Making Reasonable Mutual Fund Investment Decisions in the Recovering German Equity Market - Gaining Insight into Active Share

This study investigates influences of certain fund characteristics as independent variables on a funds active share, as introduced by Cremers & Petajisto in 2009. Furthermore, along with active share, the potential use of these variables to predict future mutual fund returns is tested. The study is conducted for the recovering German equity mutual fund market between 2010 and 2015 as a recovery period was assumed to show significantly different results compared to long-term studies. To investigate influences, a cross-sectional study was performed with partially different results than initially expected. Compared to empirical foundations, the findings for active share are less statistically and economically significant during economic recovery in Germany. Although active share can somehow be explained through certain variables, the study disproves pervious findings as active share cannot predict fund performance. Funds with high active share even tend to underperform their benchmarks during recovery. On this basis, a fund investment strategy for the recovering market is proposed, finding exchange traded funds as the more suitable investment vehicle. This mainly derives from the significantly lower fees charged by ETFs

THE DIGITAL INNOVATION UNIT: A SILVER BULLET FOR MANAGING THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?

We propose an agenda for further research on digital innovation units (DIUs) that refines the current –mainly descriptive– body of knowledge. Receiving great attention in research as well as in practice, DIUs are dedicated organizational units whose role is to drive and support digital transformation by promoting diverse facets of digital innovation. Utilizing DIU knowledge from a theoretical literature review on DIUs and their role in digital transformation, the resulting research agenda assists in structuring the field by synthesizing and connecting the partly isolated knowledge chunks with each other. We illustrate a coherent picture towards theorizing DIUs using Whetten’s building blocks of theory. Researchers can draw on our core findings to understand the emerging phenomenon of DIUs and to use them as a stencil for conducting proper future DIU research. It simultaneously may guide practitioners to understand the nature of DIUs and their role in a firm’s digital transformation journey

A Cognitive Perspective on Digital Transformation: Literature Review and Research Framework

Managing Digital Transformation (DT) has become a top priority for executives as technological advancements and increasing decision-making complexity accelerate challenges in navigating through DT. Acknowledging that cognition (e.g., in the form of thoughts, beliefs, and emotions) is fundamentally relevant during organizational transformation processes, we address the maturing body of DT research from a cognitive perspective. While the study of cognition in management and strategy can look back to decades of investigation, research on the role of cognition in DT is fragmented and still in its infancy. Addressing this gap, we systematically review existing research from information systems, management, and psychology on the role of cognition in DT. Based on identified antecedents, contextual factors, and consequences, and a conceptualization of cognition, we provide an integrative framework for cognitive DT research and derive four promising research avenues. We thereby provide guidelines to develop strategies for successful DT and organizational action

Understanding Business Process Evolution in Digital Ventures

Business processes are at each company\u27s core and must be adapted permanently to react to changing markets, substantial growth, or legal regulations. Especially digital ventures have the potential to evolve fast, and consequently, their business processes need to change at the same speed. Two streams of literature have looked into this. Traditional business process management sees business processes, once implemented, as relatively stable. In contrast, digital entrepreneurship literature highlights the inherent flexibility of digital ventures. Based on a multiple case study of five digital ventures, we analyze how entrepreneurs deal with this tension when business processes evolve. Building on entrepreneurial bricolage, we propose two types of resource recombination that we find, namely, usage of existing private resources and re-configuring of resources already being used within the venture. These insights contribute to extending our understanding of the evolution of business processes

Addressing Inertia in Pro-Environmental Behavior through Nudges: A Review of Existing Literature and a Framework for Future Research

To counteract global warming, individuals must adopt pro-environmental behaviors, but many prefer their established behaviors because of inertia. This paper analyzes how we can address the inertia that hinders pro-environmental behavior using digital nudges. Our structured literature review finds 19 out of 20 studies that show how decision information nudges like feedback overcome behavioral inertia. Most of the habitual patterns we identified could be attributed to private household behaviors like inefficient energy or water consumption. We contribute a framework for how the three dimensions of inertia—behavioral, cognitive, and affective inertia—are best each addressed using informational, structural, and assistance nudges, respectively

Charakterisierung der prokaryotischen HemW und eukaryotischen RSAD1 Häm-Chaperone

