Topics Block 1 "Information Technologies and Business

(done in cooperation with BIT Project Team, www.bit-germany.org)

Supervisors: Hanna Krasnova, M.A., Dipl.-Vw. Thomas Hildebrand 1. Impact of Technology-enabled Distributed Work Environment on Business Organizations Number of people who are working outside their offices, either at home or client-based is growing. According to computerwoche.de 3,2 mln. Germans will be having tele-work-places in 2007. The impact of these changes on the organization/work processes and inter-organizational relationships is immense. In this seminar work a student is expected to make a meta-study of existing trends as well as to analyze the impact such changes have on organizations; The work implies extensive literature research on the offered topics, together with empirical analysis based on BIT 2006/2007 results. A case studies approach is also possible. 2. Changing Organizational Structure: Myth or Reality? The results of the BIT study, conducted in Germany in 2006, suggested an elusive picture on the changes happening in organization nowadays. Even though many participants supported that the organization is becoming flatter and the span of control of most managers is increasing, number of middle managers stays unchanged. Your task will be to gain a deeper understanding into the discussed problem. Based on the reviewed literature you should be able to delineate the trends happening to the modern organization in terms of changing structure and changing role of ITemployees. A sound seminar work on this topic could be a good starting point for a master thesis. 3. IT requirements on a workplace Across all industries the demands on the IT knowledge of employees is increasing. Your task will be to investigate which professions / levels in organization does it impact the most? What technologies nowadays are a must in certain industries? The work implies extensive literature research on the offered topics, together with empirical analysis based on BIT 2006/2007 results. A case studies approach is also possible. 4. Impact of technology on collaboration between employees in an organization. Increasing number of technologies serve the need to support communication and collaboration between employees in organizations. Your task will be (a) to identify what technologies are these, (b) what is the level of their adoption and (c) drivers behind adoption The work implies extensive literature research on the offered topics, together with empirical analysis based on BIT 2006/2007 results. A case studies approach is also possible. 5. Impact of Enterprise Instant Messaging on Collaboration between Organizations

Many organizations today adopt enterprise instant messaging in order to facilitate communication within the company or at the request of companys clients. Nevertheless, the question of whether instant messaging actually results in more value for collaborating partners still remains unanswered. In this study one would have to take a look at the existing trends in Enterprise Instant Messaging Adoption by reviewing appropriate literature. Identification of trends driving adoption together with its possible impact on business value could be undertaken in the next stage. At a later stage, conducting focus groups with instant messaging (corporate) users can be a good option. A case study of instant messaging adoption in a certain company could be the next step of this study. Data of the 2006/2007 BIT Study will be also available for analysis. Type: meta-study of existing literature / (empirical part / focus groups) / case study Introductory reading: http://www.cio.com/archive/110102/et_article.html 6. Impact of collaboration technologies on company performance Many companies nowadays are looking for ways to improve their competitive edge by increasingly relying on external partners. In order to provide smooth communication between them, various IT tools (Instant Messaging, Social Networking Software, Collaboration Portals) are implemented, be it on customer demand or on its own. However, whether the use of these tools ultimately results in more cooperation between parties or if it has a positive impact on companies performance still remains unclear. Your main task will be: 1. General Overview of Collaboration Tools in the Enterprises. Which ones are used mainly? BIT Survey Results will be accessible. 2. Overview of literature on the Impact of collaboration tools on enterprise performance 3. Empirical study based on the existing results 4. Developing a more refined questionnaire for the next BIT Study Type: meta study / empirical study / development of a questionnaire Prerequisites: Intermediate Knowledge in Marketing Research / Statistics 7. Impact of information sharing technologies on company performance Many companies nowadays are looking for ways to improve their competitive edge by increasingly relying on more information sharing with their external partners in the supply chain. By becoming more transparent with each other, these companies are trying to achieve quicker product introduction, more flexibility and thus competitive edge. Such technologies include EDI formats, RFID technology, etc. Despite theoretical predictions, the impact of such technologies on company performance is still unclear. Your main task will be:

