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Current trends and challenges in last-mile delivery with consideration of digital technologies
(2021)
Growing online sales market, globalization and urbanization caused new challenges in freight transportation. These global trends created an open market where goods are purchased in any country and delivered directly to the end customer’s doorstep. Currently distributing goods around the city is the least efficient step of the entire supply chain, which makes it an important challenge not only for the retail and transportation companies, but also for researchers. In order to make the processes in urban logistics more efficient, different digital solutions and new business models were developed. However, there is still a lack of systematically organized information about the new trends and technologies in last-mile delivery.
The goal of this thesis was to explore and compare the new concepts of last-mile delivery. Therefore, two main research questions were formulated: How can new smart technologies change the current last-mile delivery processes? Which last-mile technology is more suitable for each type of urban delivery? In order to answer the research questions, a case-study research methodology was chosen. The information was gained through the state-of-the-art analysis, where relevant books and articles in scientific journals were reviewed, and the use-cases described.
The results of this work were three types of analysis. Operational feasibility analysis focused on the comparison of technical capabilities of identified last-mile technologies. Financial analysis compared different types of costs required for using each technology for urban delivery. Finally, in the comparison analysis all theoretical information and previously conducted analyses results were summarized. The most relevant last-mile technologies were then recommended for each type of last-mile delivery.
Driven by the decrease in the fertility rate, the increase in life expectancy, and, therefore, the shift of the demographical structure, the topic of labor shortage is gaining more importance worldwide, and in the context of the present paper, in Europe and Germany. More precisely, this paper deals with the labor shortage in the field of nursing in Germany.
The lack of nurses and geriatric nurses is not only due to the demographical change. Moreover, it’s a result of the poor working conditions, the negative image of the profession, and other factors that will be examined in the paper in every detail.
Further, the paper examines the labor shortage in nursing out of the perspective of several actors, including the state, institutions, and literature, in consideration of political, sociological, economical, and technological factors. In the course of this analysis, five semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed within the paper.
All these attempts aim to answer the research question: "What are the causes and the effects of the shortage of skilled labor in the nursing sector in Germany?" The answer to this question considers a variety of different components.
Concerning the effects, several activities and measures to counteract the shortage of nursing workforce in Germany are presented, including, among other things, the project “Konzertierte Aktion Pflege”, various legislations, activities driven by human resources. Overall, the thesis and the results are beneficial for everyone that is influenced by the topic (including nurses, governmental institutions, employers, and employees in nursing), along with everyone in society. This is because anyone, either as a relative or as a patient, can be confronted with the need for care.
The frequently changing environment forces organizations to adapt, resulting in the emergence of evolutionary forms of organizational design. Evolutionary organizations take actions based on the requirements of their environment, such as variation, selection, and retention. Designing their structures and processes to be adaptive (organic), evolutionary organizations react to their complex environments with social complexity. They are characterized by red uced standardization, formalization as well as wide configurations and decentralized authority. Complemented by their holistic perspective they represent a new and interesting field of research. Due to the high degree of informal structures in such organizations, organizational behavior is from major importance. In this context, psychological ownership has been credited to support several positive organizational behaviors, helping organizations to adapt. This thesis examines the relationship of both concepts, placing psychological ownership into the context of evolutionary organizations. A literature review and an empirical study (sample) have been conducted. As a result of the literature review, five behaviors of evolutionary organizations have been identified, such as innovation, careful resource handling, anticipation, selection, and preservation. The empirical study consisted of four open-ended interviews, exploring the link between psychological ownership and the evolution driven behaviors. As a result, a positive relationship between psychological ownership and each of the evolution driven behaviors has been hypothesized. Implications for evolutionary forms of organizational design have been d iscussed .
The aim of this research is to examine the potential of blended learning concepts for the development of future skills, which has not been sufficiently investigated. This subject is analyzed on the fundamentals of the behaviorist, the cognitivist, the constructivist and the connectivist learning theory.
