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The aim of this study is to investigate how cultural diversity is implemented and promoted in German startups and what best practices can be derived from these insights. The research question is: How is cultural diversity being implemented and promoted in German startups? Challenges and best practices.
As an empirical method to address the research question, expert interviews were conducted to gain precise insight into the strategies and initiatives of startups related to cultural diversity.
The results of the research have shown that cultural diversity has a significant impact on fostering innovation and creativity in startups. It also became clear that leadership within the company plays a crucial role in implementing cultural diversity and creating an inclusive environment. Research also showed that the implementation of formal initiatives in startups is limited due to company size and resource constraints.
Overall, the study has demonstrated that cultural diversity plays an important role in startups that should not be overlooked. Based on theoretical insights as well as findings from the study, best practices have been derived to serve as guidelines for startups aiming to efficiently and resourcefully implement cultural diversity.
Sustainability is a megatrend and has been a topic of great interest for decades. Even though, industrialization came forth with genius and profitable businesses it almost never took into consideration the value of natural capital and sustainability. According to a 2017 report by the UN, there are more than 51 trillion microplastic particles in the sea, more than 500 times the number of stars in the Milky Way. With the depletion of natural resources, increasing consumer education and the need for a better future the world has been prompted to take solid steps to control the menace that could be climate change and unsustainability. This paper makes an effort to understand the effect that sustainable marketing practices have on the profitability of an organization. The case studies of the three famous athleisure brands provides an insight into how sustainability can help companies drive towards a profitable and a circular future.
The objective of this work is to determine which strategic management model is the most suitable for developing a strategy framework for an international, decentralised organisation to ensure sustainable e-business growth. To achieve this, primary and secondary data are analysed, using a combination of comparative and qualitative approaches. Three strategic management models are presented. The Balanced Scorecard and the Objectives and Key Results are selected for a deeper literature review to assess their applicability according to criteria considered critical in a decentralised e-business context. Based on the literature, a hypothesis is formulated suggesting that Objectives and Key Results is the most suitable model for this purpose. Using a concrete case study, -the e-business project Vision 30 of the Würth Group-, both models are developed. The results and development processes are compared and evaluated, showing that although the Objectives and Key Results has significant advantages, it cannot serve as a universally applicable framework. The Balanced Scorecard‘s strategy map uses predefined perspectives, allowing for customisation and individual adaptations for companies. Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected. This demonstrates that the strategy map provides the necessary flexibility while maintaining alignment, which is crucial for success in today’s decentralised business landscape. Further research in the field of strategic management models could investigate the effectiveness of combining both models.
BUSINESS PROCESS AUTOMATION: ENHANCING EFFICIENCY AND COMPETITIVENESS IN MODERN ORGANIZATIONS
(2024)
The first section of the thesis provides a historical overview of automation, spanning from the first industrial revolution to the current era of highly advanced AI-driven technologies. It emphasizes how important Business Process Automation (BPA) is in today's hectic corporate climate when productivity and competitiveness are key factors. The main focus is on Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which is especially useful in situations with legacy systems since it effectively automates repetitive processes. This study explores the differences between terms and concepts related to automation, including business process automation (BPA), robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and business process management (BPM). Companies looking to optimize their processes face a changing landscape due to the involvement of various technologies. Using real-world case studies and industry best practices, the thesis provides a thorough examination of the effects of BPA, emphasizing the primary drivers, challenges, and benefits of BPA adoption. A mixed-methods approach integrating quantitative and qualitative research was used as the methodology. Surveys, case studies, and documentation from different organizations are included in the study, based on those who have implemented RPA at their work. This method enables a thorough analysis of BPA's effects on efficacy, productivity, and affordability. Case studies from prominent firms like Capgemini Consulting, PwC, and Deloitte are reviewed to gain insights regarding their BPA journey. Significant gains in customer satisfaction, cost savings, error avoidance, and operational efficiency are shown by this research. They also draw attention to difficulties like opposition from employees, problems with integration, and the requirement for upskilling. The thesis indicates that although big firms have similar motives for adopting BPA, the process of adopting BPA varies depending on the specific circumstances of each firm. Stakeholder engagement and change management are critical components of successful BPA programs, according to key results. The study highlights a balanced, strategic, and context-sensitive approach, offering a useful insight for companies in establishing their BPA strategy. It provides a comprehensive examination of the role that business process automation plays in modern companies, highlighting the ways in which it can radically alter corporate strategy and operations in the digital age. It gives a thorough examination of the challenges involved in putting BPA into practice and offers tactical advice to businesses hoping to use these tools to boost productivity and competitiveness.
