Open Access

Private equity investors acquire companies, aim to increase the company’s corporate value and thus aim at selling the respective company at a profit after some time. To increase the value of their portfolio companies, private equity investors employ three main value creation strategies. Financial leverage, multiple expansion, and operational value creation. There has been a significant shift in importance between these three value drivers. While in the 1980s more than 50% of value creation was achieved by leveraging equity with the help of debt capital, this value driver only accounted for 15% in the 2010s. Instead, the value driver operational value creation has gained significantly in importance. It alone accounted for 55% of total value creation in the 2010s, more than financial leverage and multiple expansion combined. The aim of this thesis is to answer the question which operational value creation levers private equity investors use to increase the value of their portfolio companies during the holding phase. In addition, the thesis deals with the question of operational value creation drivers of the future. These are derived based on prevailing megatrends of the future. Research on the operational value drivers used by private equity investors revealed that these drivers can be assigned to three main aspects. These aspects are, on the one hand, financial aspects, where private equity investors take measures to improve working capital. Moreover, within the framework of financial aspects private equity investors influence the cost structure as well as the cost of capital and the capital structure. Furthermore, private equity investors assert influence on the governance structures of their portfolio companies. For the aspect of governance, measures such as replacement of management/change of management structure, monitoring and controlling as well as incentive systems were identified to increase the value of the company. Another identified aspect for value creation are strategic aspects. In terms of strategic aspects, private equity investors use the levers of mergers and acquisitions, organic expansion, outsourcing/insourcing as well as product and pricing strategies. The research on the value creation levers that private equity investors will have to apply in the future in order to ensure value creation of their portfolio companies is based on the megatrends of digitalization, demographic change and sustainability. The research revealed the implementation of digitalization measures, employee, and talent management as well as the implementation of ESG criteria. This thesis has structurally outlined value drivers that contribute to value creation in private equity investments. The research also showed that value creation levers taken can directly and indirectly influence the value of the portfolio company. Value drivers II with a direct effect on the change in equity value affect either revenue, margin or net debt, while the indirect value drivers affect the valuation multiple.

When enterprises decide to expand operations to new foreign markets, they are encountered with the crucial decision of how to implement their marketing strategy in each market without losing consistency across their global brand image. This thesis will focus especially on the impact culture has on this decision and on its implementation. To do so, a qualitative analysis in form of expert interviews was performed in six multinational companies across different industries. Marketing managers from the headquarters were questioned about the implementation of their global marketing strategy in their local markets. The findings give new insights for managers in terms of future adaptations for efficient communication of marketing strategy across the multinational company. The two strategic options standardisation and adaptation are examined in the literature to set a foundation to later discuss culture’s influence on this decision. Furthermore, a cultural framework will be given and the communication structure of the two main parties of a multinational company will be reviewed in the existing literature.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how process mining might enhance and benefit processes to increase the competitive advantage, while also examining the difficulties businesses are facing when implementing process mining and the purpose for which they have implemented it. Presentations of cases from various industries are backed up by in-person interviews with representatives of various businesses. The findings show that process mining is a tool that users highly recommend since it produces results that have never been seen before, regardless of the field in which it is used and regardless of their initial purpose for choosing such a concept. It also emphasizes the importance of the staff and people in putting a new idea into practice, as well as their obstacles embracing anything new. Businesses that are competing for an advantage knock on many doors. The last ten years have seen many businesses of all kinds open their doors to process mining. A notion that identifies their shortcomings, provides them with room to grow and gives them transparency. One would assume that firms' focus is on keeping costs low in today's environment, where expenses climb enormously daily, therefore that's why they introduce innovative concepts. That may be true at first, but once the concept's genuine usefulness is realized, their focus is simple to change. Companies today recognize the need of process optimization if they wish to operate with a competitive edge and have a sound business plan. Until businesses decide to test the idea themselves, the network effect is important in such situations. Since the concept hasn't been on the market for very long and not many companies have had experience with it thus far, it was observed that the results of the literature review with regard to the content of the interviews were practically comparable. Finally, this paper provides recommendations for a transition from the conventional business models that firms are still using to more modern technical, data-based approaches. Only a broad analysis and conclusion are possible with the sample size of eleven companies and ten specialists.

In two experiments, this empirical research examines consumers’ willingness to pay and the likelihood of purchase decisions by thoroughly investigating the neural, behavioral, and psychological properties of packaging design. A general theory is tested by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a NeuroPricing online survey on consumer behavior using the example product Tassimo. Hypotheses are tested with 592 German consumers who evaluated the packaging of Tassimo coffee. A closer look at the neural data from the brain imaging experiment shows that uncertainty can arise among consumers with regard to sustainable packaging and this can have a negative impact on the purchase decision and willingness to pay. The results from both experiments show that it is not possible to make a holistic statement as to which sustainable or enjoyment-focused packaging design increases the likelihood of a purchase decision or the willingness to pay. Implications for future packaging design research and underlying complexities with sustainable packaging are discussed.

Growing environmental awareness, especially among young generations, is reflected in the willingness to accept price premiums for sustainable and recyclable products. In recent years, marketers have focused on reinforcing consumers’ attention and interest in green goods by increasing the effectiveness of various sustainability information on product packaging. In this thesis, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) investigated the effect of visual and verbal recycling claims on product packaging upon the willingness to pay (WTP). Although findings showed no changes in WTP related to a visual claim, the presence of a verbal claim positively impacted the WTP in two of four cases. Further, significant interactions between the two factors were detected. The results suggest that students considered an imagery seal irrelevant during product evaluation, whilst communicating recycling information with a textual message or with a conjunction of both claims showed a tendency to improve price-value perception. However, results for the verbal and interaction effects showed variations across products. Therefore, one may not draw unequivocal assumptions from the findings of this study without research replication on a larger scale.