Project Term Paper

Group 4
Value Chain

Submission Date 07-Nov-2016

University HSBA Hamburg School of Business

Administration
Adolphspl. 1, D-20457 Hamburg

Study Program M.Sc. 15 Global Management and

Governance

Module Project

Students Lukas Brose (2932)

(Matriculation Number) Faisal Jashamuddin (2561)
Jonas Pielke (2723)
Clemens Prangenberg (2552)
Benno Schneider (2551)

IV
Table of Contents

Table of Contents ............................................................................................... I

Table of Figures................................................................................................. II

List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................... III

1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1

2 The Value Chain Model .............................................................................. 1

3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US .................................................. 3

3.1 Support Processes ................................................................................. 3

3.1.1 Administration .................................................................................. 3

3.1.2 Human Resource ............................................................................. 4

3.1.3 Technology ...................................................................................... 5

3.1.4 Procurement .................................................................................... 6

3.2 Core Processes...................................................................................... 6

3.2.1 Inbound Logistics ............................................................................. 6

3.2.2 Operations ....................................................................................... 7

3.2.3 Marketing and Sales ........................................................................ 8

3.2.4 Services ......................................................................................... 11

3.2.5 Outbound Logistics ........................................................................ 12

4 Conclusion and Recommendation ............................................................ 13

List of References............................................................................................. IV

I
Table of Figures

Figure 1: Porters value chain model.................................................................. 1

Figure 2: Definition of primary and support activities.......................................... 2

Figure 3: STULZ US sales force ........................................................................ 9

Figure 4: Advantages of a synchronized IT infrastructure ................................ 10

Figure 5: STULZ conventional business model ................................................ 13

Figure 6: Proposed new business model with enhanced added value ............. 14

II
List of Abbreviations

CRM Customer Relationship Management

ERP Enterprise Resource Planning

EXW Ex Works

HR Human resources

ISO International Organization for Standardization

PSN Product Support Network

SEO Search engine optimization

III
 Chapter 1 Introduction

1 Introduction
Todays business world is getting more and more connected and the academic
perception of companies and competition is transforming simultaneously. Thus,
competition today is more defined as value chain against value chain than com-
pany against company. Effective value chain management with a high degree of
efficiency is one corner stone of competitive success.1

This term paper aims firstly, at analyzing the value chain of STULZ US and
secondly, tries to examine potential improvements along the different value
chain parts.

Therefore, the theoretical value chain model is introduced as a first step. Sec-
ondly, the term paper analyzes each part of STULZ USs value chain and if
applicable shows possibilities for an immediate increase in corporate perfor-
mance. This analysis will be the foundation for the final conclusion. This chapter
connects the dots and aims at a comprehensive recommendation how STULZ
US can reinvent their value chain to further improve the overall value creation.

2 The Value Chain Model

The value chain model was introduced by Michael Porter in 1985 and quickly
developed into a global accepted tool to analyze competitiveness. The structure
of the model is displayed in figure 1.

Figure 1: Porters value chain model2

1 Persutti & Mawhinney (2013), p. 1f

2 Own presentation

1
 Chapter 2 The Value Chain Model

The perception of the value creation process of a firm is added by an external

perspective namely, the supply side (procurement and inbound logistics). This
illustrates that a company is embedded in a larger stream of activities. Suppliers
also have their own value chains which Porter defines as upstream value.3

The firms activities are split into supporting or secondary activities and primary
or core activities. The following graphic describes the assorted characteristics.

Figure 2: Definition of primary and support activities 4

The value adding takes only place at the primary activities. Each primary activity
can be vital for the competitiveness of a company. The extent to which a certain
part of the primary activities affects a company depends on the respective busi-
ness in which a company operates. In the upcoming STULZ analyzes opera-
tions as well as service play an exceptional role.

The support activities for themselves do not add value to a product or service.
They lay the foundation that a company can operate its primary activities as

3 Porter (2000), p.50

4 Own presentation as of Porter (2000), p. 53ff.

2
 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

planned. In this way, improvements in the field of support activities promote

corporate success.

