Advanced Topics in Sustainability Innovation

Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften Professur für Betriebswirtschaftslehre Brau- und Lebensmittelindustrie

ADVANCED TOPICS IN

SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION AND MARKETING

EVALUATION OF THE SUSTAINABILITY

MARKETING MIX REGARDING THE

4C`S OF FLINKSTER

SUMMER TERM 2012

Teaching team: Prof. Dr. Frank-Martin Belz

Krystallia Moysidou M.Sc.

Submitted by: Alejandro Aznar Argelich

Stephanie Leopold

Mark-Felix Schütz

Submitted on: 12. Juni 2014

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ...... I

List of illustrations ...... II

List of abbreviations ...... III

1 Introduction ...... 1

2 Processes of Flinkster ...... 2

3 Customer Solution ...... 7

4 Communication ...... 12

5 Convenience ...... 15

5.1 General convenience aspects of car-sharing ...... 15

5.2 Registration and booking process ...... 16

5.3 Finding, driving and returning the vehicle ...... 17

5.4 e-Flinkster ...... 19

6 Customer Cost ...... 21

6.1 Purchase Costs ...... 21

6.2 Use Costs ...... 23

6.3 Post-Use Costs ...... 27

7 Conclusion and Outlook ...... 28

7.1 Conclusion ...... 28

7.2 Future ideas to remedy Flinksters problems ...... 29

List of references ...... i

Additional references ...... iii

Eidesstattliche Erklärung ...... iv

List of illustrations

Figure 1 Process of using Flinkster (own illustration) ...... 2

Figure 2 Flinkster registration process (own illustration) ...... 3

Figure 3 City districts in Munich (Source: Flinkster Website) ...... 4

Figure 4 Booking a car (own illustration) ...... 5

Figure 5 Process of driving (own illustration) ...... 6

Figure 6 Flinkster central merketing message (left) and "hidden" financial appeal (right) . 12

Figure 7 Emotional appeal with hidden Zeitgeist appeal (left) Euphoria appeal (right) ..... 13

Figure 8 Sustainable Advertising of Flinkster ...... 14

Figure 9 The reintegration of the Flinkster brand into DB: Smartphone App Buttons...... 14

Figure 10 Exemplary Hourly and Km-based prices of the Flinkster tariff system ...... 24

Figure 11 Comparison of own car costs and Flinkster cost based on usage pattern for germany-wide tariff ...... 27

Figure 12 Comparison of own car costs and Flinkster cost based on usage pattern for local tariff ...... 27

Figure 13 QR-Code ...... 29

List of abbreviations

DB Deutsche Bahn

EV Electric Vehicle

CEV Combustion Engine Vehicle

III

1 Introduction

The car sharing service provider Flinkster, operated since 2009 by Deutsche Bahn through its subsidiary company DB Rent GmbH, offers an individual and convenient mobility service to individuals and business customers. With Flinkster, Deutsche Bahn supplements its railway services by providing cars for DB customers in order to get to the final destination. With now more than 800 stations in 140 cities in Germany, Flinkster has widened its concept with the aim to bring a unique mobility solution to a broad user base. The Flinkster car sharing model addresses people between 24 and 45 years of age within large and mid-size cities (INTERVIEW 2012).

With a fleet of 2.500 cars in urban areas all over the country and a wide range of car types and models available, Flinkster is the biggest car sharing network in Germany. Due to Flinkster`s cooperation with other car sharing service providers in Europe, the round about 190.000 Flinkster customers have access to 2.000 additional cars in Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands (DEUTSCHE BAHN 2012, STATTAUTO 2012, FLINKSTER 2012). Other- wise, users of smaller German car sharing services which are partnering with Flinkster e.g. “STATTAUTO”, “teilAuto”, “book-n-drive”, “einfach mobil carsharing”, and “grünes- auto” have access to cars of the Flinkster car fleet.

Our approach facing the “4C`s” as part of the sustainability marketing mix in the case of the mobility service and car sharing provider Flinkster is based on intensive internet search, an interview conducted with the marketing manager of Flinkster, Mr. Oscar Péréz, an monthly cost calculation tool developed by ourselves and hand-on field research including test drives.

2 Processes of Flinkster

In order to use the Flinkster car sharing network, you generally need to follow three steps. Before you can drive off with a car of your choice, you have to register and book a car online first. The requirement of becoming an eligible member of the Flinkster programm is to hold a valid driver`s license. Customers under 25 years of age have a restrictive choice concerning car categories meaning that they are only allowed to use small and van size cars. In the following, we will evaluate the registration and booking processes of Flinkster in more detail.

STEPS TO USE THE FLINKSTER CAR SHARING

• Registration process 1

• Booking 2

3 • Driving

Before using the Flinkster service, you first need to get registered at Flinkster`s website www.flinkster.de. In order to register, you simply follow three steps. First, you have the choice between a national, local, or business tariff depending on your planned usage frequency and whether you are a private or a business user. Whereas the national tariff fits bestFigure for 1 Processpeople of who using occasionally Flinkster (own wantillustration) to use a car, the local tariff is best for frequent car sharing users leading to a monthly fee and a lower rate per hour used compared to the national tariff, which does not include a monthly subscription fee. For some people, the decision for a specific tariff might rather be difficult as they don`t know right away how frequent they will be using the service. Due to a minimal contract duration of 12 months for the local tariff switching from one tariff to another is difficult or may even have a deterrent effect which may influence customers to turn towards the national tariff right from the

beginning. On the other hand, customers can switch into the local tariff if they feel that they are using the service more frequently.

After registering with your personal data and billing information (debit or credit card accepted) you will receive your personal access data including a customer ID and password via E-Mail. To obtain your customer ID card and a chip attached to your driver`s license, you need to find and go to a Flinkster sales office, which usually is a DB service center or travel agency located in or close to German train stations or airports. The Flinkster website will assist you with the search for near-by locations. For legitimation purposes you need to bring your driver`s license and passport.

REGISTRATION PROCESS

• Choose tariff 1 • Register with your personal data and billing 2 information • Search and go to sales office for legititmation 3 and customer ID card pick-up

Figure 2 Flinkster registration process (own illustration)

Once you are a registered Flinkster user, it only takes three further steps to book a car. You can reserve a car anywhere at any time you like via a phone (toll-free number), internet, or smartphone app. Entering your city, the preferred car size, booking period, and favored location via search function, the website will list the available cars including car information (price per hour, brand, model, license plate, and equipment) and directions to its location.

Aligned to customer`s individual needs, Flinkster offers cars for rent by the hour, by day or even for a couple of days. Customers can book a car in the long run or at short notice. Whether you plan to go to a furniture store outside the city together with your friends at the weekend or at a rainy day instantly need a car to pick up the cake for your brothers birthday

party which will take place in 2 hours, the car sharing service of Flinkster will be the solution to your need. When testing Flinkster ourselves, we were always able to find a suitable car close by to fit our needs and preferences.

