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With significant advancements in digital technologies, firms find themselves competing in an increasingly dynamic business environment. It is of paramount importance that organizations undertake proper governance mechanisms with respect to their business and IT strategies. Therefore, IT governance (ITG) has become an important factor for firm performance. In recent years, agility has evolved as a core concept for governance, especially in the area of software development. However, the impact of agility on ITG and firm performance has not been analyzed by the broad scientific community. This paper focuses on the question, how the concept of agility affects the ITG–firm performance relationship. The conceptual model for this question was tested by a quantitative research process with 400 executives responding to a standardized survey. Findings show that the adoption of agile principles, values, and best practices to the context of ITG leads to meaningful results for governance, business/IT alignment, and firm performance.
The advent of chatbots in customer service solutions received increasing attention by research and practice throughout the last years. However, the relevant dimensions and features for service quality and service performance for chatbots remain quite unclear. Therefore, this research develops and tests a conceptual model for customer service quality and customer service performance in the context of chatbots. Additionally, the impact of the developed service dimensions on different customer relationship metrics is measured across different service channels (hotline versus chatbots). Findings of six independent studies indicate a strong main effect of the conceptualized service dimensions on customer satisfaction, service costs, intention to service reusage, word-of-mouth, and customer loyalty. However, different service dimensions are relevant for chatbots compared to a traditional service hotline.
Autonomous driving is becoming the next big digital disruption in the automotive industry. However, the possibility of integrating autonomous driving vehicles into current transportation systems not only involves technological issues but also requires the acceptance and adoption of users. Therefore, this paper develops a conceptual model for user acceptance of autonomous driving vehicles. The corresponding model is tested through a standardized survey of 470 respondents in Germany. Finally, the findings are discussed in relation to the current developments in the automotive industry, and recommendations for further research are given.
The shift of populations to cities is creating challenges in many respects, thus leading to increasing demand for smart solutions of urbanization problems. Smart city applications range from technical and social to economic and ecological. The main focus of this work is to provide a systematic literature review of smart city research to answer two main questions: (1) How is current research on smart cities structured? And (2) What directions are relevant for future research on smart cities? To answer these research questions, a text-mining approach is applied to a large number of publications. This provides an overview and gives insights into relevant dimensions of smart city research. Although the main dimensions of research are already described in the literature, an evaluation of the relevance of such dimensions is missing. Findings suggest that the dimensions of environment and governance are popular, while the dimension of economy has received only limited attention.
The shift of populations to cities is creating challenges in many respects, thus leading to increasing demand for smart solutions of urbanization problems. Smart city applications range from technical and social to economic and ecological. The main focus of this work is to provide a systematic literature review of smart city research to answer two main questions: (1) How is current research on smart cities structured? and (2) What directions are relevant for future research on smart cities? To answer these research questions, a text-mining approach is applied to a large number of publications. This provides an overview and gives insights into relevant dimensions of smart city research. Although the main dimensions of research are already described in the literature, an evaluation of the relevance of such dimensions is missing. Findings suggest that the dimensions of environment and governance are popular, while the dimension of economy has received only limited attention.
Our paper investigates the response of acquiring firms’ stock returns around the announcement date in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) between listed Chinese acquirers and German targets. We apply an event study methodology to examine the shareholder value effect based on a sample of M&A deals over the most recent period of 2012-2018. We apply a market model event study based on the argumentation of Brown and Warner (1985) and use short-term observation periods according to Andrade, Mitchell, and Stafford (2001) as well as Hackbarth and Morellec (2008). The results indicate that the announcement of M&A involving German targets results in a positive cumulative abnormal return of on average 2.18% for Chinese acquirers’ shareholders in a five-day symmetric event window. Furthermore, we found slight indications of possible information leakage prior to the formal announcement. Although it shows that the size of acquiring firms is not necessarily correlated with the positive abnormal returns in the short run, this study suggests that Chinese acquirers’ shareholders gain higher abnormal returns when the German targets are non-listed companies.
Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes wurden Ausrüstungsmittel und -verfahren entwickelt, die dem vorbeugenden Schutz von Textilien (insbesondere Bodenbelägen) vor Anschmutzung dienen. Das Verfahren sieht eine kombinierte Ausrüstung von Textilien mit fluorierten Polymeren mit inkorporierten Nanopartikeln (in erster Linie: SiO2) zur Erhöhung der Rauhigkeit vor. Es wurden kommerziell erhältliche Hydrophobiermittel (Fluorcarbon- oder Kohlenwasserstoff-basierte Polymere) in Kombination mit SiO2-Nanopartikeln auf Teppiche aufgebracht und hinsichtlich eines Anschmutzens - z.B. durch Kaffee, KoolAid, Rotwein, AATCC Standard Soil, schwarze Schuhcreme - untersucht. Hierzu wurden die scherempfindlichen Dispersionen der Hydrophobiermittel mit neu entwickelten angepassten Dispersionen von SiO2-Nanopartikel versetzt. Die SiO2-Nanopartikel wurden mit systematisch variierten Größen von 10-1.000 nm synthetisiert, umfassend charakterisiert und mit Hilfe von neu entwickelten Fluormethacrylat-Copolymeren mit reaktiven Gruppen (Maleinsäure-, Itaconsäure- oder Citraconsäureanhydrid) und hydrophilen Modifiern (Alkohol- oder Amingruppen) stabilisiert. Die resultierenden Polymer-Teilchen-Dispersionen konnten aus wässrigen oder ethanolisch-wässrigen Lösungen auf Textilien (PA-, PES- oder WO-Teppiche und -Gewebe) appliziert werden. Weiterhin wurden auch die neu entwickelten Fluorcarbon-Polymere hinsichtlich ihrer Anwendung getestet. In Anschmutzungsversuchen wiesen die so ausgerüsteten Teppiche ein geringeres Anschmutzen durch Standardschmutz als Referenzmaterialien auf. Die Beständigkeit der Ausrüstung bei mechanischer Belastung konnte durch Vernetzung der Polymere auf dem Textilmaterial verbessert werden. Für PA 6- und PA 6.6-Teppiche wurden die besten Ergebnisse hinsichtlich eines geringeren Anschmutzens durch wasserlösliche Verschmutzungen (Kaffee, Rotwein, KoolAid) im Vergleich zu unbehandelten Teppichen ermittelt, wenn die Ausrüstung mit Fluorpolymer-stabilisierten SiO2-Nanopartikeln oder mit einer kombinierten Dispersion aus SiO2-Partikeln und Fluorcarbonharzen vorgenommen wurde. Eine im Vergleich zu unbehandelten Teppichen weniger starke Anschmutzung durch AATCC Standard Soil (DIN EN ISO 11378-2) wurde für mit SiO2-Partikeln behandelte PA 6-Teppiche ermittelt. Hydrophobe Anschmutzungen (z.B. schwarze Schuhcreme) konnten von mit Fluorcarbon-Polymeren ausgerüsteten Teppichen am besten entfernt werden. Die Kombination von SiO2-Partikeln mit Fluorcarbon-Polymeren erwies sich meist als günstiger als die alleinige Behandlung mit Fluorcarbonharzen. Ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Größe der Nanopartikel, der Abrasionsbeständigkeit und den Reinigungseigenschaften wurde festgestellt, und es konnte gezeigt werden, dass FC-Nanopartikel-Composites diese verbessern. Die mechanische Beständigkeit der Antischmutzausrüstung mit SiO2-Nanopartikeln und Fluorcarbon-Polymeren auf Polyamidteppichen wurde z.B. durch Hexapod-Trommelbeanspruchung (nach ISO 10361) geprüft. Durch REM, IR-Spektroskopie und den Wassertropfentest wurde nach 4.000 und auch nach 12.000 Touren noch eine intakte Beschichtung nachgewiesen. Mit Vernetzern, die das Polymer selbst, das Polymer mit Partikeln und/oder der Substratoberfläche vernetzen, konnte z.T. die Abrasionsbeständigkeit verbessert werden (hier müssen ggf. optimalere Vernetzer gesucht werden).