Diese Bachelorarbeit widmet sich der Entwicklung eines Businessplans für ein gesundes, fitnessgerechtes und nachhaltiges Fast-Casual-Restaurant in Freiburg im Breisgau. Die Forschungsfragen, die dieser Arbeit zugrunde liegen, untersuchen die Faktoren und Strategien, die dazu beitragen können, den Konsum von ungesundem Fast-Food zu reduzieren und ein gesünderes Ernährungsverhalten zu fördern. Darüber hinaus wird erforscht, wie ein Geschäftsmodell entwickelt und gestaltet werden kann, um gesundes, fitnessgerechtes und nachhaltiges Fast-Food für die breite Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Schließlich wird untersucht, wie dieses Geschäftsmodell nachhaltigen Wert schaffen und langfristigen Erfolg gewährleisten kann. Die Forschungsmethodik umfasste Interviews im kleinen Kreis sowie eine Online-Umfrage unter den potenziellen Zielgruppen. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen dieser Forschung wurde ein umfassender Businessplan entwickelt, der alle wesentlichen Aspekte des geplanten Restaurants abdeckt, von der Geschäftsidee und dem -modell bis hin zur Marktanalyse, Marketingstrategie, Organisationsstruktur und Finanzplanung. Die vorliegende Arbeit kommt zu dem Schluss, dass das Geschäftskonzept zwar umsetzbar ist und eine klare Nachfrage besteht, jedoch eine enge Zusammenarbeit und Unterstützung von Experten erforderlich ist, um die langfristige Nachhaltigkeit und den Erfolg des Unternehmens zu gewährleisten. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit bieten einen wertvollen Beitrag zur Förderung einer gesünderen Ernährung und eines nachhaltigeren Lebensstils in der Region Freiburg im Breisgau. Dieses Fast-Casual-Restaurant hat das Potenzial, nicht nur die Ernährungsgewohnheiten der Bevölkerung zu verbessern, sondern auch positive Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt und die Gesundheit der Menschen zu erzielen.
Die ursprünglichen Forschungsfragen der Bachelorarbeit lauteten: Bietet der Raumakustikmarkt Potenzial für die Gründung und das Wachstum eines Unternehmens in diesem Bereich? Welche Produkte haben das größte Potenzial? Wie sind die ersten Schritte zur Markterschließung zu gestalten? In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde das Marktpotenzial von Lärmschutzsystemen untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass es sich um eine vielversprechende Marktnische handelt. Mit einer ausgewählten Produktpalette, die ein breites Spektrum an Produkten aus einem Material anbietet, und einem effektiven Servicekonzept kann ein nachhaltiger wirtschaftlicher Erfolg erzielt werden. Insbesondere im B2B-Bereich zeigt die Marktforschung ein wachsendes Potenzial in den kommenden Jahren. Die steigende Nachfrage nach Schallschutz und nachhaltigen Produkten, verstärkt durch gesetzliche Anforderungen, bietet Chancen. Diese Chancen wurden in die Praxis umgesetzt, indem erste Schritte zur Unternehmensgründung eingeleitet wurden. Zusätzlich wurde an einer Ausschreibung teilgenommen, die Theorie und Praxis verbindet. Somit wurden die Forschungsfragen nicht nur in der Theorie beantwortet, sondern auch in die Praxis umgesetzt. Mit dieser Bachelorarbeit wurde nicht nur der erste Schritt in den Markt der Raumakustik getan, sondern auch der Weg in die Selbständigkeit nach dem Studium geebnet.
This bachelor thesis examines the emerging concept of re-commerce in the fashion industry with a particular focus on the factors influencing its adoption in the German market. In the context of changing economic dynamics and the increasing importance of sustainability, the thesis analyzes the basic principles of the circular economy in relation to the fashion industry and discusses the role of re-commerce initiatives in promoting resource conservation.
The study uses a comprehensive PEST analysis of the German market to uncover political, economic, sociocultural, and technological factors influencing the adoption of re- commerce. In addition, a detailed market analysis reveals the current state and growth prospects of re-commerce in Germany. This includes an examination of trends, target groups, demand for sustainable fashion and the acceptance of second-hand goods.
Using the case study of the fashion brand Levi's, which has successfully integrated a re- commerce platform, the study shows how established companies can achieve their sustainability goals and discover new business opportunities.
Finally, the paper concludes by summarizing the identified factors and the opportunities and challenges for companies looking to enter the German re-commerce market. The assessment of the potential benefits and risks associated with launching re-commerce initiatives in Germany provides a comprehensive basis for future decision-making. All in all, the German fashion resale market offers promising prospects. The current expansion and future potential of this sector are strongly influenced by consumer behavior and driven by extrinsic factors.
Thus, this work contributes to a deeper understanding of the relevance of re-commerce practices in the fashion industry and provides valuable insights for companies in the German fashion market aiming at sustainable business strategies.
Die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit untersucht den digitalen Wandel in kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen und dessen Auswirkungen auf die Arbeitspro-zesse und Mitarbeiter. Durch den Einsatz von qualitativen Interviews wurden Erkenntnisse darüber gewonnen, wie Unternehmen den digitalen Wandel erle-ben und welche Herausforderungen und Chancen sie dabei sehen. Die Arbeit beleuchtet, wie die Digitalisierung die Arbeitsweise in Unternehmen verändert, welche Change-Management Methoden eingesetzt werden und wie Mitarbeiter auf diese Veränderungen reagieren. Es wurde festgestellt, dass die Digitalisie-rung nicht nur technologische, sondern auch kulturelle und organisatorische Veränderungen mit sich bringt. Die erfolgreiche Implementierung digitaler Tools erfordert eine klare Kommunikation, Schulung der Mitarbeiter, die Berücksichti-gung ihrer Bedenken und Feedbacks und ein Kulturwandel. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit können Unternehmen dabei unterstützen, den digitalen Wandel effektiv zu gestalten und die Vorteile der Digitalisierung voll auszuschöpfen.
This thesis addresses the relationship between sustainability action and firm competitiveness. Through the analysis of literature and by conducting a survey on consumer demands and preferences, the question whether sustainability action can help companies in the consumer electronics sector gain a competitive advantage is answered.
