Maija Worek from the Management & Entrepreneurship Study Programs and Patrick Rupprecht from the Institute for Digital Transformation and Strategy (IDS) presented current research findings on the topic of ‘Future viability in times of fundamental change’ at the G-Forum 2024 in Ingolstadt. One of Maija Worek’s contributions was nominated for the Best Paper in Family Business Award.
This year’s ‘G-Forum’, the biggest conference for innovation, entrepreneurship and Mittelstand in German-speaking areas, which took place in Ingolstadt from 25 to 27 September, focused on the topic of ‘Future viability in times of fundamental change’.
Maija Worek from Management & Entrepreneurship Study Programs presented empirical findings on how a family firm can strategically build up resilience competences in order to stay competitive. With her coauthors, Associate Professor Tuomas Huikkola and Professor Marko Kohtamäki from University of Vaasa, she presented a longitudinal case where primary data over 13 years of and the whole company history over 50 years were considered. The findings show different types of resilience competences and their showcasing through different, family specific methods, such as value-based decision-making, market analysis, experience-based heuristics and storytelling. The paper was nominated for the family business award.
At the 27th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference, Patrick Rupprecht presented the results of a quantitative study by the MA 23 research project ‘Organisational ambidexterity in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)’ entitled ‘Development of digital technologies and skills in Austrian SMEs’. The study shows that although many SMEs use digital technologies and develop skills, only a few have a formal digitalisation strategy. There is therefore considerable potential to anchor digitalisation more strategically and thus secure competitive advantages in the long term.
Maija Worek also presented an ongoing study on the development of attitude on sustainability and venturing among university students. The Study examines the potential change of attitude through the whole study-period. She presented the study idea and the findings of the first preliminary interviews. These show that the attitude towards sustainability can potentially change during the period of study, but it strongly depends on the interest on the topic. Beside these many other factors are in play. The study will be conducted together with Diana Muslimova from Management & Entrepreneurship study program.