5. General Overview of Information Sharing Tools in the Enterprises. Which ones are used mainly? BIT Survey Results will be accessible. 6. Overview of literature on the Impact of collaboration tools on enterprise performance 7. Empirical study based on the existing results 8. Developing a more refined questionnaire for the next BIT Study Type: meta study / empirical study / development of a questionnaire Prerequisites: Intermediate Knowledge in Marketing Research / Statistics 8. Current Outsourcing Trends in Organizations Whereas organizations tend to outsource certain functions such as IT, call centers or market research, they also tend to keep some functions to themselves, like accounting or finance. Your task will be to delineate which services are mostly outsourced and which not and what are the drivers behind the existing trends. Industry comparisons and case studies will be a good addition to this work. Type: meta-study of existing literature / (empirical part) / case study / (crossindustry comparisons) 9. Technology (Internet) Impact of Company Corporate Identity By adopting on-line business as an additional distribution channel, some companies tend to change corporate identity, such as their logo, slogan, name or branding concept. Your task will be to collect and describe such example cases and identify the drivers behind such change. How did the change influence the companys image and finally its performance? Type: meta-study of existing literature / (empirical part) / case study / (cross-industry comparisons) 10. Trust in internet-mediated business relationships This topic implies an intensive literature research of the current literature standing. Your task will be to investigate how trust is formed in internet-mediated business relationships and if there are there IT solutions that help speed up trust formation. 11. Marktanalyse Webbasierte Dienste im Onlinemarketing Untersuchungsgegenstand: Welche webbasierten Dienste knnen Unternehmen bereits heute in der Marketingabteilung einsetzen. Darunter fallen u.a. Ad-Server-Funktionen und In Game Advertising Funktionen (www.iga.com). Auch der Workflow der Media-Buy-Abteilung kann mit Hilfe von webbasierten Diensten untersttzt werden. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt sind Webanalysetools, welche bereits umfangreich in Marketingabteilungen eingesetzt werden. Die Arbeit wird in Zusammenarbeit mit www.asperado.com erstellt. A more detailed plan of the work structure can be downloaded here (Thema_11_tamm.doc). 12. Marktanalyse Webbasierte Dienste im Projektmanagement

Untersuchungsgegenstand: Welche webbasierten Dienste knnen Unternehmen bereits heute in im Projektmanagement einsetzen. Darunter fallen u.a. Projektplanung-, durchfhrungs- und kontrollwerkzeuge. Die Arbeit wird in Zusammenarbeit mit www.asperado.com erstellt. A more detailed plan of the work structure can be downloaded here (Thema_12_tamm.doc). 13. Marktanalyse Webbasierte Dienste im Vertrieb und Verkauf Untersuchungsgegenstand: Welche webbasierten Dienste knnen Unternehmen bereits heute in im Vertrieb und Verkauf einsetzen. Darunter fallen Kundenmanagementsysteme. Marktfhrer ist das Unternehmen www.salesforce.com. Weitere Anbieter, insbesondere im deutschsprachigen Raum sollen identifiziert und bewertet werden. Die Arbeit wird in Zusammenarbeit mit www.asperado.com erstellt. A more detailed plan of the work structure can be downloaded here (Thema_13_tamm.doc). 14. Changing Organizational Structure. Myth or Reality?

Topics Block 2 "Supply Chain Strategy and Technology"

(done in cooperation with Ko-RFID Project Team, http://ko-rfid.hu-berlin.de) Supervisors:

Supervisors: Prof. Oliver Gnther, Hanna Krasnova, M.A., Dipl. Inform.-Wirt. Christoph Goebel Hanna Krasnova, M.A. 1. Market Study: Fast Fashion Industry in Germany Type: analyzing available statistical data/ case/market study / cross-company comparisons Language: English Based on the previous works, a student is expected to make an encompassing overview of fast fashion industry in Germany. The study involves working with annual reports of fast fashion companies such as ZARA, H&M, etc. In addition a student is expected to find and present relevant figures about the industry in general. The main goal of the paper will be to identify main trends in the fast fashion industry in logistics, retailing, relations with suppliers, etc. 2. Market Study: Fast Retailing in Germany Type: analyzing available statistical data/ case/market study / cross-industries comparisons Language: English Companies such as Tchibo, Gerry Weber, Zara, Strauss are changing traditional idea of how quick businesses should be. By changing their collections every 2-4 weeks, the companies set an unprecedented speed across all retailers businesses. In this seminar work a student is expected to make an encompassing overview of fast retailing in Germany. The study involves working with annual reports of fast fashion companies such as ZARA, H&M, etc. In addition a student is expected to find and present relevant figures about the industry in general. The main goal of the paper will be to identify main trends in the fast fashion industry in logistics, retailing, relations with suppliers, etc. 3. Power Structures and Verticalization in the Apparel Supply Chain Even in the world of harsh competition, which exists in the apparel industry, vertical companies such as ZARA, H&M and Mango are enjoying high margins and growing profits. This however is not the case for such retailers as Kaufhof. You task will be to compare power structures for different types of companies in the apparel industry and to develop on the verticalization trends. Introductory Reading: http://www.kpmg.de/library/pdf/020727_Vertikalisierung_im_Handel_de.pdf

4. Apparel Industry: Relations with Suppliers, Trust View; In this work a student is expected to analyze manufacturer (retailer) - supplier relations which exist in the apparel suppy chain. A case studies approach can be a good addition to a seminar work.

