Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Banking, Stock Exchanges, Insurance, Accounting, grade: 1,7, European Business School - International University Schloss Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Retail Banking in Europe, 67 entries in the bibliography, language: English, comment: Discusses the potentials inherent in applying industrialization concepts such as outsourcing and process management to retail banks in Germany., abstract: The German retail banking sector faces severe challenges. Global competitors are invading the market with new business models trying to win existing customers. At the very same time, customers become evermore demanding by means of price and quality and are willing to switch banks if it deems advantageous. If failing to act on these problems, the future of many German retail banks seems jeopardized. Other industries, in particular the manufacturing sector, have faced similar problems. In the 1980's German manufacturing companies had to cope with similar challenges and managed to successfully overcome their crisis by developing and applying new concepts such as process management, focussing on core competencies and involving external providers into their operations. In the light of this success story, industrialization appears to be a very promising mean to respond to the current situation the German retail banks are facing. While foreign institutes have already initiated successful industrialization activities it has only recently come to the attention of German retail banks. This paper will therefore examine whether and how industrialization concepts can be successfully transferred and applied to German retail banks

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: 1,0, European Business School - International University Schloss Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel (SMI - Supply Management Institute), course: Seminararbeit Logistics and Business Engineering, 75 entries in the bibliography, language: English, comment: Discusses uncertainty as it arises in strategic logistics management. A model to explain uncertainty is presented before discussing means (business strategies and organizational design strategies) to cope with this increasing uncertainty for capturing competitive advantage., abstract: In the light of the ongoing globalization and evolution of today's business world logistics has gained significant visibility and is regarded as a critical link to improved corporate performance. The value of the global logistics market accounted for $591.1 billion in 2005 and is expected to further grow by 22.1% until 2010. Apart from a constant pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency, logistics increasingly serves as a differentiating feature for products and an important lever for improving customer satisfaction. Coordination with other departments also plays a crucial role. The increasing complexity and dynamics of the business world did not leave logistics unaffected. Key drivers of uncertainty include globalization of supply and customer bases, shortening of product life cycles, increasing competition and more demanding customers. Thus, the challenge for logistics managers nowadays is to constantly balance a need to perform well on hard measures of performance, while responding to a constantly changing environment. With respect to logistics increasing importance for corporate success, reacting to contingencies by crisis management and firefighting is no longer an option. Instead, logistics managers must proactively and strategically plan for the future and prepare for change