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Sie sind es leid, Ihre wertvolle Arbeitszeit in endlosen Meetings zu verschwenden? Sie sind enttäuscht darüber, wie selten Meetingziele vollständig erreicht werden? Und es ist Ihnen bewusst, welche immensen Kosten Meetings verursachen?
Erleben Sie die Reise von Verkaufsleiter Frank, der sich mit seinem Team dem Meeting-Dilemma stellt und gemeinsam den größten Zeitfresser der Arbeitswelt besiegt. Begleiten Sie dieses innovative Unternehmen mit seinen Menschen und Charakteren, die auf ihrem Web zu einer optimierten Meetingkultur zahlreiche Herausforderungen meistern. Lassen Sie sich davon mitreißen und anregen, Ihren eigenen persönlichen Weg in Ihrer Praxis zu finden, so dass Ihre Meetings zum Motor für produktive Zusammenarbeit in Ihrer Organisation werden.
Automatic content creation system for augmented reality maintenance applications for legacy machines
(2024)
Augmented reality (AR) applications have great potential to assist maintenance workers in their operations. However, creating AR solutions is time-consuming and laborious, which limits its widespread adoption in the industry. It therefore often happens that even with the latest generation machines, instead of an AR solution, the user only receives an electronic manual for the equipment operation and maintenance. This is commonplace with legacy machines. For this reason, solutions are required that simplify the creation of such AR solutions. This paper presents an approach using an electronic manual as a basis to create fast and cost-effective AR solutions for maintenance. As part of the approach, an application was developed to automatically identify and subdivide the chapters of electronic manuals via the bookmarks in the table of contents. The contents are then automatically uploaded to a central server and indexed with a suitable marker to make the data retrievable. The prepared content can then be accessed for creating context-related AR instructions via the marker. The application is characterized by the fact that no developers or experts are required to prepare the information. In addition to complying with common design criteria, the clear presentation of the contents and the intuitive use of the system offer added value for the performance of maintenance tasks. Together, these two elements form a novel way to retrofit legacy machines with AR maintenance instructions. The practical validation of the system took place in a factory environment. For this purpose, the content was created for a filter change on a CNC milling machine. The results show that inexperienced users can extract appropriate content with the software application. Furthermore, it is shown that maintenance workers, can access the content with an AR application developed for the Microsoft HoloLens 2 and complete simple tasks provided in the manufacturer's electronic manual.
Das Thema des Direktvertriebs (Direct-to-Customer oder kurz D-to-C) in der Automobilindustrie ist en vogue, denn nach Valtech (2023, S. 2) ist die Umstellung der Vertriebsmodelle in dieser Branche unumgänglich. Die Covid-19-Pandemie hat zudem noch als Katalysator für den D-to-C fungiert und die digitale Transformation sowie die Akzeptanz virtueller Verkaufsprozesse beschleunigt.
Tech hubs (THs) and cognate structures are nowadays ubiquitous in the innovation ecosystem of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. However, the concept of THs is fuzzy due to the lack of a clear and universally accepted definition. This ambiguity is further compounded by the diverse range of organizations that self-identify as hubs, or are categorized as such by others. As a result, research on THs in SSA remained limited. Against the backdrop of established research on the interconnectedness of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in different organizational forms, this paper is meant to provide fresh insights into the study of THs in SSA. To advance future research, first, it reveals what is special about THs in SSA and how they are related to existing concepts. I particularly argue that they contour a fourth-wave model of incubation. Second, four main categories are unfolded to delineate THs in SSA which is the cornerstone for future research.
This paper explores the application of People Analytics in
recruiting professors for universities of applied sciences. Using data-driven personas, the research project aims to identify and communicate the different paths and connections leading candidates to a professorship. The authors introduce the concept of personas, describe the underlying data source and derive an example for the current project.
Rare but extreme events, such as pandemics, terror attacks, and stock market collapses, pose a risk that could undermine cooperation in societies and groups. We extend the public goods game (PGG) to investigate the relationship between rare but extreme external risks and cooperation in a laboratory experiment. By incorporating risk as an external random variable in the PGG, independent of the participants’ contributions, we preserve the economic equilibrium of non-cooperation in the original game. Furthermore, we examine whether cooperation can be restored by the relatively simple intervention of informing about countermeasures while keeping the actual risk constant. Our experimental results reveal that on average extreme risks indeed decrease contributions by about 20%; however, countermeasure information increases contributions by about 10%. Specifically, in the first interactions, cooperation levels can even reach those observed in the riskless baseline. Our results suggest that countermeasure information could help reinforce social cohesion and resilience in the face of rare but extreme risks.
In this paper, the essential sponsorship basics are presented and the communication instrument of sports sponsorship is illustrated. Building on this, both the perspectives of sponsors and sponsees are examined in detail. In addition, the special features of sports event sponsorships are highlighted. Finally, current developments in sports sponsorship in the context of the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2022 in Qatar and the UEFA European Soccer Championship 2024 in Germany are compared and discussed.
The dawn of the 21st Century has witnessed a tremendous increase in trade pacts among nations, resulting in renewed hopes for sustainable enterprise development in emerging economies worldwide. Ghana and other sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have signed onto several North-South and South-South free trade agreements with the hope of strengthening their presence in the international trade arena, and to promote economic growth in SSA. For over two decades, however, very little has changed, and many have dashed their high hopes as enterprises continue to struggle in SSA. Not even the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) could renew the hopes of sceptics. Several studies opined that enterprises in SSA could improve their domestic and international competitiveness by establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with their counterparts from the Global North and South. This study delved into the issues that affect North-South and South-South business collaborations and recommends key success factors that could help promote mutually beneficial cross-border business partnerships. The research includes both literature and empirical information on the key success factors of business partnerships between African enterprises as well as between African enterprises and firms from the Global North. We approached the study qualitatively using a phenomenological research design. Research participants included important stakeholders in Africa and Europe's international trade and sustainable enterprise development ecosystem. The study identified several challenges with the current business collaborations and recommended new ways of making such partnerships more beneficial.
Digitalisierung in Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)-Prozessen birgt ein erhebliches Potenzial zur Effizienz- und Effektivitätssteigerung, erfährt jedoch bislang in der betrieblichen Praxis nur eine geringe Aufmerksamkeit. Dieser Beitrag schlägt angesichts dessen ein Reifegradmodell vor, womit sich der Ist-Stand der digitalen Reife eines Unternehmens bei Corporate M&A ermitteln und darauf aufbauend Optimierungspotenziale identifizieren lassen. Grundlage der Modellerstellung sind einerseits eine Analyse der vorhandenen Reifegradmodelle und andererseits Interviews mit M&A-Experten unterschiedlicher Unternehmen.
The blockchain technology represents a decentralised database that stores information securely in immutable data blocks. Regarding supply chain management, these characteristics offer potentials in increasing supply chain transparency, visibility, automation, and efficiency. In this context, first token-based mapping approaches exist to transfer certain manufacturing processes to the blockchain, such as the creation or assembly of parts as well as their transfer of ownership. This paper proposes a prototypical blockchain application that adopts an authority concept and a concept of smart non-fungible tokens. The application enables the mapping of complex products in dynamic supply chains that require the auditability of changeable assembling processes on the blockchain. Finally, the paper demonstrates the practical feasibility of the proposed application based on a prototypical implementation created on the Ethereum blockchain.
Purpose
Job advertisements are important means of communicating role expectations for management accountants to the labor market. They provide information about which roles are sought and expected. However, which roles are communicated in job advertisements is unknown so far.
Design/methodology/approach
With a text-mining approach on a large sample of 889 job ads, the authors extract information on roles, type of firm and hierarchical position of the management accountant sought.
Findings
The results indicate an apparent mix of different role types with a strong focus on a classic watchdog role. However, the business partner role is more often sought for leadership positions or in family businesses and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME).
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is the lack of an agreed-upon measurement instrument for roles in job offers. The study results imply that corporate practice is not as theory-driven as is postulated and communicated in the management accounting community. This indicates the existence of a research-practice gap and tensions between different actors in the management accounting field.
Practical implications
The results challenge the current role discussion of professional organizations for management accountants as business partners.
Originality/value
The authors contribute the first study, which explicitly analyzes the communication of roles in job offers for management accountants. It indicates a discrepancy between scholarly discussion on roles and management accountants' work from an employer's perspective.
This study examines the phenomenon of Virtual Influencer (VI) marketing and its impact on customer purchase behavior. The aim is to understand the scope and impact of VI marketing. The study compares VI marketing to traditional Human Influencer (HI) marketing and identifies the unique benefits and challenges associated with VIs. A survey was conducted to gain insight into consumer attitudes and behaviors toward VIs. Key findings reveal varying levels of trust and acceptance of VIs among consumers. While some participants expressed openness to buying products promoted by VIs, others had reservations about their authenticity. The study also explores the potential role of VIs in the metaverse, highlighting business opportunities and challenges in this evolving digital landscape. Overall, this research sheds light on the growing influence of VIs and the need for further research in the field of marketing.
This study examines the underexplored areas of customer success management, focusing on the impact of leadership and companywide collaboration, and the role of customer success in overall firm performance. A qualitative research approach was utilized, which involved reviewing relevant literature and conducting an interview with the Vice President of Customer Success Management in B2B at a case company. Findings revealed that both leadership and pervasive collaboration greatly enhance the customer journey experience. Given that 75% of Annual Recurring Revenue is derived from existing customers, the substantial role of customer success in propelling business growth is affirmed. The study also demonstrated the importance of proactive customer engagement, assimilating customer feedback into products and services, and nurturing personal relationships with customers for fostering innovation. It further stressed the need for service provision and decision-making at various levels, as well as the implementation of a range of communication channels, to ensure customer success.
