TY - THES A1 - Zierke, Oliver T1 - Innovation and Competition in the Digital Economy: Implications for Internet Platforms, Telecommunications Networks and Data Sharing Initiatives N2 - Governments around the world currently focus on shaping the digital economy. Particular attention is paid to Internet platforms, Internet infrastructure and data as essential components of the digital economy. The three studies in this thesis contribute to the understanding of the behavior of firms in each of these domains and derive insights for future regulations and business projects. The first study deals with the ranking of content on Internet platforms and how it affects the incentives of content providers to invest in content quality. The focus of the study is on sponsored ranking and organic ranking, but the case that a vertically integrated content provider is favored by an Internet platform is also taken into account. Using a game theoretic model, it is shown that there is no ranking design that strictly leads to more investment compared to the other designs. It is also shown that the Internet platform usually chooses the type of ranking that, from the perspective of the Internet platform and consumers, yields the best expected overall content quality. The second study deals with the incentive of Internet service providers to throttle specific Internet content. The key finding is that Internet service providers use this instrument to utilize the capacity of their telecommunications network more efficiently. This leads not only to more benefits for Internet users, but also to a higher incentive to invest in network capacity due to better monetization. The third study examines the circumstances under which firms are willing to share data with other firms. By means of an economic laboratory experiment, it is shown that more data is shared if the firms have control over who exactly they share data with. Thus, for example, data pools that grant unrestricted data access to all participating firms can be expected to perform worse than data pools that give their participating firms control over with whom their uploaded data is shared. In addition, the third study finds that established relationships are characterized by more data sharing and less volatility in the amount of shared data than new relationships. The study concludes that data sharing projects should not be expected to work optimally right away. In summary, the studies in this thesis identify a number of costs that may arise when digital firms' choice is restricted by regulation or design. The ability of Internet service providers to throttle certain content and the ability of Internet platforms to choose the ranking design are usually used in the best interests of consumers. Data sharing also works best when firms are free to decide who gets their data. KW - online platform KW - ranking algorithm KW - sponsored search KW - platform regulation KW - net neutrality Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-10006 ER - TY - THES A1 - Dzepina, Aleksandra T1 - Qualität von Prozessmodellen - Entwicklung eines Ordnungsrahmens zur Analyse, Klassifikation und Bestimmung der Qualitätsanforderungen an Prozessmodelle N2 - Die vorliegende Dissertation behandelt die Qualität von Prozessmodellen. Vor diesem Hintergrund haben Experteninterviews mit Forschungs- und Praxispartnern zur Entwicklung und Evaluierung eines Ordnungsrahmens zur Qualitätsbestimmung von Prozessmodellen beigetragen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass unter anderem die Einsatzzwecke der Prozessmodelle sowie die mit den Prozessmodellen in Berührung kommenden Personengruppen differenziert betrachtet werden müssen, um Auswirkungen auf die Prozessmodellqualität untersuchen zu können. KW - Prozessmodell KW - Prozessmodellqualität KW - Ordnungsrahmen Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-11864 ER - TY - THES A1 - Mini, Tobias T1 - An Exploration of Tensions in Centralized and Decentralized Digital Platform Contexts N2 - Digital platforms consist of technical elements such as software and hardware and associated social elements such as organizational processes and standards. When such social or technical elements seem logical individually but inconsistent when juxtaposed they form tensions. Prior research on platforms often focused on individual elements of digital platforms but neglected possible related and conflicting elements which offers limited insight about underlying tensions. While some studies on platforms considered tensions, they largely assumed that centralized platform owners being responsible for responding to tensions, neglecting collective response mechanisms in blockchain-based decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) where decentralized participants typically respond to tensions. The examination of tensions in the context of centralized platforms and decentralized autonomous organizations offers an opportunity to surface conflicting elements that form novel types of socio-technical tensions which require collective and technology-enabled response mechanisms. This thesis explored what tensions exist in centralized and decentralized digital platform contexts and how platform participants can respond to selected tensions. For this purpose, this thesis comprises five essays that employ multiple different research methods including interviews analyzed by using techniques of grounded theory, qualitative meta-analysis of published case studies, and systematic literature reviews. The findings derived from all five essays contribute to a better understanding of tensions in digital platforms. In particular, this thesis (1) offers a lens for analyzing platforms as collective organizations in which tensions arise at the collective meta-organizational level requiring collective responses, (2) identifies new tensions and response mechanisms related to generativity and collectivity, and (3) points to a novel category of socio-technical tensions that are especially salient in digital platforms. KW - Digital Platform KW - Decentralized Autonomous Organization KW - Tension KW - Grounded Theory Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-11322 ER - TY - THES A1 - Resch, René Matthias T1 - Three Essays on Brand Management in the Business-to-Business Context: Brand Identity, Brand Culture, and Brand Essence N2 - This dissertation examines the overarching research question of how the suppliers’ brand management in the form of brand identity, brand culture, and brand essence influences buyer-seller relationships in three independent essays. In Essay 1, I address the structure, capabilities, and outcomes of brand identity from a supplier perspective. Through qualitative interviews with suppliers, I examine how widespread the concept of brand identity is in practice and what exactly practitioners understand by it. Going further, I look at what capabilities and conditions are necessary for brand identity to be successful and what outcomes suppliers hope to achieve. Using an Information-Display-Matrix (IDM) test and a sample of Master of Business Administration (MBA) students, I examine the relevance of brand functions in more detail. In Essay 2, I use a dyadic dataset with matched buyer-seller dyads to examine the causes and effects of perceptual congruence and incongruence of brand culture strength on the buyer-seller relationship, while considering relationship-specific investments and interaction mechanisms as moderating effects. I show that congruence and incongruence have different effects on customer loyalty and price sensitivity and that these are strongly context-dependent. In Essay 3, I deal with brand essence strength interactions and their effects on the buyer-seller relationship. I use a dyadic dataset with matched buyer-seller dyads to show how brand essence strength influences customer loyalty and customer profitability, and how it interacts with key customer attitudes and other important buyer-seller relationship closeness indicators. This dissertation makes a significant contribution to the literature on brand identity, brand culture, and brand essence in buyer-seller relationships. Furthermore, my dissertation offers practical implications for managers at B2B suppliers who (re)shape their brand management with a focus on the inner parts of the brand. KW - brand management KW - business-to-business KW - brand identity KW - brand culture KW - brand essence Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-11589 ER - TY - THES A1 - Schubach, Sebastian T1 - Caught between two stools? Four essays on value creation and value extraction on free digital platforms N2 - Free digital platforms constitute one of the most important phenomena of modern times; they create value by bringing together customer groups that would not have interacted without digital technology or that could have done so only by incurring increased costs. In the free digital platform model, firms pay for the interaction with end consumers that use the digital platform for free. Extant research on two-sided markets has provided rich evidence for how digital platforms can attract enough members from both customer groups to enable the interaction between the customer groups. However, this research lacks insights into how free digital platforms can create value for their customer groups once these customer groups joined the platform, and extract this value for themselves. To address this substantial research gap, in this dissertation, I investigate the overall research question of how activities of free digital platforms affect the value creation for their customer groups and the ability of the platform to extract this value. In a first step, I examine this value creation and value extraction by focusing on concrete activities of free digital platforms. In Study 1, I investigate how offering firms the possibility of personalizing and positioning their search ads on search engines affects consumers’ search engine click behavior. In Study 2, I examine how adapting ad positions to consumers’ previous online shopping behavior on search engines influences consumers’ click and conversion behavior. In Study 3, I investigate the impact of a review platform’s policy of tagging reviews as written on either mobile or nonmobile devices on consumers’ perceptions of review helpfulness. In a second step, in Study 4, I generalize these findings by investigating the overall impact of such customer-oriented activities on value creation for customer groups and on the extraction of this value by free digital platforms. These four studies yield three major findings. First, free digital platforms’ activities toward one customer group always affect the value creation of the other customer group as well. Second, free digital platforms should emphasize value creation activities especially for non-paying customer groups. Third, internal, operative, and macro-environments influence the value creation and value extraction of free digital platforms. With this dissertation, I make substantial contributions to research on two-sided markets, customer orientation, search engine advertising, and online reviews. In addition, my dissertation provides numerous actionable recommendations for managers of free digital platforms and outlines promising avenues for further research. N2 - Kostenfrei nutzbare Internetplattformen zählen zu den wichtigsten Phänomenen der digitalen Ära. In der Forschung bleiben sie aktuell jedoch weitestgehend unerforscht. Aus diesem Grund beschäftigt sich die vorliegende Dissertation anhand von vier empirischen Studie mit der Frage, wie Anbieter dieser kostenfrei nutzbaren Internetplattformen Wert für ihre Kunden schaffen und Wert für sich abschöpfen können. Die Ergebnisse der Dissertation halten wichtige Implikationen für die Forschung und die Unternehmenspraxis