For this purpose, the following research question was raised:
(How) Can relevant future skills be developed through blended learning concepts?
In order to obtain more precise results, the future skills were divided into technological, knowledge-based, digital and social skills. A qualitative content analysis was carried out on the basis of seven expert interviews.
Findings regarding the development of future skills suggest that blended learning concepts have a high potential to prepare students for the modern working world. Particularly with its focus on self-organized learning in cooperative and collaborative learning environments, blended learning proves to be more suitable for the development of future skills than purely analog or purely digital learning formats.
Driven by digitalization, the emerging sharing economy and the associated change in values, the concept of coworking spaces is gaining importance, as well as economic and scientific relevance.
However, despite the increasing popularity of this topic in the media there are hardly any scientific data about working conditions in coworking spaces from the user perspective.
This paper examines the experiences from the perspective of dependent employees in more detail. This group of people did not choose to work in such an environment but do so because of their employer. Working in a coworking space presents a range of new opportunities and at the same time new challenges for employees, which shall be discussed in this paper.
In the course of the analysis, nine semi-structured interviews were conducted and then analyzed based on Mayring's qualitative analysis.
The results show that most importantly, employees benefit from coworking spaces due to the networking and socializing component which is a vital part of this specific working environment. Consequently, the various possibilities for distraction that often accompany the social component pose a considerable challenge.
Interestingly, the majority of participants confirmed that they enjoy working in a coworking space despite the challenges involved. Nobody stated the opposite.
Given that an increasing number of people request a flexible work environment it is most likely that coworking spaces will gain more importance for organizations and therefore will continue to impact workspaces in the future.
This thesis and the results of the qualitative analysis are beneficial for scientific use, coworking space owners, for organizations as well as entrepreneurs.
In today’s world which is characterized by profound change, leaders are ex- pected to successfully steer companies through the difficulties of the digital age. To encounter the challenges leaders face on this journey, digital leader- ship has emerged as a potential approach, however, empirical research on the concept is limited. Hence, the main purpose of this thesis is to investigate dig- ital leadership by outlining the extent to which it emerges as a unique leader- ship style. Based on a comprehensive literature review and a qualitative anal- ysis of ten expert interviews, this thesis contributes to an enhanced under- standing of digital leadership. The results indicate that the role and perception of leadership itself are changing. The challenges arising from the new context of the digital age require leaders to display behavioral complexity and possess versatile competencies. By comparing digital leadership with established lead- ership styles, the thesis finds decisive congruence of various leadership com- petencies, while many digital competencies emerge as new. Overall, competen- cies regarding employee empowerment are of paramount importance. The complexity of the digital age requires leaders to exhibit situationally appropri- ate leadership styles. Therefore, digital leadership combines established lead- ership styles and is enriched by new behaviors required in the digital age. The extent of uniqueness is contingent on the new context in which leadership occurs.
Wirkung von Cause-Related- Marketing-Aktivitäten auf die Reputation von Nonprofit- Organisationen
(2021)
Brand purpose has gained considerable importance in recent years. However, the term is not uniformly defined which makes an exemplification more difficult. The aim of this study is to give a detailed view on current brand purpose illustrations and practices. Therefore, an overview of different brand purpose interpretations is given, and a unified definition provided. Within this study brand purpose is defined as an organization’s inner core which is driving value for stakeholders by addressing a societal issue.
An extensive literature review in combination with expert interviews is performed to identify potential success factors for the implementation of brand purpose. The outcome of this analysis resulted in a brand purpose framework with five dimensions and 26 underlying success factors. This framework is then evaluated within a multiple-case study. By analyzing four best practice organizations in their implementation of brand purpose the previous results of the literature analysis are examined. The outcome of the case study research represents an updated brand purpose framework in which the success factor authenticity has notably stood out as one major aspect in brand purpose practices.