The distinction between primary and support activities helps to understand that
not all processes add value to a product or service, but that both kinds of pro-
cesses are part of the whole value creation process.5 For instance, a company
with a great product and exceptional service will not be successful if it lacks
skills in administration and human resources (HR) management.

The interlinkage between primary and support activities becomes even clearer
when we keep in mind that every primary activity employs purchased inputs,
human resources and some form of technology. Moreover, each value chain
activity may use and create information (e.g. product performance or customer
data) or financial data (e.g. inventory, accounts receivable etc.).6

Based on the described model, the upcoming chapter will analyze the value
chain auf STULZ US.

3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

This section will give an analysis of the status quo at STULZ US of each value
chain part. Moreover, it will provide recommendations to further improve or
reengineer the value chain.

3.1 Support Processes

Bevor addressing the primary activities of STULZ US this term paper will elabo-
rate on the range of support processes that are needed to keep the organization
performing as desired.

3.1.1 Administration
Having a good administration in place to assure internal communication as well
as representing excellence in work processes is a foundation to create ultimate
value not only for the company itself but also for the customer.

STULZ US has been certified to ISO 9001 which assures a high level standard
of the quality management system. The ISO 9001 standard displays a number
of management principles such as strong customer focus, the integration and

5 Porter (2000), p. 50
6 Porter (2000), p. 52f.

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 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

participation of the management and continual drive for improvement.7 It is not

only an internal standard which has to be maintained but also a tool which is
used to establish trust between STULZ US and its high demanding customers.

Furthermore, STULZ US intends to certify according to ISO 14001 and ISO

22301 in the future. ISO 14001 displays the awareness of the companys envi-
ronmental responsibility and ISO 22301 assures that STULZ US is trained to
minimize the likelihood of risks by planning, establishing and implementing a
documented management system.8

Another important point within the administration of STULZ is internal and ex-
ternal auditing. Every six weeks internal audits in different sections are con-
ducted. Moreover, every six month STULZ US makes sure to be audited by a
third party. A comprehensive and full audit is carried out every three years.9 The
interval of internal and external audits depends on many factors such as the risk
level of the firm and the audit costs in relation to the companys asset size. Fur-
thermore, it can be argued that auditing is a social good and that without the
jurisdictive requirement to audit many companies would save these costs.10

Both, aiming for high quality standards certified by ISO and the comprehensive
internal and external audit processes, show that the company understands the
future challenges. Thus, the recommendation for STULZ US is to stay on this
path and conduct additional certifications in order to enhance the excellence
level in administration even further.

3.1.2 Human Resource

One of the key success factors at STULZ US is the management of their human
resources. The company focusses on continuous training of their work force
within their operational processes. One reason for this is the scarcity of work-
force for their operational business within their regional area. Therefore, training
their current workforce ensures the future capability of successfully satisfying
the demands of customization by their customers.

Nevertheless, one of the major problems in human resource at STULZ US is

the unpredictable planning of work load as projects are requested on short no-
tice. These demand peaks are faced by hiring temporary work force as well as

7 Popular international standard for quality management systems (ISO 2015).

8 ISO (2016)
9 Tucker (2016)
10 Carey & Guest (2000), p. 449

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 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

shifting workers from one project to another. This is only possible due to their
employee training. In addition, the established work flow process allows em-
ployees to switch between projects based on their knowledge of a specific pro-
duction process. STULZ also tries to keep the most promising temporary em-
ployees within the company by offering full time employment.

A recommendation, which can be made to overcome the difficulty of acquiring

work force, is to promote their excellent working conditions, their willingness to
train and develop their employees and the great opportunities within the com-
pany stronger. This will support STULZs employer branding and may attract
new qualified workforce. For short-term demand peaks, hiring temporary work
force is the most reasonable approach to as well satisfy the customer as to
maintain a flexibility of workforce.

3.1.3 Technology
The aspect of technology not only contains production technology but also
technology regarding business and administrational software tools. The status
quo at STULZ US is that the company has no comprehensive customer rela-
tionship management (CRM) system in place. However, many business practi-
tioners and consultants support the idea of implementing a well-structured CRM
to assure the competitive advantage within the increasingly competitive econo-
my despite the costs for implementation and operation.11 They also argue that
most of the time it is not the cost of such a system but the mindset of the man-
agers that hinders the successful implementation.

