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Global Center for Family Enterprise

    Family
    Enterprise

    The Family as an
    Entrepreneurial Team

    Global Center for Family Enterprise (GCFE)

    The Global Center for Family Enterprise (GCFE) is uniquely positioned to conduct research on a broad range of topics such as succession, strategy, innovation and governance in family firms. In particular, we are interested in understanding better the interplay between the “family” and the “enterprise”. It is of utmost importance for the Center to take an interdisciplinary approach taking into account various perspectives (e.g., psychological, sociological) to examine family enterprise behaviour. The Center’s research is mostly evidence-based and its goal is to achieve academic excellence while also researching highly relevant topics. Finally, the Center has a strong desire to create and disseminate knowledge. In the following, we outline some of the Center’s current research areas.

    Transgenerational Entrepreneurship in Family Enterprises

    To explore the mechanisms at the family level that lead to longevity of business activity and ultimately to value creation across generations, the concept of transgenerational entrepreneurship has been introduced. Prior research has identified succession (i.e., the transfer of ownership and management) and firms’ innovative of crucial importance in ensuring family firms’ long-term survival and value creation. With regard to entrepreneurial behaviour in family firms, previous research has argued that family firms often struggle in retaining their entrepreneurial orientation across generations and that family members’ attachment to the business declines over time. In this vein, it is our aim within this research area to investigate the antecedents influencing entrepreneurial behaviour of family firms across generations.

    Succession in Family Enterprises

    Succession has been termed to be a critical event in a firm’s life cycle as many family firms fail to successfully hand over their business to the next generation. In fact, less than 10 % of all family firms manage to survive beyond the third generation. However, if planned carefully, succession can also serve as an opportunity for firm renewal as it determines the future organizational path for the coming years or even decades. Within research stream, we are interested in understanding better what factors encourage successful family-internal succession and how do elements of distribute justice play in.

    The Family as an Entrepreneurial Team

    Entrepreneurship research has increasingly shifted from an individualistic view of the entrepreneur to a focus on entrepreneurial teams, thereby emphasizing that the pursuance of entrepreneurial activities involves collective action. Entrepreneurial team members are often connected by strong social ties such as family ties resulting in the fact that the majority of firms around the globe are family enterprises. Research on new venture teams is still fragmented and has largely adopted a static perspective on team composition. In this research project, we investigate how power is allocated among team members, how employees can complement the entrepreneurial team and entrepreneurial team dynamics.

    News

    1st September 2020
    The Global center for family enterprise is growing

    We warmly welcome Sidney Hribersek and Dr. Ilija Braun as new scientific employees of Prof. Bird and Bernadette Boehl and Lina María Gélvez Álvarez as new part of the scientific staff of Prof. Jung. In addition, we welcome Christina Kößmeier as our center manager and Lena Vorsatz as team assistant human resources & infrastructure.

    We wish all our new team members a good start at the GCFE.

    18TH AUGUST 2020
    NEW TEACHING CONCEPT FOR THE WINTER TERM 2020/2021

    In response to the Covid-19 crisis, our team at the Global Center for Family Enterprise is working on an innovative teaching concept using the latest technologies for the winter semester 2020/2021.
    We are looking forward to welcoming our students in the winter term!

    26th June 2020
    Two papers of PROF. Dr. Miriam BIrd selected for the Academy of Management (AOM) Best Paper ProceedingS

    Two papers “The Influence of Entrepreneurial Teams’ Structural Power Inequality on Firm Performance” and “CEO divorce and Firm Performance – The role of CEOs role family situation” have been selected for the Best Paper Proceedings of the Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meeting. The AOM Annual Meeting is one of the most important and largest annual meetings for management researchers. Of the more than 7,000 paper submissions, only less than 40% are accepted in a peer-review procedure for presentation at the conference, and only about 10% of the accepted papers are nominated for the Best Papers of the conference.

    20th June 2020
    Prof. Dr. Miriam Bird joins the EDItorial Board oF Journal of BUsiness Venturing

    Miriam Bird has been selected to join the editorial review board of Journal of Business Venturing (JBV). JBV is one of the top-tier journals publishing entrepreneurship research. More information can be found here.