Lastly recommendations for the implementation of brand purpose are given. Therefore, it is important to build a community to collectively practice purpose- oriented activities which are creating value for the organization’s stakeholders.
This paper aims to investigate if and to which extent the brand fit between brand and art might influence the products of art business collaborations by taking the consumer involvement into account. This investigation focuses on solely fine art and its implementation in product design. An experiment (N = 180) was conducted to examine the effect of different brand fits on the product evaluation. The research indicates that the brand fit between brand and art has a significantly positive influence on the product evaluation, which is internally replicated across durable and non-durable products. However, this leveraging effect does not occur for all product categories since not all products fit with art to a high degree. An influence within consumer involvement is not confirmed. Although no negative effect could be exposed, a more conscious use of art regarding to the brand fit is recommended.
Purpose This study aims at examining the benefit of using poetry in a brand context. Hence, it strives at extending the art infusion effect, which had been found in previous research and demonstrated that art could enhance product and brand perceptions. Instead of focusing on visual art, this study aims at testing whether the effect is also perceivable for non-visual art, concretely, for poetry. It proposes that next to the art infusion effect, also a poetry infusion effect exists. In order to ascertain this assumption, it intends to measure specifically, whether the inclusion of poetry in advertising has a positive impact on product and brand perception.
Design/methodology/approach Next to a desk research, this study uses an experimental study to test the poetry infusion effect. By presenting advertising spots with and without poetry to different experimental groups, it is examined, whether people evaluate a brand and its products more positively, when having heard a poem before. Concretely the participants’ luxury and modernity perception of the brand, as well as their product evaluation are measured.
Findings The results of this study show that there is a direct effect between the presence of poetry and a positive product evaluation. Furthermore, it demonstrates that also the luxury and modernity perception is enhanced through poetry, and that both of these aspects have an impact on a more positive product evaluation.
Research limitations/implications On a managerial level this study implies, that it can be beneficial for brands to use poems in their advertising campaigns, or even cooperate with poets.
Originality/value Up to this point literature looking at the connection between brands and art has focused on visual art. This research extends this field of study, by examining the effect of a literary form of art, namely poetry, which constitutes a promising field of study in a marketing context, because poetry has always played an important role in the history of brand management and advertising.
Purpose – This thesis aims to investigate the impact of security, inquiry response time, type of bank, access and product diversity attributes on customer preference for internet banking services. It intends to understand the underlying logic behind how customers make their preferences.
Design/methodology/approach – Conjoint analysis was employed to investigate the attributes used in this study. Current attributes were selected after a comprehen- sive literature review on factors affecting internet banking services. Using different combinations of the respective levels of the attributes, 16 profiles were created through orthogonal design and respondents were asked to evaluate each profile. Data from a sample of 196 respondents were analyzed to reach findings.
Findings – Security was found to be the most important attribute affecting internet banking preference. Even though it might be less convenient, respondents tend to prefer higher security levels. Security attribute was followed by type of bank, ac- cess, inquiry response time and diversity of products respectively. The relative im- portance of each attribute and utility of attribute levels are presented in the results.
Practical implications – Internet banking is a major channel in the distribution of banking services. A successful digital strategy is of utmost importance to gain a competitive advantage and for long-term survival. Banks can understand how peo- ple value different attributes and findings can be used to design internet banking services. Designing aspect comes from the availability of different levels an attrib- ute can be offered. Apart from knowing the importance of an attribute, banks can use the utility values to create strategies and allocate their resources accordingly.
Originality/value – Unlike many other studies examining dimensions of internet banking services through factor analysis, the originality of this paper lies in the fact that it applies conjoint analysis to internet banking services. Respondents are pre- sented with a more realistic scenario where they have to make trade-offs. Further- more, the current study also focuses on customers’ perception of trust towards bricks-and-clicks banks and internet-only banks, providing a detailed comparison.
