Friedrichshafen
Institute of
Family Business | FIF
Research & Teaching
FIF's research is based on six key areas and their interfaces in the context of family businesses:
Succession and the next generation
What? What plans does the next generation in family businesses have for the future? What are the entrepreneurial paths of the next generation in family businesses? What impact will the next generation's activities have on the company?
How? Qualitative and quantitative studies (e.g. DNUG and P2024)
Why? The next generation is the decisive and differentiating feature of family businesses
Who?
Innovation and entrepreneurship
What? What factors at company, family and individual level influence the ability of family businesses to innovate across generations? How and why does digitalization influence family businesses?
How? Qualitative and quantitative studies with the entire business family
Why? Improving the innovation and future viability of family businesses
Who?
Brand
What? How is the "family business" brand perceived by different stakeholders (e.g. consumers, employees, suppliers)? How does the family business signal work in different contexts?
How? Quantitative (experimental studies)
Why? The "family business" signal offers the opportunity to differentiate the firm on the market
Who?
Family Office
What? How are family offices set up? How are family offices managed? How does the generational transition within family offices take place?
How? Qualitative research, expert surveys and long-term studies
Why? Family offices are an increasingly important - and now formalized - pillar within the family business portfolio. The next generation of entrepreneurs manages the family portfolio in a more diversified way: family business, family offices, foundation
Who?
Program Director eMA FESH and Business Development
| Phone: | +49 7541 6009-1284 |
| Room: | Semi 0.12 |
Strategy
What? How do family businesses develop? What are typical strategic maxims? What are the sustainable competitive advantages of family businesses based on? How can family businesses protect their competitive advantage in the area of shared value creation?
How? Quantitative long-term analyses and qualitative action research
Why? Transfer on patterns of success in innovation, growth and profit management, research on empirical conditions for longevity and analysis of the most common reasons for failure.
Family Governance
What? What governance models exist in family businesses? How does the corporate constitution and governance in general change in the course of a generational change in a family business? How does the family business find its "right" governance?
How? Qualitative research, expert surveys and long-term studies
Why? The implementation of corporate succession, both in terms of management succession and asset succession, is essential for the continued existence of a family business. The transition of a family business from generation to generation requires appropriate governance.
Who?
Program Director eMA FESH and Business Development
| Phone: | +49 7541 6009-1284 |
| Room: | Semi 0.12 |
The principle of our research is the ability to connect with both the international research community and family business practice. A selection of current courses, student research and theses at FIF can also be found here:
Selection of our courses
Future viability of Family Businesses & Family Offices
Dr. Christian-Titus Klaiber, Verena Ege
Entrepreneurship & Business Model Innovation
Dr. Christian-Titus Klaiber, Julia Hügle
Management of Family Businesses
Dr. Christian Klein-Wiele; Prof. Dr. Andreas Wiedemann
Family Entrepreneurship
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
Family Governance
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
Family Business Current Issues
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
Workshop | Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship
Clemens Krüger
Advanced Methods | Experimental Research Design
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
Student research & theses
Selected Bachelor theses
2024
- To what extent do changing customer preferences in the context of digital transformation influence the competitive strategies of established German family businesses in the furniture retail sector?
- Was and is electromobility innovative? An investigation of the innovation drivers and barriers of electric mobility during the late 19th and early 20th century, compared to today's innovation factors, taking into account both social and technical influences
- Decisive factors for the successful succession of family businesses: A comparison of management succession by family members and non-family members Female Leadership - When is the optimal time to enter the family business?
2023
- The development of search funds in the DACH region. Examination of developments to date
- How can entrepreneurial action successfully manage the decarbonization of industry? Modeling based on small and medium-sized companies in the mechanical engineering sector in Baden-Württemberg
- What opportunities and risks arise for providers and customers of BtoB Equipment-as-a-Service models?
- Development of a catalog of measures for the prevention of cyber attacks in digital family businesses
- Strategies of large family businesses, to counter the risk of external corporate venturing
2022
- Business development processes for the development of upcycling products - A quantitative study using the example of Habitus GmbH
- Resilience in family businesses - To what extent do paradoxes in the long term and short term arise in times of crisis in forestry companies and what resilience strategies do the companies derive from this?
- Selection and evaluation process of venture capital investments by family offices and venture capital funds: A qualitative comparison
- Paradoxes in family-owned and medium-sized private breweries - The perception and handling of paradoxes in medium-sized private breweries in Austria and Germany
- Perceived sustainability and corporate social responsibility of family businesses -. An experimental study
- Critical success factors for business succession in sibling constellations
- Coping with the future - Crisis experience as the origin of resilience in family businesses from the automotive supplier industry
- Successful leadership - Challenges and solutions for the dual leadership model in family businesses
- Resilience in family businesses - To what extent do paradoxes in the long term and short term arise in times of crisis in continuing businesses and what resilience strategies do the companies derive from this?
- Crisis resilience of family businesses in Germany - strategies for dealing with the scarcity of resources Positions of the next generation in family businesses on the concept of responsibility ownership - a qualitative perspective
- Family businesses in medium-sized companies: analysis of family roles and how the next generation establishes itself in the ongoing family business
Selected Master's theses
2024
- Between tradition and technology: the influence of socio-emotional wealth on the willingness to innovate in family businesses
- Finding the balance - an examination of the strategic prerequisites for reconciling sustainability management and business management in terms of paradoxical leadership in family businesses
- Purchasing software solutions in SMEs: decision-making processes, influencing factors and practical implications
- The influence of generational change on the ability to innovate in family businesses Liquidity bottleneck in the portfolio with illiquid investments:
- Options for action for family offices to avoid liquidity bottlenecks in the portfolio with private equity
2023
- Portfolio allocation in times of crisis - hold, sell or buy, what is the optimal portfolio allocation in view of the current crises
2022
- Challenges and possible solutions in fund allocation and manager selection by private equity funds of funds
- Willingness to invest in innovation in family businesses - an individual portfolio perspective on the owner family
- Exploring why disruptive innovations through owner impact in family firms work. Does the Ability and Willingness Paradox of Owner and external management during the process give the answer?
- The importance of servitization in German family firms: An empirical analysis
- Generational change in family firms: The transmission of leadership style from the perspective of imprinting theory
- Digital Transformation: Entrepreneurial Orientation and Family Forces in the New Germany - Similarities & Differences of East and West German Entrepreneurs
- Motivators and Stressors in the Home Office Effects on Different Hierarchical Levels a Recommendation for Action
- Perception of the Family Business Brand in the B2B Market Determining the Value of a Company in a Takeover Scenario - Impact of the Concept of Family Business and Associated Characteristics
- Female Successors in Family Businesses on the Way to CEO
- The Global Expansion in the Brewing Industry - An analysis of the expansion strategy of the global market leader Anheuser-Busch InBev NV
- Critical success factors for the management of family businesses by a dual leadership.
Doctoral theses
2022
- Stereotype "family firm"? : studies on the judgement of family firms in different contexts
2021
- Organizational Transformation in the Context of Disruption: Studies on Digital Transformation, Identity Struggles and Disruption Sensitivities
2020
- The Next Generation in Enterprising Families: Studies on Entrepreneurial Roles
2019
- Business’ Growth: Unpacking the Black Box
- Identity in Family Businesses
- Digital Business Transformation - Studies on Digital Transformation and Business Model Innovation in the Automotive Industry
Contact