In countries such as Germany, where municipalities have planning sovereignty, problems of urban sprawl often arise. As the dynamics of land development have not substantially subsided over the last years, the national government decided to test the instrument of ‘Tradable Planning Permits’ (TPP) in a nationwide field experiment with 87 municipalities involved. The field experiment was able to implement the key features of a TPP system in a laboratory setting with approximated real socioeconomic and planning conditions. In a TPP system allocated planning permits must be used by municipalities for developing land. The permits can be traded between local jurisdictions, so that they have flexibility in deciding how to comply with the regulation. In order to evaluate the performance of such a system, specific field data about future building areas and their impact on community budgets for the period 2014–2028 were collected. The field experiment contains several sessions with representatives of the municipalities and with students. The participants were confronted with two (municipalities) and four (students) schemes. The results show that a trading system can curb down land development in an effective and also efficient manner. However, depending on the regulatory framework, the trading schemes show different price developments and distributional effects. The unexperienced representatives of the local authorities can easily handle with the permits in the administration and in the established market. A trading scheme sets very high incentives to save open space and to direct development activities to areas within existing planning boundaries. It is therefore a promising instrument for Germany and also other regions or countries with an established land-use planning system.
This paper presents a description model for smart, connected devices used in a manufacturing context. Similar to the wide spread adoption of smart products for personal and private usage, recent developments lead to a plethora of devices offering a variety of features and capabilities. Manufacturing companies undergoing digital transformation demand guidance with respect to the systematic introduction of smart, connected devices. The introduction of smart connected devices constitutes a strategic decision cost due to the high future committed cost after introduction and maintaining a smart device fleet by a vendor. This paper aims to support the introduction efforts by classifying the devices and thus helping companies identify their specific requirements for smart, connected devices before initiating widespread procurement. By mapping the features of these devices based on various attributes, allows the clustering of smart, connected devices including a requirement list for their implementation on the shopfloor. Four individual commercially available smart connected devices were analyzed using the description model.
Parallel grippers offer multiple applications thanks to their flexibility. Their application field ranges from aerospace and automotive to medicine and communication technologies. However, the application of grippers has the problem of exhibition wear and errors during the execution of their operation. This affects the performance of the gripper. In this context, the remaining useful life (RUL) defines the remaining lifespan until failure for an asset at a particular time of operation occurs. The exact lifespan of an asset is uncertain, thus the RUL model and estimation must be derived from available sources of information. This paper presents a method for the estimation of the RUL for a two-jaw parallel gripper. After the introduction to the topic, an overview of existing literature and RUL methods are presented. Subsequently, the method for estimating the RUL of grippers is explained. Finally, the results are summarized and discussed before the outlook and further challenges are presented.
Towards a sustainable future, looking beyond the system boundaries of a single manufacturing company is necessary to promote meaningful collaborations in terms of circular economy principles. In this context digital data processing technologies to connect the potential collaborators are seen as enablers to make use of proven collaborative circular business models (CCBMs). Since most of such data processing technologies rely on features to describe the entities involved, it is essential to provide guidance for identifying and selecting the relevant and most appropriate ones. Defining critical success factors (CSFs) is considered a suitable instrument to describe the decisive factors. A systematic literature review (SLR), followed by a qualitative synthesis is investigating two scientific fields of work, namely (1) the general relevant features of CCBMs and, (2) methodologies for determining CSFs. This results in the development of a conceptual framework which provides guidance for digital applications that perform further digital processing based on the relevant CSFs relating to the specific CCBM.
Die vorliegende Studie beschäftigt sich mit der Verbreitung des Customer-Success-Managements im deutschsprachigen Mittelstand und der Frage, wie eine erfolgreiche Implementierung dort durchgeführt werden kann. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass, vorgelagert zum eigentlichen Customer-Success-Management-Prozess, interne sowie externe Voraussetzungen im deutschsprachigen Mittelstand geschaffen werden müssen, um eine nachhaltige Implementierung gewährleisten zu können. Dazu zählt die Transformation vom reinen Produktfokus hin zu einer kunden- und servicezentrierten Unternehmensstrategie. Voraussetzung dafür ist die Erhöhung des Digitalisierungsgrads der Produkte und internen Prozesse sowie ein aktives Change-Management.
Twitter and citations
(2023)
Social media, especially Twitter, plays an increasingly important role among researchers in showcasing and promoting their research. Does Twitter affect academic citations? Making use of Twitter activity about columns published on VoxEU, a renowned online platform for economists, we develop an instrumental variable strategy to show that Twitter activity about a research paper has a causal effect on the number of citations that this paper will receive. We find that the existence of at least one tweet, as opposed to none, increases citations by 16-25%. Doubling overall Twitter engagement boosts citations by up to 16%.
The 17 SDGs, as agreed upon by the international community, are designed to be implemented across all levels of human activity. Alongside the level of international politics, this also includes the local levels, national politics, wider society, and the economic sphere. Many channels are called on to further implementation, including the transfer of technology to developing and emerging countries. As the patent holders, this must include the active participation of companies. While the literature examines the important role of technology transfer in North-South business-to-business (B2B) partnerships, studies on the technology transfer between European and African companies are scarce. Therefore, in this study we use original data from 26 interviews conducted with managers engaged in sales partnerships between German manufacturers and their distributors in African markets to examine the existence and forms of technology transfer. We find that training and marketing excellence are the predominant forms of technology transfer and based on that suggest a refinement of established frameworks on B2B technology transfer.
Der Einsatz von spielerischen Elementen gewinnt im B-to-B immer mehr an Bedeutung. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht den Einsatz von Gamification-Elementen im B-to-B-Marketing und -Vertrieb, speziell in der deutschen Baubranche. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Gamification in Richtung der Mitarbeitenden häufiger genutzt wird als in Richtung der Kundschaft. Doch auch mit Blick auf nachrückende Kunden-Generationen wächst das Potenzial von Gamification zur Lead-Generierung und zur Unterstützung der Omni-Channel-Strategie.
In den letzten Jahren hat der Trend zur Digitalisierung und Konnektivität die Kundenerwartungen an den B2B-Kundenservice verändert. Vorliegender Artikel arbeitet mit zwei klaren Studienzielen und untersucht zum einen die Rolle von IoT (Internet of Things) und Cybersicherheit als Erfolgsfaktoren für den Business-to-Business (B2B) Kundenservice und zum anderen wie eine sichere Integration zu einem Wettbewerbsvorteil auf dem deutschen Markt beitragen kann. Durch einen qualitativen Ansatz mithilfe von 20 Befragungen wurde untersucht, dass IoT und Cybersicherheit als Erfolgsfaktoren für den deutschen B2B-Kundenservice angesehen werden können. Als Ergebnis liefert diese Studie fünf Kernaussagen (Hypothesen) aus qualitativen Interviews. Neben der Diskussion allgemeiner Erfolgsfaktoren und deren Einfluss, wurde die Rolle von IoT bei der Optimierung des B2B Kundendienstes diskutiert. Zudem werden potenzielle Sicherheitsrisken in Zusammenhang mit den Dienstleistungsmodellen, notwendige Anforderungen an Cybersicherheit sowie Datenerfassung erörtert. Abschließend wurde ein Modell entwickelt, das interne und externe Aspekte aufzeigt, die dazu beitragen, dass IoT und Cybersicherheit als Erfolgsfaktoren in der Aktivitätskette des Kunden in der Pre-Sales‑, Sales- und After-Sales-Phase erlebt werden.
Dieser praxis-nahe und industrie-übergreifende Artikel liefert somit Einblicke basierend auf qualitativen Erkenntnissen für weitere Forschung in der Theorie und befähigt Organisationen das Thema ganzeinheitlich zu betrachten.
Die Coronapandemie hat Deutschland seit dem Frühjahr 2020 fest im Griff. Eine zentrale Maßnahme zur Verlangsamung der Ausbreitung des Coronavirus war von Beginn an die Schließung von Schulen. In einer ersten Studie wurden die Lernzeitverluste durch die Corona-bedingten Schulschließungen im Frühjahr 2020 quantifiziert (Wößmann, Freundl, Lergetporer, Grewenig, Werner & Zierow, 2020). Es zeigte sich, dass sich die Lernzeit der Schülerinnen und Schüler durch die Schulschließungen halbiert hatte und die Verluste bei leistungsschwächeren Schülerinnen und Schülern besonders groß waren. Im Frühjahr 2020 wurde die Verringerung der Lernzeit von den Schulen nicht kompensiert: Nur ein kleiner Teil der Schülerinnen und Schüler hatte in dieser Phase regelmäßigen Distanzunterricht und täglichen Kontakt mit Lehrkräften. Während der Sommer- und Herbstmonate seit der Phase der ersten Schulschließungen hatten Schulverwaltung, Schulen und Lehrkräfte Zeit, sich auf Distanzunterricht und digitale Lehrmethoden umzustellen, um Lernausfällen während etwaiger erneuter Schulschließungen entgegenzuwirken. Inwiefern dies dazu geführt hat, dass die Schülerinnen und Schüler während der Schulschließungen Anfang 2021 tatsächlich mehr Zeit mit Lernen verbracht haben als im Frühjahr 2020, ist jedoch bislang weitgehend unbekannt.
Um zu erfahren, mit welchen Aktivitäten die Schulkinder die Zeit der Schulschließungen Anfang 2021 verbracht haben, wurde erneut eine deutschlandweite Umfrage durchgeführt, diesmal unter mehr als 2.000 Eltern von Schulkindern. Die Ergebnisse liefern umfassende Einblicke in den Alltag von Schulkindern, Eltern und Schulen während der Schulschließungen Anfang 2021. Sie zeigen, wie viele Stunden die Schulkinder in dieser Phase mit Lernen und anderen kreativen und passiven Tätigkeiten verbracht haben, welche konkreten Maßnahmen die Schulen ergriffen haben, um den Schulbetrieb aufrechtzuerhalten, wie effektiv das Lernen zu Hause war, und wie die Eltern das häusliche Lernumfeld einschätzen. Dabei vergleichen wir die Aktivitäten während der Schulschließungen Anfang 2021 mit den Aktivitäten während der ersten Corona-bedingten Schulschließungen im Frühjahr 2020 sowie mit den Aktivitäten vor Corona (vgl. Wößmann et al., 2020). Wir berichten zudem Ergebnisse zum sozio-emotionalen Wohlbefinden der Kinder nach einem Jahr Coronapandemie und zu den Einschätzungen der Eltern, welche breiteren Auswirkungen die Schulschließungen auf verschiedene Lebensbereiche ihrer Kinder haben. Die Befragung liefert somit neue empirische Erkenntnisse über mögliche Folgen der Corona-Krise für den Bildungserfolg von Kindern in Deutschland. Dabei untersuchen wir auch, inwiefern sich die Auswirkungen der Schulschließungen zwischen leistungsstärkeren und -schwächeren Schülerinnen und Schülern sowie zwischen Akademikerkindern und Nicht-Akademikerkindern unterscheiden.