This thesis comes to the conclusion, that sustainability action can yield many advantages for companies, when executed properly. In general, companies with a strong sustainability performance reduce their production cost, have easier access to capital and labor, show financial and stock performance on the same level or higher than less sustainable companies, reduce stakeholder risk and gain consumer goodwill which can materialize into a competitive advantage. Regarding the consumer electronics sector,
this thesis shows that most consumers would prefer more sustainable products over less sustainable ones and would be willing to pay a price premium. What seems to be a big issue in the consumer electronics market is, that even though companies like Apple already act on the issue of sustainability, they are either doing a bad job or having a hard
time communicating their sustainability initiatives to consumers.
The platform business model replaces the traditional linear value chain model, demonstrating how value can be created differently. The emergence of new platforms in various industries during the last decade has made it difficult to imagine a business without naming at least a handful of active platforms. The platform business model has been proven to revolutionize industries, and this study investigates the possibility of launching a platform business model in unprecedented arenas which still use conventional pipeline business models.
The study explores the process of generating ideas for a new opportunity in the platform business model. After generating 11 ideas, screening and evaluating methods were studied.
The German financial market is being disrupted by financial technology and the progression of AI.
This thesis will look at Sparkasse Deutschland as an industry leading firm in the German financial market and analyse the effect of there currently relevant disruptive technologies employed by FinTech companies on their business model. Following a qualitative, exploratory research approach, utilizing comparative analysis, literature review and exploratory interviews, disruptive effects and managerial implications are outlined.
Research showed that Sparkasse Deutschland is currently confronted with different, digitally operating, disruptive FinTech business models attacking different parts of the three main areas of Sparkasse’s value proposition. Besides through cheaper and technologically superior product solutions FinTechs employ the characteristics speed, specialized solutions and platforms, transparency, flexibility and connectivity, user experience, simplicity, interactive and intelligent systems and reliability and security to disrupt the Sparkasse business model.
While currently hedged by their wholistic business model and experience in navigating the German regulatory financial system, Sparkasse is challenged with developing along the by FinTech introduced characteristics to stay competitive in the digital banking industry. Challenged by the transformation to a more digital business model, Sparkasse is tasked with simultaneously retaining existing customers and investing into their digital future.
Further research could be conducted regarding a strategical implementation for Sparkasse Deutschland navigating the outlined challenges and planning action towards increasing competitive strength pertaining the digitally product environment.
Heart leadership is a leadership style which focuses on finding purpose and
passion in one’s life and job. The generation Y (Millennials), as a rather
technophile generation entered companies around of the turn of the
millennium. On the one hand, nowadays generation Z with new values, ideas
and requests to their work environment enters companies, and on the other
hand companies need to be attractive for skilled personnel. The heart
leadership concept addresses these requirements. This concept refers to the
ability to use one’s awareness and heart energy to create a culture focused on
exceptional relations, trust, care, spirituality, compassion, positivity, and
development.
The aim of this thesis is to answer the question of how heart leadership impacts
a business in the long run. To answer the research question “How can doing
things in a heart way impact the future of modern businesses?”, a literature
review was conducted.
The beginning of this work provides an explanation of what leadership means,
followed by explaining different leadership styles based on the Full Range of
Leadership Model with a concrete explanation of transformational leadership.
By defining the context of heart leadership with the meaning of the heart, what
aspects this kind of leadership includes, and the definition of human potential,
eleven heart factors that influence a business were derived through repeated
and overlapping attributes which a heart-led leader should have. These factors
show that heart leadership has a positive long-term impact on several areas of
a business, including the increase of overall work performance, mental health,
commitment, engagement, employee retention, resilience, profit and more.
The outcome of this thesis recommends integrating heart leadership in actual
leadership principles in companies. Heart leadership is an extension of
transformational leadership that meets the needs of a new generation,
positively changes the work environment, and enables employees’ full potential
in order to survive as a company in a competitive market and the race for
qualified employees.
This study investigates the interrelationship between Knowledge Management (KM) and employee satisfaction and proposes strategic implementation steps for the further development and acceptance improvement of a new Operational Framework (Blueprint) at Robert Bosch GmbH, Power Electronics. Two primary research questions are addressed: (1) whether KM offers insights into and explanations for employee satisfaction issues, and (2) what strategic implementation steps can be derived for the development and acceptance of the Blueprint. The research commenced with an analysis of existing employee satisfaction surveys, supplemented by in-depth interviews, to understand the current state of employee satisfaction in the business unit undergoing transformation. The literature review was then conducted to ascertain the connection between KM and employee satisfaction. Subsequently, the study engaged in multiple interviews with top management in the Power Electronics business unit to identify implementation measures and best practices across various industries. A comprehensive set of practices was established and subsequently evaluated in a workshop involving line employees from the business unit, integrating theoretical findings with practical experiences. The final recommendations were grouped into three categories: Meeting Structure, Culture and Leadership, and Knowledge Management Guidance. The findings underscore the significance of KM in promoting employee satisfaction and suggest that the proposed strategic steps can foster the further development and acceptance of the Blueprint at Robert Bosch GmbH, Power Electronics.