Furthermore, by using the CRM system, patterns of customer purchasing be-

havior can be analyzed. This adds an additional dimension to the forecasting
process and might reduce the current challenges (see chapter 3.1.2). Besides,
a more precise forecasting will also support the procurement of material with
long lead times.12

The analysis of STULZ USs technological capabilities also showed the lack of
a harmonized enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in addition to different
intranet approaches at their subsidiaries within the country. Implementing one
intranet for the whole country or even the whole corporation would improve the
communication between STULZ US headquarter with their subsidiaries, which
is a minor problem for the administrative department. Reaction times to cus-

11 Moedritscher & Mussnig (2005), p. 371

12 The conflicting dimensions always are: availability vs. working capital reduction.

5
 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

tomer requests could also profit from a closer interlinking within the STULZ cor-
poration.

3.1.4 Procurement
The final dealt with support activity of the value chain is the procurement. The
analysis of the procurement process of STULZ US showed that there is little
room for improvement based on both, company-internal and customer-
requirements, e.g. regarding purchased materials. Quality is the main driver for
the procurement process at STULZ US and therefore, raw materials are pur-
chased mainly from North America and Europe. Low-cost manufacturing coun-
tries are not for consideration as the quality can sometimes not be guaranteed
and the additional management efforts equalize the cost savings. Thus, the
company relies on their regular suppliers with the intention to have second
sources available if crucial or high value parts cannot be delivered on time. All
raw materials are then put together and tested at STULZ US headquarter. An-
other benefit, apart from having the best possible quality products, is the possi-
bility to promote the fact that their products are designed and manufactured in
the USA, which is an important selling factor in the USA and therefore is a ma-
jor value creator for the company.

3.2 Core Processes

Following the analysis of the support activities, the term paper will now elabo-
rate on the actual core processes of STULZ US which are directly related to the
value adding of the company, while the mentioned support processes are at
most indirectly linked to the value creation.

3.2.1 Inbound Logistics

Regarding inbound logistics it has been stated above that STULZ US sources a
large part of its required materials from local suppliers. Thus, the company is
able to sell its products with the 'Designed & Manufactured in the USA' label.

STULZ believes that every region of the world has specific mission critical cool-
ing needs and customer requirements which can only be met in the best possi-
ble way by manufacturing in that respective market.13

Only a low level of raw materials and sub components are held on stock, which
enables STULZ to minimize their warehousing costs and working capital. As

13 STULZ (2016)

6
 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

short lead times are crucial for most of STULZ's customers, in-time delivery of
the required parts is crucial and a regular challenge.14

As the market in which STULZ operates is highly customer-driven the already

mentioned challenges and preconditions are unchangeable. Given these con-
straints, STULZ US has achieved a high level of efficiency regarding their in-
bound logistics which can be enhanced by an improved IT infrastructure (see
3.1.3).

3.2.2 Operations
STULZ focuses much on customer requirements. Its strapline is 'Climate. Cus-
tomized.' and this is also how the products are manufactured. Flexibility has
always been one of the key success factors for STULZ. And in fact, a high
share of the products delivered to the customers is indeed customized.

For smaller units it is mostly the baseline product that is configured and modi-
fied according to a specific customers need. For large customers STULZ also
offers the possibility of developing fully customized large units from scratch.
However, only about 10% of sales are achieved with those orders.