Auf dem Weg zu einer neuen Normalität in Schule und Bildung?! : Empfehlungen der Beitragenden
(2023)
Die im vorliegenden Band präsentierten Studien und Erkenntnisse zeigen die tiefen Einschnitte, die die Pandemie in Schule und Bildung hinterlassen hat. Zahlreiche Forschende, Expertinnen und Experten, aber auch engagierte Eltern, Kinder und Jugendliche wünschen sich in Anbetracht der Erfahrungen eine „neue“ Normalität für Schule und Bildung – eine Normalität, in der Bildungsungerechtigkeit wirksamer begegnet wird, die digitaler ist, … Wie könnte der Weg dahin aussehen?
Die Gewinnung und Bindung qualifizierter MINT-Mitarbeitender (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaft und Technik) gehört zu den Herausforderungen des Personalmanagements, gerade in Bezug auf den weiblichen MINT-Nachwuchs. Spannend ist die Frage, ob Frauen Arbeitgebermerkmale anders gewichten als Männer und sich geschlechtsspezifische Präferenzen bei arbeitsplatzbezogenen Merkmalen auf den MINT-Kontext übertragen lassen. Eine empirische Untersuchung mit Studierenden technischer Studiengänge liefert Ansatzpunkte für die zielgruppenspezifische Gestaltung von Employer-Branding-Kampagnen und Rekrutierungsaktivitäten.
Resilienz gewinnt für produzierende Unternehmen immer mehr an Bedeutung. Es fehlen jedoch geeignete Maßzahlen, um ein Produktionssystem auf dessen Resilienzfähigkeit zu analysieren. Dieser Beitrag stellt Resilienzmessgrößen vor, welche es ermöglichen verschiedene Produktionssysteme zu vergleichen und zusätzlich Optimierungsmaßnahmen zu bewerten.
Condition monitoring supported with artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and industrial internet of things (IIoT) technologies increases the feasibility of predictive maintenance. However, the cost of traditional sensors, data acquisition systems, and the required information technology expert-knowledge challenge the industry. This paper presents a hybrid condition monitoring system (CMS) architecture consisting of a distributed, low-cost IIoT-sensor solution. The CMS uses micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) microphones for data acquisition, edge computing for signal preprocessing, and cloud computing, including artificial neural networks (ANN) for higher-level information processing. The system's feasibility is validated using a testbed for reciprocating linear-motion axes.
Machine failures’ consequences – a classification model considering ultra-efficiency criteria
(2023)
To strive for a sustainable production, maintenance has to evaluate possible machine failure consequences not just economically but also holistically. Approaches such as the ultra-efficiency factory consider energy, material, human/staff, emission, and organization as optimization dimensions. These ultra-efficiency dimensions can be considered for analyzing not only the respective machine failure but also the effects on the entire production system holistically. This paper presents an easy to use method, based on a questionnaire, for assessing the failure consequences of a machine malfunction in a production system considering the ultra-efficiency dimensions. The method was validated in a battery production.
Using predictive maintenance, more efficient processes can be implemented, leading to fewer maintenance costs and increased availability. The development of a predictive maintenance solution currently requires high efforts in time and capacity as well as often interdisciplinary cooperation. This paper presents a standardized model to describe a predictive maintenance use case. The description model is used to collect, present, and document the required information for the implementation of predictive maintenance use cases by and for different stakeholders. Based on this model, predictive maintenance solutions can be introduced more efficiently. The method is validated across departments in the automotive sector.
The increasing complexity and need for availability of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) pose challenges to companies, leading to a focus on new maintenance strategies. In this paper, a smart maintenance architecture based on a digital twin is presented to optimize the technical and economic effectiveness of AGV maintenance activities. To realize this, a literature review was conducted to identify the necessary requirements for Smart Maintenance and Digital Twins. The identified requirements were combined into modules and then integrated into an architecture. The architecture was evaluated on a real AGV on the battery as one of the critical components.
Sprachassistenten gewinnen als Alltagshelfer immer mehr an Bedeutung. Sie beeinflussen die Art und Weise, wie Menschen Aufgaben erledigen und mit Unternehmen interagieren. Eine qualitative Studie hat die Nutzungsbereitschaft beim Kauf von High-Involvement-Produkten über Sprachassistenten untersucht. Zukünftig könnte Voice Commerce für diese Produkte an Relevanz gewinnen.
This book examines the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in East Africa. The BRI is considered China's central geopolitical and geo-economic project in the era of President Xi Jinping. Through this work, the author aims to contribute to filling some research gaps, such as the lack of depth in studies of individual BRI projects and the underconsideration of processing narratives in participating countries. The guiding question is the extent to which the BRI is a political or hegemonic project of the CCP-directed state-civil society complex in East Africa. To answer these questions, databases of international organizations and policy documents are analyzed. In addition, the author conducts a qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles from local media houses in the countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania to examine three infrastructure projects. The work illustrates that the BRI contributes to increasing connectivity in East Africa. At the same time, the compression of economic relations and the implementation of infrastructure projects in East Africa lead to numerous consequences and contour a hegemonic project.
Purpose
The authors study the valuation effect of corporate diversification in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in Europe.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying a cross-sectional regression model to a sample of public companies headquartered in the European Union, the authors investigate the existence of and the change in a diversification discount between 2018 and 2020. By applying the Excess Q methodology, the authors make an industry adjustment of diversified companies to measure the value effect of corporate diversification.
Findings
The authors find an economically and statistically significant diversification discount that increases from an average Excess Q of −0.05 in 2019 to −0.10 in 2020. The diversified companies' inferior fundamental financial performance in 2020 accompanies the discount. The results deviate from those of previous research, which mostly show a decrease in the diversification discount in economic crises, and thereby, shed doubt on whether diversification provides insurance against pandemic-induced adverse value effects.
Originality/valueThe study distinguishes the role of corporate diversification during recessionary periods by establishing that the valuation effect of diversification depends on the nature of the crisis. The analysis incorporates criticism of previous studies concerning a biased methodology and uniform data source by applying the Excess Q methodology and using FactSet industry segment data.
Student-faculty interactions that promote learning are essential contributors to student retention, academic success and satisfaction. But the factors that causally initiate and frame these interactions are not well understood. Only if students evaluate these interactions as positive will they seek them. We conducted a survey experiment with students (n = 375) from a tuition-fee-free German business school, using conditional process analysis to assess which factors frame effective interactions. We focus on out-of-classroom standard and non-standard requests that students make to faculty, then investigate how faculty and student gender and students’ academic entitlement influence the interaction. Our study examines how students evaluate the interaction with faculty: when they seek interaction, their expectations of getting their requests approved, and their disappointment when their requests are declined. We find a significant influence of the request type along with moderating effects of faculty gender, student gender and student entitlement, particularly for non-standard work requests. We conclude with policy implications for university management: developing target-group-specific measures that facilitate the desired and positively evaluated student-faculty interactions might benefit all university stakeholders.
Cyber-Physical Production Systems increasingly use semantic information to meet the grown flexibility requirements. Ontologies are often used to represent and use this semantic information. Existing systems focus on mapping knowledge and less on the exchange with other relevant IT systems (e.g., ERP systems) in which crucial semantic information, often implicit, is contained. This article presents an approach that enables the exchange of semantic information via adapters. The approach is demonstrated by a use case utilizing an MES system and an ERP system.
Do Chinese subordinates trust their German supervisors? A model of inter-cultural trust development
(2023)
In this qualitative study based on 95 interviews with Chinese subordinates and their German supervisors, we inductively develop a model which advances theoretical understanding by showing how inter-cultural trust development in hierarchical relationships is the result of six distinct elements: the subordinate trustor’s cultural profile (cosmopolitans, hybrids, culturally bounds), the psychological mechanisms operating within the trustor (role expectations and cultural accommodation), and contextual moderators (e.g., country context, time spent in foreign culture, and third-party influencers), which together influence the trust forms (e.g., presumptive trust, relational trust) and trust dynamics (e.g., trust breakdown and repair) within relationship phases over time (initial contact, trust continuation, trust disillusionment, separation, and acculturation). Our findings challenge the assumption that cultural differences result in low levels of initial trust and highlight the strong role the subordinate’s cultural profile can have on the dynamics and trajectory of trust in hierarchical relationships. Our model highlights that inter-cultural trust development operates as a variform universal, following the combined universalistic-particularistic paradigm in cross-cultural management, with both culturally generalizable etic dynamics, as well as culturally specific etic manifestations.
In a recently developed study programme at Reutlingen University, which focuses on practical orientations, an innovative product with solid company references is to be defined and realised by student teams. On the basis of this product, all subjects of the business engineering study programme “Sustainable Production and Business” are taught. By focusing on three main paths of future skills that have been developed by NextSkills to analyse upcoming social changes, global challenges and fields of work that are innovation-driven and agile, the new study programme aims to create responsible leaders who will shape global businesses respectfully. Thereby, different TRIZ tools help to support students in developing their own products with a focus on sustainability and pay off on the future skills enhancement. Further, students get to know TRIZ tools in an unbiased way, unburdened by too much theory, and are thus continuously supported in the progressing product development process that accompanies their studies. Hence, students perceive TRIZ on the one hand as a method to develop sustainable products and, on the other hand, to find sustainable solutions for everyday problems. The knowledge and positive experiences gained in this way should then arouse curiosity for the TRIZ class at the end of the study programme. The students can graduate with a TRIZ Level 1 certificate. Thereby, as many students as possible are introduced to the TRIZ methods, and the TRIZ tool is spread widely.