Nowadays, companies face a major challenge in keeping customers loyal in the long term. This paper attempts to address this problem in more detail by considering the following objective. Social media presence is intended to create awareness among users, who may also be customers, in order to build trust towards the brand. Following questions are posed: Which elements of a post are perceived as high-quality? How are social media interaction and high-quality posts related? To what extent is there a relationship between customer loyalty and social media interactions? To answer these questions, a survey was conducted with 102 participants and the results were positively related. Thus, customer loyalty can be achieved through content marketing and further areas, which will now be explained in more detail within this paper
Abstract
In today's business world, it is evident how, thanks to digital transformation, new business models have emerged, especially in the retail industry. Changes in customer preferences have been one of the main reasons why the vast majority of companies within the retail industry have accelerated their digital transformation processes. Evidence has also been found that this change in consumer thinking is related to one of the side effects left by the Covid-19 pandemic, where digital channels gained more strength due to the limitations of physical contact between product providers and their customers. Therefore, changes in consumer thinking and the use of new digital platforms have brought new challenges for companies transforming their businesses from offline to online. The biggest challenges for those companies are not only related to implementing new business models such as online sales or so-called E-commerce platforms but also attributed to the creation of unique and invaluable experiences for the customer, allowing the companies to retain their consumers and create loyalty.
Creating an outstanding customer experience is not an easy task on these platforms since the reach of digital channels is almost infinite, which makes the new entrepreneurs in this industry rethink over and over again the best strategy to approach their customers so that they feel delighted in their customer journey. The present work seeks to provide a solution to the challenge evidenced in the E-commerce platforms, where the main objective is to recognize, through the customer journey, all the critical touchpoints and elements to add value to the shopping experience and to raise levels of customer satisfaction. With the help of tools that measure the levels of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, such as the Kano model, and through a recommendation system, the current paper provides com- panies that trade their products online with a detail of what services should be improved in the shopping experience to be highly attractive. In addition, a guide is provided where its application in each company will show in a quantitative way what the customer satis- faction levels are like. This work, through exhaustive research in academia, concludes that the factors that most stimulate customer satisfaction are those related to e-services quality and highlights the importance of “Personalized information”, “Online sales agent”, and “Website reviews and rating” services to add value to customers in one of the most competitive markets, such as E-commerce.
The business environment has changed within the past few decades. Growing global competition and the trend of shortening product life-cycle have reshaped the market, coercing companies into reconsidering their business strategies and product development. Higher quality, better time-to-delivery, and cost optimization are crucial factors for firms to compete in this tumultuous market. Therefore, companies are adopting a New Product Development (NPD), which is agile and customer-centric. The path toward change, however, is not identical for every enterprise since companies have their own unique organizational architecture and culture, demanding a thorough consideration of various facets of change, which is the focus of this study. EKU Power Drives, the company case study for this research, is actively involved in innovating electrification solutions and embedded software control for mobile power generation in the oil and gas industry upstream segment. The firm is considering transforming to an agile-based framework to fulfill its vision, which is becoming the most preferred partner for the key players in the target markets. This study aims to investigate the optimal Agile methodology and framework for the case study according to its business context, identify the challenges and how to address them, and outline an implementation procedure.
The aim of this paper is to examine the role of packaging design as a strategic marketing tool in the fast-moving consumer goods industry and how this can be done most effectively to appeal to multiple generations. The research question is: how could companies in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry design their packaging to appeal to different generations?
To answer the research question, a quantitative online survey was carried out targeting consumers of generations X, Y, and Z in order to find out what they expect from product packaging. In addition, qualitative expert interviews were conducted to gain a deeper insight into the FMCG market and the role of packaging.
Empirical research showed that packaging is an essential marketing tool when it considers certain conditions, such as general consumer demands and important megatrends. In addition, it was found that neither consumers nor brands place much value on different generational backgrounds in packaging but rather on common values across generations. However, the generational background of the consumers could serve as a guideline for concrete target group definitions.
This shows that packaging is essential for consumers and brands today. On this basis, it is advisable to follow a packaging strategy that combines generations and common consumer values in order to be as competitive as possible in the FMCG market.
This thesis analyzes the effects that product label certification of Fairtrade products and the retail format where they are bought by consumers (Supermarkets vs. Discounters) have on the Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) of common grocery store goods. The thesis builds on data obtained from an online-conducted survey where participants had to respond if a determined price point was deemed as cheap or expensive to them and based on the average reaction times of their answers we determined the individual WTP. Two-way ANOVA analysis were performed with this data and some interesting findings were discovered: while a difference can be observed in consumers WTP for goods depending on the retail environment where they are acquired, there is no evidence of multiplicative effect of product labeling and retail format.
Platforms are increasingly playing a more critical role in companies’ activities. The intense competition in the market and the global economic situation have promoted the transformation of traditional business models, making enterprises adopt digital transformation solutions (Ot, 2022).
Nowadays, there is an increasing amount of data generated on the internet and mobile apps, which have allowed the exponential growth of platforms, allowing value cocreation and enabling an ecosystem composition that has transformed the linear value chain into a platform business model (Şimşek, Öner, Kunday, & Olcayc, 2022).
The healthcare industry has experienced significant changes in recent years, driven by technological advances, increasing focus on cost-effectiveness and quality of healthcare services.
The use of technology and digital platforms to offer care and enhance patient experience is one of the main areas on which healthcare organizations focus. There is a high potential for telemedicine and remote patient monitoring to revolutionize healthcare services (Sjöström, Lars, & Eva, 2017).
The creation of integrated care models, which combine various health providers to give patients a better treatment and service, is another important topic of interest for healthcare organizations. Integrated care models can enhance patient outcomes, save healthcare costs, and boost patient satisfaction. Integrated healthcare models can also help in reducing healthcare system division and enhancing the coordination of care services for patients (Kodner & Spreeuwenberg, 2002).
