Offered Subjects

Focus on students of Business Informatics

Unfortunately, due to the high requests for our topics we have a high occupancy rate (see theses in process). Especially if we don't pro-actively publish offered subjects for theses, we need to focus on students of the business informatic degrees, in order to still gurantee adequate supervision. For students of other degree programs we recommend to contact professors of their own degree program in order to find a suitable tutor for their thesis.

Offered subjects by the chair

Here you will find all the topics offered by the Chair for Bachelor's and Master's Theses. If no topics are offered, an application with your own topic is possible at any time.

Original Title: Governance in E-Commerce-Plattformen

Governance in e-commerce platforms

Type:
  • Bachelor Thesis Business Information Systems
  • Master Thesis Business Information Systems
Status:
offered
Tutor:

Abstract

Platform-based ecosystems dominate e-commerce and create value through participant growth and network effects. E-commerce enables transactions with physical and digital goods without spatial and temporal restrictions. Successful companies such as Amazon Marketplace, Walmart Marketplace and Tmall.com operate digital marketplaces based on the economic principles of two-sided markets. To manage the complex processes in digital business ecosystems, platform operators orchestrate independent participants worldwide. As central actors, they define governance rules that regulate the exchange of value between the participants. Against this background, the thesis examines governance mechanisms used for orchestration on e-commerce platforms on the basis of a cross-case study. In the case of a master's thesis, the morphology should also be evaluated in expert interviews.
To conduct the study, the chair provides an initial list of e-commerce companies and an overview of possible governance mechanisms. The aim of the work is to create a morphological box that reflects the possible forms of governance mechanisms.

Starting literature:

  • Wulfert, Tobias; Woroch, Robert; Strobel, Gero (2024): Follow the flow: An exploratory multi-case study of value creation in e-commerce ecosystems. In Information & Management 61 (8), p. 104035. DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2024.104035.
  • Hein, Andreas (2020): Digital Platform Ecosystems: Emergence and Value Co-Creation Mechanisms. Technischen Universität München, München.
  • Jacobides, Michael G.; Cennamo, Carmelo; Gawer, Annabelle (2018): Towards a theory of ecosystems. In Strat. Mgmt. J. 39 (8), pp. 2255–2276. DOI: 10.1002/smj.2904.
  • Tiwana, Amrit (2014): Platform Ecosystems: Elsevier, Kapitel 6
  • Hein, Andreas; Schreieck, Maximilian; Wiesche, Manuel; Krcmar, Helmut (2016): Multiple-Case Analysis on Governance Mechanisms of Multi-Sided Platforms. In : Multikonferenz Wirtschaftsinformatik. Ilmenau, Germany.
  • Staub, Nicola; Haki, Kazem; Aier, Stephan; Winter, Robert (2022): Governance Mechanisms in Digital Platform Ecosystems: Addressing the Generativity-Control Tension. In Communications of the Association for Information Systems 51 (1), pp. 906–939. DOI: 10.17705/1CAIS.05137.

Original Abstract:

Plattformbasierte Ökosysteme dominieren den E-Commerce und schaffen durch Teilnehmerwachstum und Netzwerkeffekte Wert. Der elektronische Handel ermöglicht Transaktionen mit physischen und digitalen Gütern ohne räumliche und zeitliche Einschränkungen. Erfolgreiche Unternehmen wie Amazon Marketplace, Walmart Marketplace und Tmall.com betreiben digitale Marktplätze, die auf den wirtschaftlichen Prinzipien zweiseitiger Märkte basieren. Um die komplexen Prozesse in digitalen Geschäftsökosystemen zu steuern, orchestrieren Plattformbetreiber weltweit unabhängige Teilnehmer. Als zentrale Akteure legen sie Governance-Regeln fest, die den Wertaustausch zwischen den Beteiligten regeln. Die Arbeit untersucht vor diesem Hintergrund Governance-Mechanismen, die für die Orchestrierung auf E-Commerce-Plattformen eingesetzt werden, anhand einer fallübergreifenden Studie. Im Falle einer Masterarbeit sollte die Morphologie auch in Experteninterviews evaluiert werden.

Zur Durchführung der Studie stellt der Lehrstuhl eine initiale Liste von E-Commerce-Unternehmen sowie eine Übersicht möglicher Governance-Mechanismen bereit. Ziel der Arbeit ist die Erstellung eines morphologischen Kastens, der die möglichen Ausprägungen der Governance-Mechanismen widerspiegelt.

Startliteratur:

  • Wulfert, Tobias; Woroch, Robert; Strobel, Gero (2024): Follow the flow: An exploratory multi-case study of value creation in e-commerce ecosystems. In Information & Management 61 (8), p. 104035. DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2024.104035.
  • Hein, Andreas (2020): Digital Platform Ecosystems: Emergence and Value Co-Creation Mechanisms. Technischen Universität München, München.
  • Jacobides, Michael G.; Cennamo, Carmelo; Gawer, Annabelle (2018): Towards a theory of ecosystems. In Strat. Mgmt. J. 39 (8), pp. 2255–2276. DOI: 10.1002/smj.2904.
  • Tiwana, Amrit (2014): Platform Ecosystems: Elsevier, Kapitel 6
  • Hein, Andreas; Schreieck, Maximilian; Wiesche, Manuel; Krcmar, Helmut (2016): Multiple-Case Analysis on Governance Mechanisms of Multi-Sided Platforms. In : Multikonferenz Wirtschaftsinformatik. Ilmenau, Germany.
  • Staub, Nicola; Haki, Kazem; Aier, Stephan; Winter, Robert (2022): Governance Mechanisms in Digital Platform Ecosystems: Addressing the Generativity-Control Tension. In Communications of the Association for Information Systems 51 (1), pp. 906–939. DOI: 10.17705/1CAIS.05137.