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New Book Chapter: Assessing the PESO Model in the German Automotive Industry

In late 2023, the book “Holistische Social-Media-Strategien” was published by Springer. With the book, the editors, Professors Anne-Kristin Langner and Gabriele Schuster, both of International University (IU) in Germany, attempt to develop a holistic and strategic approach to social media. They have assembled an interesting mix of scholars who tackle this issue by looking at social media from multiple perspectives (e.g. economics, communication, and design) and incorporating recent trends (e.g. the superstar economy/influencer marketing and the Metaverse). I have previously worked with Professor Langner on the curriculum of the study program on social media which she runs at her university.

A chapter cowritten with Judith Zeeb, a graduate from Munich Business School, now at Oliver Schrott Kommunikation, an agency, made it into the book. The chapter’s title is: “Assessing the PESO Model in the German Automotive Industry: Results of an Expert Study and Introduction of the Content Flow Model“. Please find the abstract, some key insights, and the links to the full version of the chapter below.

Image of a car, reflecting the automotive industry.
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Expert Interview with Galileo: The German Fitness Industry

From 2018 until 2021, I ran the Master in Sports Business and Communication at Munich Business School. In different courses, we extensively discuss the shifts in the sport industry. A couple of months ago, I was invited as an industry expert by Galileo, a daily knowledge show, broadcast on Pro7, a private channel. They were planning a full episode on the German fitness industry, with a focus on McFit/RSG Group. Of course, we recorded the interview in a gym, based in Munich. You can find the full episode below, including some key take-aways and a couple of studies I cited in the interview.

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Save the date: Sunbelt 2013 in Hamburg May 21-26, 2013

Here are some interesting news for the ones among you who are interested in social network analysis (SNA) and live in Germany. Next year’s SUNBELT conference is going to be conveniently close as it is held in Hamburg from May 21-26. It will be organized by Betina Hollstein, Sonja Drobnic, and Michael Schnegg, all from the University of Hamburg. More information should follow shortly on the website, the INSNA blog, and on Facebook.

Talking about network analysis, @bkeegan pointed me to an extremely interesting article by Tom Valente published in the journal Science the other day. In the article, Tom describes different types of interventions that help to drive change in a network. Some of you probably find this interesting as well. Please see below for the full reference and the link to the article.

Reference:

Valente, T. W. (2012). Network Interventions. Science, 337(6090), 49–53. doi:10.1126/science.1217330

Thoughts on the 5th Trier Summer School on Social Network Analysis #tsna

I spent most of last week at the 5th Trier Summer School on Social Network Analysis. I have to say that Mar­kus Gam­per, Andreas Herz and Richard Heidler were doing a great job as lecturers and convenors of the workshops. John Padgett from the University of Chicago held an inspiring keynote speech on the first night talking about his enduring work on the Medici.

The first two days were filled with theory (an excellent, extensive reading list was provided prior to the course), the last 3.5 days were practical training with real data using different types of software, namely Pajek, Gephi, Vennmaker and R. While I was already familiar with a number of the readings and concepts discussed, the use of the different software tools for data entry, visualization and analysis was still new to me. Although we discussed a number of interesting data sets, the most entertaining one was the network of Richard’s wedding party where people were seated at tables based on friendship cliques. I guess you can tell that Richard treasures his profession and discipline 😉

5te trierer summer school 21

The most valuable bit of the week was probably a session that could best be translated as ‘research consultancy’. Everyone had the chance to submit their project proposals by the beginning of the summer in order to have them reviewed by the researchers listed above. I have had some feedback on my work from colleagues in my discipline when attending the AOM2011, however the summer school was a great chance to collect more ideas in methodological terms. Richard made me aware of the use of R for generating stochastic models of networks and conducting significance tests, for example.

Throughout the week I paid closer (than usual) attention to the #SNA hashtag on Twitter and discovered a few interesting posts. There is an active Gephi community in Berlin. Furthermore, I discovered niche sites for SNA in historical research and SNA in organizational research. Last but not least, I came across a new tool for managerial network analysis called Socilyzer.

Goodbye UK, welcome (back) Germany

I’ve recently switched universities and moved from the United Kingdom to Germany. I’m now enrolled in a program with the title ‘Dynamic Capabilities and Relationships’. The graduate school is run jointly by the Europa-Universität Viadrina, situated in Frankfurt (Oder), and the German Graduate School of Management and Law in Heilbronn. We’re a team of six researchers: five PhD students and one PostDoc. The aim of the doctoral program is to create knowledge about how organizations achieve and sustain competitive advantage in rapidly changing environments through relationships with other organizations and stakeholders. You can see the people involved in the picture below (photo credit: EUV press office, Heide Fest).

15_04_2011eoegad-kolleg_dcr

I’m excited to be part of this newly established program and, luckily, will be able to continue the work on my original research proposal which I developed in Nottingham. It suits well within the realm of the program, primarily because my focus has been on organizational efficiency and relationships from the very start.

I want to take this chance to thank my previous supervisors, John Richards and Iain Coyne, for their great support. Both of them have guided my thinking and my professional development significantly.