Vor mehr als einem Jahrzehnt stellten die Autoren dieses Beitrags die folgende Denkaufgabe:
“Imagine the business of sports without fans. No spectators at sports matches, no buyers of merchandising, no potential customers for sponsoring companies, no recipients for the sports media. Such a scenario would be unthinkable.“ (Bühler & Nufer, 2010, S. 63)
Während der Corona-Pandemie 2020/21 wurde das Undenkbare dann aber doch Realität, als Zuschauer auf der ganzen Welt keine Sportveranstaltungen mehr besuchen durften. Das größte Sportevent der Welt, die Olympischen Spiele in Tokio 2020, mussten verschoben werden und fanden ein Jahr später unter nicht wirklich besseren Bedingungen vor so gut wie leeren Rängen statt. Das Gleiche galt für die UEFA EURO 2020, die ebenfalls um ein Jahr verschoben werden musste, dann aber zumindest (bis auf wenige Ausnahmen wie beispielsweise das Finale in Wembley) mit reduzierter Zuschauerzulassung stattfinden konnte. Hintergrund der Überlegungen sowohl des Internationalen Olympischen Komitees wie auch der Europäischen Fußballunion war damals die Befürchtung, dass ihre jeweiligen Premiumprodukte ohne Fans in den Stadien leiden würden. Natürlich gab es immer noch Millionen von Menschen, die Live-Streams von Sportveranstaltungen verfolgten oder in diesen schwierigen Corona-Zeiten allerhand Merchandise ihrer Lieblingsmannschaften kauften. Doch die Pandemie bestätigte einmal mehr die Grundregel im Sportbusiness: Der Wirtschaftsmarkt Sport im Allgemeinen und professionelle Sportorganisationen im Besonderen brauchen Fans, die bereit sind, ihre Zeit, ihre Emotionen und ihr Geld für ihren Lieblingssport und ihre Lieblingsmannschaften zu investieren. Zuschauer sind die primären – und wohl wichtigsten – Kunden eines Sportunternehmens. Daher ist es für jede professionelle Sportorganisation unerlässlich, eine nachhaltige Beziehung zu ihren Fans aufzubauen und aufrechtzuerhalten und sie auf jede mögliche Weise einzubeziehen. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird die Bedeutung des Fan-Engagements deutlich.
Sponsoring zählt zu den nicht-klassischen Formen der Marketing-Kommunikationspolitik und spricht Menschen in nicht-kommerziellen Situationen an. Gerade durch Sponsoring können Zielgruppen erreicht werden, die z.B. Werbung gegenüber negativ eingestellt oder durch klassische Kommunikationsinstrumente nicht erreichbar sind. Auch wird ein Sponsoringengagement i.d.R. eher akzeptiert als klassische Werbung, da dem Sponsoring per se eine gewisse Förderabsicht zugrunde liegt. In diesem Kapitel werden die wesentlichen Sponsoring-Grundlagen vorgestellt und das Kommunikationsinstrument Sportsponsoring sowohl aus der Perspektive von Sponsoren als auch aus der Sicht von Gesponserten genau beleuchtet. Zusätzlich werden die Besonderheiten des Sportevent-Sponsorings aufgezeigt und Ambush Marketing als Alternative zum Sportsponsoring präsentiert. Abschließend wird auf aktuelle Entwicklungen im Sportsponsoring im Rahmen der FIFA Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 2022 und der bevorstehenden EURO 2024 eingegangen.
This article examines the risks and societal costs associated with flexible average inflation targeting in the United States and symmetric inflation targeting in the Eurozone. Employing an empirical approach, we analyze monthly cumulative inflation gaps over a monetary policy horizon of 36 months. By investigating the trajectories of the cumulative inflation gaps, we find a heavy tailed distribution and a 20 percent probability of over- and undershooting the inflation target. We exhibit that the offsetting mechanism introduced in the revised monetary strategies lack credibility in ensuring price stability during a period of persistent inflation. Consequently, the credibility of central banks may be compromised. The policy implications are the integration of an escape clause and prompt monetary corrections in cases where the inflation goal is not achieved. This study provides insights for policymakers and central banks, emphasizing challenges in maintaining credibility and price stability within the new monetary strategies.
„Tue Gutes und rede darüber“ lautet eine leicht verständliche Ur-Definition von Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, die längst zu einem Sprichwort geworden ist. Im Laufe der Zeit kamen auf die Public Relations zahlreiche Veränderungen zu: Die Sozialen Medien bewirkten, dass der interaktive Dialog und das Zuhören in den Fokus der PR rückten: „Tue Gutes und lasse andere darüber reden“ war die hierzu passende Aktualisierung. Einer der jüngsten Trends in der PR ist die Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation, die sogenannte „Green PR“, das heißt die Umsetzung glaubwürdiger, nachhaltiger Kommunikationsstrategien. Damit erfährt das Sprichwort ein weiteres Update zu „Tue nachhaltig Gutes und lasse andere dabei mitreden.“
Das Buch „The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism“ von Martin Wolf ist eine gut 500-seitige Untersuchung des aktuellen Zustands des demokratischen Kapitalismus. Wolf liefert eine eingehende Analyse der Ursachen und Folgen, die zu dieser Krise geführt haben, sowie mögliche Lösungsansätze. Dieses Buch ist eine unverzichtbare Lektüre für jeden, der verstehen will, wie sich unser Wirtschaftssystem im kommenden Jahrzehnt ändern muss.
Unternehmertum spielt sowohl für die Entwicklung afrikanischer Länder eine Rolle, als auch für ausländische Unternehmen mit Markteintrittsplänen. Die infrastrukturellen und institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen für Unternehmertum sind nach wie vor schwierig, wobei aber die fortschreitende Digitalisierung zu einer zunehmend aktiven Start-Up Szene in vielen afrikanischen Ländern führt. Nach wie vor existiert ein Mismatch zwischen den Bereichen in denen Start-Ups entstehen und den Bereichen, wo ausländische Unternehmen Partner für den Markteintritt suchen. Somit bleibt es trotz positiver Entwicklung beim Unternehmertum in absehbarer Zeit schwierig adäquate Partner zu finden.
The aim of this article is to establish a stochastic search algorithm for neural networks based on the fractional stochastic processes {𝐵𝐻𝑡,𝑡≥0} with the Hurst parameter 𝐻∈(0,1). We define and discuss the properties of fractional stochastic processes, {𝐵𝐻𝑡,𝑡≥0}, which generalize a standard Brownian motion. Fractional stochastic processes capture useful yet different properties in order to simulate real-world phenomena. This approach provides new insights to stochastic gradient descent (SGD) algorithms in machine learning. We exhibit convergence properties for fractional stochastic processes.
This article provides a stochastic agent-based model to exhibit the role of aggregation metrics in order to mitigate polarization in a complex society. Our sociophysics model is based on interacting and nonlinear Brownian agents, which allow us to study the emergence of collective opinions. The opinion of an agent, x i (t) is a continuous positive value in an interval [0, 1]. We find (i) most agent-metrics display similar outcomes. (ii) The middle-metric and noisy-metric obtain new opinion dynamics either towards assimilation or fragmentation. (iii) We show that a developed 2-stage metric provide new insights about convergence and equilibria. In summary, our simulation demonstrates the power of institutions, which affect the emergence of collective behavior. Consequently, opinion formation in a decentralized complex society is reliant to the individual information processing and rules of collective behavior.
The paper “focuses on the critique of economic rationality” (p. 2). The author analyses the work by Amartya Sen with a somewhat interdisciplinary approach. The author concludes that Sen has greatly shifted our paradigm of economic rationality. The nexus of ethics and economics as well as the two types of rationality (consistency versus optimization) are major contributions of Sen, according to the author. In a nutshell, Sen’s work is reconfiguring economic rationality until today.
Climate change is one of the key challenges of this century due to its impact on society and the economy. Students are asking their business schools to scale up climate change education (CCE) across all disciplines, and employers are looking for graduates ready to work on solutions. This desire for solutions is shared by faculty; however, in a recent survey, many highlighted that they lack knowledge about climate change mitigation and how to integrate CCE into their disciplines.
This chapter supports lecturers, professors and senior management in their journey to get an overview of CCE and, more importantly, to find high-impact climate solutions to be integrated and assessed in their teaching units.
Die meisten Innovationsprojekte in Unternehmen scheitern nicht am Mangel an Ideen, Kreativität oder am Umsetzungswillen, sondern an vielen kleinen Hürden, die die Projekte massiv entschleunigen. So verlieren Initiativen an der Dynamik, die dafür sorgt, dass sich zügig Erfolge einstellen. Ein Bereich, in dem unkonventionell, agil und schnell Ergebnisse erzielt werden, ist das Guerilla Marketing. Was können Innovations-, Forschungs- und Projektleiter aus dem Methodenbaukasten lernen? Wie können konkrete Taktiken aus dem Marketing auch Innovationsprojekten zu mehr Viralität und Schwung verhelfen, um die Eigendynamik der Initiativen „unbremsbar“ zu machen? Das erfahren Sie in diesem essential.
