Friedrichshafen Institute of Family Entrepreneurship | FIF

Research

The research of the FIF is based on three emphases and their interfaces in the context of family businesses:


| Innovation
| Succession and the next generation
| Brand

The principle of our research is the connectivity both in the international research community as well as in the family business practice.

FIF Research

Some current issues with which we are dealing in the context of the main focuses are the following:
| Which factors at the corporate, familial and individual level influence the capacity for innovation across different generations?
| What are the future plans of the young generation and to what extent does the succession have an impact on the capacity for innovation in family businesses?
| How do different stakeholders, for instance consumers, employees or suppliers, perceive the brand ‘family business’?


Alongside with honary professors and associate professors, the FIF also deals with the following issues in the context of family entrepreneurship:
| Strategy and Governance | Hon. Prof. Dr. Hermut Kormann
| Law | Hon. Prof. Dr. Andreas Wiedemann
| Finance | Prof. Dr. Mark Mietzner
| Political Communication | Prof. Dr. Markus Rhomberg


Information on publications and projects of FIF can be found in the ZU research database.



FIF-Panel | Research and feedback for family entrepreneurs

A year has 8766 hours – give us one hour of this for the research concerning family entrepreneurship!
For your commitment to a maximum of two FIF studies in (mostly online surveys), you will receive in return individualized outcome evaluations, practical recommendations and new impulses for your entrepreneurial daily routine.

Project 2024 | Research and exchange for family entrepreneurs

The project 2024 is a unique long-term project concerning the succession in family businesses, in which young members of those businesses (starting from eighteen years old and beyond) are accompanied on their individual development path scientifically and, if wishes, also personally.

Family Office 2030 | Challenges and Success Factors

The study "The Family Office 2030" takes a look into the future and identifies challenges and critical success factors in shaping the future viability of family offices. In this study, ten central areas were identified that contribute significantly to the design of sustainable and successful asset management. The study is based on the different perspectives of 79 personalities with distinctive thematic expertise, which were captured through qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey.


The study provides a comprehensive overview of the future of family offices and how they will adapt to the challenges and opportunities of the coming years to ensure long-term success and satisfaction for their clients. Dive into this exciting analysis and get inspired on how you can shape your wealth management for the future.

Current and former Ph.D. Students

Current Ph.D. students


Supervised by Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
| Susanne Beck MSc | Susanne.beck@zu.de
Factors of success of brand management in and of family businesses
| Jana Hauck MA | jana.hauck@zu.de
Toward understanding heterogenity among family firms: Studies on innovation, succession, and non-economic goals
| Anja Höft MA | a.hoeft@zeppelin-university.net
Systematisation of the early stage of innovation – impact of search boxes on innovative capacity and the quality of ideas in an industrial research
| Ulrich Hutschek Dipl.-Ing. | ulrich.hutschek@zu.de
In search of innovation: An empirical analyses of the core determinants of leveraging technological competences
| Maximilian Lude MA | maximilian.lude@zu.de
« The Family Effect « - Exploring the impact of family firms on stakeholders


Supervised by Prof. Dr. Mark Mietzner
| Marie-Sophie Baum
Family businesses and social overhead capital
| Fabio Franzoi MA | f.franzoi@zeppelin-university.net
The conduct of funding and the performance of family businesses
| Katharina Sauter MA | katharina.sauter@zu.de
Family businesses and the importance of funding through house banks

Former FIF-Ph.D. Students


Dr. Andreas Binder | a.binder@zeppelin-university.net
Innovation in successful family firms: Investigation of the early stage of innovations in the chemical industry (Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl, Zeppelin University & Prof. Dr. Arist von Schlippe, University Witten/Herdecke)


Prof. Dr. Annika Halder | a.halder@zeppelin-university.net
How do family entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial family impact on the capacity of innovation of family businesses, and how does the impact of the family present the outcome of the enpreneurial orientation on the performance of the company (Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl, Zeppelin University & Prof. Dr. Andreas Hack, University of Bern)


Dr. Nina Negele | n.negele@zeppelin-university.net
Employees’ commitment in family firms – Influencing factors and impactrs from the perspective of the Stewardship Theory (Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl, Zeppelin University & Prof. Dr. Kurt Matzler, Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck)


Dr. Sandra Schmid | s.magraf@zeppelin-university.net
Management of innovation networks in the fuzzy front end of innovation (Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl, Zeppelin University & Prof. Dr. Klaus G. Troitzsch, University Koblenz-Landau)


