A Business Model for the Automotive Tier-1 Supplier Industry: New Propulsion Technologies in Germany

The German automotive industry faces major changes in the coming decades as a result of new propulsion developments driven by stricter government regulations towards cleaner emissions. Many industry reports indicate a technology shift that questions the success of tier-1 suppliers with regard to the competitiveness of existing business models. Therefore, the questions that arise are related to alternative propulsion technologies, including a unique value proposition in the domain of e-mobility, the character of a competitive business model, and the most appropriate approach to change by concerned players. The research aims to identify a revised business model for tier-1 suppliers as a reaction to the pressure for change created by technological progress. This research reveals that within current business models the classic value creation process from supplier to customer is still predominantly used. Therefore, the static business model canvas has been set as the focal point to analyse its contemporary application. A business model that is flexible and dynamic, designed to cope with requirements in a value constellation process within e-mobility has instead been subject to rather limited consideration. The research design is primarily aligned with a value proposition and the ‘blocks’ of the business model canvas. Due to the unknown product requirements in an uncertain business environment, a novel evaluation process that identifies the importance levels of each canvas block helps to validate the current business models in place. In this way, the qualitative case study builds upon a triangulation method in which data from diverse sources, such as tier-1 suppliers, a university, and consultants, are used in the primary research. The findings suggest that concerned tier-1 suppliers approach new business opportunities that create unknown customer demands. By taking into account advanced knowledge in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), a unique value proposition makes decisions about the structure of managerial tools and the usage of the other canvas blocks. Indeed, the thesis offers several proposals as to how a tier-1 supplier’s organisation can become a flexible and dynamic player in the domain of alternative propulsion systems

A standard European tank? Procurement politics, technology transfer and the challenges of collaborative MBT projects in the NATO alliance since 1945

International cooperation in weapons technology projects has long been a feature of alliance politics; and, there are many advantages to both international technology transfer and standardisation within military alliances. International collaboration between national defence industries has produced successful weapon systems from technologically advanced fighter aircraft to anti-tank missiles. Given the success of many joint defence projects, one unresolved question is why there have been no successful collaborative international main battle tank (MBT) projects since 1945. This thesis seeks to answer this question by considering four case studies of failed attempts to produce an MBT through an international collaborative tank project: first and second, the Franco-German efforts to produce a standard European tank, or Euro-Panzer (represented by two separate projects in 1957-63 and 1977-83); third, the US-German MBT-70 project (1963-70); and, fourth, the Anglo-German Future Main Battle Tank, or KPz3 (1971-77). In order to provide an explanation of the causes of failure on four separate occasions, the analysis includes reference to other high-technology civilian and military joint projects which either succeeded, or which cannot be classified as international MBT collaborative projects (such as the KNDS demonstration tank and the MBT-2000 developed by China and Pakistan). In addition to identifying the multiple causes of failure and providing an analysis of the most significant factor(s) in each case, it will be argued that the pattern which emerged during the Cold War does not necessarily provide an ‘absolute principle’ for future collaborative MBT projects: financial and other pressures may yet create conditions conducive to the completion of a successful collaborative MBT high-technology project. Future projects ought, however, to take note of the lessons from previous experience

Future technological factors affecting unmanned aircraft systems (UAS):a South African perspective towards 2025

The fact that pilots are not physically situated in the aircraft for UAS operations makes the current standards applicable to manned aircraft not suitable for UAS operations (FAA, 2013). FAA (2013:18) states that ―removing the pilot from the aircraft creates a series of performance considerations between manned and unmanned aircraft that need to be fully researched and understood to determine acceptability and potential impact on safe operations in the NAS. According to ERSG (2013), not all technologies necessary to ensure the safe integration of civil UASs into civilian airspace are available today. The extrapolation that can be made based on the above arguments is that advancement of UAS technologies will more likely have a significant bearing on the safe integration of UASs into civilian airspace. Therefore, as an identified research gap, the research/main objective of this research is to identify future technological factors affecting Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Republic of South Africa leading towards the year 2025