In the context of Industry 4.0, intralogistics faces an increasingly complex and dynamic environment driven by a high level of product customisation and complex manufacturing processes. One approach to deal with these changing conditions is the decentralised and intelligent connectivity of intralogistics systems. However, wireless connectivity presents a major challenge in the industry due to strict requirements such as safety and real-time data transmission. In this context, the fifth generation of mobile communications (5G) is a promising technology to meet the requirements of safety-critical applications. Particularly, since 5G offers the possibility of establishing private 5G networks, also referred to as standalone non-public networks. Through their isolation from public networks, private 5G networks provide exclusive coverage for private organisations offering them high intrinsic network control and data security. However, 5G is still under development and is being gradually introduced in a continuous release process. This process lacks transparency regarding the performance of 5G in individual releases, complicating the successful adoption of 5G as an industrial communication. Additionally, the evaluation of 5G against the specified target performance is insufficient due to the impact of the environment and external interfering factors on 5G in the industrial environment. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a technical decision-support framework that takes a holistic approach to evaluate the practicality of 5G for intralogistics use cases by considering two fundamental stages. The first of these analyses technical parameters and characteristics of the use case to evaluate the theoretical feasibility of 5G. The second stage investigates the application's environment, which substantially impacts the practicality of 5G, for instance, the influence of surrounding materials. Finally, a case study validates the proposed framework by means of an autonomous mobile robot. As a result, the validation proves the proposed framework's applicability and shows the practicality of the autonomous mobile robot, when integrating it into a private 5G network testbed.
Die vorliegende Studie beschäftigt sich mit der Verbreitung des Customer-Success-Managements im deutschsprachigen Mittelstand und der Frage, wie eine erfolgreiche Implementierung dort durchgeführt werden kann. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass, vorgelagert zum eigentlichen Customer-Success-Management-Prozess, interne sowie externe Voraussetzungen im deutschsprachigen Mittelstand geschaffen werden müssen, um eine nachhaltige Implementierung gewährleisten zu können. Dazu zählt die Transformation vom reinen Produktfokus hin zu einer kunden- und servicezentrierten Unternehmensstrategie. Voraussetzung dafür ist die Erhöhung des Digitalisierungsgrads der Produkte und internen Prozesse sowie ein aktives Change-Management.
Framework for integrating intelligent product structures into a flexible manufacturing system
(2023)
Increasing individualisation of products with a high variety and shorter product lifecycles result in smaller lot sizes, increasing order numbers, and rising data and information processing for manufacturing companies. To cope with these trends, integrated management of the products and manufacturing information is necessary through a “product-driven” manufacturing system. Intelligent products that are integrated as an active element within the controlling and planning of the manufacturing process can represent flexibility advantages for the system. However, there are still challenges regarding system integration and evaluation of product intel-ligence structures. In light of these trends, this paper proposes a conceptual frame-work for defining, analysing, and evaluating intelligent products using the example of an assembly system. This paper begins with a classification of the existing problems in the assembly and a definition of the intelligence level. In contrast to previous approaches, the analysis of products is expanded to five dimensions. Based on this, a structured evaluation method for a use case is presented. The structure of solving the assembly problem is provided by the use case-specific ontology model. Results are presented in terms of an assignment of different application areas, linking the problem with the target intelligence class and, depending on the intelligence class of the product, suggesting requirements for implementation. The conceptual frame-work is evaluated by utilising a case study in a learning factory. Here, the model-mix assembly is controlled actively by the workpiece carrier in terms of transferring the variant-specific work instructions to the operator and the collaborative robot (cobot) at the workstations. The resulting system thus enables better exploitation of the poten-tials through less frequent errors and shorter search times. Such an implementation has demonstrated that the intelligent workpiece carrier represents an additional part for realising a cyber-physical production system (CPPS).
Supply chains have evolved into dynamic, interconnected supply networks, which increases the complexity of achieving end-to-end traceability of object flows and their experienced events. With its capability of ensuring a secure, transparent, and immutable environment without relying on a trusted third party, the emerging blockchain technology shows strong potential to enable end-to-end traceability in such complex multitiered supply networks. This paper aims to overcome the limitations of existing blockchain-based traceability architectures regarding their object-related event mapping ability, which involves mapping the creation and deletion of objects, their aggregation and disaggregation, transformation, and transaction, in one holistic architecture. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel ‘blueprint-based’ token concept, which allows clients to group tokens into different types, where tokens of the same type are non-fungible. Furthermore, blueprints can include minting conditions, which, for example, are necessary when mapping assembly processes. In addition, the token concept contains logic for reflecting all conducted object-related events in an integrated token history. Finally, for validation purposes, this article implements the architecture’s components in code and proves its applicability based on the Ethereum blockchain. As a result, the proposed blockchain-based traceability architecture covers all object-related supply chain events and proves its general-purpose end-to-end traceability capabilities of object flows.
Artificial intelligence is considered to be a significant technology for driving the future evolution of smart manufacturing environments. At the same time, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) play an essential role in manufacturing systems due to their potential to improve internal logistics by increasing production flexibility. Thereby, the productivity of the entire system relies on the quality of the schedule, which can achieve production cost savings by minimizing delays and the total makespan. However, traditional scheduling algorithms often have difficulties in adapting to changing environment conditions, and the performance of a selected algorithm depends on the individual scheduling problem. Therefore, this paper aimed to analyze the scheduling problem classes of AGVs by applying design science research to develop an algorithm selection approach. The designed artifact addressed a catalogue of characteristics that used several machine learning algorithms to find the optimal solution strategy for the intended scheduling problem. The contribution of this paper is the creation of an algorithm selection method that automatically selects a scheduling algorithm, depending on the problem class and the algorithm space. In this way, production efficiency can be increased by dynamically adapting the AGV schedules. A computational study with benchmark literature instances unveiled the successful implementation of constraint programming solvers for solving JSSP and FJSSP scheduling problems and machine learning algorithms for predicting the most promising solver. The performance of the solvers strongly depended on the given problem class and the problem instance. Consequently, the overall production performance increased by selecting the algorithms per instance. A field experiment in the learning factory at Reutlingen University enabled the validation of the approach within a running production scenario.
In the past, plant layouts were regarded as highly static structures. With increasing internal and external factors causing turbulence in operations, it has become more necessary for companies to adapt to new conditions in order to maintain optimal performance. One possible way for such an adaptation is the adjustment of the plant layout by rearranging the individual facilities within the plant. Since the information about the plant layout is considered as master data and changes have a considerable impact on interconnected processes in production, it is essential that this data remains accurate and up-to-date. This paper presents a novel approach to create a digital shadow of the plant layout, which allows the actual state of the physical layout to be continuously represented in virtual space. To capture the spatial positions and orientations of the individual facilities, a pan-tilt-zoom camera in combination with fiducial markers is used. With the help of a prototypically implemented system, the real plant layout was captured and converted into different data formats for further use in exemplary external software systems. This enabled the automatic updating of the plant layout for simulation, analysis and routing tasks in a case study and showed the benefits of using the proposed system for layout capturing in terms of accuracy and effort reduction.
Project managers still face management problems in interorganizational Research and Development (R&D) projects due to their limited authority. Addressing a project culture which is conducive to cooperation and innovation in interorganizational R&D project management demands commitment of individual project members and thus balances this limited authority. However, the relational collaboration level at which project culture manifests itself is not addressed by current project management approaches, or it is addressed only at a late stage. Consequently, project culture develops within a predefined framework of project organization and organized contents and thus is not actively targeted. Therefore, a focus shift towards project culture becomes necessary. This can be done by a project-culture-aware management. The method CLIPS actively supports interorganizational project members in this kind of management. It should be integrable in the common project management approaches, that with its application all collaboration levels are addressed in interorganizational R&D project management. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the integrability of the method CLIPS and show how it can be integrated in common project management approaches. This enriches interorganizational R&D project management by a project culture focus.
First-generation university graduates have been found to face a series of disadvantages on their pathway to higher education and the labor market. We use unique, national level data on high achieving university graduates to attempt to disentangle the importance of lower prior attainment from parental educational background on a series of higher education and labor market outcomes. We compare first-generation and non-first-generation graduates who are recipients of a prestigious national scholarship program targeted at the top percentile of the student distribution in Germany. We find the first-generation high achievers are more likely to study at less prestigious institutions and at institutions that are closer to home even though they have the prior attainment to go further afield. They are also less likely to study subjects with high labor market returns and are more likely to work in jobs with high job security. We furthermore find evidence that especially female first-generation high achievers are less likely to see the value of the networking opportunities the scholarship provides.
Hybrides Arbeiten in digitalen Prozessen sollte eigentlich sehr gut funktionieren. Durch die Digitalisierung werden Schnittstellen zwischen Abteilungen und Funktionen standardisiert sowie Abläufe durch Workflow-Systeme vorgegeben und ganz oder teilweise automatisiert. Es werden Aufgaben eindeutig zugewiesen, Datenverluste verhindert und Abweichungen vermieden. Die Nachteile der häufig noch etablierten tayloristischen, funktionsorientierten Silo-Aufbauorganisation in administrativen Bereichen werden dadurch ebenso kompensiert wie die räumliche Trennung der beteiligten Personen in einer hybriden Arbeitswelt.
Die neue Arbeitswelt verändert den Arbeitsmarkt rasant und fördert die Entwicklung neuer Arbeitsmodelle. Hybrid Work bietet dabei unzählige Zukunftspotentiale, die das eigene Unternehmen nach innen und außen auf ein ganz neues Niveau heben können. In diesem Buch stellen Expert:innen aus Wirtschaft, Politik und Wissenschaft die Herausforderungen, Chancen und Lösungen der neuen Arbeitsmodelle vor und werfen einen Blick in die Zukunft. Sie diskutieren, wie sich hybride Arbeit auf die Produktivität und das Wohlbefinden der Mitarbeiter:innen auswirkt und welche Anforderungen an Führungskräfte gestellt werden, um erfolgreich zu führen.
The Industry 4.0 paradigm requires concepts for integrating intelligent/ smart IoT Solutions into manufacturing. Such intelligent solutions are envisioned to increase flexibility and adaptability in smart factories. Especially autonomous cobots capable of adapting to changing conditions are a key enabler for changeable factory concepts. However, identifying the requirements and solution scenarios incorporating intelligent products challenges the manufacturing industry, especially in the SME sector. In pick and place scenarios, changing coordinate systems of workpiece carriers cause placing process errors. Using the IPIDS framework, this paper describes the development of a tool-center-point positioning method to improve the process stability of a collaborative robot in a changeable assembly workstation. Applying the framework identifies the requirement for an intelligent workpiece carrier as a part of the solution. Implementing and evaluating the solution within a changeable factory validates the IPIDS framework.
