Chair of Strategic Management and Digital Entrepreneurship
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- Doctoral Thesis (46)
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- Entrepreneurship (8)
- Corporate accelerator (6)
- Corporate venturing (6)
- Corporate entrepreneurship (5)
- Management (4)
- Business models (3)
- Industry dynamics (3)
- Innovation management (3)
- e-Commerce (3)
- Accelerator design (2)
HHL als Innovationsmotor
(2024)
Purpose
Literature on entrepreneurial resourcefulness (ER) has grown constantly in the last two decades. ER is a construct that describes the specific behavior of entrepreneurs, focusing on the generation and deployment of resources to pursue an opportunity. Since the ER literature has expanded and diversified, the purpose of this study is to integrate its findings with existing knowledge about the construct.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies a systematic literature review approach, following the methodology of Tranfield et al. (2003). The authors identify and synthesize 31 studies focusing on ER.
Findings
The literature on ER can function on four different levels: (1) individual, (2) organizational, (3) contextual, and (4) effectual level. Studies on ER concentrate on either the individual or the organizational level, with the contextual and effectual levels appearing as additional study categories for the studies. Behind this categorization, research views ER either as an antecedent influencing a specific effect or as an outcome resulting from a particular context.
Originality/value
This paper is the first of its nature, structuring the existing ER research and proposing a research agenda on ER with seven concrete research avenues and their research questions. Based on the systematic literature review, the authors develop a framework consolidating the interrelations of the different levels.
Purpose
When CEOs are publicly weighing in on sociopolitical debates, this is known as CEO activism. The steadily growing number of such statements made in recent years has been subject to a flourishing academic debate. This field offers first profound findings from observational studies. However, the discussion of CEO activism lacks a thorough theoretical grounding, such as a shared concept accounting for the heterogeneity of sociopolitical incidents. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide an archetypal framework for CEO activism.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a multiple case study approach on 145 activism cases stated by CEOs and found seven distinct statement archetypes.
Findings
The study identifies four main structural design elements accounting for the heterogeneity of activism, i.e. the addressed meta-category of the statement, the targeted outcome, the used tonality and the orientation of the CEOs’ positions. Further, the authors found seven distinguishable archetypes of CEO activism statements: “Climate Alerts”, “Economy Visions”, “Political Comments”, “Self-reflections and Social Concerns”, “Tech Designs”, “Unclouded Evaluations” and “Descriptive Explanations”.
Research limitations/implications
This typology classifies the heterogeneity of CEO activism. It will enable the analysis of interrelationships, mechanisms and motivations on a differentiated level and raise the comprehensibility of research-results.
Practical implications
The framework supports executives in understanding the heterogeneity of CEO activism and to analyse personality-fits.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this marks the first conceptualisation of activism developed cross-thematically. The work supports further theory-building on CEO activism.
Acting beyond concepts
(2022)
There is a lack of understanding about early-stage entrepreneurial actions, as existing research focuses on later stages and overlooks how experience impacts entrepreneurial actions. However, entrepreneurial experience has a pivotal role in shaping entrepreneurial actions, serving as a distinguishing factor within the scope of this study. Therefore, we employ a grounded theory research approach building on 112 in-depth interviews in which we differentiate between novice and experienced entrepreneurs. We analyzed the extensive data set following the methodology of Gioia et al. Our findings include the identification of three dimensions of entrepreneurial activities, namely Entrepreneurial Alignment, Resource Enhancement, and Value Generation, that are relevant for both novice and experienced entrepreneurs. In addition, we are able to identify 27 specific entrepreneurial actions distributed between the three dimensions but differing depending on whether the entrepreneur is a novice or experienced. Examining these results, we outlined differences and commonalities in the activities of the two groups: novice entrepreneurs follow a sequential, unconnected, and perfectionist-driven process, while experienced entrepreneurs adopt a parallel, interconnected, and iterative process across the three dimensions. Practitioners and researchers can benefit from the study’s results for entrepreneurship education and resource theories in the early-stage venture creation.
