2013, Schrettle, Stefan, Hinz, Andreas, Scherrer-Rathje, Maike, Friedli, Thomas

This research seeks to shed more light on how manufacturing firms adjust their strategy according to the sustainability challenge. Strategic decisions are influenced by strategic long-term considerations, which take into account aspects that lie within firms' boundaries and beyond. Therefore, the first step of this paper is to operationalise the sustainability challenge by identifying relevant drivers for sustainability that firms are exposed to. Second, we develop a framework showing which dimensions affect decisions concerning a sustainability move and which dimensions are affected by these decisions. A sustainability move can contain initiatives emphasising the adoption of new manufacturing technologies, the development of new, sustainable products or the integration of green practices into the supply chain. Next to the influence of sustainability drivers, we explain firms' decisions concerning a sustainability move with past performance, firm size and current level of sustainability action. Depending on whether initiatives are led by strategic or ad-hoc decisions, firms have to explore new knowledge and/or exploit existing knowledge to realise competitive advantage. The goal of this research is to provide an explanation of how decisions of sustainability moves are motivated and which dimensions in the firm are affected by these moves.

2011, Skorna, Alexander, Bode, Christoph, Hinz, Andreas

Die steigende Komplexität der Transport- und Logistikprozesse führt zu einer Vielzahl von Risiken und Gefahren bei den Transportakteuren und Versicherungen. Die global verteilten Produktions- und Absatzmärkte sind eine Ursache, dass immer mehr und höherwertigere Güter in weltumspannenden Logistiknetzwerken transportiert werden. Aufgrund des steigenden Wettbewerbsdrucks unter den Logistikdienstleistern bündeln diese vermehrt Transporte zu grösseren Transporteinheiten und lagern zeitunkritische Sendungen teilweise zwischen. Dies erhöht für die Versicherungen das Risiko von Kumulschäden und kann bei grösseren Schäden beim Warenempfänger für Lieferengpässe bzw. zu Betriebsunterbrüchen führen. Gleichzeitig sind detaillierte Informationen über den Zustand von Waren und ihrer Integrität innerhalb der Lieferkette nicht durchgehend vorhanden und die genauen Bedingungen während des Transports bleiben intransparent. Sensor-Telematik-Systeme werden heute bereits von führenden Logistikdienstleistern und Frachtführern z.B. auf ausgesuchten Routen oder für hochwertige Waren eingesetzt. Durch diese Entwicklungen werden ebenso Risiken sowohl für den Transportversicherer als auch für die Transportakteure identifizier- und messbar, was die Grundlage von effektiven präventiven, schadensmindernden Massnahmen bildet. Der Technologieeinsatz mündet in ein situativ an die jeweiligen Transportcharakteristika angepasstes Risikomanagement. Welche Einflüsse, Potentiale sowie Risiken aus dem Technologieeinsatz im Transportbereich erwachsen, soll im Rahmen des vorliegenden Beitrags diskutiert werden. Vor diesem Hintergrund analysiert dieser Beitrag das Schadenreduktionspotential eines Einsatzes von Sensor-Telematik-Systemen im Trans-portbereich in drei Schritten: (1) Zur Identifikation der aktuellen Problemstellungen und Transportrisiken im globalen Warenverkehr werden die Kernergebnisse einer Schadendatenanalyse bei einer der führenden europäischen Transportversicherung vorgestellt. (2) Im Anschluss werden die Ergebnisse der quantitativen Schadendatenanalyse anhand von 25 Experteninterviews weiter verdichtet und verallgemeinert. (3) Den Abschluss der Untersuchung bildet die Zusammenstellung der quantitativ-qualitativ erhobenen Ergebnisse und Ableitung der Wirkungspotentiale von Sensor-Telematik-Systemen zur Prävention von Transportschäden.

2011, Hinz, Andreas, Scherrer-Rathje, Maike, Neumann, Michèle

This paper explores how firms can generate competitive advantage by simultaneously addressing the dimensions of eco-sustainability and innovation in manufacturing processes. The eco-sustainability dimension is divided into eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness while the innovation dimension is divided into incremental and radical innovation. These two dimensions are combined in an eco-sustainability & innovation matrix which allows to build clusters of studied firms. In order to shed more light into the connectedness of these two dimensions and the impact on competitive advantage, case studies are conducted with firms that are actively engaged in eco-sustainability and innovation initiatives.

2012, Hinz, Andreas

2011, Schrettle, Stefan, Hinz, Andreas, Scherrer-Rathje, Maike, Friedli, Thomas

This research seeks to shed more light on the drivers of sustainability that firms are exposed to and their impact on management decisions. We have identified three essential paths of action how firms can react to the sustainability challenge. First, firms reassess their manufacturing technologies. Firms have to identify, evaluate and adopt greener technology options which focus on energy and material efficiency in manufacturing processes. Second, new, eco-friendly products are launched. Third, firms extend green practices from the plant out into the supply chain which is referred to as green supply chain practices (GSCP). In order to understand how manufacturing units are affected by the sustainability challenge, exogenous and endogenous factors are analyzed, which drive a firms' sustainability efforts. Exogenous factors include government regulation, norms and values in society as well as the market forces such as customers, competitors and suppliers. Endogenous factors include a firm's strategy, culture and resources at hand in order to deal with sustainability. Therefore, it is the goal of this work to guide firms' management decisions to address the sustainability challenge.

2011, Hinz, Andreas, Boks, Casper, Scherrer-Rathje, Maike, Skorna, Alexander, Schneider, Anselm

Manufacturing firms are increasingly exposed to pressures coming from the sustainability challenge. A thorough understanding of these drivers is important in order for firms to be able to react to the sustainability challenge. Since the sustainability challenge creates dynamic market conditions, dynamic capabilities are believed to be a key for firms in dealing with that dynamism. Knowledge-related dynamic capabilities appear to be particularly important in supporting firms to find solutions to the challenge. However, to the best of our knowledge, empirical evidence is rather limited so far. Therefore, it is the goal of this paper to examine these drivers and assess dynamic capabilities in the light of the sustainability challenge. Four case studies with multinational manufacturing firms provide empirical findings.

2011-03-31, Skorna, Alexander, Hinz, Andreas

2011, Skorna, Alexander, Hinz, Andreas

Transport and logistics operations are vulnerable to many types of risks due to an increasing dynamic and structural complexity of today's supply chain networks. Globally distributed sourcing and production lead to more transported goods in general but also to more high-value cargoes being shipped around the world. However, detailed information about the transport condition and integrity are not available in the end-to-end chain as logistics operations lack full transparency. Therefore, this paper identifies causes and risks of cargo-related losses by an analysis of cargo insurance claims. Based on these results, appropriate preventive measures to monitor and improve the product quality during logistics operations are derived.

2011, Hinz, Andreas, Scherrer-Rathje, Maike, Gütter, Saskia

This paper introduces Causal Loop Diagrams (CLD) as an organisational learning tool which should help managers of manufacturing firms to build awareness and understanding of the eco-sustainability challenge. In order to achieve that, the literature and case studies are used to analyse the drivers of the eco-sustainability challenge as well as their impact on innovation in the form of eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness. Better understanding supports management to deal with this challenge and to sustain competitive advantage. CLD are a useful tool to structure and visualise components of the sustainability challenge and to highlight important cause-effect relations between components.