Flinkster cars predominantely can be picked up and returned at central car stations and designated parking lots close to train stations or airports. In the city of Munich, customers can either chose Flinkster`s stationary locations or can benefit from a large number of cars spread in over fifty city districts in Munich. Flinkster has introduced the city district concept so far in Munich only. We have always used cars located in the city district as they were more convenient to reach. Whereas the stationary approach offers a wide range and availability of cars, with the district based approach Flinkster offers cars close to the location where you find yourself right now or close to where you live. If it is raining outside, I don`t want to pay for a transportation ticket or take a cab to get to the Flinkster station on the other side of the city. To our mind, the city district concept is an essential step towards the cutback of obstacles and increase in convenience for using a car sharing network.

Figure 3 City districts in Munich (Source: Flinkster Website)

After deciding on a car and its location, you will receive an reservation E-Mail giving you specific information on the car`s location, which is especially important when deciding on a car in a specific city district in order to find the booked car which is not always easy. Testing the Flinkster service ourselves, we have always booked a car close to “Münchner Freiheit”. Although there are three city districts bordering on this part of the city, we always had to walk about 5 to 10 minutes to get to the closest available car. There are indeed 50 districts, but standing within one district and booking a car in that district does not mean that the car is right in front of you. One time, we had to walk one km to get to our chosen car. However, as the cars have the Flinkster logo on them and are painted in the corporate identity colors red and white, the cars are easy to be identified.

BOOKING A CAR

Choose city, car size and pick-up location 1 •

Enter booking period 2 •

Receive E-Mail with car information 3 •

Figure 4 Booking a car (own illustration)

After you have successfully found your car, you need to hold your driver`s license with the chip onto the light bump on the front windshield and wait until the red light turns green. The car will unlock providing that you have found the car you have booked. Then, get into the car and look for the keys in the glove compartment or the safe. In case you need to make stops e.g. running errands you are able to lock the car with the keys to make sure nobody else can take the car. If you like you can have someone else with a valid driver`s license to drive. However, you are bearing the financial risk of an accident. Fueling is included in the usage fees charged by Flinkster. However, if there is less than a quarter of fuel in the car, you need to find a gas station, refuel and pay with the credit card located in the glove compartment in the car. Just as having an own car, you need to invest time for searching for a gas station and fueling up the car. You also need to take into account that Flinkster will charge you for the additional time and driven kilometers before, during, and

after the fueling process. As a matter of fact other car sharing models such as DriveNow reward its customers with 20 free minutes for fueling (DRIVENOW, 2012).

At the end of your trip you need to return the car to the location where you have picked it up. In case you have picked up a car within a city district you need to find a public parking spot in that exact district and return it there. Finding a public parting spot is difficult within Munich. As you need to pay for every minute and kilometer driven, finding a parking lot in a district costs money. As another disadvantage of this rule of bringing back the car where you have picked it up is that one way drives are not possible. Our interview partner Mr. Péréz has justified this drawback with high logistic costs. How-ever, the company knows about this inconvenience and is eager to improve. If you have any concerns such as problems finding a parking space or need advice before, during, and after your drive, a toll- free customer service hotline will help you. We have made use of this service and where always satisfied with the service of the hotline. You are able to change, or even cancel your existing reservation. If you need to change your plans you are free to do so without paying.

A strong disadvantage of the Flinkster booking system is that you can`t just pick a car you find on the street, although nobody else has reserved it. You always need to reserve a car first before you are able to open it and drive off. Due to our experience, the the time period between booking a car and receiving the reservation E-Mail can take up to 30 minutes.

About two weeks after your trip with a Flinkster car you will receive an invoice. During the registration process you can chose whether you want to receive an invoice via mail or E- Mail, which costs 1,50 € or if you want to help save paper and costs checking your invoice on your Flinkster website profile online.

PROCESS OF DRIVING

• Find your car 1 • Unlock the car: Hold ID card onto front windshield light 2 bump and wait until it turns green. • Get into the car and look for the keys in glove 3 compartement or safe.

• Start driving and later return the car 4

Figure 5 Process of driving (own illustration) 6

3 Customer Solution

Flinkster gives people, who do not own a car the opportunity to have access to a car at any time of day (24 hours and 7 days a week) for a time period of just one hour (minimum) up to as long as you want and therefore provides full personal mobility whenever there is a need. Flinkster is the biggest car sharing network in Germany offering 2.500 cars at 800 locations resulting in a great availability of cars within 140 large and small German cities. Therefore, the customer can be sure to have access to a car when he or she needs one. Compared to competing car sharing models Flinkster is also offering the widest range of car types and safe brands. According to occasion and budget, you can choose a safe car from within six different car size categories (Mini, Small, Compact, Middle, Transporter and Special) including safe cars of the brands Smart, Citroen, VW, Opel, Ford, Fiat, Seat Leon, Alfa Romeo, and Mercedes. With Flinkster you can choose the most suitable car according to your needs and brand preferences, e.g. a small car for running errands within urban areas, a Mercedes station wagon for grocery shopping or even a van for moving.

According to the Euro-NCAP-Crashtest, the offered car brands are all ranked as safe (NCAP 2012). Most offered cars feature a navigation system (except for some cars in the category Mini and Transporter) which helps you finding you destination and the car return location easily.

Being a Flinkster member located in in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Saarbrücken, and Darmstadt you have the choice between CEVs and “emission free and silent” mobility supporting an “environmentally friendly” way of mobility through the E-Flinkster program. Out of the 2.500 Germany-wide offered cars, Flinkster provides a total of 100 electric cars in five big German cities, operating the largest EV fleet in Germany. „E-Flinkster“ is an integrated part of the Flinkster service program meaning that the electric cars are accessable for everyone registered as a Flinkster user. Based on personal needs, users can every now and then pick an EV for short journeys in the city e.g. running errands and for longer distances chose a CEV. Integrating the EV fleet into the car sharing and railway transport network operated by Deutsche Bahn has created a new, sustainable, and effective form of transportation. However, “E-Flinkster” so far is only available in five German cities and therefore not every Flinkster customer has the choice between EVs and CEVs (FAZ 2011).

As the EVs are sofar not available in Munich, we did not have this choice either and there not able to use this offer.