    10th June 2020
    NEW PUBLICATION BY PROF. Dr. Miriam Bird

    Former owner-managers often “stay on board” after succession has taken place in small- and medium-sized family firms. But is that a good idea? In the newly published JPIM Journal of Product Innovation Management article “When the Former CEO Stays on Board: The Role of the Predecessor’s Board Retention for Product Innovation in Family Firms”, Prof. Dr. Miriam Bird and her co-authors aim to answer this question (joint study by Stephanie Querbach, Miriam Bird, Priscilla Sarai Kraft, and Nadine Kammerlander): The study can be found here.

    Professors

    Prof. Dr. Miriam Bird
    Director Global Center for Family Enterprise (GCFE)
    Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise

    Prof. Dr. Stefanie Jung
    Professor of Corporate Law

    Email: miriam.bird@tum.de

    Prof. Dr. Miriam Bird

    Email: stefanie.jung@tum.de

    Prof. Dr. Stefanie Jung

    Center Management

    Christina Kößmeier

    Function:

    As the center manager of the Global Center for Family Enterprise (GCFE), Christina Kößmeier focusses on connecting the GCFE to universities and research centers worldwide as well as bridging the gap between research generation and research dissemination.

     

    Research Interests:

    • Distractions in family enterprises
    • Distractions & how to get less distracted
    • Strategies & motivations for distraction
    • Social media distraction & media multitasking

     

    Conference presentations:

    • Kößmeier, C. & Büttner, O. B. (2020, October). Striving for Social Media Reduces the Ability to Block Out Visual Distractors. Poster presented at the Virtual Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Conference.
    • Kößmeier, C. & Büttner, O. B. (2020, July). Striving for Social Media Reduces the Ability to Block Out Visual Distractors. Presentation at the virtual 11th International Conference on Social Media & Society.
    • Ollesch, L., Hecking, T., Kößmeier, C., Ostendorf, S., Princi, E., & Sabbah, F. (2019, September). Towards a Comprehensive Framework of Quantified Communities Using the Example of a Twitter Community. Presentation at Tagung des Forschungsverbundes NRW Digitale Gesellschaft zum Thema „Die datafizierte Gesellschaft: Praktiken, Prozesse und Folgen der Datafizierung“, Bonn, Germany.
    • Kößmeier, C. & Büttner, O. B. (2019, July). Why are We Distracted by Social Media? Examining Reasons for Distraction by Social Media, its Relation to Personality and Distraction Situations. Presentation at the Tenth International Conference on Social Media & Society, Toronto, Canada.
    • Kößmeier, C. & Büttner, O. B. (2019, July). The Effects of Chronic and Situational Desire to Engage in Social Media on the Ability to Block Out Distractions. Poster presented at the Tenth International Conference on Social Media & Society, Toronto, Canada.
    • Kößmeier, C. & Büttner, O. B. (2018, September). “I am totally in control of my distraction” – How people are distracted by social media and the use of distraction-handling strategies. Poster presented at the symposium of the German Society for Psychology (DGPs), Frankfurt, Germany.
    • Kößmeier, C. & Büttner, O. B. (2018, March). “I need to know what is going on” – Motivation for using social media and its relation to distraction by social media. Poster presented at the General Online Research (GOR) conference, Cologne, Germany.

     

    Professional experience:

    • Since 09/2020 Center Manager Global Center for Family Enterprise, TUM Campus Heilbronn
    • 08/2017 – 08/2020 Research Assistant, Economic and Consumer Psychology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Duisburg
    • 08/2016 – 04/2017 Working Student Office Management, Bosch Software Innovations
    • 01/2016 – 08/2016 Student Assistant, Applicants Consulting and Selection Procedure, Zeppelin University

     

    Academic career and education:

    • Since 08/2017 Doctoral candidate in Economic and Consumer Psychology at University of Duisburg-Essen
    • 09/2015 – 07/2017 M.A. Communication and Cultural Management (Minor in Corporate Management and Economics), Zeppelin University
    • 08/2014 – 12/2014 Exchange Semester Communication Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
    • 09/2012 – 08/2015 B.A. Media and Communication Sciences (Minor in English), University of Mannheim

     