Digital fatigue – Analysis and evaluation of factors influencing the interaction with digital media
(2021)
Over the past decades, consumers changed their purchasing behaviour. Instead of relying on their renowned sources, people nowadays are enabled to draw on information provided on online platforms. The existence of electronic word of mouth has changed consumer purchasing behaviour significantly. This phenomenon, however, also harbours various threats for companies as consumers are more likely to voice their grievances about a service or product. Especially in the service industry purchasing behaviour, word of mouth as well as complaint behaviour can have a formidable impact on a company.
The service offers a variety of activities with the aim of meeting a consumer’s individual needs. Yet, this uniqueness also comes with several drawbacks as consistent quality cannot be entirely promised. Thus, the fact that service failures occur should not be taken lightly as customer dissatisfaction may be the result and ramifications may be severe for businesses. To minimise displeased customers, companies can strive for compensating for initial inconveniences in the wake of a well-functioning service recovery approach.
The empirical study targets to give in-depth insights into consumers’ complaint behaviour as well as service recovery expectations in the German market. The results reveal that good service recoveries should not be underestimated as they may have beneficial impacts on businesses as well as the customers themselves. Furthermore, it is obligatory to act not only via offline channels but also through online channels. Thanks to the delivered insights, companies might be able to better adjust their approach of implementing a good service recovery strategy and to place greater value in their consumers’ opinions and concerns. This paper intends to provide a thorough explanation of how dissatisfied consumers can be beneficial to a business in the long-run and why they should not be ignored.
This research aims at contributing to the growing scholarly interest in exploring and describing the journey towards data-driven marketing. As part of this, especially the establishment of a data culture seems to play an important role. Therefore, the study focuses on this aspect during the conduction of empirical research. The objective is to provide an overview of success factors for data- driven marketing, which might help change management teams or marketing leaders to transform the marketing approach into a data-driven one. Previous to the field research, a theoretical framework is developed on the basis of a structured review of relevant literature streams and expert opinions. At first, the literature on data-driven marketing and change management is consolidated and afterwards three consultants are interviewed to confirm the relevancy of the literature findings. An existing framework on managing change is adjusted according to the results and serves as guideline for the subsequent data collection and analysis. Eight expert interviews are conducted with marketing or data analytics managers from companies who find themselves in the middle of a transformation process. With the objective to gather practical information on how to establish a data culture, a thorough, qualitative content analysis of the interview transcripts is conducted. The results reveal that data analytics is a people business and if data-driven marketing is the objective, the change management team and the leadership have to consider the human factor during the transformation. This includes the establishment of a data culture by changing mindsets, behaviours, structures and processes as well as performance measurements. The leadership’s attitude, behaviour and decisions are critical factors in this context. The author recommends further exploration of this topic and a resumption of the interviews in the future, so that the success factors can be reviewed from a backward-looking perspective.
Die vorliegende Masterarbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Thema des Headhuntings und gibt einen Überblick über die Grenze zwischen der erlaubten und unerlaubten Abwerbung. Dies erfolgte unter Berücksich- tigung des Wettbewerbsrecht und dem bisherigen Stand der Rechtspre- chung. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es aufzuzeigen, ob es klare gesetzliche Re- gelungen gibt bezüglich der Zulässigkeit von verschiedenen Abwer- bungsmethoden. Jedoch erfolgt auch eine Einordnung des Head- huntings in der Personalwirtschaft. Darin spielt das Headhunting eben- falls eine bedeutende Rolle. Viele Unternehmen setzen heut zu Tage sogenannte Headhunter ein, um qualifizierte Führungskräfte und Spe- zialisten für das Unternehmen zu finden. In der Regel setzen Unterneh- men dann Headhunter ein, wenn die Personalberater innerhalb des Un- ternehmens, keine geeigneten Kandidaten für die Stellen finden kön- nen. Somit ist das Headhunting sowohl aus personalwirtschaftlicher Sicht als auch aus rechtlicher Sicht sehr bedeutsam für Arbeitgeber und für Arbeitnehmer.