Being a member of a car sharing service in general can help saving the costs and duties incurring when owning a car. Fixed costs and duties occurring with maintenance, insurance, tax, and parking can be evaded. Having an own car, you need to have an insurance which needs time and effort to find and check out the best provider. Every now and then you have to take the car to the garage for regular services and inspections or in repair. Using Flinkster`s car sharing, you can enjoy your freetime not bothering about these errands and costs. The expenses for using Flinkster are transparent. You will effectively be charged for the time using the car and the kilometers driven presupposed you decide on the national tariff. Within the local tariff, you benefit from cheaper hourly rates at the expense of a monthly fee. According to the Car sharing Atlas 2011 study conducted by Mobil in

Deutschland e.V (ATLAS 2011) Flinkster is leader in quality and price in Germany. Customers pay by time and driven kilometers. In case the usage time is shorter or longer than the booking period, customer get back 50 % of the price of the unused time. Moreover with Flinkster no hidden costs and investments are necessary to benefit from mobility compared to buying a car. Besides an activation fee Flinkster indeed points out co- insurance fee in case of an accident. Nevertheless, this could also happen to a car owner with a respective insurance policy (see chapter customer cost).

Flinkster is a use-related service as the use of a car is being sold. The members of Flinkster have the right to use available cars any time they want without actually owning them. Flinkster features the cars, takes care of them, and provides a solution to its customers. A sustainable way of offering an ecological and social customer use solution includes five applicable characteristics (Belz & Peattie 2009, p. 159) which will be addressed below:

1. Customer Satisfaction: Flinkster generally satisfies the customer`s need of flexible mobility. That’s also how we have experienced the service. Moreover, Flinkster has won several studies comparing different car sharing providers concerning quality, convenience, and price. On the other hand, looking at forums in more detail, people have some complaints about the Flinkster service (see chapter convenience).

2. Dual focus: With the Flinkster programm and its integrated E-Flinkster offer, the company tries to follow a dual focus on both social and environmental improvement. On the one hand, Flinkster promotes a mind shift to less individually-owned cars within cities, which might reduce traffic jams and emission, making cites cleaner, and lowering respective health issues. Using Flinkster might also change mobility behavior patterns making customers more conscious about the cost of driving. Therefore, Flinkster members think twice about using a car is necessary and might switch to more environmental friendly and cheaper mobility concepts such as public transportation and every now and then taking the bike or walking (Belz & Peattie 2009, p. 159). To sum it up, Flinkster promotes social concerns. However, Flinkster`s effort is no larger than the effort any other car sharing provider takes. Furthermore, sharing of cars has a great environmental potential. The more cars are shared, the fewer need to be produces, and the environmental impact related to the extraction of resources and manufacturing can significantly be reduced. Flinkster chooses efficient CEV engine cars with low gas consumption and emissions for its

fleet fighting against ecological problems (INTERVIEW 2012). In addition, the company asks its customers if they really need their invoices to be printed and send to them. If the customer likes a printed invoice, Flinkster will print on 100% recycled paper. On the other hand, Flinkster does offer EVs but sofar only in a view city. To sum up, there is still potential for improvement on social and ecological aspects of the core service of sharing a car with Flinkster. 3. Life-cycle orientation: Flinkster chooses its cars based on gas usage and emissions but not based on factors such as raw materials, transportation, and manufacturing and is not considering the whole life cycle as a way to achieve ecological improvements. Flinkster cars will be sold after use depending on their mileage or after an average of two years. 4. Significant and continuous improvement: According to our interview partner Mr. Perez

(INTERVIEW 2012) Flinkster puts a lot of effort in continuous improvement regarding improving the service (finding a way to offer one way rental) and the environmental performance (E-Flinkster fleet). Moreover, we have experienced improvement ourselves as the company just has updated the Flinkster app significantly improving the

accuracy of the location of cars on the map. However, the company puts less effort in the development of socio-ecological improvements. 5. Competing offers: Customers reading about Flinkster`s achievements in press feel secure that Flinkster is the right choice. According to independent studies, Flinkster is market leader in terms of offered cars, customers and quality. Based on the independent study “Car Sharing Atlas 2011” (ATLAS 2011), Flinkster is the best car sharing provider (school grade 2,08) after StadtMobil (2,67), CarToGo and Quicar (both school grade 2,83). Besides price, the number of cars, the terms and conditions, usability, and the website of the providers were evaluated. Also in a study on behalf of the German newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” conducted by the website “www.verkehrsmittelvergleich”, Flinkster came off as a winner (VERKEHRSMITTEL- VERGLEICH 2012). According to the study customers can spontaneously and flexibly rent a car. With a low price per kilometer and price per hour for a small car Flinkster is also leader in price. Moreover, factors like the convenience of the registration and booking process as well as the service quality and quality of the vehicles highlight the outstanding service of Flinkster.

Brand Name Selection

The brand name Flinkster is deduced form the German superlative form “am flinksten” of the adjective „flink” meaning being agile, brisky, breezly or speedy. “Flink” can charac- terize a quick movement, a vital person or a fast car. With its brand name, Flinkster wants to highlight that you have an access to a car very quick and easy compared to its competitors to be the fastest and to be better than its competitors (INTERVIEW 2012). The brand name Flinkster is easy to remember and pronounce and fits to its products. However, the brand name does not stand for sustainability in general.

Brand Positioning

Flinkster is not specifically positioning itself as a sustainable brand. With its EVs, Flinkster indeed improves its socio-ecological performance and develops a more and more sustainable business model.

The DB rental GmbH follows a multi-brand strategy. Besides Flinkster, the company also offers the bike sharing program Call-a-bike. Both sharing programs are operated separately,

which means that Flinkster customers are not automatically able to rent a bike with Flink- ster access data and has to register seperately for using the bike service. In the future, DB rental considers the integration of car and bike sharing programs and the resulting extension of the brand Flinkster (INTERVIEW 2012).

Conclusion on customer solution

To sum it up, Flinkster offers a unique solution for full personal mobility to the customer. Nevertheless, from a social and ecological point of view there is potential for improvements.

4 Communication

As pointed out in the customer solution part for the topic of dual focus, car-sharing in general might have some sustainable advantages compared to owning a car, specifically since the economic incentives of the car-sharing provider is aligned with sustainable objectives for the most environmentally damaging aspects of mobility, as for instance production1. Therefore, there are reasons why a car-sharing company may legitimately claim to be at least more sustainable than owning a car. However, this I not the case for Flinkster. Communication of sustainability is reduced to a minimum and largely connected with the introduction of the e-Flinkster.

The central marketing message of what formerly was DB Carsharing – it was renamed Flinkster in 2009 - was organized around the idea of offering a connection service after a customer’s train ride (Interview). With the introduction of the Flinkster brand another positioning took place, namely the claim to be for everyone and therefore more of a lifestyle positioning, which becomes even more obvious by the print ads introduced later.

Figure 6 Flinkster central merketing message (left) and "hidden" financial appeal (right)

Along with this repositioning the Flinkster brand was separated more strongly from the umbrella corporation DB. This resulted amongst others in a much more cautious communication of sustainability as opposed to DB’s communication, which builds strongly on sustainability (Deutsche Bahn Strategie, 2012).

1 The car-sharing company is incentivized to keep cars as long as it is viable and therefore is likely to buy cars that are long-lasting, countering some aspects of throwaway society.