Die Ausrüstung von Textilien mit Sol-Gel-Beschichtungen wird seit einigen Jahren intensiv verfolgt. Eine Vielzahl von bekannten, aber auch neuen Ausrüstungseffekten können über diesen Ansatz realisiert werden. Besonders interessant ist die Sol-Gel-Technik wegen der Möglichkeiten, multifunktionelle Ausrüstungen zu synthetisieren. Problematisch ist eine in vielen Fällen geringe Beständigkeit solcher Ausrüstungen, insbesondere gegenüber Waschprozessen. Ziel des Projektes war es davon ausgehend, Vorbehandlungsstrategien für textile Fasermaterialien, basierend auf synthetischen Polymeren oder aus Naturfasern, zu entwickeln, die die Haltbarkeit von Sol-Gel-basierten Ausrüstungen verbessern. Im Rahmen der Arbeiten wurden, angepasst an die jeweiligen Faserpolymere - Polyethylenterephthalat, Polyamid, Polypropylen und Baumwolle - funktionelle Gruppen über geeignete Anker auf den Polymeren etabliert, die in der Lage sind, kovalente Bindungen zu Sol-Gel-basierten Beschichtungssystemen auszubilden. Als Anker wurden primär Trialkoxysilane verwendet, die zusätzlich z.B. Epoxy-, Isocyanato-, Azido- oder Amino-funktionelle Reste besitzen. Mit diesen Resten können die Anker kovalent an die Polymere angebunden werden. Die meisten Sol-Gel-basierten Systeme enthalten zumindest zu einem gewissen Anteil SiOx und/oder MexOy-Cluster. Die zur Funktionalisierung der Oberflächen eingesetzten Alkoxysilane können generell an solche Systeme/Cluster per Kondensation gebunden werden und dienen daher für die effektive Anbindung verschiedenster funktioneller Sol-Gel-Schichten. Entsprechend vorfunktionalisierte Substrate wurden in der Folge mit exemplarisch ausgewählten Sol-Gel-Ausrüstungen beschichtet. Dabei wurden für den Großteil der Untersuchungen hydrophobierende Sole appliziert. Vorteilhaft ist, dass sich der mit hydrophobierenden Solen erzielte Ausrüstungseffekt genau wie dessen Beständigkeit mit vergleichsweise überschaubarem Aufwand über die Untersuchung der Benetzbarkeit (DuPont-Noten, Kontaktwinkel, Tropfeneinsinkzeiten) charakterisieren lässt. Die Wirksamkeit der Vorbehandlungen wurde dann vor allem anhand von Untersuchungen zur Waschbeständigkeit der Ausrüstungen überprüft. Im Rahmen der Arbeiten konnte gezeigt werden, dass sich über die Etablierung geeigneter Anker die Beständigkeit von Sol-Gel-Ausrüstungen bzw. der daraus hervorgehenden Effekte verbessern lässt. Es zeigt sich gleichzeitig, dass die erzielten Verbesserungen sehr stark vom jeweiligen Sol abhängen. D.h., dass sich erzielte Verbesserungen nicht zwangsläufig auf andere Sol übertragen lassen. Analytische Charakterisierungen weisen darauf hin, dass in vielen Fällen die Beständigkeit der Beschichtungsnetzwerke selbst einen weit größeren Einfluss besitzt als die Anbindung an das Substrat. So zeigt sich bei verschiedenen Untersuchungen, dass die Auflage der Sol-Gel-Beschichtung vor allem nach einer ersten Wäsche, aber auch darüber hinaus, signifikant sinkt, oftmals aber ohne dass der durch Ausrüstung erzielte Effekt verloren geht. Dies deutet auf ein (Auf-)Lösen der Beschichtungsmatrizes hin, wovor die Anker nicht schützen können, da deren Wirkung auf die Grenzfläche zum Substrat beschränkt ist. Neben den hydrophobierenden Ausrüstungen wurden exemplarisch auch antibakterielle Ausrüstungen nach den entsprechenden Vorbehandlungen appliziert. Auch hier konnten Verbesserungen in der Beständigkeit des Effektes erzielt werden. Abschließend wurde untersucht inwieweit sich die Vorbehandlungen im Vergleich zur einfachen Ausrüstung negativ auf die textilen Produkte auswirken. Hierzu wurden relevante textile Parameter wie z.B. Höchstzugkräfte, Weißgrade, Steifigkeit oder Luftdurchlässigkeiten bestimmt. Diese Parameter wurden in der überwiegenden Zahl der Vorbehandlungen nicht oder nur geringfügig beeinflusst.