bereit. KW - Two-sided markets KW - Value creation KW - Free e-services KW - Value extraction KW - Digital platforms Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-6451 ER - TY - THES A1 - Fisch, Tasja T1 - Fremdfinanzierung, Unterkapitalisierung und internationale Konzernsteuerplanung N2 - Für grenzüberschreitend tätige Unternehmen besteht durch das internationale Steuersatzgefälle und die fehlende Finanzierungsneutralität ein Anreiz, durch konzerninterne Finanzierungsstrukturen Gewinne zu verlagern, um dadurch die Gesamtsteuerbelastung auf Konzernebene zu senken. Während Unternehmen in Niedrigsteuerländern vorrangig mit Eigenkapital ausgestattet werden, haben Hochsteuerländer mit der Problematik einer übermäßigen Fremdkapitalausstattung und der damit verbundenen Erosion des Steuersubstrats zu kämpfen. Um solchen Gewinnverschiebungen entgegenzuwirken, greifen viele Staaten auf Regelungen zu einer Beschränkung von übermäßiger Fremdfinanzierung zurück. Insbesondere sollen mit diesen Regelungen Steuergestaltungen und Missbrauchsmöglichkeiten eingeschränkt und den damit verbundenen asymmetrischen Finanzierungsstrukturen entgegengewirkt werden. Vor diesem Hintergrund analysiert die vorliegende Arbeit den Einfluss von verschiedenen Zinsabzugsbeschränkungen auf konzerninterne Finanzierungsentscheidungen. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist, grundlegende Wirkungszusammenhänge zwischen der Vergabe von Eigen- und Fremdkapital im grenzüberschreitenden Kontext aufzuzeigen, wobei verschiedene Ansätze zur Beschränkung einer übermäßigen Fremdfinanzierung Berücksichtigung finden. KW - Fremdfinanzierung KW - Thin Capitalization Rules KW - Zinsschranke KW - internationale Konzernsteuerplanung KW - Unterkapitalisierung KW - Eigenkapital Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-7656 ER - TY - THES A1 - Bongers, Franziska Maria T1 - Three essays on digital and non-digital transformations in business-to-business markets N2 - Fundamental changes in business-to-business (B2B) buying behavior confront B2B supplier firms with unprecedented challenges. On the one hand, a rising share of industrial buyers demands digitalized offerings and processes from suppliers. Consequently, suppliers are urged to implement digital transformations by expanding the range of both digital offerings and processes. On the other hand, B2B buyers increasingly expect suppliers to provide individually tailored solutions to their idiosyncratic needs. Hence, suppliers are also required to implement non-digital transformations by providing offerings and processes that are customized to each customers’ specific requirements. The rise of these digital and non-digital transformations calls established knowledge into question. Thus, B2B marketing research and practice are urged to create a comprehensive understanding of digital and non-digital transformations by means of novel and empirically grounded insights and derive actionable response strategies. In respond, my dissertation addresses the overall research question of how B2B supplier firms can successfully implement both digital and non-digital transformations in three individual essays. In Essay 1, I offer a broader perspective on both digital and non-digital transformations by investigating digital service customization (i.e., the tailoring of digital B2B services to customers’ individual needs). Through a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, I outline a comprehensive set of factors that favor the application of distinct digital service customization strategies. Essay 2 represents a deep dive into digital transformations of sales processes. By making use of two rich sets of qualitative interview material from supplier and buyer firms, I identify the challenges resulting for B2B salespeople from the introduction of digital sales channels into personal selling. Moreover, I uncover facilitating mechanisms that sales managers can employ to support salespeople in coping with digital sales channels. Finally, Essay 3 constitutes a deep dive into non-digital transformations. Based on qualitative interview material and survey data from matched sales manager–salesperson dyads, the essay explores how configurations of individual salespeople’s personal and procedural competencies facilitate success at selling customer solutions (i.e., highly customized, performance-oriented offerings comprising products and/or services). The essay shows that successfully selling customized offerings like solutions hinges on salespeople’s unique configurations of present and absent competencies. In a nutshell, these essays provide three major insights on how B2B suppliers can successfully implement digital and non-digital transformations. First, they underscore that a comprehensive understanding of the origins and spillover effects of transformations is a key prerequisite to successfully implementing them. Second, they unveil that digital and non-digital transformations impact on multiple organizational levels. Third, they point out important resources and capabilities that help suppliers to successfully implement transformations, be they digital or non-digital. With this dissertation, I make substantial contributions to the broader literature on digital and non-digital transformations in B2B contexts. At the same time, my dissertation provides hands-on implications for managers in B2B supplier firms that are facing fundamental transformations in the marketplace—both digital and non-digital in nature. KW - business-to-business; digitalization; customization; digital services; digital sales channels; customer solutions Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-9149 ER - TY - THES A1 - Calmels, Dorothea T1 - Job Sequencing and Tool Switching Problems with a Generalisation to Non-Identical Parallel Machines N2 - Manufacturing tools have been dominating the manufacturing process since the 1960s. The job sequencing and