Intelligent Business Processes in CRM - Exemplified by Complaint Management

Customer relationship management (CRM) is becoming a critical source of competitive advantage for businesses today. However, many CRM business processes are deficient and inflexible. For example, many customers are dissatisfied with complaint management. Still, companies seldom systematically adapt the complaint management process. In theory, operational and analytical CRM form a closed loop: analytical CRM uses business intelligence (BI) tools to analyze operational data and the knowledge gained is used for continual optimization of operations. One special approach in establishing this loop is to continually support decision points in operational processes with knowledge from BI. In this way, the use of BI becomes an integral part of business processes, which are then referred to as intelligent business processes. However, in CRM not much is known about this approach. Based on an extensive review of the literature, the study explores the state of theory and practice in the field of intelligent business processes in CRM, with special attention to complaint management because of its considerable importance and application potential. In particular, the conceptual framework of intelligent business processes in CRM is depicted and two implementation options are identified: embedded intelligence and business rules. Focusing on complaint management, evidence on intelligent business processes is systematically documented, weak points are identified, and a research agenda for the shift to more intelligent processes is presented

Industry 4.0: The Future of Indo-German Industrial Collaboration

Industry 4.0 can be described as the fourth industrial revolution, a mega- trend that affects every company around the world. It envisions interconnections and collaboration between people, products and machines within and across enterprises. Why does Industry 4.0 make for an excellent platform for industrial collaboration between India and Germany? The answers lie in economic as well as social factors. Both countries have strengths and weakness and strategic collaboration using the principles of Industry 4.0 can help both increase their industrial output, GDP and make optimal use of human resources. As a global heavy weight in manufacturing and machine export, Germany has a leading position in the development and deployment of Industry 4.0 concepts and technology. However, its IT sector, formed by a labor force of 800,000 employees, is not enough. It needs more professionals to reach its full potential. India, on the other hand, is a global leader in IT and business process outsourcing. But its manufacturing industry needs to grow significantly and compete globally. These realities clearly show the need for Industry 4.0-based collaboration between Germany and India. So how does Industry 4.0 work? In a first step, we look at the technical pers- pective – the vertical and horizontal integration of Industry 4.0 principles in enterprises. Vertical integration refers to operations within Smart Factories and horizontal integration to Smart Supply Chains across businesses. In the second step, we look at manufacturing, chemical industry and the IT sector as potential targets for collaboration between the two countries. We use case studies to illustrate the benefits of the deployment of Industry 4.0. Potential collaboration patterns are discussed along different forms of value chains and along companies’ ability to achieve Industry 4.0 status. We analyse the social impact of Industry 4.0 on India and Germany and find that it works very well in the coming years. Germany with its dwindling labor force might be compensated through the automation. This will ensure continued high productivity levels and rise in GDP. India, on the other hand has a burgeoning labor market, with 10 million workers annually entering the job market. Given that the manufacturing sector will be at par with Europe in efficiency and costs by 2023, pressure on India’s labor force will increase even more. Even its robust IT sector will suffer fewer hires because of increased automation. Rapid development of technologies – for the Internet of Things (IoT) or for connectivity like Low-Power WAN – makes skilling and reskilling of the labor force critical for augmenting smart manufacturing. India and Germany have been collaborating at three levels relevant to Industry 4.0 – industry, government and academics. How can these be taken forward? The two countries have a long history of trade. The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) is the largest such chamber in India and the largest German chamber worldwide. VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, Mechanical Engineering Industry Association), the largest industry association in Europe, maintains offices in India. Indian key players in IT, in turn, have subsidia- ries in Germany and cooperate with German companies in the area of Industry 4.0. Collaboration is also supported on governmental level. As government initiatives go, India has launched the “Make in India” initiative and the “Make in India Mittelstand! (MIIM)” programme as a part of it. The Indian Government is also supporting “smart manufacturing” initiatives in a major way. Centers of Excellence driven by the industry and academic bodies are being set up. Germany and India have a long tradition of research collaboration as well. Germany is the second scientific collaborator of India and Indian students form the third largest group of foreign students in Germany. German institutions like the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) or the German House for Research and Innovation (DWIH) are working to strengthen ties between the scientific communities of the two countries, and between their academia and industry. What prevents Industry 4.0 from becoming a more widely used technology? Recent surveys in Germany and India show that awareness about Industry 4.0 is still low, especially among small and medium manufacturing enterprises. IT companies, on the other hand, are better prepared. There is a broad demand for support, regarding customtailored solutions, information on case studies and the willingness to participate in Industry 4.0 pilot projects and to engage in its platform and networking activities. We also found similar responses at workshops conducted with Industry 4.0 stakehold- ers in June 2017 in Bangalore and Pune and in an online survey. What can be done to change this? Both countries should strengthen their efforts to create awareness for Industry 4.0, especially among small and medium enterprises. Germany should also put more emphasis on making their Industry 4.0 technology known to the Indian market. India’s IT giants, on the other hand, should make their Industry 4.0 offers more visible to the German market. The governments should support the establishing of joint Industry 4.0 collaboration platforms, centers of excellence and incubators to ease the dissemination of knowledge and technology. On academic level, joint research programs and exchange programs should be set up to foster the skilling of labor force in the deployment of Industry 4.0 methods and technologies