This book describes the current state of the art in integrated ring resonators, covering more than two decades in the development of this exciting device. It discusses in depth one of the most fascinating and versatile integrated optical filters, providing readers with a panoramic view spanning from design and simulation to implementation in various material systems. Written by authors with extensive experience in both academia and industry, this second edition offers a much-needed, major update as interest in integrated ring resonators undergoes a global revival. The new edition includes a comprehensive technological update, and a timely discussion of recent advances in new application areas, such as optofluidics and microfluidics, telecom operations and biosensors. This aptly named compendium is the ideal guide for researchers and engineers looking to review the field as a whole while exploring several of its possible and exciting future trajectories.
Context: Currently, most companies apply approaches for product roadmapping that are based on the assumption that the future is highly predicable. However, nowadays companies are facing the challenge of increasing market dynamics, rapidly evolving technologies, and shifting user expectations. Together with the adaption of lean and agile practices it makes it increasingly difficult to plan and predict upfront which products, services or features will satisfy the needs of the customers. Therefore, they are struggling with their ability to provide product roadmaps that fit into dynamic and uncertain market environments and that can be used together with lean and agile software development practices.
Objective: To gain a better understanding of modern product roadmapping processes, this paper aims to identify suitable processes for the creation and evolution of product roadmaps in dynamic and uncertain market environments.
Method: We performed a Grey Literature Review (GLR) according to the guidelines from Garousi et al.
Results: 32 approaches to product roadmapping were identified. Typical characteristics of these processes are the strong connection between the product roadmap and the product vision, an emphasis on stakeholder alignment, the definition of business and customer goals as part of the roadmapping process, a high degree of flexibility with respect to reaching these goals, and the inclusion of validation activities in the roadmapping process. An overall goal of nearly all approaches is to avoid waste by early reducing development and business risks. From the list of the 32 approaches found, four representative roadmapping processes are described in detail.
This book discusses important topics for engineering and managing software startups, such as how technical and business aspects are related, which complications may arise and how they can be dealt with. It also addresses the use of scientific, engineering, and managerial approaches to successfully develop software products in startup companies.
The book covers a wide range of software startup phenomena, and includes the knowledge, skills, and capabilities required for startup product development; team capacity and team roles; technical debt; minimal viable products; startup metrics; common pitfalls and patterns observed; as well as lessons learned from startups in Finland, Norway, Brazil, Russia and USA. All results are based on empirical findings, and the claims are backed by evidence and concrete observations, measurements and experiments from qualitative and quantitative research, as is common in empirical software engineering.
The book helps entrepreneurs and practitioners to become aware of various phenomena, challenges, and practices that occur in real-world startups, and provides insights based on sound research methodologies presented in a simple and easy-to-read manner. It also allows students in business and engineering programs to learn about the important engineering concepts and technical building blocks of a software startup. It is also suitable for researchers at different levels in areas such as software and systems engineering, or information systems who are studying advanced topics related to software business.