From hype to impact
(2024)
This study explores the impact of metaverse technology on business models (BMs). Despite increasing academic and practical interest, the adoption and seamless integration of this technology poses substantial challenges for businesses. This study adopts a grounded-theory approach to explore how firms can incorporate this technological innovation within their existing BMs. Drawing upon insights from 20 interviews, the data were structured using the Gioia methodology, uncovering 5 dimensions that elucidate how companies can leverage metaverse technology to augment value creation, capture, and delivery, both internally and externally, within their BMs. These dimensions serve as a roadmap for firms seeking to embrace the metaverse, offering insights into potential adaptations to their existing BMs. This study contributes to the theoretical discourse surrounding the metaverse by delineating specific components within BMs that can be tailored to accommodate metaverse integration. Furthermore, our findings offer invaluable guidance and recommendations to firms and ventures, highlighting the diverse areas within the value creation process where metaverse integration can be strategically applied. This research lays the foundation for a more comprehensive understanding of metaverse technology's role in shaping the business landscape.
SevenAccelerator, a specialized unit of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE established in 2013, is one of Germany’s longest-running corporate accelerators. This case enables students to understand the detailed workings of a structured startup support program through the activities outlined in the SevenAccelerator business model. Now, to ensure a successful value proposition and remain a key player in the increasingly competitive entrepreneurial ecosystem, the accelerator’s two key managers must not only be certain they have a holistic and thorough understanding of current operations but also analyze existing activities and consider new activities and their interlinkages and effects on the business model, challenges students will help them meet.
Corporate accelerators
(2023)
Since their emergence almost two decades ago, accelerators have evolved towards a global phenomenon that has the potential to shape global economies and societies. The rapid evolvement of the accelerator phenomenon increasingly caught scholars’ interest to examine what makes this specific form of startup support unique and popular in practice. Despite the growing amount of valuable contributions in accelerator research, several key aspects of the accelerator phenomenon remain unsolved or misunderstood, which leaves scholars as well as practitioners with a discordant understanding of how and why accelerators evolved and how they function to date. Hence, ambiguities are still large with regard to thoroughly understanding the accelerator mechanism and its recent developments. However, this understanding is crucial to develop theory in accelerator research and provide assistance for practitioners on how to increase value creation of accelerator programs. By means of five research studies this cumulative dissertation contributes to the lack of common conceptual foundations, an adequate consideration of theoretical underpinnings, a contemporary presentation of defining accelerator characteristics and their evolvement, and reliable insights on accelerator efficacy. In addition, this dissertation contributes numerous lessons learned and guidance to various stakeholders affected by accelerators.
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explore how multi-national corporations (MNCs) can effectively adopt artificial intelligence (AI) into their talent acquisition (TA) practices. While the potential of AI to address emerging challenges, such as talent shortages and applicant surges in specific regions, has been anecdotally highlighted, there is limited empirical evidence regarding its effective deployment and adoption in TA. As a result, this paper endeavors to develop a theoretical model that delineates the motives, barriers, procedural steps and critical factors that can aid in the effective adoption of AI in TA within MNCs.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the scant empirical literature on our research objective, we utilized a qualitative methodology, encompassing a multiple-case study (consisting of 19 cases across seven industries) and a grounded theory approach.
Findings
Our proposed framework, termed the Framework on Effective Adoption of AI in TA, contextualizes the motives, barriers, procedural steps and critical success factors essential for the effective adoption of AI in TA.
Research limitations/ implications
This paper contributes to literature on effective adoption of AI in TA and adoption theory.
Practical implications
Additionally, it provides guidance to TA managers seeking effective AI implementation and adoption strategies, especially in the face of emerging challenges.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is unparalleled, being both grounded in theory and based on an expansive dataset that spans firms from various regions and industries. The research delves deeply into corporations' underlying motives and processes concerning the effective adoption of AI in TA.