Other digital initiatives such as data analytics and artificial intelligence are also emerging as a promising approach to improve healthcare services' quality and support decision-making in healthcare. These technologies can provide more accurate and timely information to healthcare providers and enable more effective and efficient care delivery. Medical service transformation is a cross-departmental and cross-level collaboration that demands the participation of the government, firms, consumers, and other participants (Hughes, Shaw, & Greenhalgh, 2020). The Healthcare system has shifted its service from supply management to value cocreation, rebuilding the social framework through technological change. This new business model approach gives openings to different members to cocreate and add value to current products and services (Leone, Schiavone, Appio, & Chiao, 2021).
Despite the benefits of introducing digitalization and a multi-level business model to the healthcare system, its application has needed to be faster because of multiple factors, such as information integration and the application of connectivity technologies and the telematic infrastructure. Additionally, the healthcare system represents a complex structure regulated by the government and dynamized by the interaction of individuals and service providers. Therefore, some other challenges represent the governmental laws and regulations, patient information privacy concerns, and stakeholders’ willingness to adopt the business model. (Viswanadham, 2021).
Therefore, this study aims to research the Status Quo of the Health Care Industry and to explore the opportunities and challenges of platform business models in the healthcare industry.
The results of this study can provide insights into the critical success factors that can help to drive the adoption and implementation of multilevel business models. It also can inform the decision-making strategies and healthcare initiatives adopted by different countries due to digitalization.
Einfluss des Klimawandels auf die deutsche Weinindustrie - Zukunftsanalyse für die deutschen Winzer
(2022)
Die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit gibt einen Überblick über die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf die deutsche Weinindustrie. Das Ziel war es, die zukünftigen Risiken wie auch Chancen für die deutschen Winzer zu ermitteln und anhand der Ergebnisse Handlungsempfehlungen für die zukünftige Weinindustrie zu entwickeln. Um die Forschungsfragen zu beantworten, wurde eine Szenario- Analyse durchgeführt, welche sich an den deutschen Winzern orientiert. Dabei wurden die Einflüsse betrachtet und anhand dieser wurden unterschiedliche Zukunftsprojektionen erstellt. Die Szenario-Analyse zeigte, dass die deutsche Weinindustrie bei den aktuellen Entwicklungen des Klimawandels deutlich als Gewinner hervorgeht. Dennoch müssen Winzer und andere Akteure der Wein- industrie heute bereits wichtige Entscheidungen treffen und sich den Bedingun- gen anpassen um in der Zukunft die entstehen Chancen nutzen zu können.
Als einer der größten Automobilzulieferer weltweit, ist auch die ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF) ein Unternehmen, das sich maßgeblich von der Transformation in Richtung E- Mobilität beeinflusst sieht. Gerade die Erweiterung des Produktportfolios um Komponenten für die E-Mobilität, wie beispielsweise dem elektrischen Motor oder der Leistungselektronik, bringt eine Vielzahl an internen Herausforderungen für die Organisation mit sich. Eine dieser Herausforderungen ist die Schaffung von Transparenz hinsichtlich der zukünftig benötigten Ressourcen, sowie die effiziente Nutzung der vorhandenen Ressourcen im globalen Produktentstehungsprozess. Ziel ist es einerseits das konventionelle Produktportfolio weiterzuentwickeln und andererseits die Entwicklung neuer Anwendungen weiter vorantreiben zu können, die das Unternehmen auf lange Sicht wettbewerbsfähig halten sollen.
Die Erstellung dieser Arbeit wurde dabei im Rahmen der operativen Planung der Division E des ZF-Konzerns angestoßen und soll die Entscheidungsfindung in der Budgetierung für diesen Planungsprozess maßgeblich verbessern. Konkret befasst sich diese Arbeit daher mit der Entwicklung eines potenziellen Konzepts, das neben der Erstellung eines Forecast Modells (im Deutschen: „Vorschaurechnung“) auch die Implementierung eines Regelprozesses am Beispiel der ZF Friedrichshafen AG vorsieht. Grundlage des Forecasts bildet ein qualitativer Ansatz, dessen Ziel es ist für jeden Produkttyp, der sich im Projektportfolio einer Organisation befindet, eine Schablone des Ressourcenbedarfs jeder beteiligten Funktion für ein tendenziell einfaches/mittleres und schweres Projekt zu generieren. Die Schablone soll dabei den Ressourcenbedarf über die gesamte Projektlaufzeit hinweg betrachten und abhängig von den unterschiedlichen Phasen im Projekt ausgefüllt werden. Durch die Klassifizierung aller relevanten Projekte einer Organisation in eine Komplexitätsstufe entsteht ausgehend von den Projektstart Daten ein aggregiertes Gesamtkapazitätengebirge, dass den Gesamtressourcenbedarf bis zu einem spezifischen Zeitpunkt abbilden kann. Das erstellte Konzept ist dabei aus den Erkenntnissen einer wissenschaftlichen Literaturrecherche und den Anforderungen aus der Praxis resultiert und soll durch eine Evaluierung mögliche weitere Verbesserungspotentiale für die Anwendung in anderen Organisationen prüfen.
The insurance industry in Germany has been dominated by a commission-based sales model for over seventy years. Intermediaries sell insurance contracts to end customers and are paid a commission depending on the value and type of insurance. This commission-based approach incentivizes salespeople to keep adding new policies to customers in order to make a living, and customers do not get the insurance solutions and advice that suit them the best. A financial services provider has now developed a novel business model that aims to disrupt the insurance industry in Germany. It replaces commission-based insurance with commission-free tariffs and instead includes a flat fee for managing the client's insurance policies. However, the business idea can only be realized profitably if the administrative expense per client is significantly reduced. Due to strict regulations in the insurance industry, many activities within the process are mandatory.
