Family entrepreneurship between tradition and innovation: Witten/Herdecke University appoints Anne Heider to junior professorship

Anne Heider has been appointed to the junior professorship for Family Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Society at Witten/Herdecke University. Heider has been co-director of the Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU) for around three years, having previously worked there as a research assistant. Her current research specialisations include innovation behaviour, design thinking approaches and digital business models in family businesses. "The junior professorship allows me to focus even more intensively on my research topics. I am particularly focussed on a subject area that I like to call 'family capital'. It's about money, of course, but also about relationships, for example with employees and customers," she says, describing her favourite topic.

Contact person for NextGen

Heider also supports entrepreneurial families in strategic family development processes, particularly in the generational handover, and helps them to develop digital skills. She is also the point of contact for members of the next generation, with confidential dialogue taking place primarily in event formats organised by the non-profit WIFU Foundation. These include, for example, the Succession Camp and the NextGen get-togethers. "We support successors in their search for solutions and in getting to know other NextGen members," says Heider. "At our events, they can ask their questions without hesitation, discuss even sensitive topics and get food for thought."

Teaching and promoting the next generation of scholars at the UW/H

Heider is also involved in teaching in a variety of ways. Her teaching programme includes the lecture "Innovation and Technology Management" and the seminar "Agile Methods of Project Management". She also heads the research training group funded by the WIFU Foundation, which is aimed at the next generation of scholars, particularly doctoral students. In addition to virtual colloquia, it also includes two face-to-face events: the WIFU Summer Camp and the WIFU Research Camp. Lectures, workshops and small-format working groups are central components of the programme. Participants also receive feedback from academia and practice on specific questions and research problems. "The development of effective teaching concepts and the communication of teaching content to our students are particularly important to me, as is doctoral training," says Heider. "In this way, I can play a part in ensuring that knowledge about the important topic of family business grows and also reaches young people at various stages of their education."