5. RFID-enabled Collaboration in the Supply Chain: Case Studies Approach; In this work a student is expected to collect RFID-enabled collaboration examples / initiatives which exist in the apparel supply chain. Developing a framework which characterizes / describes such relations should be done in the next step. Dipl. Inform.-Wirt. Christoph Goebel 6. Vertical and Horizontal Information Exchange in Supply Chains Threats and Promises Lee and Whangs seminal treatment of information sharing in supply chains has spawned a lot of research in this area (Lee1998). Positive effects of information sharing have been documented repeatedly using analytical and simulation models of supply chains. Most of these models focus on vertical upstream information sharing, e.g. situations in which a retailer gives her demand data to her suppliers so that they can improve production planning. This kind of information has been proven to reduce an adverse phenomenon called the bullwhip effect. However, there has neither as much work been done on the benefits of downstream, nor on horizontal information sharing, although they definitely take place in practice. The aim of this work is to provide an overview on what kind of downstream and horizontal information sharing in supply chains is possible, to collect further evidence on their existence in real world business settings, and to devise a method to evaluate the benefits and downsides of downstream or horizontal information sharing agreements for different players in the supply chain. Type: explorative study Language: English / German Introductory Literature: Lee, H.L. & Whang, S.: Information Sharing in a Supply Chain, 1998 7. Supply Chain Coordination with Contracts Theory and Practice Supply chains are usually controlled by a number of stakeholders with different objectives and endowed with unequal degrees of information. This situation gives rise to imperfect coordination on supply chain goals like consumer satisfaction or overall cost efficiency. One way to enable coordination on a more favourable outcome is using the right supply contracts, e.g. a buy back contract, a revenue sharing contract, a quantity flexibility contract etc. Whang provides an introduction into the research area (Whang1999), Cachon (Cachon2003) and Tsay, Nahmias and Agrawal (Tsay1998) provide extensive reviews. Although supply chain contracting has been extensively studied analytically (mostly based on the newsvendor model), there is not much known about if and how these concepts are applied in practice and how companies benefit from such arrangements. The aim of this work is to provide a clear and comprehensive exposition highlighting the theoretical advantages of innovative contracts in supply chain management, to collect empirical evidence on the actual adoption of innovative contract types including a ranking of properties like frequency, perceived benefits etc, and to conclude on the gap between theory and practice and possible reasons.

Type: Analytical exposition Language: English / German Introductory Literature: Whang, S.: Coordination in Operations: A Taxonomy; Journal of Operations MAnagement, 1999, 12, 413-422 Cachon, G.P., Graves, S. & de Kok, T. (ed.): Supply Chain Coordiantion with Contracts, Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Science: Supply Chain Management, North Holland, 2003 Tsay, A.; Nahmias, S. & Agrawal, N., Tayur, S.; Ganeshan, R. & Magazine, M. (ed.): Modeling Supply Chain Contracts: A Review, Boston, Kluver, 1998 8. RFID as a Monitoring Technology Does it enable Innovation in Supply Contracting? Supply chains are usually controlled by a number of stakeholders with different objectives and endowed with unequal degrees of information. This situation gives rise to imperfect coordination on supply chain goals like consumer satisfaction or overall cost efficiency. One way to enable coordination on a more favourable outcome is using the right supply contracts, e.g. a buy back contract, a revenue sharing contract, a quantity flexibility contract etc. Whang provides an introduction into the research area (Whang1999), Cachon (Cachon2003) and Tsay, Nahmias and Agrawal (Tsay1998) provide extensive reviews. Some of the contracts that are proposed depend on the possibility of one party to monitor the actions of the other party. RFID is a technology that has the potential to increase the monitoring capability of different stakeholders in the supply chain dramatically. The aim of this work is to provide an analytical overview of innovative contract types that may require monitoring, to pick one or two of them and explore practical implications, and to evaluate the potential of RFID in this field. Prerequisites: Interest in economic modelling, contract theory, game theory, and the economic impact of RFID. Type: Analytical exposition Language: English / German Introductory Literature: Whang, S.:Coordination in Operations: A Taxonomy, Journal of Operations MAnagement, 1999, 12, 413-422 Cachon, G.P. Graves, S. & de Kok, T. (ed.): Supply Chain Coordiantion with Contracts, Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Science: Supply Chain Management, North Holland, 2003 Tsay, A.; Nahmias, S. & Agrawal, N.Tayur, S.; Ganeshan, R. & Magazine, M. (ed.):Modeling Supply Chain Contracts: A Review, Boston, Kluver, 1998 9. Research on the Marketing/Operations Interface Leveraging Downstream Information in Supply Chains It has been widely recognized that in order to make supply chains more competitive, the integration of marketing and operations has to be promoted. In many companies this spirit is not