Flinkster is communicating through several channels starting with several Social media channels, directmail in form of a newsletter, print advertising and of course the Flinkster website. On the homepage the only places in which sustainability issues are mentioned is if e-Flinkster, the electric cars of Flinkster are concerned and (surprisingly as an external link) some tips for CO2-low-emission driving, to the DEKRA website.

Especially in its print ads Flinkster is employing all different kinds of appeals. According to the systematic used in Belz and Peattie, (p.186), Flinkster of course uses some financial appeals, however due to the Lifestyle positioning those messages are rather limited and sometimes even not directly addressing financial aspects. Management appeals on the contrary are rather inexistent.

Most of the advertising can be categorized into euphoria and especially emotional appeals that are sometimes linked to Zeitgeist appeals. For instance, Flinkster proposes to be a service for men to impress women by a certain lifestyle, of course implicitly proposing this lifestyle to be a sustainable one but never explicitly mentioning it and thereby connecting some Zeitgeist aspects with an emotional appeal.

Especially contests won by Flinkster also feature some comparative advertising, since they are promoted on the service’s webpage (ATLAS, 2011).

Furthermore, Flinkster is an interesting position towards third-party labels. With the “Blauer Engel” label Flinkster received a third-party label for “saving the climate” (Blauer Engel, 2012). Most interestingly Flinkster, even though communicating in a press release that they received the label, do not use it as a means of marketing. This very fact supports the supposition of the cautious communication of sustainability.

Figure 7 Emotional appeal with hidden Zeitgeist appeal (left) Euphoria appeal (right)

As mentioned above the only aspect in which Flinskter communicates sustainable values is in connection with its e-Flinkster program. With respect to this it certainly is a questionable position if EVs are more sustainable than ICE cars2.

Figure 8 Sustainable Advertising of Flinkster

In spite of the aforementioned separation from the main brand DB, Flinkster still has some connections to it. Especially with regard to the e-Flinkster program Flinkster essentially may benefit from the trust enjoyed by DB in Germany. In fact the step to introduce EVs into the fleet may be seen as the first step to reintegrate Flinkster into the DB branding and use this trusted brand more for Flinksters’ sustainable messages (Belz & Peattie, p.189).

A further hint into this direction is the recent alignment of the smartphone apps of DB, Flinkster and Call-a-Bike (see Figure x). By establishing Flinkster under the roof of the DB umbrella brand and better integrating the three services Flinkster may become an integral part of the sustainability strategy of DB and therefore may evolve into a service, which communicates sustainability.

Figure 9 The reintegration of the Flinkster brand into DB: Smartphone App Buttons.

2 Due to space contraitns we will not discuss this issue into detail here, however, Flinkster may communicate more credible if it would

5 Convenience

5.1 General convenience aspects of car-sharing

A product or service can be defined as convenient when (Belz & Peattie, 2009, p.225ff):

 It is appropriate in time and place  Removes discomfort or trouble  Promotes ease  Suits well to one’s wants

Convenience is the substitute of “Place” or Distribution from the classical Marketing Mix when referring to the 4 C’s of Sustainability Marketing. For that reason, it is a crucial aspect for the case of car sharing services, since one important factor is the availability of the service. Having vehicles available at any time, nearby, and perhaps also in several cities within a country is important in terms of convenience, and fulfils the first dimension of the definition of convenience mentioned above: “Appropriate in time and place”. “Removing discomfort or trouble” rather refers to issues such as not needing to pay vehicle insurance fees, TÜV, repair or re-sell the car. Car-sharing doesn’t feature the same ease as owning a car but after having registered and yearly or monthly fees have been paid the process is usually made as easy as possible. Finally, if there are several car models, with different brands and sizes, the service may be “suiting well to one’s wants”. Furthermore, there are four main product life stages that need to be considered when referring to convenience: Pre-Purchase, Purchase, Use and Post-use (Belz & Peattie, 2009, p. 225ff). Distribution issues or the process of making the products or services available and accessible at a place and time that suits consumers thereby is the central aspect for all of those stages. Convenience can be delivered during the different stages of the consumption process, such as pre-purchase through provision of information, product or service usage through the incorporation of convenient features or supporting services. Delivering successful sustainability solutions to consumers will depend on them being convenient for the mentioned consumers, as well as technically effective and affordable. In the specific case of car sharing, when referring to the pre-purchase and purchase phase, it can be said that searching costs are rather high for car sharing, since it involves a new way

of understanding mobility, for instance booking beforehand is a completely new behavior. Therefore this stage holds some significant inconveniences. For the use phase it can be highlighted that, owing to the dominance of private car ownership in industrialized economies and the convenience of “going anywhere, any time”, car sharing is the alternative that offers less convenience. No personalization of cars is possible in addition, since it is not possible to keep personal belongings in the cars (Car-Sharing Project, 2011). With regard to post-use, car sharing services can be regarded as convenient for the customers since they don’t need to take care of the vehicle at the end of its product lifecycle. How Flinkster tries to reduce search costs is already discussed in the chapter for Customer Cost. Since the Post-use stage also is rather irrelevant for Flinkster, we will concentrate on the (in)conveniences of the use stage here. We organized convenience and inconvenience aspects directly related to Flinkster according to the stages that are previous to the use of the service registration and booking process, the use of the service itself finding, driving, and returning the car-, and the specific offer of EVs –eFlinkster.

5.2 Registration and booking process

The pre-registration process in the internet is designed easy and fast, however it is necessary to go to a registration office after registering online, probably far away from where one lives (e.g. in Munich, Hauptbahnhof). In terms of combination of services the free registration for Bahncard users adds another level of convenience in as much as they are able to seamlessly use the services of both offers, train and car-sharing. In this context is e.g. possible to earn Bahn-Bonus-points with Flinkster. However, some users stated that Flinkster was asking them to prove their credit rating.

„Auch ich musste mich von der Deutschen Bahn als "Risikogruppe" beschimpfen lassen und wurde trotz einer reinen Schufa-Weste und einem eingereichten Gehaltsnachweis zu einer Kaution über 200 Euro verdonnert. […]“ (Testberichte.de, 2010)

Taking that into consideration the registration process is rather easy to conduct, with potential for improvement.

When booking a car it is possible to book a vehicle weeks or months ahead. The process itself is designed rather convenient in as much one is able to see all cars that are free for a specified time or at which times a specific car is available. An extension of the booking time while already in the car is possible quite easily by calling the hotline, however cancelling reservations is only possible up to 24 hours before, after which one is obliged to pay at least half the hourly price. A user stated in this context:

“With Flinkster you can easily book weeks/months ahead. You just select the parking district/zone and then you see the availability per vehicle. The good thing there is you can cancel up to 24 hours before and there's no cancellation fee” (Toytown, 2012)

The means of booking a car are reduced to the internet and the smartphone app. While the internet booking process is fine, the smartphone app has been reported to have some error potential, for instance because of wrong map sizing, wrong prices or false reporting of the vehicles location (Androidzoom, 2011).

