Participants
in the market for eLearning
in the area of soft skills

University of Applied Sciences, Nürtingen

by

Isabelle Pfeiffer

Springsemester 2001

Table of contents

1 Introduction 1
1.1 General comments on the "Oberseminar" paper "Participants in the market for eLearning in the area of soft skills" 1
1.2 Definitions 2
1.2.1 eLearning 2
1.2.2 Soft skills 2

2 The different participants in the market for eLearning in the area of soft skills 4
2.1 Videokeskus - the company itself 4
2.2 Suppliers 4
2.3 The market intermediaries 6
2.3.1 Market intermediaries in the service industry, especially in the eLearning sector 6
2.3.2 Some examples of market intermediaries 6
2.3.2.1 ed-scout.com AG 6
2.3.2.2 www.lernsoftware.dehttp://www.lernsoftware.de/ 7
2.3.2.3 KPMG 7
2.3.2.4 schenck.de 8
2.4 Customers 8
2.4.1 Customers in the market for eLearning in the area of soft skills 8
2.4.2 Customers for whom eLearning in the area of soft skills is getting more and more important 10
2.4.2.1 Call Centers 10
2.4.2.2 Nestlé 10
2.4.2.3 Karstadt 11
2.4.2.4 Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe 11
2.5 Competitors 11
2.5.1 Competitors in general 11
2.5.2 Different competitors in the German market 13
2.5.2.1 Add! brain 13
2.5.2.2 imc 14
2.5.2.3 NetG 15
2.5.2.4 time4you 15
2.5.2.5 Metatrain Lernsoftware GmbH 15
2.5.2.6 IBM 16
2.5.2.7 IHK 16
2.5.2.8 Others 16

3 Summary 18

4 Index of Authors Cited in Text

List of abbreviations

[...]

List of figures

figure 1: What do companies teach online? page 9
figure 2: Participants in the market page 17

1 Introduction

1.1 General comments on the "Oberseminar" paper "Participants in the market for eLearning in the area of soft skills"

Videokeskus, a Finnish company, that is developing audio-visual learning packages in soft skills, wants to expand its eLearning business into the European market. Therefore different European universities will do research on their domestic and European market of eLearning.

The target of this "Oberseminar" paper is to show the different participants in the German market of eLearning in the area of soft skills. In the paper, let′s pretend Videokeskus already is in the German market. One of the main objectives of this paper is to find out, which problems Videokeskus has to face establishing itself in the German market. Is there a big demand for the products of Videokeskus? Are there lots of competitors in the market of eLearning in the area of soft skills? Are the customers satisfied or dissatisfied with the current situation?

Textually, this "Oberseminar" paper is structured as follows:

After advancing to the topic, the terms "eLearning", and "soft skills" are defined in the introduction. In the main part the major actors in a company′s micro-environment are described referring to the German market, the place where services and goods are exchanged. The main part is divided into five blocks. First there will be an introduction of the company Videokeskus, in which the products of Videokeskus will also be described. In the second main part the suppliers, who are offering different products and services to the company itself for producing their goods or services, are described such as software companies. The market intermediaries, such as trainers, dealers, merchandisers, wholesalers or retailers form the third main part of this "Hauptseminar" paper. After discussing about the market intermediaries, some examples of customers will be given, which are introducing eLearning, such as Nestlé or Karstadt. The last section of the main part presents the competitors in the market of eLearning in the area of soft skills in Germany. The summary forms the conclusion of this oberseminarpaper, followed by the index of authors cited in text.

The internet provided the main source of my research. By browsing through the net you find many articles on eLearning and the participants in the market for eLearning in the area of soft skills. Writing about the participants I also took sources from the Swiss market.

The primary research of our questionnaire, in which we asked trainers, employees, and staff of personnel department of different companies all over Germany about the current situation of eLearning in the area of soft skills, and what they think about the role of eLearning in the future of further education, was not relevant for my paper.

1.2 Definitions

1.2.1 eLearning

“E-learning can be delivered over an intranet, extranet, or the internet and can include hyperlinks, e-mail, discussion forums, videoconferencing, animations, games, and simulations. Like other forms of technology-based training, e-learning requires a certain level of technological infrastructure. A student needs a computer with a browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape) that is connected to all or part of the Web, and the organization providing the training needs a server on which to store the content that learners access. Many e-learning programs also require accompanying software to play audio and video and to run Java scripts, but this is often defined as part of the browser specification. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, for example, comes with audio, video, and Java-reading capabilities.”¹

Clear and brief eLearning is defined as education or training by or with the assistance of electronic media (internet, intranet or CD-Rom). It is divided into web-based training also called online learning like over internet, extranet or intranet, and computer-based training like with CD-Rom or the use of downloads.

[...]

1 http://www.peoplefirstinteractive.com/articles/article1.html, access: 23/02/2001