December 18, 2020, 12:51 pm
Research / knowledge transfer
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– Prof. Dr. Axel Faix from the Department of Economics at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences,, FH Dortmund
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The recently initiated hard lockdown exacerbates the already tense situation for Dortmund’s economy in the corona pandemic. “Overall, it can be seen that especially companies that are digitally well positioned are better able to cope with the crisis,” says Prof. Dr. Axel Faix, who teaches and researches corporate management and innovation at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences. “In addition, companies have advantages if their products are in greater demand due to a crisis, for example in the health sector, or their service offerings can be quickly and precisely tailored to newly required areas of need.” Agility pays off particularly strongly under the current conditions.
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Axel Faix, together with the Innovation Excellence research group and in cooperation with the IHK in Dortmund, has been collecting data on innovation management from Dortmund companies for the so-called IHK InnoMonitor since 2014, which, according to him, shows clear differences between the industries in the longitudinal analysis. “For example, retail in Dortmund shows a relatively low level of customer orientation overall: When developing innovations to realign their product ranges, retailers are far less likely to respond to suggestions from their customers and are reluctant to use digital technologies such as social media. No company can ignore the systematic strengthening of customer orientation, ”explains the professor.
The institutions and actors involved in the development of support measures for companies would do well to consider the special characteristics of the various sectors of the Dortmund economy in their measure packages. In spite of all the differences in the individual orientations, however, care should be taken to ensure that the measures – help for companies in problem sectors, reinforcement of positive developments in promising product and technology fields – are developed “from a single source” and that the most favorable leverage effects are triggered.
“In Dortmund, the city, the economic development agency, the chambers involved and companies started developing tailor-made support formats on the basis of the ‘New Strength’ initiative, which take the local conditions into account, assign relevant roles to important actors and take into account ongoing development processes”, judges the expert. “This path should be followed consistently.”
Scientific contact:
Prof. Dr. Axel Faix
Dortmund University of Applied Sciences
Department of Economics
Tel.: 0231 9112-6357
Mail: [email protected]
Further information:
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