In this context, it is also relevant that the research and development department
mainly develops innovative ideas or configurations upon request. It can be de-
scribed as a pull situation from the market. The risk to develop a new technolo-
gy without a written customer order is usually avoided. As bottom line it can be
stated that all engineering depends on the customers requests.15

According to STULZ, it is very difficult to forecast the demand for the products
as customers usually do not share their plans. This immediately affects the op-
erations which usually have to be performed as quickly as possible to meet the
delivery terms. A challenge hereby is to manage the operations and manufac-
turing process while simultaneously several lean activities such as shop floor
management, KANBAN or the Supermarket System are conducted.16

The smaller units are manufactured at various 'assembling islands', where one
manufacturing employee is in charge for assembling one single unit from begin-
ning to end. As a result of the production on demand system, both the stock of
parts needed for assembling as well as the storage of final products can be kept
low. On the other hand, it is difficult for STULZ to make use of economies of

14 Hatmaker et al (2016)
15 Dessler & Sabino (2016)
16 Dessler & Sabino (2016)

7
 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

scale in the production, as well as labor cost minimization which results in high
upfront costs.17

3.2.3 Marketing and Sales

During the 20th century in industrialized nations, markets have transformed
from excess demand with insufficient supply, towards excess supply and com-
petition in saturated markets. Company focus has evolved from production-
concept towards sales-orientation and many companies are focusing on ser-
vice-oriented operations to improve sustainable customer retention and prevent
customers to switch to a competitor.

The capacity for sales price and quantity verdict in an organization is within the
field of marketing and sales.18 Marketing is defined as "an organizational func-
tion and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to
customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the
organization".19 Marketing positions the interface to customers and outlines the
product portfolio, pricing and distribution strategy with respect to sales chan-
nels.

Marketing engineered industrial products is complicated and requires a lot of

technical know-how. Industrial and technical products range from off-the-shelf
bearings to custom-engineered machines of high complexity. The more custom-
ized the product is, the more customized the marketing strategy needs to be.
STULZs brand value differentiates itself from the other brands in the market for
the highly customizable solutions and innovative thinking. Delivering a wide
range of product offerings and customization to fit all kinds of data centers is
one of the key USPs, giving STULZ a competitive advantage over its competi-
tors and creating solid value.

The market is mainly driven by diverse requirements of the customers regarding

location, temperature, size of datacenter, room for equipment etc. These re-
quirements also form the market positioning of STULZ. However, serving the
complete market is a challenge due to the nature of geography and the differ-
ences in codes and laws in the North American market.

The global data center cooling market is driven by the USAs market following to
Europe and Asia respectively, with STULZ USA having the advantage to drive

17 Meadows (2016)
18 Kannegiesser (2005), p. 1
19 Kotler & Keller (2005), p. 6

8
 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

the product portfolio and innovations within its parent company and its subsidi-
aries around the globe.20 The competition on the US market is tough and mainly
dominated by domestic players.

Regarding sales there has been a steady increase in sales. However, apparent-
ly, the demand curve is flat. The traditional market offers no significant growth
so the only possibility to grow is to steal market shares from competitors.
STULZ US management believes that 2016 is a dynamic year and the market is
changing in the future. The sales channels for STULZ are multifold, but consist
of mostly externals as the following graphic shows.

Factory
direct sales team

Internal

Sales
engineers

50+ independent
sales partners

External
80+ product
support network
(PSN)
subcontractors

Figure 3: STULZ US sales force21

STULZs marketing activities are multidimensional including online marketing.

The channels are as follows:

1. social media marketing, webinars and search engine optimization (SEO)

2. e-mail & mail marketing
3. technical writings: blogs, manuals, trade magazines, other publications
4. events and trade shows

The local marketing team consists of three members, including the marketing
manager and two specialists focusing on events and lead generation and
graphic design correspondingly.

20 Hatmaker (2016)
21 Own presentation

9
 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

The marketing department makes use of a long list of customers22 to track mar-
ket dynamics and evaluate demand annually using a diverse and often rudimen-
tary set of CRM systems.23

Customer value creation is mainly focused on performance, capability, durability

and being unbothered post installation of device anymore which leads to a sat-
isfied customer. An integrated CRM and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
system would be highly recommended to achieve a synchronized overview,
common market knowledge and performance especially if external partners
have to be coordinated as it is the case at STULZs sales network. It will yield
the following advantages.