What probably is the most important inconvenience here is that spontaneous booking is simply not possible, since there is a waiting time of at least 15 minutes until one receives the confirmation e-mail. Instantly booking a car from the street is not possible. Although the booking process itself is rather easy this very fact is a major inconvenience for at least some users that are not used to prior planning of trips, which needs a rather large behavioral change.

An user stated with regard to prior booking:

“Flinkster works out to be the cheapest option significantly...The main 'con' of Flinkster though is that you have to book ahead, and there are some cars which are quite popular and booked out on the weekends for example (e.g. their C-Class station wagons).” (Toytown, 2012)

5.3 Finding, driving and returning the vehicle

Flinkster offers a significant number of vehicle models and pricing schemes that adapt to different customer needs as e.g. doing the weekly shopping, transporting furniture, spending one whole day or weekend travelling around Bavaria. For instance, there are

models ranging in size from Smarts over Audi A4 models to a full-fledged transporter in 6 different classes and pricing schemes for different usage patterns (see Customer Cost) and special daily or weekly tariffs for longer periods. Another point of special convenience is not only the variability of available cars but also the ubiquity, since Flinkster is present throughout Germany and even in other countries.

In the process of finding the vehicle the station-based approach is helpful since it clear where the car is located. In our own test-drive however, it took some time until we found the car, since this car was employed for the district-based approach. In returning the vehicle the station-based approach is also instrumental in saving time for finding a parking spot. This point may even be an advantage compared to an own car. However, the station-based approach also holds inconveniences since because of only few stations the way to the car becomes much farther, which is only partly remedied by the district-based approach that in turn has inconveniences in returning the car since one needs to find a parking spot.. Also there is no possibility of making one-way trips, since the car needs to be parked in the location it was picked up, as opposed to services that allow parking anywhere within the city limits (e.g. DriveNow).

“From what I can see, the […] advantage that DriveNow has is you are not confined to a certain parking zone like with Flinkster […]”.(Toytown, 2012)

This in fact takes a lot of flexibility from the user, since standing time of the car has to be paid for, which we see as a major psychological inconvenience.

This was also confirmed by a user stating:

“Flinkster works out cheaper than DriveNow for trips longer in duration as there is a daily fee plus a km charge […] for example, Flinkster is better than DriveNow for a trip to IKEA where with DriveNow you would pay 10 cents per minute while parked there.” (Toytown, 2012)

Considering other financially psychological aspects of inconvenience it is worth noting that the first hour of hourly paying for driving is always compulsory. Returning the vehicle early after an hour has been driven, will result in an discount on the remaining booking time of 50%, therefore at last parts of planning driving time wrongly can be remedied with

this and some of the inconvenience of prior planning is remedied. Penalties for returning cars late are rather high at 25€ for being 15 minutes late, which also stresses the point of the need for prior planning.

5.4 e-Flinkster

In general the booking and use of e-Flinkster is as easy as using the CEVs of Flinkster, even taking a away the responsibility to fuel up the car, since this is conducted at the stations. Surprisingly the prices for using EVs are already starting at 1,50€ and therefore are cheaper than the normal cars.

The variety of cars is only limited to the sizes between eSmarts and Toyota Prius, however it seems rather difficult so expect EV transporters.

Some of the insecurity users might perceive when first using the offer is remedied by a good explanation of differences between EVs and CEVs and for example a clear communication about the status of battery and the remaining range. The maximum range of most EVs is 130km and therefore sufficient for most drives inside a city. However, it is not enough for daily or weekly trips with Flinkster, what also has to be considered. In case the battery is threatening to run out of charge the cars can be laoded at public charging statiosn offered by Vattenfall. However, this would add a large inconvenience to using the EVs, therefore this situation is avoided by Flinkster as far as it is possible, since the loading take up to one hour.

Finally, the availability of E-Flinksters as one important aspect of convenience is criticized by many users, since the EVs are said to be booked up for days (Flinkster Facebook Page, 2012).

As a conclusion for this part, it can be affirmed that Flinkster proves to be a mostly convenient service in terms of availability for germany-wide availability, variety of vehicles offer and adaptability to user needs and preferences offering 6 different groups of vehicles suiting different transportation needs and a whoöe assortment of usage-related tariffs. A main drawback, however, is the need for prior planning, since it needs a major psychological change and sometimes it is even not clear how long a car is needed. Furthermore, the mostly station-based approach leads to longer transportation to actually

reaching a car, which is a major time inconvenience of the service. In addition the need to return a car to stations or districts makes one way drives rather impossible, which makes Flinkster inconvenient at least for some use cases as for instance visiting a friend.

This very last aspect was, referred to as the biggest inconvenience of Flinkster services on the Internet forums, opinion websites, and also in our view. In the interview we conducted, Óscar Pérez, the Marketing manager of Flinkster, said that the company is aware of this inconvenience and that, besides the logistic problems this brings with it, the company is working to improve and overcome this inconvenience.

Finally Flinkster is one of the leading car-sharing companies that provide E-Mobility (Atlas, 2011). It is especially viable for them since they are able to charge the cars at their station, which is challenge for an car placement approach of e.g. DriveNow. Although the e-Flinkster program has some conceptual inconveniences, Flinskter tries to remedy this by a little lower price and at least some of it is also remedied by the psychological conviction fo some users to actually do good for the environment.

Besides, we can extract a second conclusion with regard to our findings in communication. Even though Flinkster claims to be a service for everyone (“Flinkster ist für alle da”), we have concluded through our test drive and after researching opinion websites and Internet forums that this is not entirely true. First of all, old people or age groups without any IT skills, only have the possibility of using the phone booking, and a map or their personal knowledge of the streets to find the car. Secondly, users without Smartphones and Internet will have difficulties finding an booking the cars, since they need to do it at home, at the office, at a café, etc. and find the car without the help of a GPS afterwards. Last, people with alleged financial problems need to pay a security deposit of 200 €.

6 Customer Cost

The classical dimensions of customer cost are not applicable that strictly to the business model of car-sharing. Especially the dimension price reduces largely to the upfront price a user has to pay for registration. This is why we integrated the price into the use dimension, since most of the Flinkster-pricing applies to the actual usage of car-sharing.

6.1 Purchase Costs

With regard to car-sharing gathering initial information is the most crucial aspect of purchase costs, since it is likely that most customers are new users rather than changing from another car-sharing system.

Two important consecutive evaluation processes of the customer are involved here, which bear vastly different types of purchase costs: The first is related to the situation most new users find themselves in, i.e. owning a car. Users therefore have to conduct a comparison between car-sharing and car-owning. In contrast, in the second evaluation process the potential customer has to search for the different car-sharing offers and compare them with each other.