very common yet: Oftentimes the business processes of these areas are decentralized and managed in isolation. One important step towards more effective supply chain management is to enable more information exchange and a holistic approach in managing marketing and upstream operations. Upstream information transfer has been discovered as a means to increase supply chain efficiency as early as 1961 when Forrester first described the bullwhip effect (Forrester1961). However, downstream information also plays an important role in supply chain management. For instance, temporary sales promotions require the consideration of operational constraints. Especially as retailers implement multi-channel sales strategies, adequate control structures based on upstream as well as downstream information need to be devised [Netessine2004]. The aim of this work is to describe possible interactions of marketing and operations in a supply chain and the information that needs to be exchanged (with a focus on downstream information), to review current literature in the field, and to devise a methodology for quantifying the value of downstream information in supply chains. Prerequisites: Interest in economic modelling, marketing and supply chain management Type: Literature review and explorative study Language: English / German Introductory Literature: Forrester, J.W.:Measuring the Bullwhip Effect in the Supply Chain Supply Chain Management, 1961, 5, 78-89; Netessine, S. & Rudi, N.,Levi, D.S.; Wu, S.D. & Shen, Z.. (ed.): Supply Chain Structures on the Internet and the Role of Marketing-Operations Interaction, Handbook of Quantitative Supply Chain Analysis: Modeling in the E-Business Era, Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, 2004 10. Simulation of Supply Chain Operations using Discrete Event Simulation One possible way to assess the impacts of different supply chain configurations before their actual implementation is simulation. Especially with regard the complex dynamics inherent in supply chain operations, simulation has become an important tool for research in this domain. Using advanced simulation techniques like discrete event simulation, many of the causal relationships that are too complex to be modelled analytically become amenable for analysis. Especially the impact of asymmetric and uncertain information on the operational efficiency of decentralized supply chains are an interesting area for the application of simulation-based research. The aim of this work is to review the literature on discrete event simulation of supply chains with decentralized control and communication models, to devise, implement and validate a model for discrete event simulation of supply chain operations, and to conduct some explorative experiments. Prerequisites: Interest in computer-based modelling and simulation, programming skills Type: Literature review, implementation of supply chain simulation models Language: English / German

11. Evaluation of Collaborative Strategies using Discrete Event Simulation As the competitiveness of supply chains is becoming a critical factor for business success, new paradigms to achieve more supply chain coordination are explored. Industry initiatives pointing in this direction include Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) and Collaborative Planning, Forecasting & Replenishment (CPFR). Collaboration is based on better information exchange between partners but also on improvement in the control structure of the supply chain. In the long term, the processes of all business functions have to become better integrated and aligned in order to decrease operational cost and increase sales. One way to quantify the benefits of collaboration is to use simulation models of the supply chain and to compare the effects of different collaboration scenarios with the non-collaborative benchmark. Choosing simulation instead of analytical methods allows for more flexibility and scalability of the model on the one hand, but also has to be validated more carefully. The aim of this work is to review the literature on discrete event simulation of supply chains, to devise a simulation model which is capable to model distinct collaboration scenarios and to capture the benefits that accrue to the different stakeholders controlling supply chain operations, to validate the simulation results according to standard methodologies, and to present some preliminary results on the viability of this approach. Prerequisites: Interest in computer-based modelling and simulation, programming skills Type: Literature review, computer-based modelling and model evaluation Language: English / German