Termination of data Ability to share

Faster decision
entry and storage data easier and
making
duplicates more timely

Advantages of a
synchronized IT
infrastructure

Reduced IT Improved order and

Improved
support and quotation
forecasting
training costs management

Figure 4: Advantages of a synchronized IT infrastructure 24

The current marketing department performs a lot of different activities simulta-

neously and within the staff there is no specialist for every field of marketing.
Against the background of the technicality of the industry, the market is very
much driven by innovation and technology advancements. There is a tough
competition already existent within the current market situation and it is ex-
pected that the market will be changing in the future.

Therefore, one could suggest increasing the marketing budget which gives
STULZ US the opportunity to hire more specialists for the different channels

22 Namely: consulting Engineers, general contractors, owners/users, solution partners,

cooling for agricultural products
23 Dessler & Sabino (2016)
24 Own presentation

10
 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

which enables the company to position itself better among the competitors.
Moreover, it would give room to also work on the strategic level of marketing
while currently, the existing team is challenged even to handle the workload of
the daily business.

3.2.4 Services
As one of the world's leading solution providers of energy efficient temperature
and humidity management technology, STULZ is not only a manufacturing
company but especially also a service provider. Because many of the products
are customized for customer needs, after sales service demands a special co-
ordination which is provided by the STULZ technical support.

If there is a need, the technical support hands over to the field services. The
field service is divided in two groups. First there is a product support network
(PSN) with trained and certified service partners throughout North America.
They are not directly employed by STULZ (see 3.2.3) but have to join trainings
in regular intervals to keep their certificate. Next to these networks STULZ has
its own factory technicians who are directly employed.

The after-sales services from STULZ can be divided into three categories.

1. deployment services
2. maintenance
3. warranties

The deployment services offer an expert implementation that guarantees the

customer a two year parts warranty from date of factory warranty inspection or
start-up and 90 days labor warranty from date of factory warranty inspec-tion or
start-up. During the start-up STULZ also ensures that the equipment fits with
the customers hardware as required. Subsequently, STULZ offers an owners
training as well. In a four-hours-training STULZ helps the customer getting fa-
miliar with the equipment.

The available warranties stay in strict connection to the covered time span and
inclusion of labor and of parts. It is only possible to select a warranty if the start-
up has been accomplished by STULZ and can cover labor needed for replace-
ments, diagnostic activities, and hardware-parts.

But the STULZ waaranty is not only limited to the start-up of the equipment. It is
also about keeping the equipment running since preventative maintenance
keeps the system available. STULZ offers multiple options for these preventa-

11
 Chapter 3 Analysis of the Value Chain at STULZ US

tive maintenance but all include a four-hour response time available 24/7. The
differences between the options consist of included terms of parts and labor and
of the timing of potential maintenance services.

Even when STULZ offers different service packages for set-up, warranty and
maintenance of their products, the company itself stays a manufacturer of
goods: a customer orders a product or service, STULZ builds this product or
provides the service and then the transaction is over.

But over the last 50 years the US economy for instance has shifted form a
manufacturing economy to a service economy. Every product nowadays has a
service component. 25 Business literature calls that servitization. It is about
transforming the business model to be less product-dominant and more cus-
tomer-centrically organized.

That can be a major strategic driver for innovations in manufacturing. Many

manufacturers already made that change and created new value for their cus-
tomers. For example, Rolls-Royce doesnt sell just airplane engines anymore.
With their Total Care service plan they sell the hours they keep the engine up
and running.26

The Oxford Economics Manufacturing Transformation Report says that already

70% of manufactures rely on services as key product differentiator.27 The Ser-
vice Councils 2014 Service Outlook by survey found out that over 50% of man-
ufactures say that their profit margins from traditional product sales are less
high than these from services.28

Therefore, the authors recommend STULZ to take a deeper look into servitiza-
tion and create a roadmap for product service systems. This issue will be fur-
ther analyzed in the conclusion of this term paper.

3.2.5 Outbound Logistics

The outbound logistics cover all logistics activities associated with storing,
transporting and distributing goods to the customers.

Equally to the manufacturing process STULZ transports its products to custom-

er demands. All outbound logistics by STULZ follow the international commer-
cial terms and also allow ex works (EXW) commercial terms. Nevertheless,

25 Forbes (2016)
26 Forbes (2014)
27 Oxford Economics (2014)
28 Service Council (2014)

12
 Chapter 4 Conclusion and Recommendation

STULZ organizes the whole shipping process if shipping is required. The usual
way of transportation is via road transportation.

