Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (1096)
Year of publication
Document Type
- Master's Thesis (681)
- Bachelor Thesis (361)
- Article (45)
- Course Material (3)
- Other (3)
- Book (2)
- Report (1)
Language
- English (1096) (remove)
Keywords
- Deep Learning (6)
- LSTM (5)
- Digitalization (4)
- Germany (4)
- Transfer Learning (4)
- COVID-19 pandemic (3)
- China (3)
- Competencies (3)
- European Union (3)
- FinTech (3)
Institute
- FB I - Wirtschaftswissenschaften (332)
- International Business Management (IBMAN) B.A. (196)
- International Economics M.A. (87)
- Poltical Economy of European Integration M.A. (69)
- Accounting and Controlling M.A. (63)
- Berlin Professional School (BPS) (37)
- International Finance M.Sc. (34)
- International Marketing Management M.A. (33)
- International Business Administration Exchange (IBAEx) B.A. (30)
- Business Intelligence and Process Management M.Sc. (29)
After 1978 economics reform, China started to absorb Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and became the second biggest country in the world after USA for inward FDI. Almost all of famous and big Multi-National Companies (MNCs) invested in China. Huge domestic market, cheap labor force and government incentives make China an attractive place for foreign investors. However, both foreign investors and China have benefited from mutual relation. Yet, FDI has negative impact on China’s wage dispersion and income inequality. This thesis examines the positive and negative effects of FDI in China industrial sector during 1999-2010 using fact findings methodology. Main data is from China Statistical Year Book. The results of this research show that FDI has positive effects on GDP, labour and capital productivity, exports, and workers’ education and skill levels through technology spillover, management know how, and productivity and marketing competence. In contrast, FDI has negative effect on wage inequality and deepened wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers.
Volkswagen is chosen as a case study to examine the effects of its investment on China's car industry. Volkswagen entered into China through joint venture with Chinese partners in 1984, only 6 years after economic reform. Volkswagen long term presence helps it to know Chinese market better and to expand its activity in different regions. Volkswagen with about 20 percent market share in China car industry has big role in spillover effect. High population and fast growing middle class in China motivate Volkswagen to focus only in domestic market. High demand for VW's passenger cars encouraged the company to invest immensely in supply chain in China which has positive effect on labour productivity, investment and workers’ education and skill levels in China's automotive industries. Although, there is no access to precise data about WV's wage structure, yet it is obvious that the wage gap in the company is serious and the company also exacerbates the income inequality in China.
The use of the Country-of-Origin (COO) effect is a relevant topic in the field of international marketing research and is gaining more attention in today’s global economy. Especially in the cosmetics industry, the origin of brands tends to be included within their marketing strategy. Therefore, this thesis examines how the COO effect is impacting the evaluation of international cosmetics brands with influential market players such as the USA, South Korea and France. Using a quantitative approach, the opinions of consumers in relation to the different COO dimensions and the importance of these, as well as possible influencing factors and the impact on behavior, was analyzed. Ultimately, significantly different ratings of each dimension and their importance were found. Similarly, the influencing factors involvement and familiarity might affect the evaluation and it is likely that the higher the COO effect evaluation, the higher is the purchase intention and the willingness to pay. The findings underline the role of the COO effect for internationally marketed cosmetics and theoretical and managerial implications can be drawn based on these.
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are still consistently increasing in numbers and assets under management (AuM). The unique functionalities of ETFs, namely share creation/redemption, ETF arbitrage and index revision, are channels through which the ETF market is connected to the market of its underlying securities. Recent studies show how this linkage causes ETFs to increase the volatility of the component stocks. Volatility, liquidity and information is passed to the underlying market where prices begin to co-move, which makes it harder to diversify using ETFs and even market shocks are being propagated.
KEY AUDIT MATTERS & COVID-19: An analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on KAMs of DAX 40 Companies
(2022)
The collapse of Enron and WorldCom2 and the negative effects of the Global Financial Crisis catalyzed two major challenges for the accounting profession. The work of independent auditors was questioned by the public as they had given unqualified audit opinion soon before these companies filed for bankruptcy. To address the dissatisfaction of users of financial statements on the role of the auditor, in January 2015, the IAASB issued a new ISA 701. ISA 701 requires auditors of listed entities to report key audit matters in the audit report. The purpose of KAMs is to present the most significant entity-specific matters based on the auditor's judgement to provide more useful information to the users of the report. The auditors of the top 40 Germany listed entities had to comply with this requirement for accounting periods ending on or after 15 December 2016. Ever since the introduction of KAMs in the auditor’s report, the most reported matters in DAX 40 audit reports relates to asset impairment (including goodwill), revenue recognition and taxation (including valuation of deferred tax assets). With the current Covid-19 pandemic, the work of auditors was affected in different ways. Therefore, there is need to analyze if matters significant to auditors were influenced by the pandemic. To address this issue, an analysis of auditors reports from financial years 2018-2020 for the DAX 40 companies was carried out. The results showed that matters significant to auditors were more or less the same since the adoption of ISA 701. Furthermore, the existence of Covid-19 played a significant role for commonly reported KAM (goodwill impairment) to be of high importance in the audit of 2020 consolidated financial statements because of the increased audit risk.
