One of the key objectives of the Chair is to establish a competence center for corporate growth and family business governance which complements the interdisciplinary orientation of the Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU) by adding a business perspective.

An adequate balance between research and teaching is an integral part of our self-concept. From our point of view, integrating current research findings into courses and seminars and considering the concerns of the students is as important as gaining new scientific insight.

Our scientific education takes the professional demands placed on entrepreneurs, founders and consultants into account.

• How do different ownership structures affect the success of a family business?
• What is important when creating governance structures in family enterprises?
• How do minority holdings, such as private equity, influence the management of family businesses?
• Which relevance has the risk profile of the company owners to internationalization processes in family enterprises?
• How can founding and spin-off processes in family businesses be organized in a successful way?

Family businesses do not only shape economic matters across the world but also represent the prototype of operating activities. For this reason, the Chair co-operates closely with (international) research institutes and corporate networks in order to better understand the specific characteristics of this pivotal form of business organization and to promote the exchange of knowledge with industry professionals. The Chair follows different theoretical explanatory approaches for the analysis of family businesses and examines particular issues from a qualitative and an empirical perspective.

The research activities of the Chair analyze in particular the consequences of corporate governance on the growth of family businesses and their internationalization processes, as well as the management succession in family businesses in connection with socioemotional wealth. For this, we apply research theories such as the agency or stewardship theory and other existing theoretical approaches like the Uppsala model. Furthermore, we examine the effects of different board compositions and ownership structures in family businesses by considering the upper echelons theory and its enhancements such as the faultlines theory. Within the context of further research activities we analyze, among others, the social responsibility of family businesses and women in management positions of family businesses by considering different theoretical approaches, such as the stakeholder or leadership theory. The Chair conducts its studies by using various methods; most of the time, however, theories are derived from case studies or hypotheses which subsequently verify the quantitative analyses of data from questionnaires and secondary databases.

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