Efficiency and profitability of European banks: how important is operational efficiency?

Most previous research on efficiency in banking takes a regulatory perspective. In contrast, this paper investigates the empirical relation between efficiency and profitability in five large economies of the European Union during the period 1998-2005 and discusses the results from the perspective of corporate bank strategy. Methodologically the existing literature is expanded by the use of DEA super-efficiency values to regress profitability, the incorporation of risk by calculative costs of capital, and a model specification built on the modern understanding of banks as centers of value creation. The results of the conducted static and dynamic regression analyses show that profitable banks operate with higher technical efficiency than their competitors. Furthermore, the strategic environment and in this regard the structure and concentration of the national financial sector have a considerable impact on a bank's financial performance. Both issues proved to be statistically and economically significant. Thus, the results support the appropriateness of the generic strategy of cost leadership for the European banking market. Banks following this strategic position were able to achieve higher excess returns during the analyzed period. --Banks,corporate strategy,efficiency,operational efficiency,profitability

Lean reporting und Führungsinformationssysteme bei deutschen Finanzdienstleistern

Die Neugestaltung des betrieblichen Berichtswesens ist bei Banken, Bausparkassen und Versicherern derzeit von hoher Aktualität. Von den befragten Unte rnehmen führen zwei Drittel zur Zeit Lean Reporting-Projekte durch oder planen solche. Wichtigster Auslöser für die Restrukturierung des Berichtswesens ist die derzeitige Massenproduktion von Statistiken, Berichten und Auswertungen. Damit verbunden ist die Schwierigkeit, die wirklich wesentlichen Informationen in diesen Zahlenwerken ausreichend schnell zu identifizieren. --Betriebliches Berichtswesen,Finanzdienstleister,Führungsinformationssysteme,Lean Reporting,Restrukturierung

Готівка означає контроль: Емоції і розробка процесу оплати

Purpose – to investigate reasons and conditions impacting payment preferences. Design/Method/Approach. In this exploratory study, we apply the Implicit Association Test in order to investigate whether the prejudice of the population of some countries such as Germany preferring cash holds. Findings. Cash payments still play a major role in a number of countries although other payment options, namely card payments, are promoted heavily.  We discover that the type of payment and the level of control are implicitly associated. We manipulate the emotions of fear and joy. The relationship changes when participants experience fear, whereas emotion of joy does not produce statistically significant effects. Practical implications. The results have major implications for the design of payment processes. Originality/Value. Our study helps explain preferences with regard to payment types as well as predict preferences as a response to scary or joyful events. Research limitations/Future research. Generalizability is limited. Future research can focus on other emotions and types of payment (e.g., NFC – based payments). Paper type – empirical.Цель работы – определить причины и условия, влияющие на предпочтения касательно способа оплаты. Дизайн/Метод/План исследования. Применён тест подсознательных ассоциаций, чтобы выяснить, предпочитает ли население некоторых стран, например, Германии, наличные деньги. Результаты исследования. Платежи наличными по-прежнему играют важную роль в ряде стран, хотя другие способы оплаты, такие как карточные платежи, также активно продвигаются. Обнаружено, что тип оплаты и уровень контроля подсознательно связаны. Проведено манипуляцию эмоций страха и радости и выяснено, что подсознательные связи изменились, когда участники испытывали страх, тогда как эмоция радости не принесла статистически значимых эффектов. Практическое значение исследование. Результаты имеют большое значение для разработки процессов оплаты. Оригинальность/Ценность/Научная новизна исследование. Это исследование помогает объяснить предпочтения в отношении типов платежей, а также предсказать их как реакцию на пугающие или радостные события. Ограничения исследования/Перспективы дальнейших исследований. Обобщенность результатов ограничена. Будущие исследования могут сосредоточиться на других эмоциях и типах оплаты (например, NFC). Тип статьи – эмпирический. .Мета роботи – визначити причини і умови, що впливають на надання переваги певному способу оплати. Дизайн/Метод/План дослідження. Застосовано тест підсвідомих асоціацій, щоб з'ясувати, чи надає перевагу населення деяких країн, наприклад Німеччини, готівці. Результати дослідження. Платежі готівкою, як і раніше, відіграють важливу роль в ряді країн, хоча інші способи оплати, такі як карткові платежі, також активно просуваються. Виявлено, що тип оплати та рівень контролю підсвідомо пов'язані. Проведено маніпуляцію емоцій страху і радості та виявлено, що підсвідомі зв'язки змінилися, коли учасники відчували страх, тоді як емоція радості не принесла статистично значущих ефектів. Практичне значення дослідження. Результати мають велике значення для розробки процесів оплати. Оригінальність/Цінність/Наукова новизна дослідження. Це дослідження допомагає пояснити надання переваг певним типам платежів, а також передбачити їх як реакцію на радісні події або ті, що лякають. Обмеження дослідження/Перспективи подальших досліджень. Узагальненість результатів обмежена. Майбутні дослідження можуть зосередитися на інших емоціях і типах оплати (наприклад, NFC). Тип статті – емпіричний

