands of international students.
Jedes Jahr werden Ranglisten veröffentlicht, in welchen Länder basierend auf ihrer Innovationsstärke und Tätigkeit bewertet und miteinander verglichen werden. Dabei kann das gleiche Land, aufgrund von verschieden stark gewichteten oder anders gewählten Indizes bei verschiedenen Ranglisten sehr unterschiedliche Ergebnisse erzielen. Die Betrachtung der Länder orientiert sich dabei oft an dem Konzept des Innovationssystems.
In dieser Arbeit soll überprüft werden, wie realitätsnah und anwendbar das Konzept des Innovationssystems ist. Dafür wurden nach einer Einführung in den theoretischen Hintergrund verschiedene Innovationsranglisten betrachtet, nach welchen schließlich auch die drei betrachteten Länder Deutschland, Südkorea und die USA bewertet und eingeordnet werden sollten. Schließlich wurde, basierend auf drei Bereichen, in welchen während der Corona-Pandemie besonders starke Innovationsleistungen gesehen werden konnten, versucht, die aktuelle Innovationstätigkeit der Länder zu bewerten.
Dabei ergab sich, dass die Platzierungen innerhalb der Innovationsranglisten nicht zwingend der tatsächlichen Innovationskraft der Nationen entsprechen.
This thesis should serve as a model to plan an efficient and smart solution when handling the phase-out process of products by XXXXXXXXXX in form of a 10-year life cycle plan. A deeper look into the product life cycle of three absolute rotary encoder families will be taken: A3M, ARS and ATM. These families are subdivided into different sizes, mechanics and electrical interfaces. By means of a status quo analysis, future trends and tendencies, regarding interface usage, technological changes or industries, will be identified. A survey is being executed to get a clearer perspective and to find out why customers bought a particular encoder: What types of machines are the products being used in? What requirements do the customers need for the future? The outcome of the survey will help to develop successor or alternative products that meet customer needs. The affected encoders are up to 20 years old and have reached the decline phase of their product life cycles. In addition to that, the production of some components of the encoder types mentioned above are being discontinued. In order to identify how much stock of the terminated parts is available, a last time buy range analysis will be conducted. Thereby, a range can be calculated which states how many more years the product can be sold. However, this is a linear calculation which means it is based on the consumption of the previous years. It is very much likely that by considering the insights of the survey regarding future tendencies, the consumptions will develop on an irregular basis, which means that it will decline more and more every year and not stay constant. This is crucial for planning the phase-out of the encoder families. Some of the discontinued parts are not only used for ATM, ARS and A3M but also for other encoders. Building on this knowledge, different phase-out scenarios for the three encoder families will be created. The strategically most fitting one for the respective encoders will be identified by means of a utility value analysis. After concluding the final strategy, a communication strategy will be elaborated to complete this academic paper.
The economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clubs of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga
(2021)
The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the entire world in every aspect of life. The global economy is experiencing enormous setbacks in every economic sector. Specifically, the sports industry is facing a massive revenue loss since the outbreak of the virus, resulting from the implementation of pandemic containment measures. Every professional sports league has to adapt to the given circumstances and create solutions to keep the operational business alive. This study focuses on the clubs of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Due to the novelty of the topic, previous literature has hardly mentioned the economic consequences and long-lasting effects on the organizations and their ecosystem. In addition, the pandemic is a continuous process, leading to new results and insights consistently. To this end, the present research highlights the economic consequences of the pandemic and exhibits the conditions under which the league operation can be executed.
Following a qualitative research design to answer the research questions, a detailed literature review and analysis was carried out to provide theoretical delineations. Subsequently, primary data was collected through six semi-structured interviews with managers of a sample of DEL clubs to explore the problems, concerns and attitudes towards the pandemic’s effects.
The results demonstrate that the main source of income of the clubs are partly or completely eliminated because of the pandemic. In particular, ticketing and sponsorship, which are the main sources of income for the clubs, were affected. Overall, the outbreak of the virus led to a chain reaction of events, ultimately impacting the league operation. Consequently, the clubs need to rethink their business model and implement tactics to conquer this situation. Furthermore, the league operation of the 2020-2021 season can only be guaranteed if risk minimization actions and crisis management strategies are applied.
In sum this research provides a clear and transparent overview of the operational business of the DEL clubs under the effects of the pandemic. In addition, this research represents a starting point for future comparison and functions as a guidepost and support for a post pandemic economic analysis.
