GRK 517: Business Aspects of Loosely Coupled Systems and Electronic Business

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New electronic media, e.g. the Internet, enable efficient and detailed communication independent of location and time restrictions. They are the prerequisite for being able to produce even complex goods in a co-operation of partners at different locations. Under these conditions companies can concentrate on their respective core competencies and produce and market their products within a loosely coupled system of companies working together as partners along the value chain. The research program of the research training group covers managerial aspects of the successful management of these loosely coupled systems. The aim is to investigate, how loosely coupled systems are characterised, which importance they have, how they are created and developed, how they are supervised and controlled, and in particular how the members are motivated to co-operate. With regard to organisational aspects it is of interest how specialisation and co-ordination are carried out. With respect to functional aspects it is to be examined, how technological knowledge is produced and how production and sales of products or services are designed. With respect to financial criteria it is to be investigated, how the financing of common projects is to take place and how results can be attributed to the partners. These perspectives are completed by psychological investigations of the conditions of work and investigations of the frame given by law. The focus within all these research topics is on conditions under which loosely coupled systems are particularly successful.