Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK

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Intellectual capital statements in Brazilian SME: Lessons learned from the first pilot-implementations

2012 , Fernández y Fernandez, E. , Mertins, K. , Sequeira, C.A. , Will, M.

In the rapidly emerging Brazilian economy, and especially in the fast moving city and state of Rio de Janeiro, intangible assets become a key success factor for sustainable growth. As experiences from Europe, and for instance from Japan, have shown, the development of systematic management procedures for these intangible assets is particularly importantfor fast growing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to function as the solid backbone for an increasingly knowledge-based economy. In this context, keeping productivity at a constant high level in a dynamic and fast growing business environment - and, thus, securing individual profits and national welfare at the same time - becomes a major management goal. This goal can only be achieved if the intangible success factors, such as employees' expertise and motivation, internal communication and management structures as well as external relations, all of which are summarized in theconcept of Intellectual Capit al (IC), are maintained and developed in a professional and adequate manner, meeting the specific demands of fast growing SMEs. This management challenge has been the starting point for the first pilot-project on implementing the management tool "Intellectual Capital Statement" (ICS) in ten pioneer SMEs from Rio de Janeiro. Taking into account the experiences from the German pilot-project "Wissensbilanz - Made in Germany" as well as the European pilot-project "InCaS", a special implementation procedure for micro and small companies has been designed and tested. Theso-called "ICS Factory" aims at ensuring fast practical results in the companies as well as supporting rapid prototypingand an action research approach to be used for the development of an adapted Brazilian version of the ICS. In a two-day workshop concept, with three to five SMEs each represented by two to three senior managers and key people, a complete analysis of the company's individual IC is produced, based on the structured self-ass

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Fabrikplanungsprojekte ergebnisorientiert steuern

2011 , Mertins, K. , Glinitzki, S. , Rabe, Markus

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Wissensstandort Deutschland - Deutsche Unternehmen auf dem Weg in die wissensbasierte Wirtschaft

2010 , Mertins, K.

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Analysing and enhancing IC in business networks: Results from a recent study

2010 , Mertins, K. , Will, M. , Meyer, C.

Since the acknowledgement of intellectual capital (IC) as the major driver of a company's competitive and innovative performance numerous scientific models and practical approaches were developed to capture and display the IC elements of businesses in order to make them visible and accessible for management. But since the economy has gone global and businesses are acting within a global business landscape the view on IC needs to be expanded to these new structures. Especially for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) commitment in networks and clusters is crucial for sustainable competitiveness on international markets. Alike single companies, also business networks highly depend on IC in order to perform successfully and effectively. The way businesses cooperate, exchange and acq uire knowledge, find suitable partners, solve problems, develop and profit from the network has an impact on the company itself as well as on the network. Aiming at an IC-based assessment and support of SME networks, the methodology presented in this paper follows a bottom-up approach starting with the assessment of IC in the single company. Within the research projects InCaS: Intellectual Capital Statements Made in Europe and Wissensbilanz Made in Germany a methodology has been developed which has proved to be capable of collecting comparable qualitative IC data. Based on these results, a consolidated approach has been designed recently, collecting IC data from more than 600 companies in Germany. The results are comparable and individual at the same time, allowing to display IC se ttings of single companies as well as to aggregate IC information within an IC portfolio for a whole group of companies. The paper will present the methodology as well as some first results from the study taking a look at the German IC landscape based on more than 600 individual IC assessments. The paper will also discuss the possibilities of using the results for IC enhancement in networks and clusters from the view of the single company.

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Intellectual capital and the triple bottom line: Overview, concepts and requirements for an integrated sustainability management system

2012 , Mertins, K. , Orth, R.