The goal of this work is to automate the business process behind the idea through the use of digital technologies and to reduce the workload in order to make the business model profitable. We used design thinking as a mental framework to carry out the digital transformation of the business model in a structured way. As part of this qualitative research, we conducted expert interviews and a document structure analysis to define hurdles for the realization and to develop detailed process maps. We carried out a process workshop, during which we analyzed the process and identified requirements for a digital prototype, which was developed using the low-code framework bubble.io.
Through workload time measurements, the impact of digital transformation on the performance of the process was confirmed. Finally, different digital options were compared with each other. The findings of this work support the thesis that design thinking has a positive influence on the success of digital transformation and in particular in the development of solutions tailored to people. This success is underlined by a reduction in workload times by 71,2% for bottleneck activities. The comparison of the various digital options implies that the development of customized digital applications is preferable for unique and complex problems.
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.
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.
Die Kooperation zwischen Start-ups und etablierten Unternehmen in Form von Corporate Venturing hat in den letzten Jahren weiter an Interesse gewonnen. Diese Zusammenarbeit ist mit zahlreichen vorteilhaften Aspekten für beide Parteien verbunden, die die Unternehmen für sich zu nutzen versuchen. Um die Zusammenarbeit so erfolgreich wie möglich zu gestalten, war das Ziel dieser Arbeit, die Beantwortung folgender Forschungsfragen: Zunächst galt es herauszufinden, welche Corporate Venturing Instrumente von Start-ups im verarbeitenden Gewerbe bei der Kooperation mit etablierten Unternehmen eingesetzt werden. Darauf aufbauend wurde die Frage „Welche Handlungsempfehlungen können Start-ups im verarbeitenden Gewerbe zum Einsatz von Corporate Venturing Tools gegeben werden?“ beantwortet.
Eine qualitative Studie unterstützt die Beantwortung der Forschungsfragen, indem sie Einblicke in die praktische Anwendung von Corporate Venturing bei Kooperationen mit befragten Start-ups im verarbeitenden Gewerbe gibt. Die Fragen in den Interviews und Online-Umfragen wurden sowohl offen als auch geschlossen gestellt und richteten sich nach der Innovationsphase, in der sich das Unternehmen befindet, sowie den Motiven für eine Zusammenarbeit, der Art und Dauer der Kooperation und den Erfahrungen mit den eingesetzten Corporate Venturing Tools. Demnach können Start-ups nach Innovationsphase, Innovations- und Kooperationszielen sowie dem damit verbundenen Bedarf an individueller Unterstützung den einzelnen Kooperationsinstrumenten zugeordnet werden, um durch den gezielten Einsatz dieser Instrumente eine effiziente und zielgerichtete Zusammenarbeit beider Parteien zu ermöglichen.
This paper aims to create a foundation for further, in-depth research of the topic Indigenous entrepreneurship in Colombia and other countries, as well as to facilitate the analysis of obstacles in Indigenous businesses. To answer the research question, seven experts are interviewed using semi-structured interview guides based on several deductive categories. The findings are then analysed through a thematic content analysis before they are presented and discussed.
The results show that there are various inter-connected obstacles impeding more success of Indigenous businesses in Colombia, which are not sufficiently studied and addressed. The most important obstacles are corruption and marginalization, as well as resulting conditions like a lack of infrastructure and education. This study emphasizes the importance of, and encourages the realization of further,
profound research regarding this and related topics.
The sale of insurance policies through the payment of commissions to intermediaries, such as agents, is a common practice in the insurance sector. As a consequence of this compensation method, intermediaries must weigh-off between increasing their commission-based income and offering clients suitable low-priced policies. A novel business model seeks to address this issue by substituting this commission-fee-based approach with a subscription-based approach. Although a company already applies this business model with a minor customer base, there is a lack of information about whether and under which circumstances it can be financially profitable. To obtain transparency about the financial prospects of this business model, a corporate financial model was created, through which seven scenarios were modeled and financial key figures compared. Three scenarios simulate distribution via a direct sales channel through the company workforce, and four scenarios via an indirect sales channel consisting of external intermediaries. The comparison of the scenarios indicates that this commission- free business model can be profitable in the long term regardless of the sales channel selection. Yet the results show that distribution via the indirect channel can be perceived as more profitable. By optimizing processes in both channels and by adjusting the remuneration for intermediaries in the indirect channel, the financial prospects for all scenarios can be further increased.
The aim of the thesis is to apply the theoretical ideas of the internal analysis and the blue ocean strategy to the case of Nintendo and their then newly released Wii console. In doing so the author will address the question about the success of a console that became a worldwide success despite its technical inferiority compared to its competitors based on the swift in the corporate strategy including the internal strengths of the company.
It will explain in detail how the internal analysis can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a company which when combined with a specific business strategy, can lead to sustainable competitive advantage and the creation of a blue ocean.
For this purpose, the author uses the internal analysis tools of the value chain such as the VRIO framework as well as the blue ocean strategy derived by Kim and Mauborgne.
In the context of the Thesis I helped myself above all with the books of the creators of the models. In addition, from Internet sources and newspaper reports since one finds in the context of the investigation for consoles few technical literature.