Dipl.-Wirt. Inf. Christoph Tribowski (tribowsc@wiwi.hu-berlin.de) 12. The Application of Total Quality Management to a Textile Supply Chain: A Case Study Quality management in a broad sense should assure and enhance the suitability of products and processes to meet specified or still to be developed demands. The evolution of quality management came from an exclusive quality check of products in the 1950s and has developed in the last few decades into a comprehensive management approach for an organization based on the aim to gain customer satisfaction. This approach includes continuous improvement as well as employee development, customer orientation, process orientation, product lifecycle management, and much more. In this topic, the theoretical background of Total Quality Management should be presented with the purpose of applying the management concept to an example textile supply chain. Prerequisites: General interest in quality management Language: German / English

13. Certification vs. Self-assessment: A Comparison in the Context of Quality Management in a Textile Supply Chain Quality management in a broad sense should assure and enhance the suitability of products and processes to meet specified or still to be developed demands. ISO 9001:2000 is a family of standards for quality management systems which allow organisations to get a certified through an audit by a neutral certification body. On the other hand, the EFQM Excellence Model can

help to improve the performance of organizations by following a process of self-assessment. In this topic, the goals, methods, benefits and drawbacks of these approaches should be compared, on the one hand in general and on the other in the context of a textile supply chain. Prerequisites: General interest in quality management Language: German / English Introductory Literature: Introducing excellence: using the EFQM Excellence Model to improve performance (http://www.efqm.org/uploads/introducing_english.pdf) 14. Investigation of the Appropriateness of Several Techniques for Quality Management in a Textile Supply Chain: A Case Study Prerequisites: General interest in quality management Language: German / English Quality management in a broad sense should assure and enhance the suitability of products and processes to meet specified or still to be developed demands. There are several techniques used in the total quality management approach, such as the Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA), Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Cause & Effect diagrams. In this topic, these techniques should be described and applied to an example textile supply chain.

Topics Bloc 3. Web 2.0: Social Networks

(done in cooperation with studentSN.com student social network)

Supervisors: Hanna Krasnova, M.A., Dipl. Inform.-Wirt. Christoph Goebel, Ugur Tarlig (CEO studentSN.com)

1. Business Model of Social networking sites or how do Social networking sites generate Revenue? a. Enlist existing and successful (and not so successful) social networking sites and contrast their revenue sources (advertising, user fee, any other sources like selling user data? what else?) How large is their user base? b. Are sites less successful if they use advertising to generate revenue? Compare for instance MySpace (heavily uses advertising) to studiVZ.net, which does not use advertising at all. 2. What makes Social Network a Success? Some social networks are much more successful than others. Some suddenly enjoy rapid growth even though many similar products have been on the market long ago. So, what turns a particular social network into a success story? a. Is it the different perception of those sites, because something new has emerged (Web 2.0) ? b. Is there something intrinsic in those social networking sites that attracts people? And if it's something intrinsic: What is it? c. Does the fact that they are for free play a role? Contrast social networking sites a la Web2.0 to classical chat-sites and/or to dating sites that you have to pay for. 3. Social Networking Sites: Cross-Country Analysis (Europe & Turkey) You first start this paper with quickly looking at E-commerce development trends in the countries of interest. a. What are the determinants of E-commerce spread in a country? Per capita income? What else? At the second step you investigate the development of social networking sites across Europe b. Do Europeans tend to use internationally known sites like MySpace or do they have country specific solutions? c. Are there some specificities across countries? Based on the above results you evaluate if: d. studentSN.com business model has a success potential. Will a breakthrough to Turkey work out?

4. Privacy Perceptions in Social Networks: Cross-cultural Study Privacy perceptions play a role if one enters a social network or not at least to some extent. If one accepts that countries differ in privacy perceptions then, one could hypothesize that in less privacy-aware countries, social networks will enjoy higher acceptance. You task will be to verify this hypothesis based on the existing literature: a. Is there some measure of privacy perceptions across different (European) countries? b. What are the trends of social network adoption in various counties? c. Does the data support the hypothesis? What other factors could play a role? 5. Is having a clean network a determinant of a long-term success? In this work you have to investigate if a success of a social network depends on whether it is clean or not. At the next step you should identify the ways of keeping the social network clean, e.g.: Users rating other users who are offensive / have fake-identities / etc. By applying a strict policy like Facebook: you have to have a university-emailaddress to get access to that network on our site. As a conclusion you have to analyze if such cleaning measures will help a network to be more trustworthy and thus more accepted or on the contrary will hinder rapid growth of a network?