Product roadmaps are an important tool in product development. They provide direction, enable consistent development in relation to a product vision and support communication with relevant stakeholders. There are many different formats for product roadmaps, but they are often based on the assumption that the future is highly predictable. However, especially software-intensive businesses are faced with increasing market dynamics, rapidly evolving technologies and changing user expectations. As a result, many organizations are wondering what roadmap format is appropriate for them and what components it should have to deal with an unpredictable future. Objectives: To gain a better understanding of the formats of product roadmaps and their components, this paper aims to identify suitable formats for the development and handling of product roadmaps in dynamic and uncertain markets. Method: We performed a grey literature review (GLR) according to the guidelines from Garousi. Results: A Google search identified 426 articles, 25 of which were included in this study. First, various components of the roadmap were identified, especially the product vision, themes, goals, outcomes and outputs. In addition, various product roadmap formats were discovered, such as feature-based, goal-oriented, outcome-driven and a theme-based roadmap. The roadmap components were then assigned to the various product roadmap formats. This overview aims at providing initial decision support for companies to select a suitable product roadmap format and adapt it to their own needs.
Selecting a suitable development method for a specific project context is one of the most challenging activities in process design. Every project is unique and, thus, many context factors have to be considered. Recent research took some initial steps towards statistically constructing hybrid development methods, yet, paid little attention to the peculiarities of context factors influencing method and practice selection. In this paper, we utilize exploratory factor analysis and logistic regression analysis to learn such context factors and to identify methods that are correlated with these factors. Our analysis is based on 829 data points from the HELENA dataset. We provide five base clusters of methods consisting of up to 10 methods that lay the foundation for devising hybrid development methods. The analysis of the five clusters using trained models reveals only a few context factors, e.g., project/product size and target application domain, that seem to significantly influence the selection of methods. An extended descriptive analysis of these practices in the context of the identified method clusters also suggests a consolidation of the relevant practice sets used in specific project contexts.
Hochschulen sind Teil des Innovationsökosystems: in einer kooperativen Austauschbeziehung fördern sie die regionale Wirtschaft und die gesellschaftliche Entwicklung. Deshalb ist die Förderung von Innovation, Kreativität und unternehmerischem Denken eine wichtige Aufgabe. Die Europäische Kommission hat bereits 2005 unternehmerisches Denken und Handeln als Schlüsselkompetenz für das 21. Jahrhundert definiert: „Unternehmerische Kompetenz ist die Fähigkeit, Ideen in die Tat umzusetzen“ (Europäische Kommission, 2005, S. 21). Entrepreneurship Education boomt und die Förderung von unternehmerischen Kompetenzen an Hochschulen wird vorangetrieben – damit ist die Förderung von Gründungskultur nicht nur Teil der Wirtschaftsbildung sondern vielmehr als Querschnittsaufgabe zu verstehen. Die Entrepreneurial Mission verändert die Lehr- und Lern kultur an den Hochschulen. Zum einen ist es Ziel, Entrepreneurship in der Breite an den Hochschulen zu verankern: Unternehmerisches Denken und Handeln ist eine Kernkompetenz. Zum anderen fördert die Start-up Education an Hochschulen aktiv Unternehmertalente und Ausgründungen.
Das Projekt “Spinnovation” ist ein Verbundprojekt der Hochschule Reutlingen, der Hochschule Aalen und der Hochschule der Medien und wird vom Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg in der Ausschreibung „Gründungskultur in Studium und Lehre“ gefördert. Seit 2016 wurden dazu an den beteiligten Hochschulen zahlreiche neue Angebote für Studierende entwickelt, um das Thema Entrepreneurship Education curricular zu integrieren und eine Änderung des Mindsets in Richtung Entrepreneurship und Innovation zu bewirken. Basierend auf den Erfahrungen und Ergebnissen aus dem Verbundprojekt Spinnovation können konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen für die Entrepreneurship Education an Hochschulen abgeleitet werden.
With the expansion of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) across critical and regulated industries, systems must be continuously updated to remain resilient. At the same time, they should be extremely secure and safe to operate and use. The DevOps approach caters to business demands of more speed and smartness in production, but it is extremely challenging to implement DevOps due to the complexity of critical CPSs and requirements from regulatory authorities. In this study, expert opinions from 33 European companies expose the gap in the current state of practice on DevOps-oriented continuous development and maintenance. The study contributes to research and practice by identifying a set of needs. Subsequently, the authors propose a novel approach called Secure DevOps and provide several avenues for further research and development in this area. The study shows that, because security is a cross-cutting property in complex CPSs, its proficient management requires system-wide competencies and capabilities across the CPSs development and operation.
