Theses on digital business models receive the Serafin Research Award

Once again this year, two particularly outstanding theses were honoured with the Serafin Research Prize for Entrepreneurship. The winners of the research prize, which is endowed with 2,500 euros each, are B. Sc. Management graduate Antonia Modlmayr and M. A. General Management graduate Tina Stahl, who both analysed different aspects of digital markets in their theses in the field of economics and thus convinced the Munich-based Serafin Group. This is the sixth time that Serafin has sponsored the research prize to recognise students with a particularly entrepreneurial mindset. This year, the prize was presented virtually to the lucky winners by Dean Prof Dr Erik Strauß, on behalf of the Serafin Group, at the digital ceremony to bid farewell to the graduates.

Current topics scientifically analysed

Antonia Modlmayr's Bachelor's thesis looks at the age-old human practice of "word-of-mouth", which is used today to make consumer decisions, for example via influencers or recommendation programmes. With the advent of the digital age, this concept has been elevated to a multidimensional platform and criteria such as the identity of the sender, assessability of risks and instrumentalisation of digital relationships by organisations have taken on a new significance. In her work, Antonia Modlmayr relates these factors to each other and analyses existing literature according to the current state of science.

In her thesis, Tina Stahl outlines innovative business models of existing big data and AI (artificial intelligence) companies in the health care system. Innovative business model types are primarily found in data-based solutions in which medical data is generated, analysed and aggregated. However, companies in the German health care system face systemic hurdles to long-term establishment, which will need to be increasingly addressed in the future.

At the award ceremony, Serafin founder Philipp Haindl praised Witten/Herdecke University "for the combination of theory and practice that is practised at Witten/Herdecke University, which we need more and more in companies." For the Dean of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Society, Prof Dr Erik Strauß, the award winners are also confirmation that the faculty has positioned its teaching for the future: "Entrepreneurship is one of the main focal points of our research and teaching. We are therefore delighted that both prizewinners have succeeded so well in combining theoretical rigour with practical relevance in their academic analysis of digital markets."

About Serafin:
Serafin is a diversified group of companies whose philosophy is based on the 150-year entrepreneurial tradition of the shareholder family. Following the guiding principle of "responsibility by tradition", Serafin invests in companies in order to develop them further in harmony with all stakeholders. The group companies generate a total turnover of over 900 million euros and employ around 5,000 people. Serafin's development is supported by the expertise of the Advisory Board members Prof Dr Bernd Gottschalk, Wolfgang Ley and Prof Dr Heinrich von Pierer.