While conducting the first process an initial search for information about car-sharing is needed. It may be particularly hard to visualize a lifestyle without owning a car for some individuals, since they lack experience with car-sharing and are hardly able to verify if the ecological value promoted by some car-sharing companies is indeed existent. This is why car-sharing features mostly experience and credence qualities as opposed to search qualities. The higher the portion of those qualities in a product the higher are the purchase costs (Belz, p.204ff) and consequently, this research inflicts some significant monetary, timely and psychological cost on the customer.

Furthermore, it is the first consideration of car-sharing for most consumers, which means the consumer bears a whole array of risks. First of all it is uncertain if it is financially worthwhile to rely on car-sharing. Consumers may think of situations, in which it would be more favorable to own a car, as for instance for longer excursions. Secondly, time risk may be a factor insofar as customers cannot get into a car instantly in most cases, but first have

to search for a car and book it. In eyes of the customer car-sharing, thus, might be costlier in terms of time3. Thirdly, a social risk might be involved, since the social environment might react unfavorably to the consumer using car-sharing. Consider, for instance a wealthy neighborhood, in which status signaled by cars may be of importance. Finally, the psychological risk is relevant, which can arguably be the most important. Often psychological risk is associated with a loss aversion towards giving up current benefits (Belz, p.205). The case of car-sharing is highly relevant for this, since the convenience of owning a car is a benefit which is fixed in many consumer minds and therefore cannot be competed with by car-sharing. Parts of this perception are irrational and biased towards owning a car, other parts are in fact justified with car-sharing being more inconvenient (for the detailed reasons see the convenience part).

The second evaluation process is largely concerned with comparing different car-sharing offers. Since they differentiate mostly by pricing scheme and the actual process of using a car (see chapter customer solution), and these qualities are easily researchable, search and information costs are a large part of the purchase costs in this case. However, those are visible search qualities, which are not a subject to the difficulties with experience and credence qualities, which is why in relation to the first part of the process these costs are rather low.

A special position can be ascribed to the differences in the way the car-sharing providers approach problems of the first part of the process, since they also may be subject of research in the second evaluation. In the following we will therefore elaborate on the approaches of Flinkster to solve several of those problems.

With regard to making credence and experience qualities more graspable Flinkster has quite diverse approaches. Speaking of experience the free registration of Bahncard users is one means to make potential customers try the service and gather own experience, especially regarding the fact that Flinkster is also meant as a follow-up service after using a train of DB. Also an early lock-in of people who have not owned a car before is tried by launching

3 One may see this aspect also as transportation cost, another part of purchase costs. However, we decided to account or this factor in terms of time.

programs like Flinkster Campus (Flinkster Campus, 2012). Students are able to use Flinkster with even lower prices and therefore not adapt their usage patterns but learn a new usage pattern for mobility from scratch (Interview, 2012). By building a large userbase customers are also able to build on experience of friends, which features a much more credible information base than simply searching for information in the internet.

Credence qualities in car-sharing are especially represented by the claim to offer a green approach to mobility. Flinkster’s approach to communication in this case is surprisingly thrifty as opposed to the massive green communication claim of the parent company DB (see Chapter Communication). Apart from their Communication in relation to eFlinkster therefore customers cannot expect the service to be fully sustainable.

Social risk is rather a minor factor for Flinkster due to the construction of the service as a follow-up service. The station-based approach is mostly meant for using cars following a train ride, where the social environment of someone does not play a significant role. The rather new district-based stationing of cars, however, may change this, especially for customers in an environment in which cars are seen as a status symbol. Thus, Flinkster also offers larger cars in those quarters like e.g. Mercedes C-Klasse. Time risk may be another critical factor. In fact this type of risk is most probably the one with most disadvantages for Flinkster as compared to other car-sharing systems since one has to book cars a minimum of 15 minutes in advance (see chapter Convenience).

To avoid information redundancy financial and psychological risks addressed by Flinkster, are discussed in the use cost section, since they are closely related to switching costs.

6.2 Use Costs

As explained beforehand we will treat price as part of the use costs, since in the case of car- sharing, the actual monetary cost, i.e. “price”, is vastly dependent on the extent of usage.

Price

Owning a car is a classical case of underestimating use costs only being aware of the initial monetary costs. Car-sharing is instrumental in eliminating most of those initial capital costs at the same time making consumers aware of the actual usage cost of cars. The most important difference for consumers is most probably the distribution of payments over

time. While buying a car features high early upfront costs and lower cost with regard to usage later on, car-sharing is affected by a steady payment stream that is vastly lower than the upfront cost, however higher than the usage cost of an owned car4 . The finding that often consumers irrationally favor approaches, with lower upfront cost, is a thriving advantage of car-sharing in this case. This advantage may be especially applicable to new drivers, who did not own a car up to now.

Flinkster demands an upfront fee of 50€ and no fee at all for Bahncard-Owners. It is almost assured that frequent train customers therefore eventually register for the Car-Sharing service thus being able to use Flinkster as a continuing service. By this unique initial cost policy Flinkster approaches the problem of the high awareness for price (Belz, p.204).

GERMANY-WIDE TARIFF LOCAL TARIFF (E.G. BERLIN)

HOURLY PRICE 6,00€/H 2,50€/H (E.G.“KOMPAKT” CLASS)

KM-BASED PRICE 0,18€/KM 0,26€/KM

(E.G. “KOMPAKT CLASS”)

Figure 10 Exemplary Hourly and Km-based prices of the Flinkster tariff system

A special case also is the dual tariff system. The germany-wide tariff has higher hourly but lower km-based cost, whereas it is vice versa for the local tariff. In addition a monthly lump sum cost of 10€ has to be paid for the local tariff. By this dual pricing system Flinkster tries to match two usage patterns, thus making it more convenient for consumers that match such patterns to change from owning a car to sharing a car. Offering such different usage patterns also addresses financial risk of the research during the purchase cost stage (Interview). A third especially low-priced tariff is connected with the aforementioned Campus program. This particular example makes it obvious how Flinkster tries to adapt to most different users and to make the offer financially viable for them.

4 This contemplation applies only to pure monetary cost.

Switching cost

Switching costs are probably the most important costs for customers with regard to car- sharing. Since having an own car nearby and being able to simply going to the parking place and start a trip is a behavioral pattern that is deadlocked in many of consumers’ minds, it is particularly difficult for car-sharing schemes to approach this type of cost, because it is closely associated with the notion of psychological risk (Belz, p.205f). Committing to car-sharing implies a significant change in behavior, since cars need to be booked beforehand, located and physically found. Therefore, sharing indeed requires much more planning than simply owning. A psychological effect of irrationally overvaluing options currently possessed might even add to this factual inconvenience (Gourville, 2006).

