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The factors determining the success of crowdfunding projects is one of the central issues for crowdfunding researchers. Quantitative approaches recognise the number of funds targeted as an important control variable. However, little is known about the impact of the funding goal on other factors that impact crowdfunding success. We hypothesise that the effect of crowdfunding success factors varies contingent on the funding goal level. A dataset of 338 crowdfunding projects from the largest German crowdfunding platform StartNext in the years 2015 to 2016 is analysed by conducting regression analyses controlling for varying funding goal sizes. We use the dependent variables success, the degree of success and the number of project supporters and control whether the effect of independent variables such as comments, updates and social media depend on different funding goals. Our study indicates that the impact of the investigated success factors, in fact, strongly depends on the funding goal levels of crowdfunding projects. By grouping projects into clusters of varying funding goals, we find that the impact of individual success factors changes and that the funding goal plays a moderating role for factors impacting project success. Implications for Central European audience: Many crowdfunding studies focus on the most popular US-based platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. We examined projects on the largest German reward-based crowdfunding platform StartNext. These results help both researchers and future entrepreneurs in Europe to better understand supporter behaviour. We suggest that future entrepreneurs should be aware that factors influencing the success of a crowdfunding project strongly depend on the set funding goal, which should be adequately considered in future crowdfunding research.

In contrast to the linear economic model that has existed since industrialization, the concept of circular economy aims to reduce negative environmental impacts. There is a growing debate about the compatibility of increasing consumption with the Earth’s finite resources, calling for a system that minimizes losses. This concept is also of great interest for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because the key role of LIBs in the transformation of the mobility sector is expected to increase their production exponentially over the next few years. So far, there is no established business model that defines the further procedure with LIBs that have reached the end of their useful life. The aim of this study is to investigate the potentials and challenges of the circular economy and how they can be addressed using the case study of LIBs. The method of Systematic Literature Review is used to identify the relevant literature on this topic in a reproducible way while avoiding content-related distortions. The results are presented in a structured way and divided into the three topics of “reuse”, “repurposing” and “recycling” according to the circular economy approach. These are further divided into the subcategories of technical, economic, social, logistical, and ecological challenges, which are explained in detail and possible solutions are suggested.

The so-called agile approach is increasingly popular in the world of project management as a response to more dynamic and competitive environments. This study follows the question: What are the decisive criteria that result in the use of agile process models in practice? Therefore, a broad range of decision criteria is investigated, representing different reasons for firms to decide in favour or against the usage of agile process models, namely: Timesaving, increased efficiency, availability of qualified personnel, uniform terminology, project comparability and functions as a knowledge base. Most existing research on agile project management is of qualitative nature; this study uses a quantitative approach to assessing 51 firms and nine different industries within the DACH region. The collected data was analysed in a binary logistic regression model. Results reveal that time-saving positively predicts the use of agile process models, while high ratings in function as a knowledge base and project comparability predict the absence of agile process models. Therefore, practitioners are suggested to educate project and portfolio managers in the creation of hybrid environments and integration of agile process models in traditional project portfolios. Implications for Central European audience:The results of this study provide valuable insights into the selection of project management approaches across different industries in the DACH region.