Alexander Berger – författare

Der eine wartet, bis dass die Zeit sich wandelt, der andere packt sie kräftig an und handelt. Dante A/ighieri Wir befinden uns erst am Beginn einer grösseren und umfassen­ Ausgangslage der werdenden Outsourcing-Welle. Zu Beginn des Outsourcing waren es vorwiegend IT -nahe Funktionen und Bereiche und mittlerweile sind es ganze Prozesse, die, teilweise losgelöst von der IT, ausgelagert werden. Aus diesem Grunde habe ich, zu­ sammen mit meinen Co-Autoren, unsere Erfahrungen, Ideen und Vorschläge in diesem Buch niedergeschrieben, um Betroffenen und Beteiligten verschiedene Hilfestellungen sowie einen ra­ schen Überblick in die komplexe Materie zu geben. Zurzeit gibt es wenige bis keine öffentlich zugängliche Unterla­ Motivation gen auf dem deutschsprachigen Markt, die eine konkrete Vorge­ hensweise (Phasenmodell), Aktivitäten, Ergebnisse, Checklisten, Templates sowie Praxisempfehlungen kombinieren. Mit anderen Worten: ich wollte eine Art "Kochbuch" für die Durchführung eines Outsourcing-Vorhabens bzw. -projektes erstellen, indem klar aufgezeigt wird, wann, was, wie und mit wem zu tun ist Das Hauptziel des vorliegenden Buches ist, eine Verbindung aus Absichten der praktischen Erfahrung in Projekten mit den theoretischen Aspekten (im Sinne eines übergeordneten Rahmens) herzustel­ len. Weitere Ziele sind: • Ein übersichtliches und leicht verständliches Handbuch • Aufzeigen von praxiserprobten Lösungen • Hinweise, was in der Praxis funktioniert und speziell was nicht (Stolpersteine und Risiken) • Checklisten zu liefern mit den zentralen Fragestellungen, die umgehend eingesetzt werden können • Die Outsourcing-Phasen mit den zugehörigen Dokumenten transparent zu gestalten • Ein fundiertes und erprobtes Vorgehensmodell aufzuzeigen, undgleichzeitig einen wissenschaftlichen Beitrag zu liefern.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 85%, University of Sunderland, course: International Business Environment (PGBM04), language: English, abstract: In terms of management philosophies, companies can be categorized as ethnocentric (homemarket oriented), polycentric (oriented toward individual foreign markets), regioncentric or geocentric (oriented toward larger areas, even the global market place) (Czinkota, 1999, pp. 395). Nevertheless, the world economy is more and more characterised by an increased internationalisation in which companies see a chance to improve their long-term competitiveness, to increase their profitability as well as to balance the economic cycle of the home market by diversify the risk internationally. In addition, there are non-economic motives such as to obtain power and influence as well as to gain prestige. However, to internationalise successfully companies must create a strategy of internationalisation. Part of this strategy is for instance the choice of the target market and the timing of entering a market. In addition, a strategy can be created based on the control aspect, the capital employed as well as how much risk is involved in internationalising the operations. Referring to this,there are several modes a company can choose to internationalise its operation, which can be divided into equity and non-equity modes. In general, non-equity modes such as franchising, exporting, etc. are lessexpensive and risky than equity modes. For companies with little international experience, non-equity modes provide a good start to begin their operations internationally. Equity modes such as Foreign Direct Investments provide the most control of the business and as the name already indicates there is a substantial equity participation involved. However, when creating an international strategy companies must consider risk aspects that can be categorised into political, economic, and legal risks. In addition, as companies operate internationally the more they deal with the diversity of languages as well as cultural differences which a company must give attention to. This paper will identify the main reasons for and against internationalisation as well as present different types of entry modes. At the end, the internationalisation of Wal-Mart will be analysed mainly focusing on Wal-Mart entering Germany.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 70%, University of Sunderland, language: English, abstract: IKEA is the most successful furniture retailer in the world. The product line consists of welldesigned furniture at low prices. During 2010 global sales as reported were 23.1 billion.However, the success of IKEA was not achieved overnight; it took a long time and careful planning in order to offer well-designed products at low prices. IKEA designed processes and products, which meet exactly the needs of the customer. According to Slack (2010) operations management is about how organisations produce goods and services. Organisation must align their processes in a way that the needs of the customers are satisfied. This requires careful planning and can, if successful, lead to a competitive advantage. The report will show how IKEA operations management has made IKEA to one of the most successful furniture retailer in the world. The report is divided into four parts. The first part will analyse the current situation of IKEA regarding the company profile, profitability, culture, goals, etc. The second part will identify the main customer groups of IKEA. Based on the customer needs, the corporate performance objectives of IKEA will be presented. The third part will identify the process type of IKEA and evaluates how this type meets the corporate performance objectives of IKEA. At the end, recommendations for IKEA will be provided and a conclusion is drawn.