Open Access

Lara Johanning

• Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung verändert die Geschäftswelt rasant und stellt Unternehmen vor neue Herausforderungen. Besonders in der produzierenden Industrie wird der Einsatz digitaler Technologien zunehmend zum entscheidenden Wettbewerbsvorteil. Doch mit der Nutzung digitaler Technologien entstehen auch neue Risiken, die produzierende Unternehmen nicht nur in ihrer Funktionalität, sondern auch in der Einhaltung gesetzlicher Vorgaben und interner Richtlinien berücksichtigen müssen. Die vorliegende Dissertation entwickelt eine Methode zur systematischen Erstellung von Compliance-Richtlinien für den verantwortungsvollen Einsatz digitaler Technologien in produzierenden Unternehmen. Durch eine Delphi-Studie wird erstmals die Relevanz von Compliance für verschiedene digitale Technologien untersucht, und es wird ein innovativer Ansatz zur Ermittlung der erforderlichen Richtlinien entwickelt. Die Methode wird anschließend auf ihre Anwendbarkeit in produzierenden Unternehmen erfolgreich überprüft. Sie liefert als Ergebnis eine unternehmensindividuelle Compliance-Richtlinie, die auf die spezifischen Anforderungen und Risiken des jeweiligen Unternehmens zugeschnitten ist. Mit dieser Methode erhalten produzierende Unternehmen ein wertvolles Werkzeug, um sich proaktiv auf zukünftige regulatorische Anforderungen vorzubereiten und den verantwortungsbewussten Einsatz digitaler Technologien sicherzustellen – noch bevor gesetzliche Regulierungen greifen.
• The ongoing digitization is causing digital technologies to penetrate deeper into societal realms, significantly influencing them. Concurrently, the economic success of enterprises of various sizes and across diverse sectors is equally profoundly impacted. Particularly for manufacturing companies, the deployment of digital technologies proves to be a pivotal competitive advantage. The comprehension of how and where digital technologies can be effectively integrated to yield benefits is continually being developed within the digitalization. Amidst these advancements, it is discernible that a risk assessment yields the realization that the utilization of digital technologies introduces novel risks. Consequently, organizations must extend their focus beyond functional design when employing digital technologies and also encompass compliance considerations. Compliance describes a company's conformity with laws and internal as well as external guidelines in various areas. This approach serves to mitigate risks and facilitate the responsible utilization of digital technologies. The European Commission has acknowledged this quandary concerning artificial intelligence and consequently devised the initial European regulation to govern digital technology. In the future, companies should have the opportunity to address the responsible use of digital technologies before legislators initiate regulation. Nonetheless, methods or established best practices for formulating compliance frameworks for digital technologies and their application within enterprises are currently lacking. Such a method is urgently required to conscientiously shape the increasing integration of digital technologies and to prepare companies for impending regulatory mandates. To this end, a systematic approach for crafting compliance guidelines specific to digital technologies within manufacturing enterprises is devised. This process initially entails an exploration and description of the relevance of compliance to diverse digital technologies via a Delphi study. Additionally, an approach for systematically determining requisite guidelines through cause-and-effect relationships is formulated. Subsequently, the structure of compliance guidelines is expounded upon in both substantive and linguistic aspects. The method is employed within manufacturing enterprises during strategic planning and conceptualization phases of digitalization. Given that competencies pertaining to compliance vary significantly based on company size, the incorporation of this aspect is discretionary. The output of this process is a company-tailored compliance directive for the employed digital technologies.The developed methodology was applied in two case studies and validated successfully.