Friederike WelterInstitut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn | EMF
Friederike Welter
Dr. rer oec.
About
342
Publications
263,324
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Introduction
Head of IfM Bonn (www.ifm-bonn.org)
Professorship at University of Siegen (www.uni-siegen.de)
Additional affiliations
February 2013 - present
February 2013 - present
December 2008 - December 2012
Jönköping International Business School (JIBS)
Position
- Associate Dean of Research
Education
October 1985 - November 1989
October 1983 - September 1985
Publications
Publications (342)
This paper sets out to explore contexts for entrepreneurship, illustrating how a contextualized view of entrepreneurship contributes to our understanding of the phenomenon. There is growing recognition in entrepreneurship research that economic behavior can be better understood within its historical, temporal, institutional, spatial, and social con...
This essay contrasts a perspective that places an excessive focus on technology businesses and growth with a view of entrepreneurship that embraces its heterogeneity. We challenge a taken-for-granted belief that only certain kinds of entrepreneurship might lead to wealth and job creation and additionally suggest that these two outcomes (wealth and...
As the breadth and empirical diversity of entrepreneurship research have increased rapidly during the last decade, the quest to find a "one-size-fits-all" general theory of entrepreneurship has given way to a growing appreciation for the importance of contexts. This promises to improve both the practical relevance and the theoretical rigor of resea...
Full text available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1042258720930996
This paper responds to Welter’s (2011) call to pay more attention to the diversity of entrepre-neurship in theorizing contexts by examining how places come to be understood as entrepreneurial. We draw briefly and selectively on ideas from a quirky set of disciplines,...
A common fallacy is that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the translation for Mittelstand companies. Until today, no common, widely accepted, and consistently applied understanding of what constitutes the Mittelstand exists, and related international research is consequently less coherent as well as a strong evidence-base for policy ma...
We investigate how female-led businesses were impaired by the Covid-19 pandemic, to what extent they used support measures, and what operational measures they took to counter the consequences of the pandemic. We draw upon three waves of the German Business Panel, a representative ongoing online survey of 10,000 companies, that covers the time from...
Existing research on family business succession stresses that the business’s economic situation strongly influences its degree of attractiveness to potential successors. However, research on women’s entrepreneurship suggests that women-led businesses may be less economically attractive to potential successors because of structural differences in co...
Has the Mittelstand lost its charisma? Based on a corpus of newspaper articles, we use a multi-dimensional approach combining content, framing, and metaphor analysis to expose how media report about the digital transformation in the German Mittelstand. In terms of contents, media focus on technical issues, narrowing down the scope of digital transf...
Zusammenfassung
Ukraine-Krieg, wirtschaftliche Folgen der Pandemie, Klimawandel, Strukturwandel – die Familienunternehmen in Europa stehen aktuell vor der Bewältigung vieler Herausforderungen. Wie können sie diese meistern? Und wie kann die Mittelstandspolitik sie hierbei unterstützen? Auf Basis ihrer jeweiligen wissenschaftlichen Forschungsergebni...
he purpose of this panel is to generate new insights into the challenges and opportunities of researching entrepreneurial strategies in developing economies. While entrepreneurial strategies have been studied from a variety of perspectives, most theories are rooted in the experience of developed economies and are not necessarily generalizable beyon...
As the field of entrepreneurship has grown, so has the accumulated knowledge about individual entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial ventures, and the entrepreneurial environment. The purpose of this special issue is to offer a forum for articles that used different approaches to examine the literature for the purpose of accumulating knowledge on various f...
Diese Studie untersucht den gesellschaftlichen Beitrag des Mittelstands und wie er in einem Prozess gemeinschaftlicher gesellschaftlicher Wertschöpfung erbracht wird. Regionale Gemeinschaften nehmen je nach örtlicher Problemlage andere Aspekte des gesellschaftlichen Beitrags wahr. In wirtschaftlich schlecht aufgestellten Regionen wird er mit dem wi...
Drawing on personal observations and experiences during 2020, the author reflects on the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic poses for academic and researcher diversity as well as for which entrepreneurship research matters and how best to disseminate research results beyond academia. She discusses the multiple effects of the pandemic on the nature of...
Zusammenfassung
Corona-Pandemie, Digitalisierung, Green Deal – die mittelständischen Unternehmen stehen in den kommenden Jahren neben ihren branchen- und größenspezifischen Aufgaben vor großen Herausforderungen. Diese können sie nur bewältigen, wenn die Politik ihnen einen verlässlichen Rahmen bietet, innerhalb dessen sie wirtschaftlich agieren kön...
Einschränkungen im Zuge der Corona-Pandemie trafen und treffen auch die Tätigkeit von Unternehmerinnen und Unternehmern. Vielfältige Unterstützungsmaßnahmen sollen deren Folgen abmildern. Dieser Beitrag zeichnet die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in den verschiedenen Branchen nach und gibt einen Überblick über die Unterstützungsmaßnahmen. Ausgehend vo...
The mobilization of resources is an essential challenge for entrepreneurs. Existing research suggests that access to standard and high-quality resources is an important condition for entrepreneurial success, yet such resources are often out of reach for entrepreneurs. In this study, we explore entrepreneurial resource mobilization in resource-const...
This study conceptually explores the societal impact of Mittelstand companies. It aims to analyse the societal role of the German Mittelstand beyond the operational measurable effects (CSR, CC), and to develop a basis for subsequent empirical studies. The societal contribution is understood as the added societal value of economic activity with soci...
