HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF CHEMISTRY AND EARTH SCIENCES INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY GROUP GERMANY’S SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPING INDUSTRY FOR ELECTRIC POWER ASSISTED CYCLES A MULTI-THEORETICAL CASE STUDY HANNA WILBRAND MASTER’S THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF SCIENCE GEOGRAPHY – SPECIALIZATION: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY – SUPERVISOR: PROF. DR. JOHANNES GLÜCKLER DR. MICHAEL HANDKE AACHEN, 30. DECEMBER 2016 HANNA WILBRAND – FRIEDENSSTRAßE 45, 69121 HEIDELBERG –
[email protected] BORN 18.07.1990 IN BERGISCH GLADBACH – MATRICULATION NUMBER: 2896962 COVER PAGE Urban-Style Electric Power Assisted Cycle (picture provided by Freygeist 2016) No other invention mixes business and pleasure as intimately as the bicycle. (Adam Opel 1837-1895) i AFFIDAVIT I hereby declare that this master thesis on “Germany’s Successfully Developing Industry for Electric Power Assisted Cycles: A Multi-Theoretical Case Study” is solely my original work. I have used only the sources and materials indicated and have not received any unauthorized assistance from others. All quotations from other works as well as paraphrases or summaries of other works have been identified as such and properly acknowledged in the thesis. This thesis or parts thereof have not been submitted to an educational institution in Germany or abroad as part of an examination or degree qualification. I hereby certify that the information provided in this declaration is true and correct. I fully understand the meaning of this affidavit as well as the criminal penalties for submitting a false or incomplete statement. _____________________________________ Aachen, 30. December 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To begin, I would like to thank my senior examiner and supervisor, Prof.