Participants in the market for e-learning in the area of soft skills

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 appendices, and 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.
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