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The digital transformation of the children's entertainment industry has burdened sales departments with having to deal with shifting markets and rapidly changing consumer behaviour, e.g. a move toward streaming. Companies are being forced to reorganise their sales departments to serve digital channels - in addition to traditional physical channels. We investigate how required competencies for sales professionals differ between the two channel types, by conducting a case study with a leading German company in the children's entertainment industry. Based on an analysis of several e-mails and internal reports, we develop a competency lexicon in a first step. We subsequently conduct behavioural event interviews with all persons involved in sales and use the competency lexicon for coding. We then compare required competencies of sales professionals servicing digital and physical sales channels. This short paper ends with a discussion of the next steps planned for acquiring a comprehensive picture beyond the case company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the diffusion of co-creation expertise at a large German high tech company. The experiences and learnings of a team of innovation managers who in the last two years conducted three co-creation projects in the company build the empirical basis of the research. Hence, this article contributes to the ongoing discussion in innovation literature to enhance the organizational perspective of co-creation research. This research argues that the experiences and learnings of innovation managers who frequently conduct co-creation projects are a valuable resource for organizations. This resource fosters and strengthens the co-creation activities - supposing that innovation managers share their co-creation expertise within their organization. Results focus on the gained co-creation expertise as well as the way how the innovation managers shared their gained co-creation expertise. The paper concludes with managerial implications for organizations that aim to support co-creation activities within their organization and avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fueled by the SARS-COV-2 Pandemic, hybrid business models that combine online and offline sales channels have become indispensable for the survival of retailers. Local retail in particular shows a strong need for improvement to maintain economically strong and attractive city centers in the future. In the context of a case study from Aachen, Germany we derive, combining qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, factors that influence the retailers’ intention to use multiple sales channels in a local context. We find five main factors influencing the local retailers’ intention to use multichannel tools. In addition to financial and time-related obstacles, we observe that there is a critical company size that has a negative impact on the integration of different sales channels, while a low technology anxiety as well as the degree of involvement in further digitization activities influence the usage intention positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovations are increasingly emerging from networks in which different competencies can be bundled with the help of the Open Innovation (OI) paradigm. The present first of its kind case study examined the knowledge and dissemination of Open Innovation among German SMEs from the traditional industry of technical textiles with the help of an online questionnaire and personal interviews. In this way, it can make a significant contribution to the understanding of opportunities, risks and concerns regarding OI in SMEs. So far, this understanding only existed for larger companies and corporations. In this examination approximately 20% of the whole industry participated. The results of the study show that Open Innovation is seen as a great potential for improving innovation activities in SMEs. It is widespread among these enterprises but at the same time lacking behind the number of larger corporations that are active in the field of Open Innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The poster will present a summary of the arguments and topics raised in protest and support letters against the forthcoming closure of the Department for Information Science at the University of Duesseldorf, Germany. Case study-like this will shed light on how peers and stakeholders perceive the role and relevance of information science in general as well as the contribution of the Duesseldorf Department in particular. The poster aims, however, at providing a historical description on the actions taken and the arguments made. It will rather present indicators than significant evidence about perceptions of information science. The results of the small-scale topical analyses of the support letters, tweets, and comments to an online petition reveal that typical fields like information retrieval and knowledge management as well as skills like research or assessment of information are seen as assets of information scientists. However, popularizing the benefits of and - along with it - establishing information science as main subject within the (information) society is still due. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]