Christian Lüthje

ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS OF BUSINESS STUDENTS — A BENCHMARKING STUDY

It is widely accepted that the educational system of universities has to provide an academic environment that may serve as a catalyst for high-technology start-ups. The academic tradition of entrepreneurship in German-speaking countries is very short. Until recently, fostering innovations and new product development through entrepreneurship has not been regarded as a primary task of universities. However, perspectives have changed in this respect, and there have been numerous attempts to enhance the role of university graduates as founders of innovative businesses. In this paper, we compare the entrepreneurial intentions of students at two German-speaking universities (the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and the University of Munich) with the corresponding results for a leading institution in this field: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We find very distinct patterns of entrepreneurial spirit in these universities. The results also suggest that the lower level of founding intentions among students in Munich and Vienna may be attributed to their less distinctive entrepreneurship education. This leaves a great deal of room for improvement.

Interdisciplinary Heterogeneity as a Catalyst for Product Innovativeness of Entrepreneurial Teams

Although more and more ventures are successfully founded by entrepreneurial teams, the specific benefits of the team-based founding approach have received little attention in extant empirical studies. This study explores the relationship between the level of interdisciplinary heterogeneity in entrepreneurial teams and the level of product innovativeness in high-tech ventures. It is proposed that an interdisciplinary new venture team composition impacts the quality of the strategic planning process (scanning activities, planning openness) and thereby indirectly shapes product innovativeness. The hypotheses are investigated using data from a sample of Canadian high-tech ventures. The findings provide support for the proposed relationship between team heterogeneity, strategic planning and product innovativeness. Venture capitalists, university faculty and incubator institutions are therefore well advised to direct their attention towards fostering a heterogeneous composition of founding teams.

Innovationsmanagement in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen

In der einschlagigen Literatur wird in der Regel das Bild stark formalisierter und methodengestutzter Innovationsprozesse aufgezeichnet, das primar fur grose Unternehmen zutreffend erscheint. Inwieweit sich diese Vorstellung auch auf Organisationen geringerer Grose ubertragen lasst, steht im Fokus der vorliegenden Studie. In einer explorativen Befragung werden der Methodeneinsatz sowie die Starken bzw. Schwachen bei Innovationsprozessen kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen (KMU) untersucht. Das zentrale Ergebnis ist, dass sich das Innovationsmanagement in KMU haufig informal, wenig standardisiert und unter geringem Einsatz von Methoden vollzieht. Dies ist insbesondere in den fruhen Phasen des Innovationsprozesses festzustellen. Fruhe Defizite im Innovationsmanagement setzen sich haufig in den nachfolgenden Phasen im Prozessablauf fort.

Informal Cooperation in the US and Germany: Cooperative Managerial Capitalism vs. Competitive Managerial Capitalism in Interfirm Information Trading

Several empirical studies have shown that apparently competing companies cooperate extensively through an informal exchange of valuable information. Since international inter-firm relations have become elementary in many markets, the informal information exchange across national borders gains significance. Cross-cultural discrepancies in information-trading patterns may impede the emergence of stable and intensive informal relations between companies of different countries. So far, however, the question of whether information trading patterns are similar across nations has remained widely unexplored. Therefore this research compares the informal exchange of technical information among 438 managers in US and German steel companies. We assumed that a greater inclination to cooperate predominates in German firms (Cooperative managerial capitalism) in comparison to their American counterparts (Competitive managerial capitalism). Nevertheless, the findings indicate a more complex situation: Managers of German companies are found to interact more frequently than US managers with colleagues in other companies. However, in contradiction to the generally accepted assertion, the information exchanged among German firms proves to be of less importance to the recipient company than in the US.

The process of user-innovation: a case study on user innovation in a consumer goods setting

Manufacturers usually benefit by dividing their innovation processes into distinct phases in order to ensure that the development activities are performed efficiently in an appropriate sequence. Users usually do not apply such structured processes. They follow a more intuition-driven approach. In this paper we analyze the way users improve or develop novel products. The field of our research is a new and rapidly evolving consumer market, the sport of kite surfing. We identified a sequence that underlies the approaches of user inventors. This sequence consists of two major stages, (1) idea generation and (2) idea realization, each again subdivided. We propose that a manufacturer in the relevant product field can significantly profit from more closely observing such user activities: Better understanding of tacit needs which cannot be derived by applying classical market research methods. Learn about the adequacy of solutions from the user. This may guide their development activities and prevent development of inadequate solutions. Collect user ideas as well as corresponding solution knowledge at very low tariffs and increase reputation as a customer-close organization.

Antecedents and Consequences of Interaction Quality in Virtual End-User Communities

Research has identified virtual communities as a valuable source of innovation. This study aims to provide an understanding of what makes some end-user communities more successful in creating innovations than others. Specifically, we explore how the attractiveness of innovations is influenced by the quality of interaction between the community members. Additionally, we consider trust in benevolent behaviour and competition for reputation, as well as their interaction effect, as being possible antecedents of interaction quality. Drawing on data collected through a web-based survey, this study explores the innovation activities of 127 virtual end-user communities within the fields of sports, car and motorbike tuning and model building. The findings confirm that interaction quality is positively related to the innovativeness of virtual communities. As regards the antecedents of interaction quality, the analysis indicates that trust is a key prerequisite to co-operative behaviour among the members of virtual communities. The level of competition, however, only affects interaction quality if a high level of trust is present among members. The results highlight the need to create an environment that facilitates interaction among the members of innovation communities. Furthermore, community managers should ensure that a minimum level of trust is established within the community before stimulating competition.