Human Resources and Corporate Social Responsibility in the context of SMEs in Developing Countries
(2018)
The research shows that there are as many definitions for the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as there are companies implementing these programs. As a matter of fact, there are firms that have implemented practices, which are related to CSR, even though they were not fully aware of it. This is mostly the case of Small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), that either do not have the knowledge and preparation to pursue this implementation or they do not have the resources to formalize CSR programs. Additionally, research also shows that there is not a consensus yet regarding the role that HR and HRM play on the implementation and maintenance of these programs. Therefore, this thesis aims to outline how could HR contribute to the achievement of a well-established CSR program in SMEs in developing countries.
To address the research question and objectives of this thesis, an exploratory and qualitative research was conducted, having as guidelines the case study strategy developed by Yin (2009). Moreover, a process of data triangulation was followed to prove the validity of the evidence found. This research project consisted of several phases through which data was collected to describe and compare two situations:
(i) situation 2, represented by companies already
implementing CSR programs and
(ii) situation 1, represented by an Argentinean SME that has not implemented CSR yet. For the description of situation 2, secondary sources were analyzed, together with the information obtained from a semi-structured interview with an expert in CSR and a questionnaire answered by a specialist. As for the company in situation 1, it was approached as a case study, for which semistructured interviews with members of the company were conducted.
The analysis of the information showed that HR could play an important role in the implementation of CSR programs in SMEs in developing countries. HR department should be involved in the daily operations of the company and through HRM, generate the conditions that would allow the implementation of these programs. Finally, as this was an exploratory project, it would be recommended that further research is
conducted.
The 2007/08 Global Financial Crisis is commonly attributed to the increased practice of securitization by nonbank financial intermediaries. Part of the New-Keynesian and Money View literature has focused on the imbalances of supply and demand for safe liquid assets as a demand-side explanation for the surge of such institutions. The demand of Institutional Cash Pools has attracted particular interest. This master thesis studies to which extent fiscal deficits have an effect on the portfolio rebalancing of Institutional Cash Pools in the institutional framework implemented after the crisis in the United States, considering the appropriate changes in regulation, and policy framework for monetary and fiscal policy. The theoretical background is based on the Institutionalist Post-Keynesian economics, highlighting the hierarchy of promises to pay and the liquidity-preference theory of interest. Moreover, the effects in the size of institutional investors derived from a stock-flow consistent perspective are considered. For this purpose, I propose a stock-flow consistent model where the size and portfolio of institutional cash pools is endogenous and fiscal policy is determined by exogenous parameters. The results show that fiscal expansion unambiguously increases the size of Institutional Cash Pools, whilst the composition is ambiguously affected depending on the way fiscal expansion occurs and other distribution parameters.
The Digital Divide: A Heterodox Perspective on Technological Change and Income Inequality in the EU
(2015)
Recent decades have seen a significant rise in income inequality in the majority of European
countries. Skill-biased technological change provides one major explanation for the
polarisation of labour markets. The theory states that the digital transformation of the
economy reinforces the unequal distribution of income by disadvantaging low skilled and
medium skilled workers. The study presents a critical assessment of the argument and
underlines the role of institutional factors by providing a comparative institutional analysis of
four European countries, including France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The
findings provide evidence for the role of political-economy factors. By rejecting the notion of
technological determinism, it is argued that actors on various levels have the capacity to
influence the distributional consequences of technological change.
Combinations of art and products are a classic and current topic. Examples like the collaboration of the Medici with artists in the Renaissance or the logo development of Chupa Chups by Salvador Dali are historical examples. The BMW art cars by Jeff Koons and Cao Fei or the art‐based special editions of Louis Vuitton bags are current best practices. All these cases expected a positive impact of art on the product or brand evaluation. This spillover effect was coined “art infusion effect” by Hagtvedt and Patrick. This, as well as further studies on the art infusion effect, are predominantly concerned with classical fine arts. However, despite an observable increase of urban arts‐brands collaborations, the effects of these have not been researched. Our study determines that graffiti and street art are perceived by consumers as art. To confirm the art infusion effect for urban art, a laboratory experiment was conducted. The presence of urban art has a favourable influence on the evaluation of products. These results replicate and extend the findings of Hagtvedt and Patrick. As drivers of the urban art infusion effect, we also identify two additional drivers: the fit between the art and the product and the “lifestyle perception”.