A challenge for car-sharing providers therefore is to approach this problem by lowering the switching cost. Flinkster’s special problem in this context may be the station-based approach, which implies a rather long way to the car on average. By introducing a slightly more decentralized way of placing the cars, namely a city-neighbourhood-based placement of cars, Flinkster tries to remedy this. The test-drive of the authors showed that the approach is working reasonably, since we had a walk of about 600m until we found the car.

The need to book a car, therefore the loss of spontaneity and need for prior planning (maybe the most tremendous behavioral change needed), is approached by providing simple booking approaches, like the smartphone app and a calendar-based online booking- terminal. To explain the system further a 24/7 hotline is offered, which is accountable for all questions around Flinkster that may occur. According to our experience the system was quite well explained already, however, the need to call the hotline was still there, since we experienced uncertainties about returning the car correctly. The hotline turned out to be astonishingly helpful and was instrumental in eliminating all uncertainties and even some of the initial search costs, which additionally reduces purchase costs. However, the central problem of the loss of spontaneity remains, since instant booking is still not possible. In addition the problem of less flexibility due to the impossibility of one-way drives is not addressed at all and adds to the inhibition of customers to choose Flinkster.

The psychological switching cost is not only approached by some of the qualities mentioned above but also by the low initial price. The lower initial capital cost are

differentiating car-sharing-offers strongly from car-owning. Besides addressing purchase costs and experience qualities this is another reason why Flinkster tries to focus on students early with their Campus program, since they are experiencing the uncertainty involved with investing much money into a car the first time. The financial incentive of Flinkster for users already owning a car is the free registration for Bahncard-holders. Since they are able to use the offer in places where their own car is not available they might rethink the next time they are about to buy a new car also at their place of living5. Insofar, we think that the psychological switching costs are accounted for quite well.

Nevertheless, the perceived financial risk is addressed only poorly. Despite offering some of the lowest tariffs in German car-sharing offers, the uncertainty remains if the exclusive use of car-sharing for a user is in fact less costly for them or not. Although a cost calculator is offered it merely applies to calculating the cost of one drive with Flinkster. This certainly does not address the actual concern of the user what the total (financial) cost of usage is and a more elaborate calculator would change this actual experience quality to being more of a search quality. Because of the lack of such an explicit comparison with car-owning, we developed a cost-calculator tool, which is able to calculate approximate monthly cost of car-owning versus car-sharing with Flinkster, based on several premises (see Attachments) (Deutsches KFZ-Gewerbe, 2010; Zukunft Mobilität, 2011; AXA Verkehrsicherheit, 2009).

It is possible to derive interesting insights with this tool, when the two main tariffs are evaluated according to their sensitivity to the kilometer driven per year by the customer. The calculation is based on driving a Volkswagen Golf and on the specific pricing of Figure x. Interestingly, the local tariff seems to be consistently cheaper than the Germany- wide. When choosing the tariffs one has to consider that one can use the Germany-wide pricing scheme everywhere, whereas the local is only available in the city that is booked, so there are qualitative advantages involved. The relative advantage of the local tariff becomes obvious when changing the assumptions for average speed and trip length to a scheme that would match someone, who is doing his errands with Flinkster (see Figure x).

5 Consider the dual aspect of both measures, the Campus-program and free registration. On one hand it accounts for gaining some experiences with Flinskter on the other it addresses financial issues.

OWN CAR AND FLINKSTER Assumptions: 500 Gas price 1,60€

€ 450 Gas consump. 7,0l/100km 400 Av. Speed 50km/h 350 300 Av. standing time 0,5h

Motnhly cost in in Motnhly cost 250 Av. Trip length 50km 200 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 km p.a.

Own car Germany-wide tariff Local tariff

Figure 11 Comparison of own car costs and Flinkster cost based on usage pattern for germany-wide tariff

OWN CAR AND FLINKSTER Assumptions:

500 Gas price 1,60€

€ 450 Gas consump. 7,0l/100km 400 350 Av. Speed 25km/h 300 Av. standing time 0,5h

Motnhly cost in in Motnhly cost 250 Av. Trip length 30km 200 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 km p.a.

Own car Germany-wide tariff Local tariff

Figure 12 Comparison of own car costs and Flinkster cost based on usage pattern for local tariff

6.3 Post-Use Costs

For customers there are no post-use costs involved for the case of Flinkster, since Flinkster sells its car after being used 60.000km or 2 years. With this Flinkster offers the oldest car- sharing fleet in Germany, however it is still avoiding the discussion whether this policy can be made more sustainable. By keeping the cars longer more ecological production cost could be avoided.

7 Conclusion and Outlook

7.1 Conclusion

To conclude for this paper Flinkster it is worthwhile looking back at the communication section and one of the central messages of Flinkster that in our eyes does indeed differentiate Flinkster quite strongly from other car-sharing offers:

“Flinkster is for everyone”

In the convenience chapter we pointed out some doubt about this message. Nevertheless this critique most probably applies to a minority of potential customers. In fact, Flinkster offers an unusual variety that matches the individual situation in many aspects. The car fleet is adapted to every purpose from transporting furniture to simply moving oneself from A to B (and back unfortunately). Also different tariffs try to match different usage patterns or living situations financially and with regard to convenience. Longer journeys are also possible by the daily or weekly tariffs. The ubiquity of the offer is another aspect that sets Flinskter apart from its competitors.

The other side of the medal shows the major drawbacks of Flinkster, to large parts located in the convenience and customer cost part. The station-based approach necessitates a much longer way of approaching the car. Prior planning and lacking spontaneity require tremendous behavioral changes – if not factual than at least psychological. In the end the necessity of one-way drives adds to the inflexibility of the service. All those aspects in fact neglect some parts of the central message of Flinkster to be for everyone.

As we learned in the communication chapter the communication of sustainability by Flinkster is rather cautious. In fact there are more viable alternatives with regard to sustainability.

For this reasons we developed future ideas for Flinkster to first improve some of the lacking convenience aspects, so that the current central message holds more substance and seoncly to improve the sustainability of the service to perhaps be finally able to communicate some sustainability.

7.2 Future ideas to remedy Flinksters problems

Some obvious measures to improve convenience would be to increase the amount of the most demanded car models and ask the current customers which models they would like to drive. Placing more cars in the most demanded areas, would have similar effects.

Also the possibility of parking the car wherever you want within some beforehand established city limits, would help in improving convenience. However all those measures would lead to higher cost and in the end most probably to higher prices. Since the low prices are one of the major competitive advantages of Flinkster (Atlas, 2011), we concentrated on solutions that do not require too much financial effort.

For instance to remedy the lack of spontaneity of the current service a solution to this may be to attach QR-Codes to each car and make it possible to scan this with a smartphone. Therefore, booking this exact car right away if it is free, may add a lot to the convenience of the service, since some of the need of prior booking would be reduced. Also a shorter compulsory booking time of 15 minutes would make the service viable for more short-term drives as for instance a drive to pick up packages at a Post-station.