tool switching problem is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization that has first been introduced in the context of flexible manufacturing systems in the late 1980s. Since then, production systems have undisputedly changed and improved but manufacturing tools still dominate manufacturing processes. Production and system operation processes are continuously adjusted and optimised to changing customer requirements. If the product variety requires an increasing number of tools for processing that exceeds the local tool magazine capacity of the manufacturing system, tool switches become necessary. Although tool changing times within a manufacturing centre or cell may nowadays be very small due to the high degree of automation, tool switching within a dynamic production environment is still a time consuming process that must be avoided. In order to minimize the total tool setup time to enhance productivity, the objectives of the basic job sequencing and tool switching problem are to sequence a set of jobs and simultaneously to determine the best tool loading. Therefore, job sequencing and tool switching problems are gaining considerable attention. Several solution approaches to the standard problem and related versions of the problem exist. The first part of this dissertation assesses the current state-of-the-art of the job sequencing and tool switching problem and provides a classification scheme for literature on the job sequencing and tool switching problem and its variations. Only few authors consider generalisations of the problem because the level of complexity of extended problems is high. A general approach of the job sequencing and tool switching problem with non-identical parallel machines and sequence-dependent setup times is described in this dissertation. A novel mathematical model based on time periods is presented and analysed which can be adapted to different objective functions. The last part of this dissertation is a quantitative evaluation of fast and effective construction heuristics as well as of an iterated local search algorithm tested on a new set of benchmark instances. As such this dissertation provides a broad basis for future evaluations of solution approaches to the job sequencing and tool switching problem with non-identical parallel machines and sequence-dependent setup times as well as a basis for further generalisations of the problem like for example tool availability constraints or tool-size dependent variations. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-8436 ER - TY - THES A1 - Schmid, Angelika T1 - Geographic and Social Space in Latent Factor Models - Four Essays N2 - Geography, social context, time, and cultural mindset are four (out of many) cornerstones of human interaction. When building statistical models, their consideration is vital: They all cause dependency between individual observations, violating assumptions of independence and exchangeability. While this can be problematic and inhibit the unbiased inference of parameters, it can also be a fruitful source of insights and enhance prediction performance. One class of models that serves to manage or profit from the presence of dependence is the class of latent variable models. This class of models assumes that the presence of non-explicit, unobserved causes of continuous or discrete nature can explain the observed correlations. Latent variable models explicitly take account of dependency, for example, by modeling an unobserved local source of pollution as a continuous spatial variable. Through their widespread use for information fitering, link prediction, and statistical inference, latent variable models have developed an essential impact on our daily life and the way we consume information. The four articles in this thesis shed light on assumptions, usage, and potential drawbacks of latent variable models in various contexts that involve geographic and interaction data. We model unobserved sources of pollution in geophysical data, explore individual taste and mindsets in cross-cultural contexts, and predict the evolution of social relationships in software development projects. This combination of various perspectives contributes to the interdisciplinary exchange of methodological knowledge on the modeling of dependent data. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-7947 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graf Lambsdorff, Johann A1 - Giamattei, Marcus A1 - Werner, Katharina A1 - Schubert, Manuel T1 - Team reasoning - Experimental evidence on cooperation from centipede games JF - PloS ONE N2 - Previous laboratory studies on the centipede game have found that subjects exhibit surprisingly high levels of cooperation. Across disciplines, it has recently been highlighted that these high levels of cooperation might be explained by “team reasoning”, the willingness to think as a team rather than as an individual. We run an experiment with a standard centipede game as a baseline. In two treatments, we seek to induce team reasoning by making a joint goal salient. First, we implement a probabilistic variant of the centipede game that makes it easy to identify a joint goal. Second, we frame the game as a situation where a team of two soccer players attempts to score a goal. This frame increases the salience even more. Compared to the baseline, our treatments induce higher levels of cooperation. In a second experiment, we obtain similar evidence in a more natural environment–a beer garden during the 2014 FIFA Soccer World Cup. Our study contributes to understanding how a salient goal can support cooperation. KW - Sports KW - Games KW - Team reasoning KW - Game theory KW - Altruistic behavior KW - Spieltheorie KW - Kooperatives Verhalten KW - Centipede game Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-5913 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 13 IS - 11 PB - PLOS CY - San Francisco ER -