SunCoal Industries
(2011)
This case study provides information about energy supply in Germany and the various forms of renewable energies with focus on the utilization and processing of biomass into solid fuels. Since governments have decided to fight global warming the industry sector of renewable energies has grown steadily in many countries, especially in Germany. In this country the growth was promoted by political acts and regulations on the one hand, on the other hand by the awareness of investors that renewable energy companies are advantageous investments. While wind, solar and water power are well known to many people refining of biomass sounds rather unknown. Technologies to refine biomass into fuels are various. Carbonization of biomass shows that solid fuels still will be part of the energy supply chain in future. Major tasks of the case study are to find out whether (1) the sector of renewable energies is promising or just hyped; (2) the market for synthetic coal is attractive; (3) SunCoal Industries is adding value; and (4) SunCoal Industries can master the environmental obstacles. Students are asked to apply general strategic management frameworks to evaluate a start-up company in a fast growing industry.
This case illustrates how the banking industry has recently changed through the development of the Internet. Changes in industry structure, competitive strategies and value chains are illustrated. The learning objectives are: (1) to gain knowledge of how the banking industry has changed over the past years and to recognise threats and opportunities for existing and new players; (2) to understand the driving factors of these changes; and (3) to recognise the opportunities that the Internet offers for the different players in the banking industry.
Quo vadis music industry
(2001)
This case illustrates how the music industry has recently changed through the development of the Internet. Changes in industry structure, competitive strategies and value chains are illustrated. The learning objectives are: (1) to gain knowledge of how the music industry has changed over the past years and to recognize threats and opportunities for existing and new players; (2) to understand the driving factors of these changes; and (3) to recognize the opportunities that the Internet offers for the different players in the music industry.
This case illustrates how the market for management education has recently changed through the development of the Internet. Changes in industry structure, competitive strategies and value chains are illustrated. The learning objectives are: (1) to gain knowledge of how the market for management education has changed over the past years and to recognise threats and opportunities for existing and new players; (2) to understand the driving factors of these changes; and (3) to recognise the opportunities that the Internet offers for the different players in the market for management education.
This case illustrates how the book industry has recently changed through the development of the Internet. Changes in industry structure, competitive strategies and value chains are illustrated. The learning objectives are: (1) to gain knowledge of how the book industry has changed over the past years and to recognise threats and opportunities for existing and new players; (2) to understand the driving factors of these changes; and (3) to recognise the opportunities that the Internet offers for the different players in the book industry.
This case illustrates how Duke''s Fuqua School of Management, located in Durham, North Carolina, has expanded its management education programs into Europe through the extensive usage of Internet technology. The learning objectives are: (1) to gain knowledge of how the international market for management education has changed over the past years and to recognize threats and opportunities for existing and new players; (2) to understand how Internet technology can be used for internationalizing existing "old" businesses, i.e. the management education market, depending on the specific requirements of different target groups; (3) to recognize the opportunities that the Internet offers for existing competitors, such as Fuqua, who are currently not number one or two in their respective industry; (4) to understand how the Internet usage for the development and delivery of management education programs necessitates the co-operation between universities and technology providers and/or education brokers; and (5) to acquire a firm grasp of a number of e-commerce analysis tools.
Entrepreneurial management
(2022)
This publication-based dissertation examines (corporate) venturing and business model innovation intending to derive implications for entrepreneurial management in firms. To achieve this, four self-contained research papers have been developed which are the core of this dissertation. The first section serves as a general introduction, outlines the motivation for each of the research topics, and presents a summary of the research papers and their publication status. The first research paper (Section 2) is a systematic literature review that summarizes and structures three decades of research on the field of success measurement of corporate venturing activities. It identifies three structural dimensions which allow the creation of nine meaning clusters by which the existing measurement approaches can be grouped and compared. Additionally, the review reveals the heterogeneity of these approaches and the unique measurement items which they include. The third section is an empirical study on new venture creation activities in the early stage, based on 112 interviews with novice and experienced entrepreneurs. It defines three dimensions of entrepreneurial activity, namely, Entrepreneurial Alignment, Resource Enhancement, and Value Generation, and finds 67 actions, which differ across these groups in type and sequence. Section four is a single case study in business model innovation that investigates the recent rebranding of “Facebook” to “Meta”. It finds that, despite the strong communication efforts and the resulting internal and external signaling effects, this change does not correspond to a radical business innovation pattern. The fourth research study (Section 5) is a conceptual study that develops an integrated framework for business model innovation in service industries, based on research on the tourism industry. It highlights the limitations of siloed approaches under the influence of internal and external challenges such as industry dynamics and resource constraints. Section six summarizes the dissertation, highlighting the overall contributions for research and practice, and discusses the limitations and directions for future research.