Figure 13 QR-Code An addition to the current Flinkster-App that would integrate Call-a-Bike, Flinkster and the trains would make several applications possible, which would add to sustainability. For instance it would be possible to calculate the most sustainable way to reach a destination and to promote combined offers of train, Flinkster and Call-a-Bike, depending on distance and personal mobility needs, thus not only adding to sustainability but also to convenience.

Antoehr emans to improve sustainbility would be an even older age of car fleet. Offering at least some older cars that due to their age offer better total lifetime emissions, would reduce primarily production emissions of car. A free choice for customers to select the car that is more sustainable or take newer cars, may also be a means to not reduce the lifestyle aspect of Flinkster with this measure.

List of references

ATLAS (2011): Atlas Studie Car Sharing Anbieter 2011. Online at: http://www.flinkster.de/fileadmin/www.flinkster.%20de/redaktion/pdf/_5171399.pdf (as of 01.06.2012).

AXA VERKEHRSSICHERHEIT (2009): Statistics about driving behavior in Germany. Online at: http://www.axa.de/servlet/PB/show/1188882/AXA_VerkehrssicherheitsReport_2009_Studi energebnisse.pdf (as of 01.06.2012).

BELZ, F.-M./ PEATTIE, K. (2009): Sustainability Marketing: A global Perspective, Chichester: Wiley.

BLAUER ENGEL (2012): Third party label for Flinkster. Online at: http://www.blauer- engel.de/de/produkte_marken/vergabegrundlage.php?id=208 (as of 01.06.2012).

CAR-SHARING PROJECT (2011): Video on Convenience of car sharing. Sustainability Marketing and Innovation Project. TU München. Online at: https://vimeo.com/34048660 (as of 01.06.2012).

DEUTSCHE BAHN (2012): Deutsche Bahn Press Release on 13.05.2012. Online at: http://www.deutschebahn.com/de/presse/ presseinformationen/pi_it/2567680/ubd20120530.html (as of 01.06.2012).

DEUTSCHE BAHN STRATEGIE (2012): Deutsche Bahn sustainability strategy claim. Online at: http://www.deutschebahn.com/de/nachhaltigkeit/strategie.html (as of 01.06.2012).

DEUTSCHES KFZ GEWERBE (2010): General Statistics of German Car Industry. Online at: http://www.kfzgewerbe.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Presse/Zahlen_Fakten/Zahlen%20und%2 0Fakten%202010.pdf (as of 01.06.2012).

DRIVENOW CAR SHARING (2012): So funktionierts. Online at: http://www.drivenow.com/so-funktionierts/ (as of 01.06.2012).

FAZ (2012): Elektroautos mit Ökostrom am Bahnhof, 14.06.2011. Online at: http://www.faz.net/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung/elektroautos-mit-oekostrom-am- bahnhof-11141938.html (as of 01.06.2012).

FLINKSTER (2012): Flinkster Partners, 15.06.2012: http://www.flinkster.de/index.php?id=606&f=3 (as of 15.06.2012).

FLINKSTER CAMPUS (2012): Flinkster Campus program. Online at: http://www.flinkster- campus.de/ (as of 01.06.2012).

FLINKSTER FACEBOOK PAGE (2012): User opinions on social media sources. Online at: https://www.facebook.com/flinkster.de (as of 01.06.2012).

GOURVILLE, J.-t./ (2006): Eager Seller & Stony Buyers: Understanding the psychology of product adoption, Harvard Business Review.

INTERVIEW 2012: Own Interview with Oscar Perez, Marketing Manager Flinkster, 28.06.2012.

NCAP (2012): Testergebnisse nach Marken. Online at : http://www. de.euroncap.com (as of 01.06.2012).

STATTAUTO (2012): Stattauto Partners. Online at: http://stattauto-muenchen.de/#flinkster

(as of 01.06.2012). ANDROIDZOOM (2011): Forum: Opinions about App. Online at: http://es.androidzoom.com /android _applications/transportation/flinkster_backd.html (as of 01.06.2012).

TESTBERICHTE.DE (2010): Opinions and reviews of Flinkster an. Online at: http://www.testberichte.de /r/produkt-meinung/deutsche-bahn-flinkster-202171-1.html (as of 01.06.2012).

TOYTOWN (2012): Forum: Opinions and reviews of Flinkster an. Online at: http://www.toytown germany.com/lofi/index.php/t4143.html (as of 01.06.2012).

VERKEHRSMITTELVERGLEICH (2012): Verkehrsmittelvergleich 2012, Online at: http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de (as of 01.06.2012).

ZUKUNFT MOBILITÄT (2011): Examplary calculation of the real cost of driving. Online at: http://www.zukunft-mobilitaet.net/2487/strassenverkehr/die-wahren-kosten-eines- kilometers-autofahrt/ (as of 01.06.2012).

Additional references http://carshare-d.blogspot.de/2009/03/flinkster-in-der-realitat-angekommen.html Comparative of Flinkster and other car sharing services in Stuttgart and Köln. 2009 http://mrknister.bplaced.net/wordpress/2012/02/ohne-eigenes-auto-mobil/ Radio Interview about Car Sharing. February 2012 http://www.bahn.de/bahnbonus Bahn.Bonus points. 2012 http://www.bahn.de/p/view/bahncard/bahnbonus/bahnbonus_praemien_uebersicht.shtml Bahn.Bonus prizes. 2012 http://www.ciao.de/flinkster_de__8115963 Flinkster in Stuttgart. Opinion. April 2009 http://www.ciao.de/Car_Sharing_74530_3 Car sharing. Opinions. Different years. http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/marktplatz/1650689/ Comparative of Flinkster and Cambio. January 2012 http://www.flinkster.de/fileadmin/www.flinkster.de/redaktion/images/PDF/Flyer_Englisch. pdf Flinkster’s official brochure. 2012 http://www.flinkster.de/fileadmin/www.flinkster.de/redaktion/images/PDF/Kundeninfo_Fli nkster.pdf Flinkster services brochure. October 2010 http://www.sparbote.de/23391/flinkster-carsharing-der-db-im-test/ Flinkster review. October 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exmhxTapJCY&feature=related Flinkster. How to use it. July 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQSSQomJUxY Testbote.de. DB Flinkster Carsharing im Test. October 2010

iii

Eidesstattliche Erklärung

Wir versichern hiermit an Eides statt, dass wir die von uns eingereichte Arbeit bzw. die von uns namentlich gekennzeichneten Teile selbständig verfasst und ausschließlich die angegebenen Hilfsmittel benutzt habe. Die Arbeit wurde bisher keiner Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegt und auch noch nicht veröffentlicht.

München, den 12. Juni 2014

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Alejandro Aznar Argelich

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Stephanie Leopold

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Mark-Felix Schütz