Studentische Unternehmensgründungen — dank oder trotz Förderung?

ZusammenfassungEs ist bisher nicht bekannt, inwieweit studentische Unternehmensgründungen durch die zahlreichen Unterstützungsangebote gefördert werden können, oder ob die Gründungsentscheidung durch kurzfristig kaum veränderliche Persönlichkeitseigenschaften geprägt wird. In einer empirischen Untersuchung wird zunächst die tatsächliche und potentielle Bedeutung studentischer Unternehmensgründungen aufgezeigt. Der kovarianzstrukturanalytische Test eines Kausalmodells zeigt, dass sowohl die Wahrnehmung des Umfeldes als auch die Persönlichkeit der Studenten wesentliche Erklärungsbeiträge zur Frage leisten, ob ein Student ein Unternehmen gründen wird. Die Befunde erlauben Schlussfolgerungen für die universitäre Gründungsförderung: Empfohlen wird eine Maßnahmenkombination von Hilfsangeboten, Selektion der Studenten und kommunikativen Maßnahmen, die das Gründerimage befördern.SummaryWhy do students choose an entrepreneurial career? There are several possible determinants but little knowledge about the actual determinants. In this study we focus on the distinction between personality on one hand and perceived environmental factors on the other. Firstly, empirical results confirm that there are considerable entrepreneurial activities and intentions among students. Results of a structural equation model then show that both the perceived environmental factors (which can easily be influenced by universities) and the students’ personality (which hardly can be influenced) impact the students’, decision to start a business. Thus, as an effective lever to improve the entrepreneurial performance of a university a combination of the following is recommended: help offers, selection of students and communicative measures which are to further improve the image of the entrepreneur.

Methoden zur Sicherstellung von Kundenorientierung in den frühen Phasen des Innovationsprozesses

Unternehmen, die in dynamischen Markten operieren, befinden sich in einem Dilemma. Auf der einen Seite ist die Hervorbringung von Innovationen eine notwendige Voraussetzung fur das Wachstum und langfristige Uberleben des Unternehmens. Auf der anderen Seite zeigen die hohen Flopraten neuer Produkte, dass Innovationen mit einem hohen Marktrisiko verbunden sind. In einer derartigen Dilemmasituation sind Vorgehensweisen gefragt, welche die Wahrscheinlichkeit fur eine hohe Marktakzeptanz innovativer Produkte erhohen. In diesem Zusammenhang wird haufig eine konsequente Ausrichtung aller Entwicklungsaktivitaten auf die Bedurfnisse potenzieller Kunden vorgeschlagen.2 Schlieslich versprechen nur diejenigen Neuprodukte einen Erfolg, mit denen die Kunden einen wesentlichen Nutzenvorteil gegenuber Wettbewerbsprodukten verbinden.3

Fortschrittliche Kunden zu Breakthrough-Innovationen stimulieren

Die Durchfuhrung inkrementaler Innovationsprojekte gehort in erfolgreichen Unternehmen zur betrieblichen Routine. Dem Management steht hierzu ein Arsenal an Methoden zur Verfugung, mit denen diese Vorhaben systematisch geplant, gesteuert und kontrolliert werden konnen. So bietet die traditionelle Marktforschung vielfaltige Moglichkeiten, um Kundenbedurfnisse zu ermitteln und die entwickelten Konzepte bereits vor Markteinfuhrung in den Zielmarkten zu testen.

Quellen für Neuproduktideen

Die fruhen Phasen der Produktentwicklung sind wesentlich durch Aktivitaten zur Gewinnung von Neuproduktideen gepragt. In popularwissenschaftlichen Beitragen zur Kreativitat und in Darstellungen herausragender Unternehmerpersonlichkeiten findet sich eine Tendenz zur Personifizierung der Ideengewinnung. Haufig wird die Vorstellung vermittelt, neuartige Produktideen seien vornehmlich auf plotzliche, nicht erklarbare Eingebungen kreativer Talente innerhalb des Unternehmens zuruckzufuhren. Die Gewinnung von Neuproduktideen ware damit das Ergebnis individueller Intuition, die kaum durch methodische Vorgehensweisen systematisierbar ist. Dies ist jedoch nicht das Verstandnis des hier vorliegenden Beitrags. Die Gewinnung von Produktideen wird vielmehr als systematischer Prozess verstanden, in dessen Rahmen Informationen beschafft, ausgewertet und zu Ideen fur Innovationen verdichtet werden. Die Quellen fur Neuproduktideen sind insofern in erster Linie als Informationsquellen zu verstehen. Die Grundannahme dieses Beitrages ist, dass diese Informationsquellen durch Methoden und Techniken effizienter erschlossen und effektiver genutzt werden konnen.