This publication-based dissertation examines human-related success factors for the implementation and application of data analytics tools and methods within the decision-making process of organizations. Generated insights on human-related factors are outlined and described in six chapters. First, a general introduction to the subject is provided and the research is positioned within a broader overall context. Additionally, the first section comprises a summary of the research papers included, along with publication information. Chapter 2 presents a systematic literature review summarizing the capabilities of Big Data analytics (BDA) with regard to firm performance. Five key capability clusters have been identified to categorize all relevant human-related capabilities across existing research to date. Chapter 3 presents an empirical research paper examining the relevant managerial aspects that must be considered when shifting from intuitive to analytics-based decision-making. Introducing a six-factor framework, the chapter outlines the findings of an indepth single case study of a German manufacturing organization that has already implemented analytical methods and tools within its decision processes. Chapter 4 contains the second empirical paper, which outlines the crucial role that executives play within the process of a firm’s digital transformation toward the application of analytics. Based on conducted interviews, four managerial archetypes are identified, with detailed descriptions of their characteristics, capabilities, and contribution to transformation. Chapter 5 introduces a teaching case study that sheds light on best practices relevant to the application of analytics. This case study describes the most critical factors for success in the use of an AI tool using an example from Wilo, a leading German manufacturer of pumps and pump systems. Finally, Chapter 6 summarizes the findings of this publication-based dissertation, outlines its contributions to academia and practice, and presents its limitations and potential avenues for future research.
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to develop an integrative framework of accelerator design to answer the question of what activities accelerators perform and how they function within a structured framework. Research on the functioning of accelerators as a mechanism for startup engagement produced multiple empirical results. However, the comparability of relevant research is strongly limited, currently hindering theoretical developments. Existing accelerator design models often differ and only partially overlap, which leaves extant literature with a fragmented and discordant conceptual understanding.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a meta-synthesis method using qualitative analysis of 36 accelerator design articles, an integrative framework is developed. After identification of relevant literature, a renowned method for extracting, coding and synthesizing data on individual and cross-study level is applied to identify accelerator design constructs. Eventually, identified accelerator design constructs are integrated into a framework resting on the activity system lens of business model design.
Findings
The article reconciles fragmented knowledge on accelerator design and shows how accelerator design can be holistically conceptualized by 32 key activities clustered in eight design dimensions. The framework is complemented by an initial guideline for measurement. The findings further highlight formerly disregarded aspects of governance and community formation from a processual and structural perspective.
Originality/value
This article is the first to present a comprehensive picture of accelerator design integrating multiple empirical findings of prior research into a single coherent framework. This framework offers a shared foundation for future research exploring the delineations, functioning and impact of accelerators. From a practical perspective, the article provides managers of accelerators a guide to design, review and improve programs according to their value creation goals.
Innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is often the result of technology-driven or market-pull entrepreneurship activities. So far, although its importance in practice, as well as in academia continues to grow, extant research exhibits little theory about the process of technology-driven entrepreneurship in SMEs. The study aims to better understand how technology-driven entrepreneurship processes transform business in SMEs in the manufacturing industry. Therefore, we developed a technological entrepreneurship (TE) process framework by utilizing the flexible pattern matching approach (FPMA). We iteratively compared a priori patterns from existing theoretical knowledge to empirical findings that emerged from in-depth interviews with corporate executives in the manufacturing industry. The framework highlights the TE process in SMEs leading to four output components: (1) corporate-function-related, (2) business-model-related, (3) competitiveness-related, and (4) customer-related. This study makes a unique contribution to academia by being the first that develops a TE process framework tailored to SMEs from the manufacturing industry. We point out that sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs depends on appropriate TE process management, and we underline the strategic importance of TE-driven transformation for SME managers. Our study expands the scope of TE and SME research and provides empirically grounded insights into technology-driven innovation.