PURCHASING CLOUD-BASED PRODUCT-SERVICE BUNDLES IN VALUE NETWORKS - THE ROLE OF MANAGEABLE WORKLOADS

The implementation of electronic procurement processes for product-service systems, consisting of material and service components requires a consideration of strategic, tactical and operational issues in procurement processes and information technologies. Increasingly, in certain industries, these product-service systems consist more and more of cloud-based components like online storage or web applications. In the past, the alignment of business processes with a focus on traditional procurement processes for products or services has been well established. But with the rise of product-service systems as core offering from companies, the design of hybrid procurement processes in value networks has to be developed. The merging of different procurement processes for products and services, however, has severe problems and does not reflect the specific requirements in the procurement of product-service systems, especially with cloud-based components. This article highlights the need for a process-oriented view in procurement at multiple levels of abstraction and describes a model for the design of electronic procurement process in value networks for cloud-based product-service systems requirements. Different process characteristics are examined for applicability to hybrid value performance and allow an adjustment proposal for the hybrid procurement process. The proposed procurement model is validated in a typical case-study in the IT industry

Why do some countries get CSR sooner, and in greater quantity, than others? The political economy of corporate responsibility and the rise of market liberalism across the OECD: 1977-2007

How can we explain the historical and trans-national variation of Corporate Responsibility – business’s voluntary engagement for social and environmental ends above legally mandated minimum standards – and how are we to understand this amorphous and essentially contested phenomenon? In this paper, I propose a political-economic explanation for the variation of Corporate Responsibility [Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Citizenship]. I posit that Corporate Responsibility’s temporal and cross-national variation is linked to its function of legitimating economic liberalization and market liberalism. Both employers and state officials have an interest in compensating for the hardships of liberalization and the weakening of institutionalized social solidarity. One way in which they seek to legitimate the market vis-à-vis their ‘stakeholders’ and the electorate, and justify themselves vis-à-vis their own conscience, is through Corporate Responsibility. CR inoculates firms against burdensome regulation and justifies a light regulatory touch; it facilitates business-friendly institutional reforms; it helps to satisfy employers’ needs and compensate for market failures and deficiencies in public provision. But CR cannot be understood in purely rational-instrumental let alone cynical terms. One of its most essential functions is to constitute businesspeople as responsible moral agents. Those in the engine rooms of contemporary capitalism – whether owners, managers, or employees – want to perceive themselves as serving the common good. This is true irrespective of capitalist ‘varieties.’ In the place of Milton Friedman’s assertion that the business of business is business, employers chant: ‘Free us up so we can do some Corporate Responsibility!’ Using national Corporate Responsibility associations and their membership levels as a proxy for the institutionalization of CR, this paper develops and tests a political-economic explanation for the temporal and trans-national variation of CR. Using Corporate Responsibility associations, a novel proxy for the state of CR in a given country at a given time, I hypothesize that Liberal Market Economies tend to ‘get’ CR earlier, and get more of it, than Social / Coordinated Market economies. Furthermore, Corporate Responsibility co-evolves with the decline of institutionalized social solidarity, ‘embedded liberalism’ and ‘organized capitalism.’ Empirical evidence from more than twenty OECD countries and from the CR ‘leader’ United Kingdom and ‘laggard’ Germany support these hypotheses and illustrate the co-evolution of CR and market liberalism during the past thirty years. In sum, this paper suggests that CR functions as a material and symbolic substitute for institutionalized forms of social solidarity. -- Wie können wir die transnationale Varianz von Corporate Responsibility – des freiwilligen Engagements von Unternehmen für soziale und ökologische Belange über gesetzlich vorgeschriebene Mindeststandards hinaus – erklären? Verbreitete sozialwissenschaftliche Erklärungen von Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) und Corporate Citizenship stellen soziale Bewegungen und die Diffusion von sozialen Normen in den Vordergrund. Ich entwickele einen alternativen, polit-ökonomischen Ansatz: Corporate Responsibility trägt dazu bei, wirtschaftliche Liberalisierung und Marktliberalismus zu legitimieren. Sowohl Arbeitgeber als auch Politiker sind daran interessiert, die Härten der Liberalisierung und die Schwächung des institutionalisierten sozialen Zusammenhalts zu kompensieren. Corporate Responsibility ist ein Weg, das Vertrauen von Interessenvertretern und Wählern in den Markt zu stärken und gleichzeitig das eigene Gewissen zu entlasten; CR impft Unternehmen gegen zu starke Regulierung und ermöglicht doch einen zurückhaltenden Eingriff; es erleichtert unternehmensfreundliche institutionelle Reformen und es kann helfen, Marktversagen und Mängel in der Bereitstellung von öffentlichen Gütern zu kompensieren. CR darf jedoch nicht rein zweckrational, strategisch oder gar zynisch verstanden werden. Eines seiner wichtigsten Funktionen besteht darin, Geschäftsleuten ein Selbstverständnis als verantwortungsbewusste moralische Akteure zu ermöglichen. Alle Beteiligten im Räderwerk des zeitgenössischen Kapitalismus – ob Eigentümer, Führungskräfte oder Mitarbeiter – wollen sich als dem Gemeinwohl dienend verstehen, unabhängig von unterschiedlichen Spielarten des Kapitalismus. An Stelle von Milton Friedmans Behauptung ‚the business of business is business’ rufen Unternehmer, Wirtschafts-und Arbeitgeberverbände im Chor: ‚Befreit uns von unseren Beschränkungen, damit wir uns in CR engagieren können! Mit der Hilfe eines neuen Indikators wird eine politisch-ökonomische Erklärung für die zeitliche und transnationale Varianz von CR entwickelt. Meine Hypothese ist, dass liberale Marktwirtschaften CR früher und in größeren Mengen ‚bekommen’ als soziale Marktwirtschaften. Darüber hinaus behaupte ich, dass der Anstieg von Corporate Responsibility einher geht mit dem Niedergang des institutionalisierten sozialen Zusammenhalts und des „organisierten Kapitalismus.“ Empirische Daten aus mehr als zwanzig OECD-Ländern und aus dem CRVorreiter England und dem „Nachzügler“ Deutschland unterstützen diese Thesen und veranschaulichen die Ko-Evolution des Aufstiegs von CR und der Liberalisierung der Wirtschaft in den letzten dreißig Jahren. Zusammengefasst, wird in diesem Papier vorgeschlagen, CR als materiellen und symbolischen Ersatz für institutionalisierte Formen des sozialen Zusammenhalts zu verstehen. Für Theorie und Forschungspraxis legen diese Ergebnisse nahe, politisch- ökonomische Institutionen und die Spielarten des Kapitalismus bei der Untersuchung von Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) und Corporate Citizenship stärker in den Vordergrund zu rücken.Corporate Social Responsibility,liberalization,market liberalism,quantity of CSR,timing of CSR,Varieties of Capitalism

Integration Platform as a Service - Fallbeispiele aus der Praxis

Im Rahmen eines von der Zürcher Hochschule für Wirtschaft koordinierten Forschungsprojekts untersuchten Simon Cuche von der Hochschule Luzern und Peter Gasser von der ZHAW in ihren Masterarbeiten Fallbeispiele zum Einsatz von Integration Platform as a Service in Schweizer Unternehmen. Im Zentrum der Arbeiten standen Fragen betreffend Art der Nutzung, Erfolgsfaktoren, Herausforderungen und resultierenden Nutzen

EU–originated MOOCs, with focus on multi- and single-institution platforms

No abstract available

MultiWiki: interlingual text passage alignment in Wikipedia

In this article we address the problem of text passage alignment across interlingual article pairs in Wikipedia. We develop methods that enable the identification and interlinking of text passages written in different languages and containing overlapping information. Interlingual text passage alignment can enable Wikipedia editors and readers to better understand language-specific context of entities, provide valuable insights in cultural differences and build a basis for qualitative analysis of the articles. An important challenge inthis context is the trade-off between the granularity of the extracted text passages and the precision of the alignment. Whereas short text passages can result in more precise alignment, longer text passages can facilitate a better overview of the differences in an article pair. To better understand these aspects from the user perspective, we conduct a user study at the example of the German, Russian and the English Wikipedia and collect a user-annotated benchmark. Then we propose MultiWiki – a method that adopts an integrated approach to the text passage alignment using semantic similarity measures and greedy algorithms and achieves precise results with respect to the user-defined alignment. MultiWiki demonstration is publicly available and currently supports four language pairs