Dimensions, Success Factors and Obstacles of the Adoption of Blockchain Technology

The adoption of new technologies is one of the tasks affecting not only the IT departments but all related business functions. However, the impacts of technologies are different and so are the adoption processes. One of the most relevant technological innovations at present is blockchain. However, unstructured experimentation with the technology, uncoordinated efforts across units or missing understanding of how blockchain connects with the firm’s current information systems hinder the adoption of blockchain. Hence, firms need to clearly understand the dimensions of the adoption across the organization and what is decisive within these dimensions. Based on an explorative study with in-depth interviews in nine cases with experts in the field of adopting blockchain technology, we distil seven dimensions of the organizational adoption of blockchain. Furthermore, we analyse the organizational dimensions and, per dimension, derive factors of success or failure of the adoption of blockchain

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON PROCESS QUALITY

Organizational Culture (OC) plays an increasingly important role in both literature and practice of BPM. Hence, companies and other organizations should be aware of their culture and the underlying valus and perceptions which might influnce the success of BPM initiatives. This paper addresses these issus and presents empirical evidence for the impact of OC on the quality of business processes. For this purpose a qustionnaire survey has been conducted combining the assessment of OC and perceived process quality. Based on a sample of 145 employees of a financial services company, the results give clear empirical evidence that there is a strong positive influnce of OC on the perceived quality of processes in an organization. Regression analyses show high explanatory significance for three of four organizational culture dimensions. The highest explanatory impact on process quality is given by the strategic orientation of an organization, followed by the structural conditions and the general management and leadership in an organization

The Role of Competition in the Adoption of Mobile Payment among Merchants

Mobile payment has been predicted to become the “new normal” in the payments industry. However, such predictions have hardly been realized in the Euro area, since most payments at the point of sale (POS) are still conducted in cash. Mobile payment represents a specific case of multi-sided markets, where the functioning of the whole market relies on the interaction between several players – in this case at least two, i.e. merchants and consumers – on a common platform. As such, every innovation that is brought to this market has to be adopted by both sides in order to be widely diffused. For the successful dissemination of mobile payment, however, it is important that merchants are among the early adopters, as merchants are the ones who directly cover the costs of the system. Nevertheless, despite its importance, extant research on mobile payment has often neglected the role of merchants. Our research in progress is set to investigate the main features of competition that will eventually stimulate merchants’ adoption of mobile payment at the POS. Empirical evidence will be provided via a survey targeting merchants with at least one physical POS. The results are expected to contribute to the literature on mobile payment, as well as that on the diffusion of innovations and multi- sided markets

Facilitating Operational Control of Business Services: A Method for Analysing and Structuring Customer Integration

The efficient delivery of services is a major task for service companies to survive in competition. But, services are characterised by the integration of customers in the process of service delivery. In this context, operational control of business services is an important issue as business service performance often suffers from operational problems caused by customers involved. In order to react, a service company has to identify the possible options for operational control clearly. This is not easy as the impact of customer integration is ambiguous. To facilitate this, a method for analysing and structuring customer integration in business services is proposed. The aim is to cluster, quantify and qualify customer integration in business services from a production point of view. Applying this method (as demonstrated using a real business service) operational control will be facilitated due to a better transparency of customer integration

AI Acquisition in Question: Process Improvement and Process Innovation

We investigate the capacity of firms to acquire and assimilate artificial intelligence (AI) technology. AI has become a magic term for digital innovation in all industries worldwide. Therefore, we first focus on antecedents which foster the development of the capacity to acquire and assimilate AI. We hypothesize that strong capabilities with regard to process improvement and process innovation should help absorb AI. Second, we hypothesize a mediation relationship. We assume that the capability of a firm to innovate processes arises from the capability to improve processes and allows for a better AI absorption. With a quantitative study, we show the strength of the proposed model. Our empirical data collection reveals that process improvement has a positive impact on AI absorption, whereby process innovation capability is a mediator. We show that uncertainty avoidance matters: it directly and indirectly impacts process improvement, process innovation, and AI absorption

Grenzen des Outsourcing: eine Exploration am Beispiel von Direktbanken

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Die Bank als Betreiberin einer elektronischen Shopping-Mall

Das aus der amerikanischen Wirtschaft stammende Konzept der Shopping-Mall ist in der realen Welt längst etabliert. In der virtuellen Welt befinden sich derartige Einkaufszentren jedoch erst in den Anfangsstadien. Eine elektronische Shopping-Mall kann z.B. im interaktiven Fernsehen oder im Internet installiert werden. Im folgenden wird ein Konzept für eine Mall entwickelt, die im Internet plaziert und durch eine Bank betrieben wird. Von besonderer Bedeutung ist dabei die Konstruktion eines Clearing-Prozesses, der die für Internet-Geschäfte sinnvollen Zahlungsmittel berücksichtigt und einen sicheren virtuellen Zahlungsverkehr gewährleistet. --Shopping-Mall,Internet,Clearing-Center,Electronic Commerce,Zahlungsmittel