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 80%, University of Sunderland, language: English, abstract: Many organizations agree that employee turnover is a costly problem. Therefore, managers try to find ways in order to retain their employees within the organization. However, mangers have to ask themselves if all turnovers are avoidable or if there are circumstances where it is unavoidable to retain employees. It would not make sense to invest money in retention if the chances to retain employees are rather small. In addition, it might be favourable for an organization if a low performer leaves the organization. Therefore, managers have to make distinction between functional and dysfunctional as well as unavoidable and avoidable turnovers in order to create strategies to retain people. Furthermore, they should contrast turnover cost and replacement cost and should find out which investment will give more value to the organization in the long-term. Nevertheless, there are organizations where a high turnover rate is not unusual. Furthermore,there are many business sectors where the labour market is limited and organizations must find new strategies to retain as well as recruit talented employees. Obviously, organizations differ from each other and have different resources to retain and recruit employees. Due to this, the best practise approach might not lead for all organizations to an positive outcome. Therefore, organisations must find out which approach fits best to their culture, business, etc. Furthermore, considering retaining managers must ask themself in what stage starts retaining. Does retention start at that time the employee starts his work or does retention start even earlier? Moreover, as organizations operate in fast changing environments they also have to consider that the people who live within these environments are also changing their needs and attitudes. Demographic factors force managers to review their retention policies. Efficient retention policies in the past might not lead to the same success as before. Last but not least, organizations have to offer incentives to their employees. There are lot of different incentives managers can use to retain employees within an organization as well as to motivate employees in order to guarantee a good overall performance in the future. However, the outcome of providing these incentives can be positive as well as negative, which managers certainly must take into consideration.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 73 %, University of Sunderland, language: English, abstract: The Colgate-Palmolive company is acknowledged as the world's leader in personal care. This report analyse the Colgate's current situation in order to give recommendations on their actual toothpaste product line. The report is divided into two parts. The first parts will analysis the current situation of Colgate. On the basis of a Swot analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company as well as of Colgate s toothpaste product line will be analysed. Furthermore additional information on the company s current market share, profitability, sales and the external environment of Colgate within the scope of the PEST analysis will be presented. At the end of the first part the competitive advantage of Colgate will be mentioned. The second part includes a suggested marketing strategy of the author using marketing tools such as segmentation targeting & positioning, SMART objectives as well as the marketing mix. To better recommend improvements, the actual state of Colgate referring to their products, objectives, etc. is in some parts shortly mentioned. At the end a conclusion is drawn concerning the current situation of Colgate and suggested improvements for the future.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 63%, University of Sunderland, language: English, abstract: The FedEx Corporation founded in 1971 in Memphis is a logistic company which provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services. The company is globally presence in 220 countries and has more than 260,000 employees. In 1973 FedEx introduced the next-day delivery revolutionising the distribution industry. Since the foundation FedEx made large investments in research and development as well as in its logistic infrastructure. As of January 2000, FedEx created a worldwide network consisting of 34,000 drop-off locations, 10 million square feet of warehouse space, 648 aircrafts, and 60,000 vehicles. In addition FedEx introduced several technological innovations which in turn has given the company an enormous competitive advantage. Nevertheless the environment changes constantly due to the increasing number of competitors, financial crisis or globalisation. Due to this strategic management becomes more and more important for FedEx. This report presents a critical analysis and evaluation of the strategic development of the FedEx Corporation. This report is divided into three parts. In the first part the external environment of FedEx is presented within the scope of Porter s five forces. Further Porter sValue Chain techniques will be outlined and their practical relevance to strategic planners at FedEx Corporation will be described. Then the core competencies and capabilities of FedEx between 1973 and 2000 will be identified. At the end of the first part the main advantages anddisadvantages of international trade to FedEx Corporation will be mentioned. In the second part Whittington s Classical and Evolutionary Schools of Thought in the context of strategy development at FedEx from 1973 to 2000 will be presented. Last but not least in the third part the implications for strategic management of Stacey s four loops including the rational, the overt politics, the covert politics, and the culture and cognition will be criticallyevaluated.