Modified tetrapyrroles are complex macrocycles and the most abundant pigments found in nature. They play a central role in electron transfer dependent energy generating processes such as photosynthesis and respiration. They further function as prosthetic groups for a variety of enzymes, including catalases, peroxidases, cytochromes of the P450 class and sensor molecules. Heme is a hydrophobic molecule and associates non-specifically with lipids and proteins in aqueous solution where it promotes peroxidations. Due to its hydrophobicity und toxicity, heme has to be transported to its target proteins by different mechanisms, e.g. transport by transmembrane proteins, heme binding proteins and heme chaperones. In this context, the characterization of a novel heme chaperone called HemW in bacteria and RSAD1 in eukaryotes was the aim of this study. To characterize the heme binding of Escherichia coli HemW, the protein was overproduced, anaerobically purified and incubated with hemin afterwards. UV-vis spectroscopy and heme staining revealed clearly a heme binding. For studying the heme binding several conserved amino acid residues were exchanged and the HemW variants were analysed. Above all, the protein coordinates a [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster which was characterized with the help of EPR and Mössbauer spectroscopy. This [Fe-S] cluster was shown to be necessary for dimerization of HemW. The focus of this study was the verification of the function as heme chaperone. For this purpose, the heme-depleted, inactive nitrate oxidoreductase NarGHI from E. coli was chosen. Finally, HemW was able to restore the activity of the heme-depleted nitrate oxidoreductase followed by a spectroscopical assay. A second project was the functional study of RSAD1 in Danio rerio. Whole mount in-situ hybridization revealed the presence of RSAD1 in the high respiration organs heart, head and gills depending on the developmental stage of the fish. Furthermore, transfection of COS-7 cells with a rsad1 construct showed the location of RSAD1 in the mitochondria. Altogether, the heme chaperone HemW/RSAD1 was identified and characterized in this work.Tetrapyrrole sind komplexe Makromoleküle und die am meisten vorkommenden Pigmente in der Natur. Sie spielen eine zentrale Rolle in elektronentransfer-abhängigen energie-generierenden Prozessen wie zum Beispiel die Photosynthese und der Atmungskette. Darüber hinaus bilden sie die prosthetische Gruppe vieler Enzyme, wie zum Beispiel der Katalasen, Peroxidasen, Cytochromen oder Sensormolekülen. Häm ist ein hydrophobes Molekül, welches in wässriger Umgebung mit Lipiden und Proteinen interagiert und zur Peroxidation führt. Aufgrund der Hydrophobizität und Toxizität muss Häm durch Häm-bindene Proteine oder Häm-Chaperone zu den Zielorten transportiert werden. In diesem Zusammenhang sollte in dieser Arbeit das Häm-Chaperon, genannt HemW in Bakterien und RSAD1 in Eukaryoten, untersucht werden. Um die Hämbindung von HemW aus Escherichia coli zu untersuchen, wurde das Protein überproduziert, anaerob gereinigt und anschließend mit Hemin inkubiert. UV-vis Spektroskopie und Hämfärbung weisten eindeutig eine Hämbindung nach. Um genauere Informationen über die Hämbindung zu erlangen, wurden konservierte Aminosäurereste ausgetauscht und die HemW Varianten untersucht. Darüber hinaus koordiniert HemW ein [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster, welches mit Hilfe der EPR- und Mössbauer- Spektroskopie analysiert wurde. Es zeigte sich außerdem, dass das [Fe-S] cluster für die Dimerisierung des Proteins verantwortlich ist. Der Fokus der Arbeit lag auf der Überprüfung der Funktion als Häm-Chaperon. Dafür wurde eine häm-freie, inaktive Variante der Nitrat-Oxidoreductase NarGHI von E. coli gewählt. Es konnte der Hämtransfer von HemW auf die NarGHI aufgrund der wiederhergestellten Aktivität mittels einer spektroskopischen Untersuchung bestätigt werden. Ein weiteres Projekt bestand in der funktionellen Analyse von RSAD1 in Danio rerio. “Whole-mount” in-situ Hybridisierungen zeigten, abhängig von der Entwicklungsstufe, das Vorkommen von RSAD1 im Herzen, Kopf und Kiemen, also Organen mit hoher respiratorischer Aktivität. Außerdem wurden Cos-7 Zellen mit einem rsad1-Konstrukt transfiziert und zeigten die Lokalisierung von RSAD1 in den Mitochondrien. Zusammengefasst konnte in dieser Arbeit das Häm-Chaperon HemW/RSAD1 identifiziert und charakterisiert werden

On the Potential of Business Process Management for Digital Entrepreneurship: Findings from a Literature Review

Digital ventures face significant organizational challenges when scaling, including increasing sales and employee numbers, that withdraw resources from working on their market offerings. While digital entrepreneurship literature stresses the importance of creating processes that balance structure and flexibility to deal with these challenges, business process management (BPM) literature focuses on improving pre-designed business processes. We reconcile these perspectives in a structured literature review to explore how BPM can support digital venturing. We identify synergies and tensions between BPM and digital entrepreneurship and propose three avenues for future research. These include exploring ambidextrous BPM in digital ventures, treating digital venturing as a business process, and developing capabilities for balancing flexibility and structure. We contribute to information systems research by critically reviewing the literature on BPM and digital entrepreneurship and providing potential areas for future investigation

Collaborate to Innovate: Utilizing Design Patterns Cards for Accelerating the Digital Transformation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

As more and more organizations reach the limits of their internal capabilities to deal with the challenges induced by digital transformation, they are increasingly forced to seek external digitalization opportunities. In particular, small and medium enterprises are affected by this due to their limited human and financial resources. Currently, there is a lack of overview of options considering limited internal digital capabilities and resources. Thus, we choose an action design research approach to develop an external digitalization activity navigator. As a result, we derive five design principles for successful navigation and 30 activities, which are presented as design pattern cards. Our work can help practitioners and scholars alike to structure external digitalization activities

The Nexus of Design Thinking and Intrapreneurship: Insights from a large-scale empirical assessment

Although the nexus of Design Thinking (DT) and corporate entrepreneurship being heralded as promising, the concrete compositional architecture of how DT manifests in practice has received limited scholarly attention. Drawing on the argument that DT can facilitate intrapreneurial innovation by enabling effective cognition, we developed a multidimensional assessment model that measures DT for intrapreneurial innovation in an organizational context and applied it via an online survey to 547 organizations of different sizes and industries. An analysis of the dimensional and sub-dimensional values obtained from the quantitative survey data in general, and concerning industry and firm size types in detail, enriches our understanding of DT’s manifestation in practice. We provide practitioners with a useful tool to assess, benchmark, plan, analyze, and communicate the use of DT for intrapreneurial innovation, and guide future DT and entrepreneurship researchers seeking practitioner-relevant insights with nine propositions derived from our observations