This work develops an evaluation framework to Arts
-
Based Brand Research (ABBR) to make methods
comparable. Further the evaluation framework is used to compare four arts
-
based methods. It turned
out that previous studies try to capture the brand image on a verbal cognitive level, but this proceeds cannot detect the unconscious emotions and attributes. There is a risk of standardized survey, because the emotions and attributes
to the brand, which manifest themselves through images, colors,
fragrances, etc., cannot be detected. The reason is the loss between the "translations" of non
-
verbal in
the verbal attributes. Therefore, there are arts
-
based methods that allow working closely on the human
senses. Four methods were compared based on the evaluation framework: Lego Serious Play (LSP),
Multi Sensory Sculpting (MSS), Psychodrawing (PD) and Collage (C). The results of this study show that the newly developed evaluation framework allows a distinguished and systematic comparison of
market research methods. The evaluation framework led to the conclusion that art
-
based methods are
well suited even on sensitive issues such as sustainability. Futhermore the respondents felt the methods as entertaining and enjoyable. The Methods Collage and Psychodrawing performed particularly
well with respect to the required time and the variety of associations.
In this paper, we propose a simple and direct test
of income pooling within couples, and provide a typology of who pools resources and who does not. For this purpose,
we performed a five-round experiment with 95 established real-life couples in Germany. In each round, the couples received the same total amount of money, but the relative allocation to the spouses differed while they had to agree on an irreversible private goods consumption pattern. Our first finding is that the consumption choices depend on the spouses’ relative resources for the majority of the sample. Though this suggests a rejection of income pooling at the mean, an unneglectable share of the couples do indeed pool their resources. Our second finding is that the pooling behaviour is negatively related with the heterogeneity of the spouses’ socio-economic characteristics. In particular, traditional couples with
distinct work division between the spouses are sign
ificantly less likely to treat their individual resources symmetrically. Our third finding is that conventional variables
used to approximate income pooling are only loosely related to the behaviour observed in our experiment.
This paper explores the effects of government subsidies for research and development (R&D) activities on the innovation efficiency of Chinese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Examining the effects of a Chinese subsidy program (Innofund program) in the Zhongguancun Na-tional Innovation Demonstration Zone (ZNID), the paper finds that SMEs' innovation efficiency is significantly increased after receiving government grants. Besides the direct effects of capital infusion, the significance of Innofund-induced innovation efficiency results from indirect effects of the government subsidies such as the positive relationship between govern-ment and public funding. The exogenous policy change of the Innofund program by decentralizing the application process further enhanced the innovation efficiency.
Due to the increased use of innovative technologies and the opportunities that the digitalization age has to offer, Self-Service Reporting (SSR) has been identified by both research and practice as a trend that can change the steering of company activities as
well as the daily tasks of the Controller. This study assesses both the prerequisites for implementing Self-Service Business Intelligence (SSBI) solutions and the effects of SSR on decision-making to contribute to former findings from management accounting research. Based on state-of-the-art literature, a web-based survey was created and shared among Controlling, data analysis, and reporting experts, as well as managers.
The gathered sample data with 122 respondents from a variety of industries was analyzed with different statistical methods. Based on extensive quantitative analysis, it can be assumed that Controllers operating in an SSR environment need to become more independent and acquire new technological and social skills. Furthermore, the employer's digitalization strategy must be clearly defined and communicated transparently to all stakeholders before successfully introducing SSBI technology. Additionally, high data governance and data management standards are indispensable for the implementation of SSR software. Concerning the effects on decision-making, it can be summarized that organizations can achieve a higher degree of flexibility and agility with a digital reporting system such as SSR. Moreover, decision-making processes are expected to become faster.
In order to contribute to our planet’s sustainability, a sustainable diet is inevitable. It turns out to be a challenge for consumers to identify the food products’ degree of sustainability. In this regard, quality labels can be a help. However, the latter contributes, inter alia, to consumer confusion. The latter occurs when the cognitive processing of product information is being disrupted, which can lead to postponing or abandoning the purchase decision. The present work determines the most relevant aspects of sustainability in the food context on the German market from a consumer’s perspective. Furthermore, it is being figured out, which requirements a quality label needs to meet when aiming to reduce consumer confusion.