    Phone: +49 7131 264 18 865
    Email: christina.koessmeier@tum.de

    Scientific Staff

    Who we are

    Jannis von Nitzsch

    Research Interests:

    • Heuristics and Biases in Entrepreneurial Decision Making
    • Entrepreneurial Teams
    • Networking

     

    Teaching Experience:

    Introduction to Entrepreneurship

     

    Professional experience:

    • 03/2019 – 05/2020 Strategy Consultant, Kampmann Management Consultants, Frankfurt
    • 07/2017 – 07/2018 Internship and Working Student, McKinsey & Company, Cologne
    • 08/2014 – 07/2017 Internship and Freelancer, team steffenhagen consulting, Aachen
    • 03/2013 – 03/2014 Internship and Working Student, pro facts assessment & training, Herzogenrath

     

    Academic career and education:

    • since 06/2020 Research Associate and Doctoral Candidate at the Global Center for Family Enterprise, Technical University of Munich
    • 01/2016 – 01/2017 Support of the launch of a decision-tool, RWTH Aachen
    • 10/2014 – 09/2018 Master of Science in Psychology, University of Cologne
    • 09/2012 – 03/2014 Student Assistant at the Chair of Social Psychology, University of Cologne
    • 10/2011 – 09/2014 Bachelor of Science in Psychology, University of Cologne

     

    Phone: +49 7131 264 18 861
    Email: jannis.nitzsch@tum.de

    Melissa Dowse

    Research Interests:

    • European Business Law
    • European and German Competition Law
    • Contract Negotiations

     

    Published Articles:

    Melissa Dowse/Dr. Hermann Dück: Zwangseinwilligung zur Datenverarbeitung“ – zugleich Anmerkung zum Beschluss des OLG Düsseldorf in Sachen Facebook, NZKart 2020, pp. 80-82

     

    Presentations:

    Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (MaCCI) Annual Conference 2020, with paper: “Competitive restraints in digital platform competition through the lense of the current authority practice in abuse control – a comparative appraisal”

     

    Teaching Experience:

    Exercise Introduction to Civil Law Winter Term 2019/2020

     

    Professional experience:

    • 08/2019 – 10/2018 Internship law firm Beiten Burkhardt Anwaltsgesellschaft mbH, Brussels
    • 07/2016 – 09/2016 Internship legal department Heinrich Georg Maschinenbau GmbH, Siegen

     

    Academic career and education:

    • since 03/2020 Research Associate Professorship Corporate Law and member at the Global Center for Family Enterprise, Technical University of Munich
    • since 04/2019 Doctoral Canditate Professorship for Civil Law, University of Siegen
    • 05/2019 – 02/2020 Research Associate Professorship for Corporate and Civil Law, Siegen
    • 10/2016 – 03/2019 Master of Law, University of Siegen
    • 04/2017 – 04/2019 Student Assistant Professorship for Corporate and Civil Law, Siegen
    • 11/2016 – 02/2017 Work Contract Translation Project, Siegen
    • 10/2013 – 09/2016 Bachelor of Law, German and European Business Law, University of Siegen

     

    Phone: +49 7131 26418859
    Email    : melissa.dowse@tum.de

    Linus Lange

    Research Interests:

    • Corporate Law
    • Competition Law
    • Contract negotiations

     

    Professional experience:

    since 04/2020 Articled clerk at Heilbronn Regional Court, Heilbronn

     

    Academic career and education:

    • since 06/2020 Research Associate at the Global Center for Family Enterprise, Technical University of Munich
    • 10/2014 – 01/2020 Law studies, degree: First state examination in law; University of Constance
    • 10/ 2016 – 02/2018 Special studies in the field of competition law, University of Constance (Lake of Constance)

     

    Email: linus.lange@tum.de

    Sidney Hribersek

    Research Interests:

    • Crisis Management in Family Enterprises
    • Women in Leadership
    • Entrepreneurial Teams

     

    Publications:

