Serafin Prize for outstanding theses

This year's Serafin Research Prize for Entrepreneurship was awarded to the two students Pauline Mengede and Anna-Maria Kégl from the Faculty of Management, Economics and Society at Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H). The prize, endowed with 2,500 euros each, honours one Bachelor's and one Master's thesis that sheds light on a current problem from an entrepreneurial perspective.

Pauline Mengede successfully completed her Bachelor's degree in Management with a thesis on "Shareholder and stakeholder orientation in the context of corporate political advocacy using the example of the Russia boycott of companies due to the war in Ukraine (B. Sc.)". In her thesis, she analysed how society reacts to the political activities of companies in response to the war in Ukraine. Mengede primarily focussed on the interplay between politically motivated measures by companies and their own corporate characteristics.

Anna-Maria Kégl used a thought experiment in her Master's thesis (entitled "Trading Virtual Employee Stock Option Plans - Business Plan or Thought Experiment?") to present whether and how start-ups could sell virtual employee stock options and what effect this would have. The graduate of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (M. A.) degree programme discussed how virtual company shares could generate real monetary benefits at an early stage and thus increase employee loyalty and satisfaction as well as the success of the company in young companies.

"Award winners prove that entrepreneurial success and responsibility are closely linked"

This is the eleventh time that the Munich-based Serafin Group has presented its award. "You can't start early enough in your studies to develop the right attitude in order to find innovative ways and solutions in the company later on," said Philipp Haindl, founder of the Serafin Group, happily on behalf of the two winners. "For us, entrepreneurial success and responsibility are closely linked - as the two prizewinners' research projects prove."

"The work of Pauline Mengede and Anna-Maria Kégl is an impressive example of how our students learn to investigate complex economic issues of high relevance," added Prof Dr Dirk Sauerland, Dean of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Society at UW/H. "Our faculty attaches great importance to interdisciplinary perspectives, methodological diversity and the combination of theoretical expertise with practical relevance. We are proud that the two prizewinners have succeeded so well in applying these principles in their work."