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 65% , University of Sunderland, language: English, abstract: Project Management is all about planning, organizing, and managing the resources in order to have a successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. Every project is unique and the conditions affecting planning and implementation are different every time. The starting and a finishing date are clearly determined beforethe project is executed. This report describes the important figures who take place in the project such as theproject manager (PM) and his team as well as describing project tools and steps which are necessary to take to execute the project properly. The PM is responsible for the overall success of the project. He has the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of the project. He sets up a team which he will lead throughout the project. The team consists of experts who fulfill the requirements to execute the project successfully. Furthermore planning is an important part which relates to the use of schedules such as a Work Breakdown Structure to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment. Referring to this, the feasibility studywill show if a project is technical and financial feasible and has to be done before a project starts. Moreover cost is one of the three pillars supporting project success or failure, the other two being schedule and performance. A project that goes over budget will most common not achieve the goals of the project because stakeholder run simply out of money. Therefore it is very important that cost are calculated and controlled during the project which is a part of the PM s duties. During the project duration, many risks and problems occur, which could influence the quality and thecost of the project in a positive or negative way. Therefore it is important to determine all possible risks as early as possible to avoid future conflicts. At the end of the project the PM has to develop a so called close-out plan which finalizes all activitiesacross of the project management process to formally close the project.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2010 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 73%, University of Sunderland, language: English, abstract: Nowadays the interface of the external and internal environments is of great importance. Companies can influence their internal environment, but they generally have less influence on the external environment. Furthermore, the demographic change is challenging most companies. On the one hand they have to adjust to the changing customers' needs and on the other hand they have to deal with the decline of the workforce on the labour market. As an leading international branded consumer goods company Beiersdorf is influenced by external and internal factors in many ways. This report is divided into two parts. The first part will evaluate the internal and external environment of Beiersdorf. On the basis of the Beiersdorf s history development the internal environment will be analysed. Furthermore the external environment will be presented within the scope of the PEST analysis and Porter s five forces. The second part will show how demographic factors influence Beiersdorf s policies and how the company has responded in the past. At the end areas of improvement regarding demographic factors will be proposed.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: 63%, University of Sunderland, course: Management Accounting and Control, language: English, abstract: This report is divided into two parts. The first part will explain how a standard costing system works and how a variance analysis is used properly. Furthermore, the statement "e;Standard Costing and Variance Analysis are appropriate to any type and size of organisation"e; will be critically evaluated. The second part determines factors, which must be considered in the decision-making process. In addition, four scenarios of decisions will be provided and analysed. One of the main objectives of an organisation is to minimise the cost of production and to control the costs as they are limited resources within a business (Gupta, 2010). Management accounting literature provides several tools in order to achieve these objectives. In this context, the system for collecting and reporting revenue and cost information by areas of responsibility is called responsibility accounting (Siegel & Shim, 2006). It is based on the assumption that managers should be held responsible for their performance. A well-designed responsibility accounting system integrates responsibility centers within the organisation. In addition, responsibility centers are units within the organization, which have control over costs and revenues (Siegel & Shim, 2006). There are different types of responsibility centers such as profit centers, investment centers, revenue centers and cost centers. In the following report, the focus is on cost centers. Here, a variance analysis based on standard costing is a performance measure of a cost center (Siegel & Shim, 2006). In addition, a standard costing system is a useful tool facilitating decision-making.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 87 %, University of Sunderland, course: Applied Research Methods for Business and Management, language: English, abstract: Throughout the last decades, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are achieving increasing importance in the corporate world. There are many motives such as to increase the market power and competitive advantage, to reduce dependence on suppliers, to gain fast access to new market etc. why managers adopting an acquisitions strategy. Nevertheless, many M&As have been unsuccessful in the past due to incompetent managers, poor ethics, inadequate analysis prior the deal, and diversification away from the core business of the company. Therefore, a careful industry, target company, and product portfolio analysis must be made before the deal. The literature provides different frameworks and analytical tools that can be used in the M&A process in order to avoid typical risks. However, because of the uniqueness of each M&A deal, it is important to gain further insights in these transactions in order to provide an appropriate guideline on how to select an optimal M&A target.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Trade and Distribution, grade: 70, University of Sunderland, course: Global Corporate Strategy, language: English, abstract: The report is divided into four parts. The first part will analyse the current situation of Honda, which gives the reader insight in the current state of Honda's business. The second part will presented different dichotomies and analyse how Honda has dealt with them in the past. In the third part, the differences between the western management model and the Japanese management will be analysed and then related to Honda's management concept. In addition,cultural influences based on Hofstede will be presented. The last part deals with corporate social responsibility and Corporate Governance focussing on Honda, Nissan, and Chrysler. Within the automobile industry, there exists a high intensity of rivalry. Automobile manufacturers are seeking for innovative strategies in order to be successful in the long-term. In addition, the highly debate topic global warming also puts pressure on the automobile manufacturers forcing them to develop new low emission cars and be more responsible for the society. The Honda Motor Company is a shining example for setting up flexible innovative strategies, which fit into a fast changing environment.

Das Thema Outsourcing verlangt sowohl Sensibilität wie auch ein Höchstmass an Kompetenz. In diesem Sinne überzeugt das Buch als geeigneter Praxis-Ratgeber für die nachhaltig erfolgreiche Realisierung von Outsourcing-Vorhaben. Fundierte Entscheidungskriterien sowie das komplette Realisierungswissen für die Praxis. Konkrete Unternehmensbeispiele in nachvollziehbaren Schritten unterstützen den Leser bei der Realisierung eigener Projekte. Damit Sie letztlich einen nachhaltigen Erfolg für Ihr Unternehmen planen und sicherstellen können!Die neue Auflage wurde aufgrund in der Zwischenzeit zusätzlich gewonnener Erkenntnisse angepasst und aktualisiert. So wurden u. a. weitere Übersichtstafeln eingefügt und Checklisten mit zusätzlichen erfolgskritischen Punkten ergänzt.