Processus d'idéation de référence pour la phase amont de l'innovation

Under the rapidly increasing innovation pressure, companies are forced—more than ever before—to deal with the subject of innovation management, particularly with systematic idea generation and selection. This is especially true in technology-driven sectors such as automotive.Ideation denotes the procedure of idea generation and selection for innovations of products, services or business models with commercialisation potential on the market. It is located in the very beginning of the fuzzy front-end (FFE) of the entire innovation process and sets the course for New Product Development (NPD).In this context, this work attempts to answer the following research question: “How is it possible to create a structured approach which makes ideation the core task of the FFE, and to implement it as a process in a corporate environment such that it facilitates innovation management?” To this aim, its principal contribution is an ideation stage-gate reference process model based on a set of key success factors identified from literature and expert interviews.The proposed ideation reference process model capitalises on the strong and systematic involvement of internal and external stakeholders in ideation, and therefore follows intrinsically the modern paradigm of Open Innovation. It is designed in a way that can be integrated in existing innovation processes with reasonable effort, and it assures the alignment of ideation activities with the company’s business strategy.The validation of the proposed reference process model has been done at the German automotive supplier KSPG Automotive Group based on the derivation of a company-specific ideation process from the reference process. This derived process takes into account the company’s specific context of innovation and ideation, and is consequently focused on facilitating its integration into the company’s organisational culture and process landscape while introducing a fundamentally new approach to systematic ideation activities.In the scope of this thesis, the feasibility of the total approach as well as the ideation process itself has been demonstrated, and a concept for the broad introduction of the new process has been established. On this solid basis, perspectives for future research activities directly linked to the introduction and the improvement of the process, as well as to the determination of the applicability of the approach in different industry sectors are given.Sous la pression croissante de l'innovation, les entreprises sont plus que jamais obligées de s’occuper de la gestion de l'innovation, et plus particulièrement la génération systématique et la sélection des idées. Ceci s’applique en particulier aux secteurs technologiques tels que l'automobile.L’idéation signifie la procédure de la génération et sélection des idées pour les innovations de nouveaux produits, services où modèles d’affaires avec un potentiel commercial sur le marché. Elle se situe au début de la phase floue amont (« fuzzy front-end », FFE) du processus de l'innovation et détermine le processus de développement de nouveaux produits (« New Product Development », NPD).Dans ce contexte, cette thèse vise à répondre à la question de recherche suivante: « Comment est-il possible de créer une approche structurée qui fait de l’idéation la tâche principale de la FFE et l’implémenter comme processus dans un environnement d'entreprise pour faciliter la gestion de l'innovation? » À cet objectif, la principale contribution de ce travail est un modèle « étape – points de décision » (« stage-gate » en anglais) d’un processus d’idéation de référence qui est basé sur un ensemble des facteurs clés de succès identifiés dans la littérature et des entrevues d'experts.Le modèle de processus d’idéation de référence proposé s’appuie sur l’intégration forte et systématique des acteurs internes et externes dans l'idéation et intègre ainsi intrinsèquement le paradigme modern de l'Innovation Ouverte. Il a été conçu de manière qu’il puisse être intégré dans les processus d'innovation existants avec des efforts raisonnables, et qu’il assure l’alignement des activités d'idéation avec la stratégie commerciale de l'entreprise.La validation du modèle de processus de référence proposé a été faite chez le sous-traitant automobile allemand KSPG Automotive Group essentiellement par la dérivation d'un processus spécifique à cette entreprise à partir du processus de référence. Ce processus dérivé prend en compte le contexte spécifique de l'innovation et l'idéation chez cette entreprise et facilite par conséquence son intégration dans la culture organisationnelle de l'entreprise et son paysage de processus.Dans le cadre de cette thèse, la faisabilité de l'approche globale ainsi que le processus d'idéation lui-même ont été validés, et un concept pour l'introduction du nouveau processus a été établi. Sur cette base solide sont données des perspectives pour les prochaines activités de recherche qui sont directement liées à l'introduction et l'amélioration du processus, ainsi que la détermination de l'applicabilité de l'approche dans d’autres secteurs industriels

Choice of licensing method and crashes of young drivers

Five years of data (1998-2002) were used to examine whether there was a relationship between the method of driver licensing - Competency Based Training (CBTA) or Vehicle On-Road Test (VORT) - and the subsequent crash experience of young drivers, using logistic regression analysis.Robert Anderson, Craig Kloeden, TP Hutchinson and AJ McLea

Advances on Smart Cities and Smart Buildings

Modern cities are facing the challenge of combining competitiveness at the global city scale and sustainable urban development to become smart cities. A smart city is a high-tech, intensive and advanced city that connects people, information, and city elements using new technologies in order to create a sustainable, greener city; competitive and innovative commerce; and an increased quality of life. This Special Issue collects the recent advancements in smart cities and covers different topics and aspects

Energy Research Capacities in EU Member States

This report gives an overview of the energy research capacities in EU Member States. It is composed of a quantitative analysis of funding for energy research and an assessment of the institutional capacity in energy research policy making. The analysis shows that Member States award relatively little importance to energy research in general. While energy R&D priorities vary among Member States, shared priorities exist for some technologies among various countries. Due to the diverse institutional set-ups the exploitation of synergies remains challenging despite recent efforts for better coordination of national efforts.JRC.J.2-Competitiveness and Sustainabilit