Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Banking, Stock Exchanges, Insurance, Accounting, grade: 1,7, European Business School - International University Schlo Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Retail Banking in Europe, language: English, abstract: The German retail banking sector faces severe challenges. Global competitors are invading the market with new business models trying to win existing customers. At the very same time, customers become evermore demanding by means of price and quality and are willing to switch banks if it deems advantageous. If failing to act on these problems, the future of many German retail banks seems jeopardized. Other industries, in particular the manufacturing sector, have faced similar problems. In the 1980 s German manufacturing companies had to cope with similar challenges and managed to successfully overcome their crisis by developing and applying new concepts such as process management, focussing on core competencies and involving external providers into their operations. In the light of this success story, industrialization appears to be a very promising mean to respond to the current situation the German retail banks are facing. While foreign institutes have already initiated successful industrialization activities it has only recently come to the attention of German retail banks. This paper will therefore examine whether and how industrialization concepts can be successfully transferred and applied to German retail banks.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: 1,0, European Business School - International University Schlo Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel (SMI - Supply Management Institute), course: Seminararbeit Logistics and Business Engineering, language: English, abstract: In the light of the ongoing globalization and evolution of today's business world logistics has gained significant visibility and is regarded as a critical link to improved corporate performance. The value of the global logistics market accounted for $591.1 billion in 2005 and is expected to further grow by 22.1% until 2010. Apart from a constant pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency, logistics increasingly serves as a differentiating feature for products and an important lever for improving customer satisfaction. Coordination with other departments also plays a crucial role. The increasing complexity and dynamics of the business world did not leave logistics unaffected. Key drivers of uncertainty include globalization of supply and customer bases, shortening of product life cycles, increasing competition and more demanding customers. Thus, the challenge for logistics managers nowadays is to constantly balance a need to perform well on hard measures of performance, while responding to a constantly changing environment. With respect to logistics increasing importance for corporate success, reacting to contingencies by crisis management and firefighting is no longer an option. Instead, logistics managers must proactively and strategically plan for the future and prepare for change.

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, European Business School - International University Schlo Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Seminararbeit Unternehmensentwicklung, language: English, abstract: Over the last decades business environment has undergone severe changes. Due to deregulation, fierce competition, and fundamental breakthroughs in science, industry structures have altered and become very complex and indeterminate.1Moreover, costs involved with product development and entrance to new markets have increased significantly. As firms from all over the globe are competing for the future, their fate is not so much determined by cash, but by intellectual energy: To succeed in the market place learning and acquiring new knowledge becomes increasingly important. Thus, companies need to be perceived as a portfolio of core competencies and value creating disciplines. But as these abilities are not distributed equally among firms, only a limited number can achieve this single-handedly. The great majority, though, needs a helping hand. Firms can create new competitive advantages by orchestrating their resources. Noteworthy, [ ] a firm s critical resources may also extend beyond firm boundaries. Alliances can be a vehicle for gaining access to new knowledge outside traditional organizational boundaries. This knowledge allows companies to learn from their partners. As a matter of fact, strategic alliances are blossoming: The number of alliances between U.S. firms and partners from Europe, Asia and Latin America has been growing by 25% per year recently. Despite its importance and the richness of opportunities, many strategic learning alliances cannot meet their makers expectations. They fall behind in means of performance and valuable output. In an empiric study conducted by Hamel, a majority of interviewed alliance managers expressed disappointment about their alliances performance and Inkpen adds that the creation of a successful learning alliance environment is rather the exception than the rule.9Given these diverging and sometimes poor outcomes, this paper explores key factors that determine success of interorganizational learning in strategic alliances.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Banking, Stock Exchanges, Insurance, Accounting, grade: 1,7, European Business School - International University Schlo Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Retail Banking in Europe, language: English, abstract: The German retail banking sector faces severe challenges. Global competitors are invading the market with new business models trying to win existing customers. At the very same time, customers become evermore demanding by means of price and quality and are willing to switch banks if it deems advantageous. If failing to act on these problems, the future of many German retail banks seems jeopardized. Other industries, in particular the manufacturing sector, have faced similar problems. In the 1980 s German manufacturing companies had to cope with similar challenges and managed to successfully overcome their crisis by developing and applying new concepts such as process management, focussing on core competencies and involving external providers into their operations. In the light of this success story, industrialization appears to be a very promising mean to respond to the current situation the German retail banks are facing. While foreign institutes have already initiated successful industrialization activities it has only recently come to the attention of German retail banks. This paper will therefore examine whether and how industrialization concepts can be successfully transferred and applied to German retail banks.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: 1,0, European Business School - International University Schlo Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel (SMI - Supply Management Institute), course: Seminararbeit Logistics and Business Engineering, language: English, abstract: In the light of the ongoing globalization and evolution of today's business world logistics has gained significant visibility and is regarded as a critical link to improved corporate performance. The value of the global logistics market accounted for $591.1 billion in 2005 and is expected to further grow by 22.1% until 2010. Apart from a constant pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency, logistics increasingly serves as a differentiating feature for products and an important lever for improving customer satisfaction. Coordination with other departments also plays a crucial role. The increasing complexity and dynamics of the business world did not leave logistics unaffected. Key drivers of uncertainty include globalization of supply and customer bases, shortening of product life cycles, increasing competition and more demanding customers. Thus, the challenge for logistics managers nowadays is to constantly balance a need to perform well on hard measures of performance, while responding to a constantly changing environment. With respect to logistics increasing importance for corporate success, reacting to contingencies by crisis management and firefighting is no longer an option. Instead, logistics managers must proactively and strategically plan for the future and prepare for change.

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, European Business School - International University Schlo Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Seminararbeit Unternehmensentwicklung, language: English, abstract: Over the last decades business environment has undergone severe changes. Due to deregulation, fierce competition, and fundamental breakthroughs in science, industry structures have altered and become very complex and indeterminate.1Moreover, costs involved with product development and entrance to new markets have increased significantly. As firms from all over the globe are competing for the future, their fate is not so much determined by cash, but by intellectual energy: To succeed in the market place learning and acquiring new knowledge becomes increasingly important. Thus, companies need to be perceived as a portfolio of core competencies and value creating disciplines. But as these abilities are not distributed equally among firms, only a limited number can achieve this single-handedly. The great majority, though, needs a helping hand. Firms can create new competitive advantages by orchestrating their resources. Noteworthy, [ ] a firm s critical resources may also extend beyond firm boundaries. Alliances can be a vehicle for gaining access to new knowledge outside traditional organizational boundaries. This knowledge allows companies to learn from their partners. As a matter of fact, strategic alliances are blossoming: The number of alliances between U.S. firms and partners from Europe, Asia and Latin America has been growing by 25% per year recently. Despite its importance and the richness of opportunities, many strategic learning alliances cannot meet their makers expectations. They fall behind in means of performance and valuable output. In an empiric study conducted by Hamel, a majority of interviewed alliance managers expressed disappointment about their alliances performance and Inkpen adds that the creation of a successful learning alliance environment is rather the exception than the rule.9Given these diverging and sometimes poor outcomes, this paper explores key factors that determine success of interorganizational learning in strategic alliances.