Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (MUT)

WIFU Endowed Chair for Corporate Entrepreneurship and Digitalisation in Family Businesses

Students acquire theoretical knowledge of the start-up process. In addition to fundamental topics such as identifying business opportunities, selecting a business idea, developing a viable business model and drawing up a strategy, marketing and financial plan, the course also covers specific topics such as team building, self-reflection on one’s own skills, competitive analysis, and legal and formal aspects for start-ups. This course provides the theoretical foundation for the ‘Business Creation Entrepreneurial Lab’ seminar, in which theory is put into practice.

The aim of this part of the module is to provide students with a theoretical and conceptual overview of the preparatory phases of starting and running a business. The various aspects of this topic are systematically explored throughout the start-up process. The theoretical insights are supplemented by guest lectures from experts in the wider field of business start-ups (e.g. founders, venture capitalists, etc.).

We strongly recommend attending the companion course: Start-up Creation Lab.

Under the guidance of experts from the start-up sector and Prof. Clauß, students develop their own start-up concepts and business plans. This part of the module provides a practical guide through the start-up process, from developing a business idea through to creating a business model and translating this into a well-founded and convincing business plan. Input from experts across various disciplines, as well as regular reflection sessions, complement and round off the work. This seminar is a comprehensive complement to ‘Start-up Creation and Management’, as students apply theoretical concepts in practice and utilise tools such as Design Thinking, the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Design.

This seminar focuses on the problem-oriented application of Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and is aimed in particular at students of business, economics and social sciences. At the start of the seminar, a theoretical foundation will be laid to understand the basics of LLMs. Potential areas of application will be identified and the capabilities of these models explored.

As the seminar progresses, various areas of application will be presented and tested in practice. Students will then develop their own application examples and demonstrate the concrete practical benefits of these technologies.

In an era of constant technological progress and upheaval, companies face the challenge of renewing or even completely transforming their business models in order to remain profitable.
This course explores the topic of corporate entrepreneurship, i.e. how to build a new business within a company. This includes launching new business divisions or product lines, establishing new business units, opening branches in new regions, managing spin-offs or setting up new joint ventures, as well as introducing processes that ensure the successful development of new ventures. Using illustrative case studies, the theory is put into practice and discussed.
The topic of corporate entrepreneurship is particularly important for students who will, in future, be faced with tasks relating to change management, digital transformation, innovation and business model innovation within already established organisations.

Strategy development is an essential component of leadership and, at the same time, a key prerequisite for the company’s success. Strategies may be explicitly formulated or drawn up by experts, or they may exist implicitly and unspoken, rooted in the entrepreneur’s intuition. In any case, the aim is to deal creatively with unpredictability and to position the company for a range of possible future scenarios. Family businesses in particular exhibit a wide variety of approaches to strategy development and strategy formulation. Beyond traditional strategic considerations, the challenge in family businesses is to balance the interlinked systems of the business, the family and ownership through careful ‘boundary management’.

The course examines business model innovation from the perspective of established companies seeking to transform their existing business models. It outlines business model innovation from a holistic perspective and equips students with an understanding of the concept and its various dimensions. Furthermore, business model innovation is linked to strategy, and the course discusses the means by which managers can achieve business model innovation. Through group work, students learn how to analyse and improve existing business models using real-world case studies.

Each semester, Prof. Dr Thomas Clauß invites a variety of outstanding speakers and experts from the industry to provide insights into specific areas of digital transformation as part of a lecture series. The selection of speakers is based in particular on the courses offered in the respective semester, as this enables students to gain valuable insights and practical knowledge relevant to their current courses.