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Digital twin as enabler of business model innovation for infrastructure construction projects
(2023)
Emerging technologies and methods are becoming an important element of the construction industry. Digital Twins are used as a base to store data in BIM models and make use out of the data respectively make the data visible. The transparency in all phases of the lifecycle of building and infrastructure assets is crucial in order to get a more efficient lifecycle of planning, construction and maintenance. Whereas other industries increased performance in these phases by making use out of the data, construction industry is stuck in traditional methods and business models. In this paper we propose a concept that focuses on the digital production twin. The comparison of planning data with As-Is production data can empower a data driven continuous improvement process and support the decision making process of future innovations and suitable business models. This paper outlines the possibility to use the data stored in a digital twin with regards to the evaluation of possible business models.
The e-commerce market has been growing for years and this trend seems to be continuing. Online stores for clothing are very successful. It seems that hardly any company can afford not to have a digital presence. This goes hand in hand with the fact that the range of products on offer to customers is getting bigger and bigger. But it's not just the range that's getting bigger, it's also the effort customers have to make to find the right product. For this reason, many successful online stores are already relying on AI. In doing so, companies are creating opportunities for customers that an employee could hardly manage. Implemented on the website, AI can check inventory, update it in real time, predict trends and evaluate customer or user data and make suitable recommendations. This is important for the customer because with the huge choice available, for one thing, personalization is increasingly important and being presented with a relevant selection. A central question is whether the recommendations are trustworthy and whether they can be equated with a real salesperson advising the customer. After all, trust is relevant in longterm customer relationships in that it leads to loyalty and satisfaction, which in turn increases the intention to repurchase. The recommendation tools mentioned are also of particular interest for another reason. On the one hand, they help customers to get a relevant selection of the offer and thus to get faster to the desired one. On the other hand, they are relevant for companies not only because of customer satisfaction, but also because of the chance to reduce returns. The large online stores for clothing offer their customers very generous opportunities to return the goods free of charge. In doing so, the companies have responded to customer wishes, because hardly anything is more important to them when it comes to online shopping: free returns. In this way, customers have minimized the risk of having to keep goods that do not fit or please them. This thesis examines whether recommendation tools can help customers to better assess the sizes and properties of clothing, so that they receive more suitable clothing and do not even feel the need to order several sizes of the same item of clothing. It can therefore be assumed that trust in the recommendations of the AI tools reduces uncertainty, which in turn should reduce the intention to return goods. Another assumption to be tested is that of the perceived usefulness of the recommendation tools. As a prerequisite to get an assessment of these assumptions is the usage of the tools. Therefore, a survey was initiated in the DACH region to assess the extent to which usage influences the factors mentioned. It was found by means of a regression analysis that the frequency of online purchases, mediated by perceived usefulness, explains the influence on trust.
Today, industrial B2B manufacturers face a rapidly changing environment, exacerbated by increasing globalization and associated shifts in the competitive landscape. Digital transformation and the emergence of new innovations and technologies are forcing companies to rethink their business models and offerings to integrate digital services to strengthen competitive advantages. Suppliers are becoming more deeply involved in customer processes through digital after-sales services, with the aim of exploiting efficiencies. Following the servitization transformation, companies intend to change their purpose from focusing on the pure physical product to becoming a service provider with emphasis on value creation and the capture of the customer.
To investigate how customer and supplier perspectives agree and what requirements each side has for digital after-sales services, exploratory qualitative research was conducted with customers and suppliers by means of one-on-one interviews. The thesis aimed to assess the status, progress, and future possibilities of implementing digital after-sales services and business models based on them. Research shows that the far-reaching establishment of product-accompanying services with strong connectivity and customer-centricity is primarily relevant. Disruptive business models still require a mind-shift and organizational readiness on the part of both customers and suppliers. In principle, digitization in after-sales interaction is beneficial and should be steadily advanced to make customer processes as well as further developments at the supplier level more efficient and well-founded through the analysis of real data. Overall, this thesis outlines important aspects that need to be considered while developing digital service innovations to deal with customer demands appropriately.
