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Organizational Development: Levers for Greater Performance

This interview-style article discusses shifting the focus from 'agility' as an end in itself to organizational performance and resilience. Consultant and author Tillmann Seidel argues companies should align work around end-to-end value streams, set team-based goals and group incentives, and build psychological safety plus clear accountability to drive a performance culture. The piece highlights stagnant labour productivity in Germany (≈0.3% annual growth since 2020) and cites the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft naming digitization, AI, innovation, bureaucracy reduction and investment as key productivity levers. It also examines the potential of an organizational "digital twin" to simulate restructuring but warns that fragmented HR data and privacy/work-council constraints are practical barriers. Retail examples show different value-stream needs (e.g., perishables vs. dry goods) and note that pilot programs can create internal competition unless carefully managed.

Commerce Media Faces Scaling Test in Germany

Koddi’s Alexander Steenbakkers-Noffke argues that Commerce Media is broader than Retail Media and is rapidly growing across transactional environments beyond classic retail, including travel portals, quick-commerce and delivery apps. He cites a February 2025 BVDW Working Group definition that positions Retail Media as a subset of Commerce Media. Koddi and partners have run multiple studies: a Forrester Consulting survey of nearly 800 senior commerce-media network decision-makers finds Germany has strategic foundations but lags on execution; other research with The Human Instinct shows US marketers use AI agents far more (70%) than German counterparts (32%). Steenbakkers-Noffke highlights missing standards, the value of server-side transactional signals (not personal data), and the need to train organisations for Agentic AI as central obstacles to scaling Commerce Media in Germany.

Reddit: Communities Drive Search, Trust and Commerce

In an interview, Kevin Klieber, Head of Mid-Market Sales DACH at Reddit, explains why Reddit is becoming a critical second step in search and an increasingly important place for purchase decisions. Reddit cites its Path to Purchase 2026 study (with Attest) showing nearly half of shoppers verify AI recommendations on Reddit and that over one in five searchers append “Reddit” to queries. Reddit reported strong Q1 2026 financial growth (ad revenue +74% year-over-year to $625M; total revenue +69% to $663M), highlights a worldwide Shopify integration to shorten path-to-purchase, and points to retail campaign ROAS strength (7:1 average in EMEA from a TransUnion meta-analysis). The company also deployed new AI-driven moderation systems in early July to combat spam, manipulated votes and reduce response times to harmful content.