Veranstaltungen Wintersemester 2025/26

Individual decisions by managers and consumers shape the retail environment, but also the daily living in general. This course provides insights into decision-making processes from both a psychological and managerial point-of-view. Specifically, people use different decision-making styles to solve problems that they encounter.

The lecture will give insights into the outcomes of different decision-making styles for different types of problems and how coordinated decision-making processes can be optimized. Moreover, decision-making will be analyzed at different levels of the retail environment. On the managerial level, managers are required to constantly make decisions with regards to collaboration with suppliers and the coordination of the demand side. This course will give an overview of different phenomena that can support decision-making in companies. Furthermore, consumers have to make multiple decisions during their information search, purchase and consumption. Students will learn to know how consumer decisions deviate from optimal choices due to irrational decision-making. Finally, an ongoing debate in public policy discusses whether and how consumers should be nudged towards making more sustainable choices. Students will participate in this discussion by exploring how interventions influence consumers’ choice outcomes. In sum, this course will give insights into decisions and choice biases regarding 1) general psychological mechanisms, 2) outcomes at the managerial level, 3) consumer outcomes, and 4) societal outcomes. The overall aim of this course is to highlight the role of conscious and unconscious information processing, and how people can make better decisions in various domains. The course is useful to guide future managers in their daily problem-solving in companies.

Masterseminar "Dream Labs I – Developing New Business Models"

Projektseminar zu Design-Thinking (Master)  im Wintersemester.

Prof. Dr. Oliver Emrich bietet im Wintersemester für Masterstudierende das Projektseminar “Dream Labs I: Setting Trends in Omni-Channel Marketing” an. Im Wintersemester 2025/26 findet das Projektseminar Dream Labs I in Kooperation mit der Stadtverwaltung Mainz statt.

In diesem Projektseminar entwickeln Studierende Management-Konzepte für reale Probleme im Omni-Channel Marketing. Die Studierenden entwickeln mit „Design Thinking“ kreativ eigene Konzepte, testen diese mit empirischer Marktforschung und Datenanalyse und präsentieren sie. Bei den Konzepten geht es um die Gestaltung der Customer Journey, also des erlebnisorientierten Kaufprozesses aus Sicht des Kunden, und wie Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte dort wirksam kommuniziert werden können. Der Kurs bietet ein modernes didaktisches Konzept von Vorträgen, Gruppenarbeit und „flipped classroom“-Methoden. Die Studierenden erhalten Einblicke in das Projektmanagement und Management-Feedback auf ihre Konzepte sowie eine Übersicht über relevante Theorien und Methoden als „Tools“ für alle Phasen ihrer Konzeptentwicklung. Workshops ermöglichen es, Storytelling- und Visualisierungstechniken zu erlernen.

Dream Labs I: Inspired by new challenges of digital technologies and a transforming customer landscape, the management of campaigns across communication and distribution channels (i.e., omni-channel marketing) has changed. Top-down approaches, in which consumers are unidirectionally informed at traditional marketing touchpoints, have become less feasible. Instead, successful marketing campaigns often create experiences across the whole customer journey and require bidirectional relationships with customers.

Dream Labs II: Digital technologies challenge managers to rethink the value proposition of their companies and develop new concepts that may result in new products, services or even new business models. Managers increasingly use design thinking to envision new approaches for addressing and influencing customer preferences in the market.

As such, managers increasingly try to embrace newly enfolding consumer trends in a fast and agile management approach. In addition, competence profiles of managers are about to change. While skill sets had been traditionally separated into data-analysts and creatives, modern marketing managers are now required to combine analytical skills with creativity.

In this course, students will develop a management concept for a real-world problem in omni-channel marketing (Dream Labs I) or new product / service / business model development (Dream Labs II). They will conduct all steps from conceptual development, empirical research and data analysis to final project presentation. Methods offered in the project seminar range from classical market research to more modern design thinking approaches. The course uses a modern didactic concept of lectures, team work and flipped classroom learning modules.

The learning perspectives are two-fold: Students will receive managerial insights into project management and management feedbacks on their own concepts as well as relevant theories and methods as „tools“ for all phases of their project management. Teams of students will creatively apply those managerial and theoretical insights into the development of the management concept. Expert workshops will enable them to acquire new skills in outlining their management concepts using storytelling and visualization techniques. Students will perform an encompassing project presentation including conceptual development, empirical research, storytelling & visualization as well as management & research implications.

• Learn from theory and management practice how to set trends in omni-channel marketing (Dream Labs I) / how to develop new products, services, and business models (Dream Labs II).
• Develop competence and skills on how to develop management concepts by applying your learnings to real-world problems in omni-channel marketing / management
• Understand how to integrate and translate scientific findings into management concepts
• Use team work effectively to combine systematical research and development with creativity
• Perform a conclusive, captivating, and persuasive project presentation.

Recommended literature:                                                                                                                                    Literature will be made available at the kick-off event and at three workshops.

Die Anmeldung erfolgt über Jogustine.