Societal stakeholders will increasingly demand evidence of sustainable management from the corporate world. A structured approach towards sustainable management provides the basis for a transparent assessment of the enterprise's performance and the continual improvement of its processes, products and services along with opportunities for innovation. Benefits deriving from such an approach are resource efficiency, a high-quality workforce, customer satisfaction and public acceptance. At the same time, there is hardly any doubt that for the successful implementation of sustainable strategies in companies, the intelligent management of knowledge and other intangible resources is a fundamental basis. Therefore, the intellectual capital can be seen as a driver for a sustainable development at a corporate level that has to be measured and applied in order to increase the value of an organisation. An integrated view of both perspectives has not taken place yet. Therefore, this research paper aims to show requirements and perspectives for an integrative approach. As a conclusion the paper will outline a proposal for an integrated management system considering conceptual aspects as well as a procedural model for implementation.

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Integrating intellectual capital and sustainability management: Perspectives for the internal management and external reporting in small and medium sized enterprises

2011 , Mertins, K. , Orth, R.

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Organisationsmodelle für virtuelle Unternehmen und Erfahrungen aus Netzwerken

2010 , Mertins, K.

Die Verbreitung von Unternehmensnetzwerken, virtuellen Unternehmen und Zulieferclustern nimmt weltweit zu, da sich dort ein besserer Marktzugang für kleine Unternehmen erreichen lässt und die Kooperationskosten gegenüber fallweiser Kooperation gesenkt werden können. Es muss für eine erfolgreiche Kooperation allerdings auch ein professionelles Netzwerkmanagement eingesetzt und enge Termine und Schwankungen in einer Lieferkette erfordert aufwandsarme Schnittstellen. Für beides werden realisierte Beispiele beschreiben. Zunehmend stellen Kunden Forderungen nach innovativen Angeboten der Zulieferer. Ein Netzwerk bietet hier bessere Voraussetzungen für Innovations¬prozesse als Einzelunternehmen, da der Ideenpool und der Beurteilungs¬sachverstand größer ist und einige Netzwerkteilnehmer näher an der Endanwendung sind (Beziehungskapital). Insgesamt werden bisher noch kaum die Potentiale des intellektuellen Kapitals (Humankapital, Strukturkapital, Beziehungskapital) für Netzwerke genutzt. Hier kann das IPK mit Analysen und Strategiecoaching die Erfolgsbasis entscheidend verbessern und über den Lösungspool des Deutschen Forum für Interoperabilität Schnittstellenlösungen anbieten, die Lieferprozessen dienen wie auch Werkzeuge und Schnittstellen die in Innovationsprozessen helfen

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Towards CPS based aircraft MRO

2012 , Mertins, K. , Knothe, T. , Gocev, P.

Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) receiving more and more industrial reality. In this paper a concept for the application of CPS for Aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul, sketched with airline partners, will be given. Based on industrial needs and requirements as well as the current state of the art the concept is describing a direct assignment of MRO-tasks to mechanic, tools and spare parts in order improve aircraft availability. The planning will be supported through simulation based generation of contextual MRO-tasks.

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Sustainable key-figure benchmarking for small and medium sized enterprises

2011 , Mertins, K. , Kohl, H. , Riebartsch, O.

Sustainability as a concept of long-term economical, ecological and social orientation has an increasing impact on decision making processes within today's industry. In order to catch up with this development, modern Benchmarking approaches need to cover more than economical aspects. Therefore, the Fraunhofer IPK has extended the scope of the BenchmarkIndex, which is the leading key-figure-based Benchmarking analysis for SMEs. The core element of this approach is the integration of an additional "sustainability perspective" to the underlying four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), so that Benchmarking results will not only enhance companies' economical performances, but also take environmental requirements such as energy-efficiency and social responsibility into consideration. Due to the wide dissemination of the BenchmarkIndex, comprehensive sustainable indicators will be accessible to more than 100.000 SMEs worldwide, especially sensitising those that barely have paid attention to sustainability yet, in order to realise a targeted impact for the sustainable production worldwide.

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Implementation of environmental friendly processes for handcraft and wood-furniture industry in Indonesia

2010 , Mertins, K. , Kohl, H.

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