During my application of the models I finally came to the conclusion that Nintendo has implemented the theoretical models in the best possible way and on the basis of these it is possible to follow the process of company restructuring. Moreover, through the theoretical models it was possible to validate the strengths and weaknesses of the company and to put them in context.
The sharing economy is a global phenomenon and an alternative consumption model based on granting access to owned surplus of resources to strangers through web-based platforms in exchange for money or for free. While this model quickly gained popularity in the transactions between individuals (C2C or P2P) and between individuals and companies (B2C), the potential of sharing between enterprises (B2B) is yet to be harnessed. Among the positive consequences the sharing economy claims to deliver, such as increased efficiency, waste-cut, and community-building, sustainability is the fundamental consequence this paper will focus on. Specifically, this thesis aims to determine if the sharing economy in the B2B market is a sustainable business model for the future. The obtained results show that, while the sharing economy in B2B, especially in small to medium-size companies, has the potential to bring more efficiency and sustainability for the future, this seems not to be the case in the present. This is the result of several external limitations, especially in the field of technology, legality and in society, but also of internal factors, such as conceptual and empirical unclearness that occasionally even lead to business misconduct and abuse of the positive connotation of the sharing economy model.
The goal of this bachelor thesis is to find out if Lidl is well prepared for the future challenges in the retail sector. Change management plays an important role, as implementing new aspects into a business requires change. As change management is a well-covered topic, the goal was to understand how change management works and what kind of problems might come up in theory. By interviewing experts within Lidl, it was aimed to find out where Lidl is positioned compared to the competition and what potential plans are ahead but also what kinds of challenges Lidl as a company is facing. It shows that implementing change requires good shareholder management, communication but also understanding the market to know which change makes sense or not. At the end the goal is to define risks and to assess if Lidl is well positioned to maintain the success.
Low profitability is one of the major problems of the airline industry and one approach to solve it is that selling ancillary services to passengers which is called a-la-carte pricing. While this strategy has had some success in terms of additional revenue generation, especially for the low-cost airlines, full-service airlines struggle to implement this approach since their brand image is equivalent to better comfort and complimentary services served to their customers. Therefore, a new and possibly more effective strategy about the ancillary services comes into play which is called the a-la-carte options strategy. This strategy suggests rather than removing the complimentary ancillary services, the airlines can offer a certain number of reward miles to their frequent flyer program members to not choose to use that free ancillary service. By doing that the customer would receive free reward miles and the airlines would save from a substantial cost factor from ancillary services since the reward miles are low-cost for them. In this research, the potential cost reduction of a-la-carte options, optimal mile offer, and the possible customer reaction for launching the strategy are examined. First, potential cost reduction is calculated with real scenarios and flights. Second, customer responses are assessed with a survey conducted. The results show that a-la-carte options strategy can be highly effective on cost-cutting and customers tend to accept and use this strategy. Therefore, a-la-carte options strategy is potentially a good and effective instrument to fight the sector’s long-standing profitability problem by decreasing ancillary service and other customer service operation costs.
Pricing is one of the foundations of any company’s market strategy and the only factor of the marketing mix that deals with revenue generation. The other three viz. product, promotion and place deal with expenditure. Pricing strategies provide varied degrees of flexibility based on organizational capabilities and customer segments. Pricing decisions are fundamental to a firm’s growth and are complex in implementation. Based on the author’s research, value-based pricing provides the best fit for all the important pricing factors like cost structure, profit margin, competition, supply and demand, etc. Despite this, cost-based and competition-based pricing strategies are still being widely used. The IT service industry in India has long focused on the competitive advantages of cheap and abundant manpower but the lack of focus on product development together with the emergence of other low waged countries and the growing nature of technology adaptation in the country have presented significant motivation to these IT firms to invest in research and development aimed at enhancing their product portfolio, which can be best taken advantage of by moving their pricing decisions towards a customer-value centric approach. Basing their prices on the different customer segments and focusing on value generation is the best way forward in the face of increased competition from both domestic and international organizations.
As a decisive factor for ongoing corporate success, companies are increasingly concerned with the possibilities of increasing their innovative ability. In connection with factors that can be influenced by internal company decisions, this work deals with the question of which factors are particularly effective in this context. The underlying hypothesis deals with the statement that the innovation performance can be fundamentally influenced by internal company decisions.
From the qualitative survey and study of three medium-sized companies from the districts of Schwarzwald-Baar and Rottweil, company-internal factors for increasing the ability to innovate and their relevance and practical application are examined. These companies are MinebeaMitsumi Technology Center Europe GmbH, Wiha Werkzeuge GmbH, and Hugo Kern und Liebers GmbH & Co. KG. In this context, several employees from the development and innovation teams of the companies were interviewed personally and other employees of one company were interviewed using an online survey. The questionnaire was further expanded on the basis of the information and results obtained. The results of this survey were critically reflected on by the project manager of the company surveyed first.