This illustrates that the shipping process at STULZ is already very flexible and
tailored for the customers needs. Therefore, the outbound logistics do not yield
a need for immediate improvements.

4 Conclusion and Recommendation

So far, this term paper introduced the value chain model in theory and illustrat-
ed how each part of the value chain is handled at STULZ US. Immediate im-
provements and low hanging fruits have been identified and outlined in the pre-
vious section.

Preparing STULZ US for the upcoming changes in the market, requires to think
more out of the box. It is about giving another dimension to the current conven-
tional business model of just selling products and services. To explain the new
dimension it is important to bear in mind the current standard business model
which the following figure illustrates.

Figure 5: STULZ conventional business model29

While the added value at the second step is one key factor for STULZs success
is high due to the high level of customization, the added value and the business
opportunities in the after sales phase are rather low. The revenue possibilities

29 Own presenation

13
 Chapter 4 Conclusion and Recommendation

are limited to the appearance of product failures which are firstly, not predicta-
ble and secondly, quite rare due to the high quality of the STULZ devices.

The proposed solution includes a shift of the business model by enhancing the
service component. STULZ would no longer sell product a and the service a but
instead would provide controlled climate to the customers. This would mean to
establish even more long-term customer retention and contracts. STULZ would
sell the guarantee to the customer that the right devices will be delivered to fulfil
the individual customer needs. There will be no distinction between product and
after sales because the complete package will be the solution proposed to the
customers. The new model is illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 6: Proposed new business model with enhanced added value 30

This new business model also affects the value chain. For instance, operations
and manufacturing could also be improved. STULZ US would not be as de-
pendent of customer requirements as today.

It might be even possible to some extent preassemble certain base models of

units. This would be possible as 'controlled air condition' would be sold instead
of the installation and STULZ would not have to wait for each customer's specif-
ic requirement before the manufacturing process could start. Most of the neces-
sary components could be held in stock which would reduce the risk of late de-
livery of suppliers. Once a customer places an order, the unit could be adapted
in such a way that the output meets the required specifications.

30 Own presentation

14
 Chapter 4 Conclusion and Recommendation

This operating model would also be beneficial for the whole planning process
and the fluctuation of production capacities (see 3.1.2). STULZ would be in the
position to control the production output of base models and would be less de-
pended on temporary workforce which is firstly, hard to get in the respective
region and secondly, more expensive in the long run. Nevertheless, shifts in
demand will not be eliminated, but with this new model STULZ gains a certain
degree of steering capabilities.

Another aspect which has to be taken into account is the variety of products
STULZ offers in the moment. The new model prospectively enables STULZ to
reduce this variety which would result in a reduction of complexity and cost sav-
ings. This is possible by developing modular platforms which could be adapted
to customer-specific demands.

To sum up, STULZ already achieved a high level of excellence regarding the
different fields of the value chain. Despite their low IT interlinkage of the ERP
system and the lack of an up-to-date CRM tool, there is only little need for im-
mediate action. A fortiori the company should consider the proposed business
model not as a complete revolution, but as a value enhancing addition to their
present model.

In this way, STULZ US lines up with a powerful organization to tackle the up-
coming challenges of a changing market and tough competition.

15
List of References

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IV
Forbes (2016) How The Subscription Economy Is Disrupting The
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Expert Interviews

Dessler & Sabino (2016) J. Dessler, A. Sabino: Product Management Inter-

view, conducted on 07-Sep-2016

Hatmaker (2016) B. Hatmaker: Introduction Speech to STULZ US

Hatmaker et al (2016) B. Hatmaker, D. Athey, H. Mohler: Value Chain Inter-

view, conducted on 07-Sep-2016

V
Meadows (2016) D. Meadows: Guided Tour Through Facilities, con-
ducted on 06-Sep-2016

Tucker (2016) B. Tucker: Quality Management interview, conducted

on 07-Sep-2016

VI