Due to constantly changing conditions, demand, and technologies, companies increasingly seek flexibility. Productivity results from automation, improved working conditions and the focus of people in production in interaction with machines. Unfortunately, the human factor is often not considered to increase flexibility and productivity with new concepts. This work aims to develop a hybrid assistance system that allows a dynamic configuration of cyber-physical production systems considering the current order situation and available resources utilizing simulation. The system also considers human factors in addition to economic factors, which contributes to the extended economic appraisal.
Cyber-Physical Production Systems increasingly use semantic information to meet the grown flexibility requirements. Ontologies are often used to represent and use this semantic information. Existing systems focus on mapping knowledge and less on the exchange with other relevant IT systems (e.g., ERP systems) in which crucial semantic information, often implicit, is contained. This article presents an approach that enables the exchange of semantic information via adapters. The approach is demonstrated by a use case utilizing an MES system and an ERP system.
The EAT–Lancet planetary health diet (PHD) provides guidelines on a global scale and calls for red meat consumption to be halved. Operational PHD guidelines at country level have yet to be determined. Here we argue that the biological link between milk and bovine-meat production must be considered when operationalizing the globally calculated PHD to national contexts. Using a stylized computer simulation model rooted in a food system approach, we explore the impact of dietary scenarios on milk and bovine-meat production and show that ignoring this biological link can lead to substantial imbalances between national dietary guidelines and production outcomes and potentially lead to food waste. Furthermore, we assess current national dietary guidelines in Europe and find that most disregard this biological link and are incompatible with the PHD, with implications for policymakers and consumers to consider when adapting the PHD in national contexts.
Why are organizations and markets slow to transform toward sustainability despite the abundant well-recognized opportunities it provides? An important subset of the phenomena this question addresses involves decision-makers recognizing the existence of opportunities but failing to undertake ambitious, effective, sufficient, or timely action. Building on existing research on capability traps, market formation, and managing sustainability, we focus on the forces con-straining organizations from developing the capabilities and market infrastructures required for sustainability transformations. We characterize types of sustainability initiatives and, using causal loop diagramming, visualize structures that enable and constrain how organizations can navigate individually and collectively worse-before-better dynamics resulting from uncertain,nonlinear, and delayed returns. Being under day-to-day pressures and deeply intertwined within their environment, organizational actors find it difficult to recognize, undertake, maintain, and coordinate necessary efforts internally and externally. We discuss research implications and directions for future research on avoiding these traps and accelerating sustainability transformations.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has reinforced China’s business engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While previous international business research focused on the internationalization and investments of Chinese companies, this viewpoint uncovers how both local African and international non-Chinese Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) may benefit from and participate in the BRI. A focus is laid on the infrastructure sector accounting for the highest investments since the inception of the BRI in 2013. In a conceptual way, the motives of SMEs to participate in infrastructure project business in the context of the BRI are explored. Investigating the challenges of two large transport infrastructure projects, the business potentials for SMEs become visible. It is argued that SMEs find business potentials particularly as investors, sub-contractors and project management experts in the BRI in Sub-Saharan Africa.
5G-Campusnetze sind vielversprechende Umgebungen für industrielle Anwendungen in Produktion und Intralogistik. Diese erreichen jedoch bisher nicht die versprochenen Leistungen, um intralogistischen Anwendungen das volle Potenzial von 5G bieten zu können. Die im Rahmen des Projekts 5G4KMU erhobenen und in diesem Beitrag vorgestellten Leistungsmessungen dienen zur Evaluierung der derzeitigen Praxistauglichkeit von 5G-Campusnetzen.
Since its first publication in 2015, the learning factory morphology has been frequently used to design new learning factories and to classify existing ones. The structuring supports the concretization of ideas and promotes exchange between stakeholders.
However, since the implementation of the first learning factories, the learning factory concept has constantly evolved.
Therefore, in the Working Group "Learning Factory Design" of the International Association of Learning Factories, the existing morphology has been revised and extended based on an analysis of the trends observed in the evolution of learning factory concepts. On the one hand, new design elements were complemented to the previous seven design dimensions, and on the other hand, new design dimensions were added. The revised version of the morphology thus provides even more targeted support in the design of new learning factories in the future.
Delphi Markets
(2023)
Delphi markets refer to approaches and implementations of integrating prediction markets and Delphi studies (Real-time Delphi). The combination of the two methods for producing forecasts can potentially compensate for each other´s weaknesses. For example, prediction markets can be used to select participants with expertise and also motivate long-term participation through their gamified approach and incentive mechanisms. In this paper, two potentials for prediction markets and four potentials for Delphi studies, which are made possible by integration, are derived theoretically. Subsequently, three different integration approaches are presented, on the basis of which the integration on user, market and Delphi question-level is exemplified and it is shown that, depending on the approach, not all potentials can be achieved. At the end, recommendations for the use of Delphi markets are derived, existing limitations for Delphi markets as well as future developments are pointed out.
Einführung und Überblick
(2023)
In diesem einführenden Kapitel wird zunächst das Ziel der Buchreihe „Sportmanagement“ im Erich Schmidt Verlag vorgestellt sowie die Motive für die Veröffentlichung des vorliegenden Bandes „Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement in Sport und Kultur“ dargelegt. Danach erfolgt eine erste Annäherung an die Thematik, indem mit dem Sport-, Kultur- und Eventbusiness der Kontext dieses Herausgeberwerkes beschrieben und der Bezug zur Nachhaltigkeit und dem Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement hergestellt wird. Zudem werden aktuelle wissenschaftliche Beiträge, Lehrbücher und Bildungsangebote hinsichtlich Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement in Sport und Kultur präsentiert. Danach wird den Leserinnen und Lesern die zugrunde liegende Struktur des Bandes sowie die einzelnen Kapitel vorgestellt sowie nützliche Hinweise für die Lektüre des Buches gegeben.
There are indicators we are entering a new era for MTM research, by moving beyond the structural approach that has characterized MTM research to date, to focus on important and under-researched issues, such as the nature of employees’ experiences in an MTM context. Although team research suggests that the experiences of members impact team functioning, these lines of reasoning have not, until recently, made their way to MTM research. To overcome this limitation, this symposium showcases five papers that use a variety of theoretical perspectives, research designs (i.e., qualitative, quantitative), contexts (e.g., healthcare, automotive manufacturer, online panels), methodologies, and analytical methods (i.e., meta-analysis, content/thematic analysis). The symposium focuses on surfacing and advancing unanswered questions that extend theory and can offer fruitful directions for MTM research by examining critical individual and team level outcomes (e.g., individual/team performance, individual counterproductive and organizational citizenship behavior, individual learning, individual turnover intentions, organizational commitment) in the experiences of MTM employees across their teams (e.g., goals, functions, roles). We hope to provide a forum to advance unanswered questions that offer fruitful directions for MTM research.
Die Veröffentlichung von ChatGPT-3 im November 2022 und ChatGPT-4 im März 2023 verspricht, bisher Menschen vorbehaltene Denkaufgaben in zahlreichen Bereichen, von der Medizin bis zur Juristerei, zu automatisieren. Die vorliegende Untersuchung stellt das Versprechen auf die Probe, indem 200 Fälle aus dem Bereich des Wirtschaftsrechts in die derzeit leistungsfähigsten Chatbots zur Lösung eingegeben werden. Es ergibt sich ein nuanciertes Bild: Zwar wird erkennbar, dass der menschliche Experte nach wie vor überlegen ist. Trotzdem können Chatbots teilweise erstaunlich gute Ergebnisse erzielen, wenn sie einfache Fälle mit geringer Komplexität lösen.
Purpose – This paper explores, which employer attractiveness attributes Generation Z (Gen Z) talents prioritize. Comparing the findings for female and male participants, this study examines whether gender-specific work value orientations prevail among Gen Z talents and impact their expectations toward employers.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted among 308 students of business, economics and management in Germany. Data were collected using the employer attractiveness scale of Berthon and colleagues (2005) complemented by an additional dimension focusing on work–life balance.
Findings – Findings indicate that Gen Z talents primarily expect a fun work environment, a positive team atmosphere and supportive relations with colleagues and superiors. Application aspects and work–life balance enabling services are expected the least. Expectations of four of the six attributes measured differ significantly among women and men, indicating that traditional gender assumptions continue to be reflected in the work value orientations of Gen Z talents.
Research limitations/implications – The sample was limited to business, economics and management students in Germany. Additional research should include a wider variety of respondents of different disciplines and countries.
Practical implications – Practical implications refer to emphasizing the social value of employment in the employee value proposition and customizing employer branding activities by gender.
Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature by empirically determining which employer attractiveness attributes Gen Z talents expect and whether and how these expectations vary by gender.
In dieser Arbeit werden Anforderungen an ein digitales Referenzmodell der Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Supply Chain mittels systematischer Literaturrecherche unter partieller Anwendung der Preferred-Reporting-Items-for-Systematic-Reviews-and-Meta-Analyses(PRISMA)-2020-Methode erarbeitet und erläutert. Die Ergebnisse der Literaturrecherche untermauern, dass die CGT Supply Chain standardisierte und automatisierte Prozesse benötigt, gewissen Transportanforderungen gerecht werden sowie eine lückenlose Rückverfolgbarkeit gewährleisten können muss. Die Anforderungen an das Referenzmodell lehnen sich z. T. an die Anforderungen des klassischen Supply-Chain-Operations-Reference(SCOR)-Modells an, bedürfen jedoch einer Veränderung und Weiterentwicklung unter Beachtung der Besonderheiten der CGT Supply Chain. Auf Basis eines Referenzmodells für die CGT Supply Chain, das die aus dieser Arbeit identifizierten Anforderungen beachtet, kann eine übergeordnete Managementplattform aufgebaut werden. Mit der digitalen Abbildung und Vernetzung aller Aktivitäten ist der Grundstein für die Integration in ein Enterprise-Resource-Planning(ERP)-System zum effektiven Data und Process Mining gelegt. Durch eine zunehmend bessere Datenqualität und -quantität entlang der Prozesse der CGT Supply Chain lassen sich verstärkt Informationen über die Prozesse selbst generieren, aus denen weitere Verbesserungsansätze hervorgehen. Eine CGT-Managementplattform bildet demnach die Grundlage für alle Prozesse innerhalb der CGT Supply Chain für einen kontinuierlichen Verbesserungsprozess.