The seven internal factors identified from the literature are the Generation and Implementation of Ideas, Creativity and Time Pressure, the Use of External Information, Creation of Knowledge, Behavioral Patterns, Organizational Structures and the Composition of Teams. These factors were identified with different relevance and application in the practice of the examined companies. It cannot be conclusively clarified from the study whether the ability to innovate can be positively influenced, in particular by the factors identified. In this context, further investigations are necessary. Based on the literature review and experiences of the companies, this thesis presents a recommendation for measures relating to the positive influence of factors to increase the ability to innovate.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
This thesis aims to identify various individual definitions of the term agility in business literature and to analyse their core characteristics in order to develop a universally applicable agility model that helps to understand the focus of each agility definition. In the process, commonalities and differences between a large number of individual agility definitions are examined with the help of content analysis. The methodological procedure of the content analysis is based on word identification on the one hand and implication analysis on the other. With the help of the results of the content analysis, dimensions are developed which group commonalities of different definitions. By combining the dimensions and the results of the content analysis, a model is created that makes it possible to categorise all definitions of the term agility in the business literature and make them comparable with each other. The results of the individual definitions applied to the model show that there are different views and understandings of the term agility. For example, the term agility can symbolise extrinsic motivation or intrinsic motivation and a focus on threats or goals for the company. The agility understanding model manages to successfully map all the focuses of the authors of the agility definitions and shows that there is no universally valid definition of the term agility.
Ziel dieser Arbeit ist, den Markt für Fleischersatzprodukte in Deutschland und Spanien darzustellen und Empfehlungen für neue Wettbewerber auf dem deutschen und spanischen Markt und die Regierungen auszuarbeiten. Hauptgrund dafür sind die weitreichenden Auswirkungen auf Umwelt und den Klimawandel durch den Fleischkonsum. Dafür wird die Porters 5 Forces Analyse auf Deutschland und Spanien angewandt und generelle Kundenwünsche und mögliche Unterstützungsmöglichkeiten durch die Regierungen recherchiert. Die Analysemethode wurde gewählt, da diese einen besonders guten Überblick über die Marktsituation bietet.
Annahmen haben sich während der Recherche hauptsächlich bestätigt. Wie erwartet ist der deutsche Markt weit entwickelt, während der spanische Markt noch viele Chancen und Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten bietet. Sowohl bei der deutschen als auch der spanischen Regierung gibt es noch viel Luft nach oben, da aktuelle Unterstützungen kaum existieren.
Der erste Teil behandelt den theoretischen Hintergrund dieser Arbeit. Er befasst sich mit relevanten Definitionen und geht auf die für Teil zwei relevante Analysemethode Porters 5 Forces ein. Auch wird auf die Umweltauswirkungen der beliebtesten Fleischsorten eingegangen und diese mit den Umweltauswirkungen von pflanzlichen Produkten verglichen.
Im zweiten Teil wird die Porters 5 Forces Analyse auf Deutschland und Spanien angewandt und grafisch dargestellt. Auch werden generelle Kundenwünsche aufgeführt.
Im dritten Teil werden dann Empfehlungen für Wettbewerber auf dem deutschen und spanischen Markt ausgesprochen und mögliche Strategien evaluiert. Ebenfalls werden Empfehlungen für die deutsche und spanische Regierung aufgestellt.
Ziel der vorliegenden Bachelorarbeit ist die Erforschung ökonomischer Effekte des Corona Virus auf den Berufsfußball. Dazu wird folgende Forschungsfrage gestellt:
„Welche wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen hat Covid-19 auf den professionellen Fußball in Europa?“
Um die Forschungsfrage zu beantworten wird eine Literaturrecherche betrieben. Zunächst wird dafür der Profifußball definiert und die Spezifitäten der Branche aufgedeckt. Im Anschluss werden sowohl die finanziellen Daten vor der Krise als auch die aktuellsten Daten herangezogen, um die Auswirkungen analysieren zu können. Abschließend werden mögliche Lösungsalternativen ausfindig gemacht und bewertet.
Die Studie zeigt, dass die Branche durch den Wegfall von wichtigen Spieltageinnahmen sowie einer bereits vor Covid-19 bestehenden finanziellen Belastung wirtschaftliche Probleme aufweist. Insgesamt weisen die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass der Profifußball sich zukünftig nachhaltiger aufstellen muss, um Krisenzeiten besser zu überstehen.
XXXXXXXX, according to XXXXXXXX is a disruptive technology. This technology offers producers several advantages, such as more efficient and sustainable production, as well as cost savings and process optimization. Many producers are under increasing pressure to adapt their production in the long run tothe fast-growing technological standards andincreasing worldwide environmental consciousness. They are now facing the challenge of maintaining their competitive advantage in the medium to long run. Unfortunately, mostcompanies are not familiar with the new XXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXX might encounter rejection. Therefore, it is necessary to understand what actions need to be taken to convince a potential customer in the B2B relationship of the new technology. For this purpose, the following research question is posed: Which strategy supports the market entry of XXXXXXXX printing applications?-The impact of XXXXXXXX on technology introduction. To answer the research question, results were compiled on the basis of a literature research and an online survey on customer needs in décor baseboards and in vehicle interior design.
The research and the survey show, that decisions are always based on an emotional basis. In addition, information which is communicated several times and on different sensory levels, is better absorbed. The aspects sustainability, cost savings, individualization, waiting times and competent consultation play a central role for customers. Moreover, an economic challenge is crystallizing due to the Covid-19 crisis. As a result, the focus should be on emotionalizing and dramatizing the content when presenting the new XXXXXXXX technology. Here, the customer’s wishes should be included, and a personal connection should be built up as well as strong emotions evoked. This enables the creation of a very good customer experience, which is essential for decision-taking. In addition, the communication should take place on all sensory levels to provide the potential customer a multisensory experience. In order to better implement the proposed actions, it is recommended to meet the customer at a trade fair or in the XXXXXXXX building.The correct use of the proposed actions will help XXXXXXXX to successfully convince the potential customer of XXXXXXXX.