Main Content

Research topics

Research approach

The research of the department for strategic and international management is guided by the goal of generating new, application-oriented knowledge for the management of companies, based on theory and using empirical methods. In terms of content, we focus our research on four topics: "Strategy and Governance in Family Firms", "Behavioral Strategy", "Strategy and Scenario Planning" and "Technology-supported Management Education".

  • Strategy and Governance in Family Business

    Family businesses play a very important role, especially for the German economy. Up to 90 percent of German companies are considered family businesses, i.e. more than 50 percent of them are family-owned. Family businesses differ from non-family businesses in the goals they pursue, among other things. In addition, they often exhibit different strategic behavior. In the context of this research area we therefore deal with questions of strategic orientation and management of family businesses.

    Selected research projects in this area:

    - Antecedents and Effects of Transgenerational Control Intentions in Family Firms

    - Drivers of Digital Innovativeness in Family Firms

    - Effects of Entrepreneurial Legacy in Family Firms

  • Behavioral Strategy

    Strategic decisions have become increasingly important in research on strategic management. This is the context in which the "Behavioral Strategy" was developed, which draws on psychological research and analyzes factors influencing the strategic decision-making behavior of managers and their effects on strategic decision-making processes and results in the company - in other words, it establishes a micro-to-macro link. Within the scope of this research area, we are on the one hand concerned with cognitive drivers of decision behavior - in particular decision biases. On the other hand, we also address affective influences on strategic decisions.

    Selected research projects in this area:

    - Emotions as Drivers of Strategic Issue Interpretation

    - Differences in Strategic Decision Making across Cultures

  • Strategy and Scenario Planning

    The scenario method is an increasingly important management tool that can improve strategic decisions especially in increasingly uncertain business environments. Within the scope of this research focus, which is mainly concentrated at HHL's Center for Strategy and Scenario Planning, we are therefore concerned with the further development of the scenario method and with the development of specific scenarios for individual industries and regions.

    Selected research projects in this area:

    - AI-supported Scenario Planning

    - Scenario-based portfolio planning

  • Technology-supported Management Education

    New methods of management theory are becoming increasingly important, not only because of the Covid19 pandemic. In this research area, we therefore deal with the question of how technology-supported blended or online learning should be designed in order to actually increase learning success.

    Selected research projects in this area:

    - Cognitive drivers of blended learning effectiveness

    - Learner types and blended learning effectiveness