Im E-Sport-Ökosystem gibt es eine Vielzahl an Akteuren, die auf verschiedene Art und Weisen vom Erfolg des elektronischen Sports profitieren: Sponsoren präsentieren sich einer attraktiven Zielgruppe, Publisher fördern eine intensivere Nutzung ihres Videospiels und Übertragungsplattformen erhalten professionell organisierte Inhalte zum Vertrieb an eine wachsende Zuschauerschaft. Lediglich die Team-Organisationen und Veranstalter konzentrierten sich bisher allein auf die Erzielung von Erträgen durch die Ausübung oder Organisation von E-Sport-Wettkämpfen. Getrieben von Profitabilitätsschwächen versuchen sie jedoch, ihre Abhängigkeit von Sponsoring zu reduzieren und neue Ertragsquellen zu erschließen. Insbesondere Team-Organisationen sehen die Möglichkeiten hierfür eher außerhalb des originären E-Sport-Geschäfts und entwickeln sich dadurch immer mehr zu Marketing- und Unterhaltungsunternehmen.
This article explores current debate on the use of soft power in international higher education, highlighting existing tensions between competing political and academic discourses. It draws on examples from practice and relevant insights in soft power scholarship to capture varying paradoxes and dilemmas that emerge as nations try to leverage the power of international tertiary education to enhance their brand and attract foreign audiences in the name of public diplomacy. Whilst exposing cases of hubris and hidden agendas, this study also addresses issues of inequality and responds to a growing call for knowledge diplomacy aimed at tackling common global problems.
Führungskräfte sind stets mit dem Phänomen Macht konfrontiert, sind sich dessen aber nicht immer ausreichend bewusst. Mit Macht reflektiert umzugehen, ist allerdings hochrelevant – denn Organisationen im Kontext von Digitalisierung, Nachhaltigkeit und New Work zu transformieren, verändert Machtdynamiken. Der vorliegende Text führt in den Zusammenhang von Führung und Macht ein und ermöglicht Führungskräften, das Phänomen Macht handlungsorientiert zu reflektieren.
Es fällt in Unternehmen immer schwerer, in komplexen Zeiten zukünftige Entwicklungen zu antizipieren. Ein Umstand, der auch das Change Management prägen sollte. Dennoch ist ein methodisch fundierter Umgang mit Nicht-Wissen in der Change-Praxis kaum verbreitet. Erst seit Kurzem wird darüber nachgedacht, wie man beispielsweise das Experiment als zukunftsfähige Methode nutzbar machen kann. Ein Ansatz sind Experimentierräume als ein besonders kennzeichnendes Format einer experimentellen Organisationsentwicklung.
«Wir möchten in unserem Führungsteam agiler und selbstorganisierter zusammenarbeiten. Aber was, wenn das alles nicht klappt? Oder wenn das eigentlich doch keine*r will?» So ein Bereichsleiter, mit dem wir über neue Arbeitswelten sprachen. Nachdem wir den Veränderungsprozess als zeitlich begrenztes Experiment eingeführt hatten, schwanden die Bedenken spürbar. Wissenschaftliche Experimente sind zentral für unseren gesellschaftlichen und technologischen Fortschritt. Sie ermöglichen es, durch einen gezielten Versuchsaufbau (das eigentliche Experiment) Hypothesen zu überprüfen und damit neues Wissen hervorzubringen. Aber kann man diese mächtige Methode der Wissenschaft auch für die Organisationsentwicklung nutzbar machen und wenn ja, wie? Die zunehmende Verbreitung von allerlei «Labs», Reallaboren und Experimentierräumen in Organisationen und Gesellschaft legen das nahe. Inzwischen blickt das Forschungsteam der ESB Business School auf eine mehrjährige Erfahrung mit der Experimentellen Organisationsentwicklung zurück. Unter anderem in Kooperation mit dem Fraunhofer IAO sowie der Hochschule Harz wurden mehrere Experimentierräume in Organisationen begleitet und evaluiert. Dabei entstand ein ausgefeiltes Interventionsdesign. Denn auch wenn Experimente allgegenwärtig und einfach umsetzbar scheinen, brauchte es in der praktischen Umsetzung unserer Erfahrung nach ein differenziertes Vorgehensmodell, um etliche Fallstricke zu umgehen.
Because of a high product and technology complexity, companies involve external partners in their research and development (R&D) processes. Interorganizational projects result, which represent temporary organizations. In these projects heterogenous organizations work closely together. Since project work is always teamwork, these projects face due to their characteristic’s major challenges on an organizational, relational, and content-related collaboration level. Thus, this paper raises the following research question: “How can a project team be supported on an organizational, relational, and content-related level in an interorganizational new product development setting?” To answer this research question, an explorative expert study was set up with two digital workshops using the interactive presentation tool Mentimeter. The results show that a cooperative innovation culture could support project teams on an organizational and relational level in the future in minimizing predominant problems. Moreover, it supports project teams for example in a functional communication. Furthermore, 18 values of a cooperative innovation culture result which are for example openness and transparency, risk and failure tolerance or respect. On a content-related level the results show that an adaptable tool which promotes creativity and collaboration method as well as content-related input support could be beneficial for problem-solving in an interorganizational new product development setting in the future. Because the tool can guide product developers through the process with suitable creativity and collaboration methods, can give content-related input and can enable interactive interchange on a table-top. Future research could mainly focus on the connection of the cooperative innovation culture and the tool since these potentially influence each other.
§ 251 Haftungsverhältnisse
(2023)
Unter der Bilanz sind, sofern sie nicht auf der Passivseite auszuweisen sind, Verbindlichkeiten aus der Begebung und Übertragung von Wechseln, aus Bürgschaften, Wechsel- und Scheckbürgschaften und aus Gewährleistungsverträgen aus der Bestellung von Sicherheiten für fremde Verbindlichkeiten zu vermerken; sie dürfen in einem Betrag angegeben werden. Haftungsverhältnisse sind auch anzugeben, wenn ihnen gleichwertige Rückgriffsforderungen gegenüberstehen.
In diesem Kapitel werden die Grundlagen zum Verständnis eines nachhaltigen Supply Chain Management gelegt. Aufbauend auf einer Definition nachhaltiger Lieferketten wird erläutert, warum robuste Lieferketten die Basis für nachhaltige Supply Chains sind. Die anschließend diskutierten Modelle zum Supply Chain Management werden handlungsorientiert aufbereitet. Im Fokus steht die Definition der Rolle von Beschaffung auf der einen und des Absatzes auf der anderen Seite zur erfolgreichen Umsetzung von nachhaltigen Supply Chains. An ausgewählten Stellen werden konkrete Beispiele aus dem Sport- und Kulturbereich vorgestellt.
Kein anderes Mega-Sport-Event war je so umstritten wie die FIFA Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 2022 in Katar. Im vorliegenden Kapitel wird nicht darauf eingegangen, wie die Vergabe der WM an Katar zustande kam und welche Rolle dabei Korruption und die Macht des Geldes gespielt haben. Vielmehr wird die Nachhaltigkeit des Events unter die Lupe genommen. Konnte gehalten werden, was die FIFA und der Staat Katar im Vorfeld versprochen haben? Inwieweit stimmen das Selbstbild der FIFA und das Fremdbild in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung überein? Im Rahmen der Analyse wird auf die Methode des Dialektischen Dreischritts zurückgegriffen.
Fazit und Ausblick
(2023)
In diesem abschließenden Kapitel erfolgt zunächst eine zusammenfassende Diskussion der verschiedenen Teile des vorliegenden Bandes sowie der einzelnen Kapitel. Dabei wird auf die Hauptaussagen der jeweiligen Kapitel eingegangen und ein Fazit zu jedem Teil gezogen. Daran anknüpfend setzen sich die Herausgeber des Bandes mit der Zukunft des Nachhaltigkeitsmanagements im Allgemeinen sowie der Zukunft eines nachhaltigen Sport- und Kulturmanagements im Besonderen auseinander. Abschließend wird ein maßgeschneidertes Weiterbildungsangebot als Baustein zur Bewältigung dieser Herausforderungen vorgestellt.
Gender Marketing gewinnt sowohl in der Marketing-Theorie als auch in der Unternehmenspraxis zunehmend an Bedeutung. Der Unterschied zwischen den Geschlechtern zeigt sich nicht nur in unterschiedlichen Fähigkeiten und Einstellungen, sondern auch in verschiedenen Bedürfnissen und im Kaufverhalten. Viele Produkte werden von Männern für Männer entwickelt. Produkte, die sich speziell an Frauen richten, werden häufig gemäß dem Motto „pink it and shrink it“ auf den Markt gebracht. Eine erfolgreiche Umsetzung von Gender-Aspekten ist für Unternehmen eine wichtige Marketing-Herausforderung für die Zukunft.
Um den veränderten Erfordernissen in Sachen Nachhaltigkeit gerecht zu werden, müssen Sport- und Kulturbetriebe sich Wissen und Kompetenzen zu den relevanten Nachhaltigkeitsaspekten aneignen und dieses Wissen auch anwenden können. Das vorliegende Herausgeberwerk soll Entscheidungsträgerinnen und Entscheidungsträger sowie Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter im Sport- und Kulturbereich zu mehr Wissen und Kompetenzen befähigen. Die Autorinnen und Autoren der einzelnen Kapitel sind renommierte Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aus den Bereichen Nachhaltigkeit, Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement sowie Umweltmanagement. Zudem wirkten an diesem Herausgeberwerk auch zahlreiche Wirtschaftswissenschaftlerinnern und Wissenschaftler mit, die in ihren jeweiligen Disziplinen als Expertinnen und Experten gelten. Dieser theoretisch fundierte, aber deutlich praxisorientierte Band soll Mitgliedern von Sport- und Kulturorganisationen das erforderliche Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement-Know-how vermitteln, um ihre Sport-, Kultur- oder Eventorganisation modern, erfolgreich und marktorientiert führen zu können. Die Zielgruppe des Buches sind somit Studierende des Sport-, Kultur- und Eventmanagements, Dozenteninnen und Dozenten sowie Forscherinnen und Forscher zu Nachhaltigkeits-, aber auch Sport-/Kultur-/Eventthemen sowie Praktikerinnen und Praktiker aus dem Sport-, Kultur- und Eventbereich.