The present thesis aims to give an overview on alternative forms of work and the current coworker in regard to gender, age, profession, and motivation to work in a coworking space. The growing number of coworking spaces available to an increasing number of workers explains and justifies the analysis of a current inventory. The economic and social changes influence the way people work. Younger generations and university graduates, in particular, are disproportionately engaged in non-standard employment relationships. This development in connection with the detachment of work and workplace opens up possibilities of alternative forms of work. Coworking spaces are only one example resulting from this change but will be the focus of this thesis.
The following research question is being asked: Coworkers, who are they and how are they using this alternative form of work? To answer the research question, a quantitative survey was conducted which addressed current coworking members.
The results showed that coworking spaces are mainly used by young academics who work as freelancers or self-employees. Coworking spaces constitute an alternative to home-office for various professional groups. Thereby, the alternative form of work is preferred over traditional offices. Considering the increasing number of atypical employment relationships, mobile workers, and coworking spaces it is most likely that these spaces will gain in importance and will impact the world of work in the future.
This thesis as well as the survey results are interesting for coworking space owners, for companies, and for politicians.
Abstract
In 2007 the Commission proposed a Directive aimed exclusively at third-country nationals moving to Europe for the purpose of highly qualified employment that would set up a harmonized entry procedure, lay down common residence conditions and facilitate mobility through Europe. The Directive, named Blue Card, was meant to make Europe more attractive for highly qualified migrants by offering a fast--‐track entry procedure and social benefits in the EU. The Commission, despite the reluctance of Member States, managed to push through the Directive, which was finally approved in 2009. In the first three years since the Blue Card first entered into force in the majority of Member States in 2012, no more than 30,352 cards have been issued, of which about 26,200 by a single Member State. Why? A detailed analysis of the conditions set by the Directive and of the context in which it operates, as well as a comparison with the national labour migration schemes - in particular in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands - with which it is in competition is provided in this thesis.
This dissertation aims to explore the conflict over to a strategy on energy security in the European Union between 2007 and 2014 in order to answer the question, whose interests are materialised and how they are articulated in the conflict over energy security. With this aim, the present thesis takes up the central assumptions of the political ecology approach and extends these with insight of the scale debate. The chosen method enables an exploration of the ways in which societal and political power relations are articulated and the revelation of the environmental, social, and institutional dimensions of the dominant narrative of energy security in the EU. First, a theoretical framework is established. Second, the subject of analysis – the 2014 European Energy Security Strategy of the European Commission – and its historical context are introduced in order to unite the elements together in the analysis in chapter 3. The results show that, in particular, actors of the fossil-nuclear energy industry have been remarkably successful in materialising their interests in the Commission’s strategy on energy security. Fossil-nuclear based solutions to energy insecurity are dominant and contribute to the consolidation of a specific fossil society-nature relationship. In the conflict over energy security, a slight reformation of the spatial organisation of EU energy politics can be observed. The European Commission has successfully extended its institutional and regulatory competencies mainly within the Internal Energy Market. Nevertheless, no general substantial shift in the relevance of the various spatial scale levels of EU energy policy can be noticed. The sovereignty of national governments over energy policy remains unaffected within the EU. Furthermore, concerning European integration, the overall tendencies of a fragmentation and renationalisation of EU energy policy become apparent in this conflict over European energy security.
Abstract:
This paper discusses the labour market reforms implemented in Germany and Spain. Particularly it focuses on the similarities between both sets of labour market reforms. It tries to find out whether the Hartz reforms applied in Germany in the beginning of the 21st century have been used as a model for the labour market reforms applied in Spain since 2010. It also assesses the role played by the EU institutions encouraging member states to apply this kind of flexibility reforms. The paper presents the main theories on which this type of reforms is based on – i.e. New Public Management and New Consensus Macroeconomics. It discusses the main developments at the EU level in regards to labour market reforms. In order to compare the reforms in Germany and Spain, the paper follows a case study approach where three indicators are used with the aim of answering the main research question. Finally, it presents the main conclusions derive from the assessment of the research.
The impact of electronic Word of Mouth on consumer behaviour in the travel and hospitality industry.
(2020)
AI influencers - does it matter to consumers that their favourite influencer doesn't actually exist?
(2021)
Can the State of Tamilnadu, India Transform to Clean Renewable Energy 100% Zero Emissions by 2060?
(2022)
This guide starts with a summary of the main findings
and recommendations from the project in chapter 1.
Chapter 2 shows how widespread different flexible
models already are, based on the quantitative survey.
Chapter 3 states eight good reasons why flexible
working models pay off. Why should organisations
offer flexible models and what are the benefits for
managers? The fourth chapter introduces strategies
for successful implementation: What are the factors
for the success of innovative working models in
industry and science? What obstacles need to be overcome?