Hardly any software development process is used as prescribed by authors or standards. Regardless of company size or industry sector, a majority of project teams and companies use hybrid development methods (short: hybrid methods) that combine different development methods and practices. Even though such hybrid methods are highly individualized, a common understanding of how to systematically construct synergetic practices is missing. In this article, we make a first step towards a statistical construction procedure for hybrid methods. Grounded in 1467 data points from a large‐scale practitioner survey, we study the question: What are hybrid methods made of and how can they be systematically constructed? Our findings show that only eight methods and few practices build the core of modern software development. Using an 85% agreement level in the participants' selections, we provide examples illustrating how hybrid methods can be characterized by the practices they are made of. Furthermore, using this characterization, we develop an initial construction procedure, which allows for defining a method frame and enriching it incrementally to devise a hybrid method using ranked sets of practice.
Die Annexion der Krim, die Kriegsführung in Syrien, das finanzielle Engagement in Zypern, das Tauziehen um die Ukraine und Weißrussland oder die Namensgebung Sputnik 5 für den Impfstoff gegen die Corona Epidemie sind eindeutige Belege für das aktuelle russische Machtstreben – und seine Expansionspolitik. Deshalb ist es nicht uninteressant zu fragen, welches Meinungsbild Friedrich List (1789–1846) von Russland hatte, zumal es heute noch so aktuell, wie vor 180 bis 190 Jahren erscheint und in seinen Schriften dargelegt ist. Dieses Meinungsbild wird in diesem Aufsatz erstmals untersucht und umfassend dargestellt.
Tissue constructs of physiologically relevant scale require a vascular system to maintain cell viability. However, in vitro vascularization of engineered tissues is still a major challenge. Successful approaches are based on a feeder layer (FL) to support vascularization. Here, we investigated whether the supporting effect on the self‐assembled formation of prevascular‐like structures by microvascular endothelial cells (mvECs) originates from the FL itself or from its extracellular matrix (ECM). Therefore, we compared the influence of ECM, either derived from adipose‐derived stem cells (ASCs) or adipogenically differentiated ASCs, with the classical cell‐based FL. All cell‐derived ECM (cdECM) substrates enabled mvEC growth with high viability. Prevascular‐like structures were visualized by immunofluorescence staining of endothelial surface protein CD31 and could be observed on all cdECM and FL substrates but not on control substrate collagen I. On adipogenically differentiated ECM, longer and higher branched structures could be found compared with stem cell cdECM. An increased concentration of proangiogenic factors was found in cdECM substrates and FL approaches compared with controls. Finally, the expression of proteins associated with tube formation (E‐selectin and thrombomodulin) was confirmed. These results highlight cdECM as promising biomaterial for adipose tissue engineering by inducing the spontaneous formation of prevascular‐like structures by mvECs.
Based on a survey among customers of seven German municipal utilities, we estimate two regression models to identify the most prospective customer segments and their preferences and motivations for participating in peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity trading and develop implications for decision-makers in the energy sector and policy-makers for this currently relatively unknown product. Our results show a large general openness of private households towards P2P electricity trading, which is also the main predictor of respondents' intention to participate. It is mainly influenced by individuals’ environmental attitude, technical interest, and independence aspiration. Respondents with the highest willingness to participate in P2P electricity trading are mainly motivated by the ability to share electricity, and to a lesser extent by economic reasons. They also have stronger preferences for innovative pricing schemes (service bundles, time-of-use tariffs). Differences between individuals can be observed depending on their current ownership (prosumers) or installation probability of a microgeneration unit (consumers, planners). Rather than current prosumers, especially planners willing to install microgeneration in the foreseeable future are considered to be the most promising target group for P2P electricity trading. Finally, our results indicate that P2P electricity trading could be a promising niche option in the German energy transition.