Die kontinuierliche Optimierung innerbetrieblicher Logistikprozesse ist eine notwendige Maßnahme, um den Einfluss fehleranfälliger Prozesse zu reduzieren und die Prozessqualität zu sichern. IT-gestützte Systeme sind dafür ein vielversprechender Ansatz. In der Cockpit Vormontage, Halle 56, im BMW Werk Regensburg, sind Fehler bei der Behälterbereitstellung am Durchlaufregal aufgetreten. Um diesem Problem entgegenzuwirken, umfasst die vorliegende Arbeit die Erarbeitung eines prozess- und softwarebezogenen Konzepts für die Unterstützung der Behälterbereitstellung im Rahmen der Kommissionierung am Durchlaufregal und baut auf den Projekten der „Papierlosen Logistik“ der BMW Group auf. Dabei wird ein IT-gestütztes „Put-to-Light“ Kommissioniersystem mittels der Integration digitaler Displays (ePapers) mit visueller Blinkfunktion konzipiert.
Das Ziel ist, mit möglichst geringem Einsatz von Ressourcen die aktuellen Schwachstellen zu beseitigen, um nach dem „Poka Yoke“ Prinzip die Fehler im Ist Prozess zu reduzieren. Im Rahmen dieser Bachelorarbeit erfolgt dazu zuerst eine Analyse des Wertstroms in Halle 56. Daran orientierend werden das Optimierungspotenzial, die Konzeptidee sowie die Anforderungen an die Funktionalität des IT-gestützten „Put-to-Light“ Kommissioniersystems identifiziert und beschrieben. Darauf aufbauend werden die prozessseitige Umsetzung und die softwareseitigen Maßnahmen erläutert. Das Potenzial der Konzeption wird mithilfe unterschiedlicher Bewertungskriterien verifiziert. Neben der Analyse von Risiken wird nach dem MTM-System die Veränderung der Prozesszeit beurteilt. Zusätzlich werden auf Basis qualifizierter Abschätzungen sowie Erfahrungswerten die fehlerhaften Behälterbereitstellungen im Ist-Prozess quantifiziert. Die Wirtschaftlichkeit wird mittels der Kapitalwertmethode bewertet. Um einen werks- und unternehmensübergreifenden Nutzen zu erzielen, werden abschließend Rahmenbedingungen für die Skalierbarkeit definiert. Unter den aktuell gegebenen Rahmenbedingungen ist der Kapitalwert allerdings negativ und somit eine Investition nicht angebracht. Im Hinblick auf die prozessseitige Fehlerreduzierung wird ein „schwaches“ „Poka Yoke“ erreicht. Bei geänderten
Rahmenbedingungen, zum Beispiel der unternehmensübergreifenden Einführung einer eindeutigen Behälteridentifikation, ist das Konzept neu zu bewerten.
As globalization continues and markets are getting more international, skilled workers from different cultural backgrounds providing language skills as well as expertise about local customs can be a competitive advantage and key success to succeed on foreign markets. Further, cross-cultural teams are said to be more effective compared to homogenous teams. However, this is only the case if this team is managed and led by a good leader. Poorly led cross-cultural teams often underperform and are highly ineffective. Therefore, a leader of cross-cultural teams has to handle cultural differences in addition to his motivating and inspiring responsibilities.
A highly discussed ability of leaders that should have a significant influence on team performance and effectiveness is “Emotional Intelligence”. The model of Emotional Intelligence includes the capability to correctly appraise, express and regulate one’s own and others’ emotions as well as to manage emotions for better outcomes. Some proponents of Emotional Intelligence even consider these abilities as more crucial as an individual’s general intelligence.
However, Emotional Intelligence has its origins mainly in Western literature and research, and there is a lack of comprehensive research on cultural influences on Emotional Intelligence. This implies that an individual is probably considered as emotionally intelligent in one culture but fails in recognizing and handling emotions in other cultural setting.
This work provides a review on research on the field of intelligence and the development of the concept of emotional intelligence, the basis of emotions as well as leadership requirements. Further it will be analysed how the abilities of recognizing, regulating, and managing emotions differ among different national culture.
The result implies that abilities relating to emotional intelligence differ strongly among cultures and the cultural background of an individual has significant impacts of his/her emotional intelligent abilities. Moreover, an individual that is emotional intelligent in his/her own culture might not be emotional intelligent in another culture. Therefore, an emotionally intelligent leader might succeed in positively influencing his followers if they are from the same cultural background but fails when leading a cross-cultural team.
Limitations of the findings are the dominant Western literature about the topics as well as the complexity of emotions and culture.