    • Kordyaka, B., Laato, S., Jahn, K., Hribersek, S. (2020). Designing Community Identification – A Multi-Method Approach. 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2020), Marrakesh, Morroco.
    • Kordyaka, B., Jahn, K., Hribersek, S., Klein, H., Niehaves, B. (2020). Two Faced Users? Exploring Motivational Taxonomies of Playful System. 26th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2020), Salt Lake City, USA.
    • Kordyaka, B., Hribersek, S., Kruse, B., Niehaves, B. (2020). Understanding Brand Loyalty – The Case of the eSports Consumer from a Relationship Quality Perspective. 4th International Conference for Gamification Research (GamiFin 2020), Levi, Finnland.
    • Kordyaka, B., Klein, H., Jahn, K., Hribersek, S., Niehaves, B. (2020). A Matter of the Person or the Situation? Structuring Motivational Affordances of Gamification Elements. 4th International Conference for Gamification Research (GamiFin 2020), Levi, Finnland.
    • Kordyaka, B., Hribersek, S. (2019). Crafting Identity in League of Legends – Purchases as a Tool to Achieve Desired Impressions. In: Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICCS-52), Maui, Hawaii. ISBN: 978-0-9981331-2-6.

     

    Professional experience:

    • 01/2018 – 03/2020 Public Relations Assistant, Center for Responsible Innovation and Design, Siegen
    • 01/2017 – 04/2020 Human Resources Generalist and Head of Marketing & Communication, Stahlservice F. Hriberschek, Netphen
    • Since 2017 Member and since 2020 Fellow of Marketing Talents Program (University of Siegen), Siegen
    • 10/2016 – 02/2017 Management Consultancy Seminar in the Field of Personnel Marketing, Erndtebrücker Eisenwerk GmbH & Co. KG in cooperation with Zukunftswerkstatt, Erndtebrück
    • 10/2013 – 12/2016 Human Resources Assistant and Commercial Clerk, Stahlservice F. Hriberschek, Netphen

     

    Academic career and education:

    • Since 08/2020 Research Associate and Doctoral Candidate at the Global Center for Family Enterprise, Technical University of Munich
    • 10/2017 – 03/2020 Master of Science in Managements and Markets, University of Siegen
    • 09/2017 – 06/2020 Student Assistant and Research Associate at the Chair of Information Systems, University of Siegen
    • 04/2017 – 11/2017 Interdisciplinary Research Project “Future Workspaces“, FoKoS Institute for Advanced Study
    • 10/2013 – 09/2017 Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, University of Siegen

     

    Phone: +49 7131 26418863
    Email    : sidney.hribersek@tum.de

    Dr. Ilija Braun

    Research Interests:

    • New Venture Team Design
    • Distribution of Power in New Venture Teams
    • The Role of Employees in Complementing New Venture Teams
    • Family Embeddedness

     

    Teaching Experience:

    • Proseminar in Management
    • Seminar in Management and Entrepreneurship
    • Coaching Bachelor & Master Theses
    • Coaching Being an Entrepreneur & Corporate Entrepreneurship

     

    Publications:

    • Braun, I. (2020). Performing and (Not) Surviving? The Roles of Entrepreneurial Satisfaction and Founder Social Identities in the Performance-Survival Relationship. Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Nashville, USA.
    • Braun, I. (2019). Going the Whole Nine Yards: Founder Social Identities and the Nascent-Active Gap. Academy Best Paper Proceedings.
    • Braun, I. & Sieger, P. (2018). Holding a Knife at One’s Throat? Family Financing and the Entrepreneur’s Causation & Effectuation. Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Waterford, Ireland.

     

    Awards:

    • Best Reviewer Award, Entrepreneurship Division Academy of Management (2018, 2020)
    • Academy Best Paper Proceedings, Academy of Management (2019)
    • Nomination Best Paper Award, Entrepreneurial Process Track European Academy of Management (2019)
    • SMA Young Researcher Award, SMA Research Lab MCI / University of Innsbruck (2016)

     

    Professional experience:

    • 08/2016 – 01/2017 Graduate Internship, Digital Marketing, SBB CFF FFS, Bern
    • 03/2013 – 08/2013 Internship, Organization and Compliance, MTU Detroit Diesel Australia, Melbourne

     

    Academic career and education:

    • Since 09/2020 Postdoctoral Researcher at the Global Center for Family Enterprise, Technical University of Munich
    • 09/2017 – 08/2020 Certificate of Advanced Studies in Higher Education (CAS), University of Bern
    • 02/2017 – 08/2020 PhD Candidate and Research Assistant at the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, University of Bern
    • 09/2014 – 07/2016 Master of Science in Strategic Management, University of Innsbruck
    • 09/2013 – 08/2014 Student Assistant at the Chair of Applied Research in Economics, University of Konstanz
    • 09/2010 – 08/2014 Bachelor of Science in Business Studies and Economics, University of Konstanz

     

    Phone: +49 7131 264 18 864
    Email    : ilija.braun@tum.de

    Lina María Gélvez Álvarez

    Research Interests:

    • Economic analysis of Law
    • Public Policy and Management
    • Legal reasoning and legal methods
    • Contract negotiations

     

    Teaching Experience:

    • 08/2018 – 06/2020 Logic and legal reasoning. Faculty of Law, Political and Social Sciences. Universidad Nacional de Colombia
    • 08/2018 – 06/2020 Legal hermeneutics. Faculty of Law, Political and Social Sciences. Universidad Nacional de Colombia

     

    Professional experience:

    • 01/2017 – 04/2017 Legal Trainee Ciopora, Hamburg
    • 06/2015 – 09/2015 Legal advisor in the project “Strengthening public finances in Colombia”. Development Research Center, National Planning Department, Colombia
    • 04/2014 – 02/2015 Legal Trainee. Rincón Cuellar & Asociados, Colombia
    • 01/2014 – 04/2014 Internship. Cundinamarca Regional High Court, Colombia

     

    Academic career and education:

    • Since 09/2020 Research Associate and Doctoral Candidate at the Global Center for Family Enterprise, Technical University of Munich
    • 09/2918 – 06/2020 Research Assistant. Think Tank for Public Management, Colombia
    • 02/2013 – 05/2020 Bachelor of Science in Economics, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
    • 10/2016 – 04/2020 Master of Arts in Staatswissenschaften – Public Economics, Law and Politics. Leuphana University Lüneburg
    • 05/2014 – 06/2018 Research Assistant, FILDEREG Research group, Colombia
    • 08/2015 – 08/2016 Research Assistant. Observatory of contemporary rural problems, Colombia
    • 03/2015 – 09/2015 Research Assistant. PLEBIO, Colombia
    • 08/2009 – 03/2015 Bachelor in Law, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

     

    Phone: +49 7131 264 18 860
    Email    : lina.gelvez@tum.de

    Bernadette Boehl

    Research Interests:

    • Corporate Law
    • Private International Law
    • Comparative Law
    • Contract negotiations

     

    Professional experience:

    Since 03/2020 Articled clerk at Darmstadt Regional Court (Hessen)

     

    Academic career and education:

    • since 09/2020 Research Associate at the Global Center for Family Enterprise Heilbronn, Technical University of Munich
    • 04/2013 – 06/2019 Law studies at the University of Heidelberg; degree: First state examination in Law; Specialisation: Private International Law
    • 09/2015 – 02/2016 Semester abroad at the University of Bologna

     

    Email: bernadette.boehl@tum.de

    Lecturer

    Dr. Gerald Reger

    Lawyer, Certified Specialist in Tax Law
    Partner at Noerr LLP

    Email: gerald.reger@noerr.com

    Curriculum Vitae

    Supporting Staff

    Lena Vorsatz

    Team Assistent HR & Infrastruktur
    Center Administration
    Phone: +49 7131 264 18 851
    Room: L330
    E-Mail: lena.vorsatz@tum.de

    Postadresse:
    Bildungscampus 9, 74076 Heilbronn

    Jobs

    16th July 2020
    Student Assistant Position | Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise

    The Professorship of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprises (Prof. Dr. Miriam Bird) is looking for a motivated student assistant (30 hours per month) to support research and teaching activities. Please find a detailed job description here.

    Contact

    • Prof. Dr. Miriam Bird
    • Phone Phone +49 7131 264 18 855
    • E-Mail miriam.bird@tum.de
    • Postadresse:

      Bildungscampus 9, 74076 Heilbronn

    • Prof. Dr. Stefanie Jung
    • Phone Phone +49 7131 264 18 859
    • E-Mail stefanie.jung@tum.de
    • Postadresse:

      Bildungscampus 9, 74076 Heilbronn