The practical guide ends with a checklist for
managers who are considering transitioning to a
flexible working model.
ABSTRACT
The primary intention of this bachelor thesis is to investigate the main motives that drive female entrepreneurship in Mexico in the service sector and evaluate if these factors are necessity or
opportunity driven. It also discerns if financial constraints are the motive for the business size and sector selection. For this purpose, the motivational factors driving female entrepreneurship
were examined in the form of extensive qualitative interviews (N=5) paying special attention
to the reasons influencing the size, growth, sector selection and mode of financing of the businesses. This research paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of what motivates women in Mexico to undertake businesses in the service sector and gain a clearer
vision of their ambitions.
The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to describe and critically evaluate the impact of digital marketing on sales and marketing performance overall. For this purpose, this paper uses two main approaches: theoretical and practical. Firstly, starting from the basics of the human communication process, this paper explains the way people communicate with each other and the way it impacted and developed the main marketing channels: both traditional and digital ones, simultaneously outlining the main differences from the communication model’s standpoint. Afterward, the theoretical background section proves the increasing importance of digital marketing in the changing business environment while explaining the main terms and definitions in this area. Lastly, the theoretical part presents the limitations of the traditional marketing funnel, which drove the development of the alternative digital sales funnel, at the same time shaping the KPI's (key performance indicators) to be oriented and the consumer behavior as a whole.
After providing an in-depth theoretical background, the subsequent chapter of this bachelor thesis strives to assess the impact of digital marketing on sales performance based on practical examples. In order to get more prominent and unbiased evidence of digital marketing's effectiveness, I chose three businesses of different sizes and branches, which used digital marketing for diverse purposes. Moreover, each of the three case studies incorporates the interviews of experts. All the invited experts are working or used to work for these companies in marketing-related positions and have extensive knowledge of the marketing strategies being used.
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.
Raising sufficient capital to finance strong growth is one of the biggest challenges for startups, especially due to the difficulty of persuading equity providers to invest in an endeavor in which opportunities are accompanied by an extraordinarily high level of risk. Achieving a high valuation helps startups in receiving additional funding and satisfying existing shareholders, yet value-based management is rarely associated with the startup environment. In view of this, it is especially important to be aware which valuation methods are appropriate to value young ventures, since they are the basis of the determination of value drivers and hence of the performance of value-based management. This thesis conducts an explorative study by reviewing the shareholder value approach, as the origin of value-based management, and scrutinizing the characteristics as well as challenges of creating an informational basis for a discussion regarding the transferability of this concept to the startup environment. Beyond that, the thesis seeks to provide an approach of value-based management for startups that have not gone public yet, as much complexity comes with the absence of a publicly accessible market price. To accomplish this goal, it develops a model that carries continuously changing valuation methods based on the distinct characteristics of each business life cycle phase that a startup goes through and the preferences of the main investor groups. Derived from these methods are qualitative and quantitative value drivers that should be constantly managed to achieve a higher valuation during the financing series where the possibility for founders and investors is given to capitalize the created shareholder value. The discussion around the applicability of the shareholder value approach clearly reveals that it is possible in theory and lists various benefits for the entrepreneurs and their investors which go along with this concept. Further, the model illustrates how value-based management is shaped by a three-sided interplay of characteristics related to startups, investment criteria of investors and varying valuation methods.
Abstract
This paper analyzes the impact and transmission of global financial and economic shocks to the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) Countries. As an objective it identifies the transmission channel of the external shock in the region. In addition, it examines the relative impact of the shock on different SSA countries given their resilience capacity. A vulnerability analyses methodology is followed to examine the impact and transmission of external shock. To this end, the correlated random effect probit model is applied on panel data of 47 sampled SSA countries from 1990- 2013. From the econometric result, it has found that SSA countries are not affected directly from the global financial shock. However, they are affected indirectly through the FDI inflow and the trade channel. The US economic shock as a trading partner is mainly affecting oil exporting SSA countries through the income effect of the trade channel, price effect and exchange rate movement. Whereas the shock that is happening in EU economy is transmitted to or has spillover effect on all SSA countries. The trade channel does not show any shock transmission between China and SSA countries. With regard to the resilience of SSA countries to external shock, currency reserve buffer found to be significant in cushioning the transmission of the external shock to the region. Achieving sustained economic growth is also helping the countries to be resilient to unexpected external shock. However, SSA countries still show limited capacity in creating sound fiscal policy stance which is ineffective in curving the effect of the external economic and financial shock. In addition, SSA countries with developed financial market such as Botswana, South Africa and Kenya are affected directly from the financial shock and suffered a long recession of economic growth than the other SSA countries.