In recent years, both fields, AI and VRE, have received increasing attention in scientific research. Thus, this article’s purpose is to investigate the potential of DL-based applications on VRE and as such provide an introduction to and structured overview of the field. First, we conduct a systematic literature review of the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially Deep Learning (DL), on the integration of Variable Renewable Energy (VRE). Subsequently, we provide a comprehensive overview of specific DL-based solution approaches and evaluate their applicability, including a survey of the most applied and best suited DL architectures. We identify ten DL-based approaches to support the integration of VRE in modern power systems. We find (I) solar PV and wind power generation forecasting, (II) system scheduling and grid management, and (III) intelligent condition monitoring as three high potential application areas.
In diesem Kapitel werden die zentralen Herausforderungen für die Nachhaltigkeit bei der Organisation und Durchführung von Veranstaltungen im Sport- und Kulturbereich sowie den Sport- und Kulturorganisationen selbst diskutiert. Dazu werden relevante Lösungsansätze zur nachhaltigen Durchführung von Veranstaltungen vorgestellt und bewertet. Dabei ist es wichtig zu verstehen, dass Sport- und Kulturveranstaltungen nicht nur unmittelbar selbst mit Herausforderungen zur Nachhaltigkeit konfrontiert sind und entsprechende Lösungen benötigen. Sie haben darüber hinaus auch eine Vorbildwirkung auf die Besucher der jeweiligen Veranstaltung und können diese zu nachhaltigen Verhaltensänderungen motivieren. Damit können Sport- und Kulturveranstaltungen ein wichtiger Multiplikator und Treiber des Wandels und der erforderlichen Veränderung zu einer nachhaltig handelnden Gesellschaft werden. Die Vermittlung von nachhaltigen Handlungs- und Wirkprinzipien an Besucher von Sport- und Kulturveranstaltungen kann als Hebel zu erforderlichen Verhaltensänderungen innerhalb der Gesellschaft genutzt werden.
Entrepreneurship plays a role both for the development of African countries and for foreign companies with market entry plans. The infrastructural and institutional conditions for entrepreneurship are still difficult, but the advancing digitization leads to an increasingly active start-up scene in many African countries. There is still a mismatch between the areas where start-ups are created and the areas where foreign companies are looking for partners for market entry. Thus, despite positive developments in entrepreneurship, it remains difficult to find suitable partners in the foreseeable future.
In diesem Kapitel werden die Grundlagen und Instrumente des Nachhaltigkeitsmanagements erläutert. Nach einer kurzen Einführung in die Thematik werden in einem allgemeinen Teil zunächst die Grundlagen des Nachhaltigkeitsmanagements beschrieben. Anschließend wird näher auf unterschiedliche Instrumente und Ansätze eingegangen.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in der Markenführung: Künstliche Neuronale Netze zur Markenimagemessung
(2023)
Da Künstliche Neuronale Netze die Modellierung nichtlinearer und vielschichtiger Beziehungen ermöglichen, befasst sich dieser Beitrag mit deren Einsatzmöglichkeiten für die methodisch anspruchsvolle Analyse und Messung des Markenimages. Zur Veranschaulichung des konzeptionellen Ansatzes wird am empirischen Beispiel des Sportartikelherstellers adidas ein mehrschichtiges Künstliches Neuronales Netz zwischen den Bewertungen spezifischer Markenattribute und der Gesamtbewertung der Marke erzeugt. Auf der Grundlage einer Analyse der Verbindungsgewichte des Künstliches Neuronales Netzes wird die Bedeutung verschiedener Markenattribute für die Markenbewertung gemessen, wodurch sich konkrete Implikationen für die Praxis der Markenführung ableiten lassen.
Obwohl die Wirkungsbeziehungen im Marketing oft einen nichtlinearen und interdependenten Charakter aufweisen, beschränkt sich die Modellbildung überwiegend auf einfache mathematische Funktionen. Daher wird in diesem Anwendungskontext der Einsatz des Machine Learning ausführlicher beleuchtet, das mit Verfahren wie Künstlichen Neuronalen Netzen die Modellierung sehr komplexer Zusammenhänge ermöglicht und dadurch relevante Einsatzpotenziale für aktuelle Fragestellungen der Marketingpraxis eröffnet.
Development of an indoor positioning system to create a digital shadow of production plant layouts
(2023)
The objective of this dissertation is to develop an indoor positioning system that allows the creation of a digital shadow of the plant layout in order to continuously represent the actual state of the physical layout in the virtual space. In order to define the requirements for such a system, potential stakeholders who could benefit from a digital shadow in the context of the plant layout were analysed. In order to generate added value for their work, the requirements were derived from their perspective. As the core of an indoor positioning system is the sensory aspect to capture the physical layout parameters, different potential technologies were compared and evaluated in terms of their suitability for this particular application. Derived from this analysis, the selected concept is based on the use of a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera in combination with fiducial markers. In order to determine specific camera parameters, a series of experiments were conducted which were necessary to develop the measurement method as well as the mathematical calculation method and coordinate transformation for the determination of poses (positions and angular orientations) of the respective facilities in the plant. In addition, an experimental validation was performed to ensure that the limit values for individual parameters determined in the requirements analysis can be met.
In 2015, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a collection of 17 global objectives to promote economic, social and ecological development in all parts of the world. While the academic discussion on the contribution of companies to the Sustainable Development Goals has recently gained momentum, the role of business-to-business (B2B) partnerships in reaching the SDGs is underexplored, particularly when it comes to North-South relationships. With our research, we aim to fill this gap in the literature by investigating sales partnerships between German manufacturers and their distributors in African markets. Based on a qualitative analysis of 28 interviews with managers of German and African companies, we show that long-term partnerships and job creation, technology transfer, training as well as high standards are significant contributions of companies to achieve the SDGs. While several SDGs such as goals 4,6,13,16 and 17 are addressed by B2B partnership, we also discuss approaches on how the firms’ engagement could be further leveraged and expanded.
Wertschätzung zählt
(2023)
Wie steht es mit den Sitten im B2B-Geschäft? Im Beitrag werden Wahrnehmung und Ursachen für den Sittenwandel im wirtschaftlichen Kontext in Deutschland und der Schweiz beleuchtet. Anhand einer Analyse der Werteforschung und Experteninterviews im B2B-Sales werden die Erscheinungsformen des Sittenwandels kritisch untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Wertschätzung, Respekt und Vertrauen im Vertriebsbereich zwar einen hohen Wert besitzen, aber oft missachtet werden.
The Circular Economy aims to reintroduce the value of products back into the economic cycle at the same value chain level. While the activities of the Circular Economy are already well-defined, there exists a gap in how returned products are treated by the industry. This study aims to examine how a process should be designed to handle returned products in the context of the Circular Economy. To achieve this, a machine learning-based algorithm is used to classify data and extract relevant information throughout the product life cycle. The focus of this research is limited to land transportation systems within the Sharing Economy sector.
The Commitment of Traders report (CoT) has been around for over 30 years, consistently revealing the futures positions of key market players. This study's primary aim is to use the comprehensive data from the Commitment of Traders reports to develop a short-term reversal trading strategy. Against the benchmark, a S&P 500 buy-and-hold approach with a Sharpe ratio of 1.07, the CoT long only strategy generated significant results in six individual markets. Extending the strategy to long-and-short, two markets outperformed the benchmark significantly. However, a scenario analysis indicated underperformance of the CoT strategy when traded in a portfolio, confirming that the chosen strategy parameters could not generate excess Sharpe ratios. Our results indicate that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, more specifically the CoT report, contributed to efficient derivatives market.
Diese Richtlinie richtet sich an Unternehmen, die ihre Mitarbeitenden dafür gewinnen wollen, sich stärker für einen effizienteren und sparsameren Einsatz von Ressourcen einzusetzen, und die deren Erfahrungen und Know-how bei PIUS-Projekten nutzen möchten. Der Fokus liegt darauf, wie sich dabei die Einbindung von Mitarbeitenden unter den jeweiligen unternehmensspezifischen Ausgangssituationen systematisch organisieren lässt. Unter der Einbindung von Mitarbeitenden wird dabei primär die aktive Rolle von Mitarbeitenden bei Optimierungsprojekten - wie zu PIUS - verstanden, angefangen vom Erfahrungs- und Know-How-Träger über den Beteiligten am Planungsprozess bis hin zum Ausführenden bei der Umsetzung. Darüber hinaus geht es auch um Information und Motivation der Mitarbeitenden. Die gelebte Einbindung von Mitarbeitenden unterstützt nicht nur dabei, PIUS-Projekte deutlich erfolgreicher anzugehen und umzusetzen, sondern es lassen sich insgesamt die Innovationskraft, die Unternehmenskultur und die Motivation der Mitarbeitenden im Unternehmen steigern.
Over the last 50 years, neoclassical financial theory has been dominating our perception of what is happening in financial markets. It has spurred numerous valuable theories and concepts all based on the concept of Homo Economicus, the strictly rational economic man. However, humans do not always act in a strictly rational manner. For students and practitioners alike, our book aims at opening the door to another perspective on financial markets: a behavioral perspective based on a Homo Oeconomicus Humanus. This agent acts with limited rationality when making decisions. He/she uses heuristics and shortcuts and is prone to the influence of emotions. This sounds familiar in real life and can be transferred to what happens in financial markets, too.