Research

Challenges and success factors of interorganizational networks

Digitalization and networked value creation shape today's business environments. In these environments, organizational boundaries are blurring and organizations collaborate to jointly cope with the increased environmental dynamism and pressure to innovate. In the private sector, small and medium-sized enterprises have a particularly strong tendency to engage in interorganizational networks. These networks (so-called innovation networks, inter-firm cooperation, regional clusters) are called organizational forms of the future. We are interested in investigating the phenomenon "interorganizational networking" at different levels of analysis:

1. At the network level, we analyze, for instance, the design, governance, and functioning of (regional) innovation networks. These network features inform us about their business model and the value that is created within the network for the incumbent companies.
2. At the company level, we analyze, for instance, how companies strategically use network relationships to enhance their own agility, enabling them to better master challenges posed by digitalization or other environmental factors.
3. At the individual level, we use (socio-)psychological theories to analyze, for instance, the antecedents (e.g., identification with the network) and consequences (e.g., effects on well-being and individual performance) of interorganizational networking.

Ownership structure and strategic decision-making and strategic behavior

Recent strategy research is paying close attention to companies run by founders or their families (hereafter: family businesses). Family businesses differ from non-family businesses in their concentrated ownership structure. Due to the concentrated ownership,  family businesses show specific decision-making processes and behaviors, for instance, that are not geared to maximize profits but to maximize the family's socio-economic wealth. A family's socio-economic wealth includes, for instance, the long-term survival of the family business as well as the reputation of the family. Against this background, we are interested in investigating the following research questions:

1. In what way do family businesses have advantages or disadvantages in developing strategies to tackle grand societal challenges? And what are the underlying mechanisms?
2. In what way do family businesses have advantages or disadvantages in developing and implementing innovation strategies to successfully achieve digital transformation? And what are the underlying mechanisms?
3. In what way do top managers socially identify with the family business and how does the level of social identification affect strategic decisions such as the pay of CEOs? And what are the underlying mechanisms?

In answering these questions, we are interested in exploring the differences between family businesses and non-family businesses, but also in gaining greater insights into the heterogeneity of family businesses.

 

Ownership structure and the networks of top executives

Due to the concentrated ownership in companies run by founders or their families (hereafter: family businesses), we can observe special forms of social influence and use of power within and between the institutions of corporate management in these companies. Against this background, we are interested in investigating the following research questions:

1. What are the patterns of top executives' professional networking (e.g., appointments in supervisory boards) in family businesses? To what extent does an increasing number of board appointments in other family businesses reinforce the "family logic" within family businesses?
2. To what extent and under which conditions are new members of family businesses admitted into the management elite of the company?
3. What is the influence of a CEO's professional network (e.g., board appointments) on the probability of being (not) dismissed?

In answering these questions, we are interested in exploring the differences between family businesses and non-family businesses, but also in gaining greater insights into the heterogeneity of family businesses.