Eva-Maria Kern – författare

Digital technology determines today’s world and will be one of the key technologies of the future. Successful technology development, introduction and management are not only a question of technical issues; due to their complexity a close cooperation between different scientific disciplines is required to discuss various consequences, chances and risks from manifold points of view as a starting point for the design of adequate solutions. The ability to integrate business and technology decisions will become a crucial core competence.

The aim of this volume is to highlight a selection of important current research topics in the field of digital technology and management, illustrating the variety of aspects which have to be considered in the development and application of digital technologies.

Main topics of this book are the design of the innovation process, digital rights management, mobile, location-based and ubiquitous services, IT service management and future communication networks.

Nicht nur für Unternehmen der Privatwirtschaft, sondern auch für öffentliche Institutionen ist Prozessmanagement nach wie vor ein aktuelles Thema. Das theoretische Handwerkszeug dafür ist weitgehend vorhanden, die eigentliche Herausforderung besteht nun darin, die Theorie in die Praxis zu übertragen. Es gilt maßgeschneiderte Lösungen zu entwickeln, die den Anforderungen des jeweiligen spezifischen Organisationskontextes auch gerecht werden. Nur so kann Prozessmanagement einen echten Mehrwert bringen. 

Wie vielfältig die individuellen Lösungsansätze sein können, und wie der Bezugsrahmen Prozessmanagement mit Leben gefüllt werden kann, wird in aktuellen Fallstudien belegt. Präsentiert werden nicht nur klassische Industrieunternehmen, sondern auch Dienstleister, öffentliche Institutionen und ein Verband. 

Neben der konkreten Ausgestaltung des spezifischen Prozessmanagementansatzes in Bezug auf seine Bausteine, Methoden und Instrumente gehen die Beiträge detailliert auf die gewählte Vorgehensweise bei der Implementierung ein. Aufgrund des weit gespannten Bogens wird deutlich, dass bei aller Unterschiedlichkeit der Organisationen ähnliche Herausforderungen in d praktischen Umsetzung zu bewältigen sind.

Companies face a variety of risks resulting from cost reduction strategies, rationalization measures, global sourcing, and outsourcing activities. Due to the large number of actors involved, extremely close ties emerge, which significantly increase supply chains’ vulnerability to disruptions – this has been shown again and again in the past few years. Against this background, the aspect of supply continuity is of increasing importance for all activities that relate to procurement, logistics, and supply chain management. Its objective is to ensure the continuous operation of supply chains, i.e., the uninterrupted flow of material, information, and coordination from the initial supplier to the end customer. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt adequate measures that take into consideration not only potential losses but also potential gains (so-called speculative risks).

With this book, the concept of Supply Chain Safety Management is introduced. The concept itself is embedded in a comprehensive and dynamic management process. Depending on a supply chain’s individual objectives, a set of courses of action is offered for any risk factors – whether they are identifiable and quantifiable or not. The practicability of Supply Chain Safety Management is highlighted by various case studies.

The book “Supply Chain Safety Management: Achieving Security and Robustness in Logistics” targets both the areas of science and of practice. First, the state of the art in research is reflected and valuable impulses for new and respectively for further research fields are provided by taking into consideration the points of view of scientists and practitioners in the business environment. Next, theoretically well‐substantiated, modern approaches and tools applicable to the business world are offered, an impetus for new ideas and fields of positioning is given and best practice examples are presented allowing a fruitful exchange of experiences betweenpractitioners.