Dr. Georg Stampfl | g.stampfl@zeppelin-university.net
The process of business model innovation – An empirical exploration (Prof. Dr. Kurt Matzler, Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck & Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl, Zeppelin University)


Visiting Scientists

Visiting the FIF


2016
Torsten Pieper Prof Dr
Assistant Professor Management & Entrepreneurship at Kennesaw State University, US


2015
Josip Kotlar, PhD
Lecturer at Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development | Lancaster University Management School, UK

Rania Labaki, PhD
Associate Professor of Management | EDHEC Business School, France

The FIF visiting elsewhere


Dr. Ursula Koners
Cranfield School of Management, UK

Guest Lectures

2015
Dr. Josip Kotlar, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Lancaster University Management School, UK
Guest lecture in line with the FIF-PhD-Congress

2014
Prof. Dr. Andrea Calabrò, Economics-Department, University Witten/Herdecke
Guest lecture in line with the FIF-PhD-Congress

Prof. Dr. Hermann Frank, FOFU (Research institute for family businesses) of the WU Vienna (University of Economics and Business)
Guest lecture in line with the FIF-PhD-Congress

2013
Prof. Dr. Sabine B. Rau, Director of Entrepreneurship and Family Business Center, King’s College, London, UK
Guest lecture in line with the FIF-PhD-Congress


Research stopovers

2016

Susanne Beck, research associate at the FIF
Research halt with Prof. Alfredo De Massis, Centre for Family Business, Lancaster University Management School, UK (June-July 2016)

2015
Jana Hauck, research associate at the FIF
Research halt with Prof. Dr. Hermann Frank at the FOFU (Research institute for family businesses) of the WU Vienna (University of Economics and Business) (May-July 2015)



Awards & Prices

FIF

| Award for the FIF as one of the leading 25 institutes in the area of family firms. Strongly emphasized are both research and teaching of the FIF, as well as the tight connection to family companies in the German-speaking area. Family Capital Magazin, 01. 09.2016


Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl

| Best Paper Award (SIG Family Business Research EURAM 2015), together with Susanne Beck, awarded by: Strategic Interest Group Family Business Research of the European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2015, 19.06.2015.
| Best Paper Award Runner-up (IFERA 2015), ROLESKI Best Family Systems Constructs Research Paper/ Case Award, together with Susanne Beck, awarded by: International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), 03.07.2015.
•Best Paper Award Runner-up, together with Jana Hauck (FIF) / Julia Süß-Reyes (WU Wien) / Susanne Beck (FIF) / Hermann Frank (WU Wien), awarded by: EIASM 11th Workshop on Family Firm Management, 29.05.2015.
•Best Paper Award (SIG Family Business Research EURAM 2015), together with Jana Hauck (FIF) / Julia Süß-Reyes (WU Wien) / Susanne Beck (FIF) / Hermann Frank (WU Wien), awarded by: Strategic Interest Group Family Business Research der European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2015, 19.06.2015.
•Best Paper Award, Essay: Innovation activities during succession in family firms: An empirical study from a socioemotional wealth perspective, together with Jana Hauck, awarded by: International Family Entreprises Research Academy (IFERA): Research Development Workshop Vienna, 26.09.2014.
•Christer Karlsson Best Paper Award Runner-up, Essay: Systematic Identification of problem solvers from analogous markets: an empirical exploration of the potential of the search method ‘Pyramiding’, together with Marion Poetz und Christian Fabsich, awarded by: International Product Development Management (PDMA) Conference, 09.06.2009.
•Rudolf-Sallinger-Award for Doctoral Thesis, 2006.
•Best Paper Award, Essay: 'Efficient Identification of Lead Users: Screening vs. Pyramiding', together with Eric von Hippel und Nikolaus Franke, awarded by: American Marketing Association (AMA) Summer Conference, Track New Product Development, Product Management and Entrepreneurship, 2005.

Dr. Ursula Koners

| Nomination as Top-Management book in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship of the Chartered Management Institute CMI and the British Library, book: "Identifying Hidden Needs: Creating Breakthrough Products", together with Goffin, K. and Lemke, F., awarded by Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2011.