Keywords: Servitization, Digital After-Sales Services, Predictive Maintenance, Remote Monitoring, Digital Interaction, Digital Service Innovation, Digital Service Innovation Process
In the current international business environment employees are spending large amounts of their time in meetings. More than ever these meetings take place remotely and often have the problem that individuals in the meeting do not share information or opinions. Employees often stay in muted in meetings and allow one or two participants to drive the conversation. This habit is especially troublesome for problem solving meetings. Problem solving meetings invite individuals from different disciplines to share and brainstorm possible causes for issues related to poor company outcomes. Active and open contribution from all members is required to achieve the group goals. This study aims to find methods that will increase contribution amongst meeting participants in regular meetings as well as problem solving meetings. The study tested sixteen topics for their influence on contribution in meetings. This was done in a survey, that was distributed within a multination engineering corporation, and on LinkedIn. There was a total of 68 responses. These responses were then separated by above average and below average participation in problem solving meetings. Hypothesis testing was done on the total group and separately on the problem-solving group. Employee participation in decision making and psychological safety were found to correlate highly with Contribution in meetings for both groups. Psychological safety was found to be of even greater importance to problem solving group. This study demonstrates that to increase contribution in meetings, leaders should provide a psychologically safe climate where employees share in the decision making. Furthermore, a psychologically safe environment is critical in problem solving meetings where members of different disciplines with low familiarity take part.
Fear of failure is a major factor influencing entrepreneurial actions. Since the female quota for startups and self-employment is still lower than for men, the aim is to determine the extent to which the fear of failure is incorporated into the entrepreneurial actions of women in Austria. The trailblazer and pioneer in female entrepreneurship America is used as an international benchmark for evaluation. A quantitative survey was conducted among women from Austria and America on their fears of failure related to self-employment and their aspirations to become self-employed. There were significant differences in the quantitative study between self-employed and non-self-employed women, irrespective of their country of origin. As a result, recommendations for action were created to reduce the influence of Fear of Failure on entrepreneurial actions of Austrian women.
Throughout history, a variety of influences have changed the way we sell our products. Starting with the Industrial Revolution up to the first saturation phase in the 1970s. The question now arises as to whether the heating industry is currently back on an evolutionary development path with the increasing digitalisation of distribution. How the sales process in the B2B sector will change with increasing digitalisation and what effects this will have on sales personnel is only documented by a few sources which do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the craft or even the heating industry. This results in a research gap which is to be closed in the context of this thesis. The aim of this research project is to find out the effects of a further digitalisation of the sales process on the sales force in the defined environment of the heating industry in Central Europe. For this purpose the following research questions are asked: Which steps in the sales process in the heating industry in Central Europe should be digitalised? How will the digitalisation of the sales process affect the sales force in the heating industry in Central Europe? A case study, according to Yin was chosen as the research method. The data were collected by means of in-depth interviews and analysed qualitatively, according to Mayring. The increasing digitalisation will have a large effect on the sales force, tasks will disappear, new tasks will be added and new ones will replace conventional working methods. In summary, automation will simply make tasks superfluous, software tools will improve quality and increase efficiency, and personal selling will become a premium skill. Companies will try to automate as many backoffice activities as possible and reduce the number of office staff if necessary.
For centuries, companies and institutions are working on the development of organisational project maturity models. The purpose of these models is to develop a path for improving an organisation’s capability of managing projects. Projects are the means by which companies implement their strategic objectives. Trends like globalisation and advances in IT lead to more geographically distributed teamwork. Therefore, this thesis gives a comprehensive answer to how project management maturity models address transnational project management.
For accomplishing the research objective, this thesis follows an integrated, qualitative literature review approach. Theoretical frameworks and applied research on project management maturity assessments were systematically collected and analysed. The results extracted from these two sources were synthesised to extract findings.
The main research result shows that models continuously adapt to transnational project management. They are doing this by aligning the organisational culture and values, focusing on organisational wide learning and gradually embedding behavioural and intercultural competencies. Maturity assessments need to follow this trend.
Furthermore, transnational convergence of the models’ dimensions was observed. This development leads to growth in size and complexity. To apply them internationally, the models should be simplified or easily adapted to specific countries and cultures.