Susanne Beck
| Best Paper Award Runner-up (IFERA 2015), ROLESKI Best Family Systems Constructs Research Paper/ Case Award, together with Reinhard Prügl, awarded by: International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), 03.07.2015.
•Best Paper Award (SIG Family Business Research EURAM 2015), together with Jana Hauck (FIF) / Julia Süß-Reyes (WU Wien) / Reinhard Prügl (FIF) / Hermann Frank (WU Wien), awarded by: Strategic Interest Group Family Business Research of the European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2015, 19.06.2015.
•Best Paper Award (SIG Family Business Research EURAM 2015), together with Reinhard Prügl, awarded by: Strategic Interest Group Family Business Research of the European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2015, 19.06.2015.
•Best Paper Award Runner-up, together with Jana Hauck (FIF) / Julia Süß-Reyes (WU Wien) / Reinhard Prügl (FIF) / Hermann Frank (WU Wien), awarded by: EIASM 11th Workshop on Family Firm Management, 29.05.2015.

Jana Hauck
| Best Ph.D. Research Proposal Award Runner-up, awarded by: International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), 03.07.2015.
| Best Reviewer Award Runner-up, awarded by: European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2015, 19.06.2015.
| Best Reviewer Award (SIG Family Business Research EURAM 2015), awarded by: Strategic Interest Group Family Business Research of the European Academy of Management 2015, 19.06.2015.
| Best Paper Award (SIG Family Business Research EURAM 2015), together with Julia Süß-Reyes (WU Wien) / Susanne Beck (FIF) / Reinhard Prügl (FIF) / Hermann Frank (WU Wien), awarded by: Strategic Interest Group Family Business Research of the European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2015, 19.06.2015.
| Best Paper Award Runner-up, together with Julia Süß-Reyes (WU Wien) / Susanne Beck (FIF) / Reinhard Prügl (FIF) / Hermann Frank (WU Wien), awarded by: EIASM 11th Workshop on Family Firm Management, 29.05.2015.
| Best Reviewer Award (SIG Family Business Research) 2014, awarded by: European Academy of Management (EURAM), Special Interest Group Family Business Research, 06.06.2014.
| Best Paper Award, Essay: Innovation activities during succession in family firms: An empirical study from a socioemotional wealth perspective, together with Reinhard Prügl, awarded by: International Family Entreprises Research Academy (IFERA): Research Development Workshop Vienna, 26.09.2014.
| Best Bachelor-Thesis Award: "The influence of Brand-Creators on the perception of the brand personality and the main action quantity of the brand management: an empirical analysis using the example of a wine brand.", 2010.

Maximilian Lude
| Best Paper Award Runner-up, awarded by: FIFU Dachli, 08.03.2016

Review Activities

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
| Academy of Management (AoM)
| American Marketing Association Conference
| California Management Review
| European Academy of Management (EURAM)
| International Family Entreprise Research Academy (IFERA)
| International Journal of Technology Management
| Journal of Family Business Strategy
| Journal of Product Innovation Management
| Journal of Small Business Management
| Long Range Planning
| R&D Management Journal

Dr. Ursula Koners
| European Academy of Management (EURAM)
| Innovation & Product Development Management Conference (IPDMC)
| Journal of Creativity and Innovation Management
| Journal of Product Innovation Management

Susanne Beck
| Academy of Management (AOM)
| Association for Consumer Research (ACR)
| European Academy of Management (EURAM)
| International Family Research Academy (IFERA)
| International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management
| Journal of Family Business Strategy
| Transfer - Werbeforschung & Praxis

Jana Hauck
| Academy of Management (AoM)
| California Management Review
| European Academy of Management (EURAM)
| Family Business Review
| International Family Entreprise Research Academy (IFERA)
| Journal of Family Business Strategy

Maximilian Lude
| European Academy of Management (EURAM)
| International Family Entreprise Research Academy (IFERA)

Editorial Board

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
| Journal of Family Business Strategy
| Zeitschrift für Familienunternehmen und Stiftungen

Dr. Ursula Koners
| Journal of Product Innovation Management

Further Engagement

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
| SIG Chair der Strategic Interest Group "Family Business Research" der European Academy of Management (EURAM), 2016-2017.
| SIG Chair-Elect der Strategic Interest Group "Family Business Research" der European Academy of Management (EURAM), 2015-2016.
| SIG Program Chair der Strategic Interest Group "Family Business Research" der European Academy of Management (EURAM), 2014-2015.

Jana Hauck
| Secretary der Strategic Interest Group "Family Business Research" der European Academy of Management (EURAM), seit 2014

FIFU Dachli 2015
The FIF was host of the Conference German-speaking Research Centers and Institutes for Family Entrepreneurship in 2015.

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