Die vorliegende Studie setzt sich konzeptionell mit dem gesellschaftlichen Beitrag des Mittelstands auseinander. Ziel ist es, die gesellschaftliche Rolle des Mittelstands über betrieblich messbare Effekte (CSR, CC) hinaus zu betrachten und eine Grundlage für nachfolgende empirische Untersuchungen zu erarbeiten. Der gesellschaftliche Beitrag ist als...
Größere Teile auch der mittelständischen Wirtschaft sind von der Coronaviruspandemie in Mitleidenschaft gezogen. Viele Unternehmer_innen wurden hierdurch in einen Schock versetzt.
Die gegenwärtige Krise unterscheidet sich womöglich von den vorangegangenen. Was kann getan werden, dass der Mittelstand so gestützt wird, dass er während/nach der Coron...
Research Summary
We articulate the value of historical methods and reasoning in strategic entrepreneurship research and theory. We begin by introducing the papers in the special issue, contextualizing each within one of five broader methodological approaches, and elaborating on the applicability of each to other topics in entrepreneurship research....
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief history of the evolution of the Diana Project and the Diana International Research Conference. The authors examine the impact of the publications, conferences and research contributions and consider key factors in the success of this collaborative research organization. They discuss the ongoin...
Purpose
This paper aims to illustrate the main contributions of the context-gender discussion in entrepreneurship research and its main developments over time to identify promising future research avenues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper builds on the author’s extensive knowledge of the context-gender debate and on several recent overviews...
Diese Studie untersucht, wie Unternehmen Bürokratie wahrnehmen. In Abhängigkeit von der Intensität des Belastungsempfindens, des wahrgenommenen Aufwands zur Erfüllung bürokratischer Erfordernisse und der Emotionen, die Bürokratie bei Unternehmen hervorrufen, können drei Wahrnehmungstypen identifiziert werden – der Unbelastete Typ, der Pragmatische...
Underlying entrepreneurship ecosystems is the implicit assumption that all entrepreneurs have equal access to resources, participation, and support, as well as an equal chance of a successful outcome (venture start-up). However in practice, this is not always the case. Research finds that when it comes to many aspects of the entrepreneurship ecosys...
This study examines how companies perceive bureaucracy. Three different kinds of perception types can be identified, depending on the degree of perceived overall burden, the extent of efforts required to fulfil bureaucratic requirements and the degree of emotion caused by bureaucracy ; the Unencumbered Type, the Pragmatic Type and the Grumbling Typ...
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-018-0094-5 - readonline at: https://rdcu.be/6ksr .
Although the field was initially slow on the uptake, contextualization of entrepreneurship research has come a long way in recent years. Arguably, entrepreneurship demands contextualization more than many other fields, because not only is entrepreneu...
Whilst internationally, the Mittelstand in Germany is admired and many countries try to emu-late it, the current debate in Germany praises the Silicon Valley model of entrepreneurship, contrasting the Mittelstand as low-growth, low-tech and non-innovative – in short: as a hin-drance to Germany’s economic future. We therefore ask whether the Mittels...
This cross‐country study documents policies and practices designed to increase women entrepreneurs’ access to financial capital in Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and the United States. Drawing on feminist theory, we examine assumptions of policy alongside the eligibility criteria, rules and regulations of practices. Our findings reveal that four...
This volume addresses the current challenges for and future prospects of women’s entrepreneurship research, bringing together a wealth of diverse insights with implications for research, education and practice alike.
Presenting theoretical and empirical research papers and case studies, the book not only offers a topical reference guide for entrepr...
Women entrepreneurs currently enjoy their ascent as one of the fastest growing entrepreneurial populations worldwide. Nevertheless, they differ in both practice and in research from what is seen as “the norm.” This introductory chapter aims to outline previous research facets of women’s entrepreneurship by briefly mapping the status of the scientif...
The mobilization of resources is an essential challenge for entrepreneurs. Existing research suggests that access to standard and high-quality resources is an important condition for entrepreneurial success, yet such resources are often out of reach for entrepreneurs. In this study, we explore entrepreneurial resource mobilization in resource const...
In this chapter, I am going to illustrate how contextualizing entrepreneurship and innovation through words and images can assist us in gaining a more realistic understanding, whilst at the same time offering scope for theory development and novel research questions. Words and images are powerful: they frame the ways we perceive what entrepreneursh...
To be published in Small Business Economics. Special Issue "Entrepreneurship in Context"
Abstract: Although the field was initially slow on the uptake, contextualization of entrepreneurship research has come a long way in recent years. Arguably, entrepreneurship demands contextualization more than many other fields, because not only is entrepreneu...
Mittelstand companies are the backbone of the German economy: they constitute the vast majority of enterprises in Germany, contribute to employment, and are a pillar of the German apprenticeship system. The specific ownership–management structure of the Mittelstand used to go hand in hand with social, intergenerational, and regional responsibility....
This short paper outlines a project that explores the influence of the self- and external perceptions of young women STEM professionals (YWSP) at the time of their career entry and advancement. The empirical basis for the project is 72 in-depth interviews, which will be conducted in different regions of Germany with women entrepreneurs and women ma...
Entrepreneurial identity is emergent and develops through interaction with various actors. The previous identity literature has presumed that motives remain stable over time, yet as individuals mature their motivations and goals often change. This chapter investigates how entrepreneurs adapt their entrepreneurial self-stories to their changed goals...
The need to contextualize research in entrepreneurship has become an important theme during the last decade. In this monograph we position the increasing prominence of "contextual entrepreneurship" research as part of a broader scholarly wave that has previously washed across other fields. The challenges and promises we face as this wave carries us...
Public policy is a key element within the entrepreneurial ecosystem in that policy has the potential to shape venture creation behavior and entrepreneurial outcomes. In response to studies documenting a gender gap in entrepreneurial activity, government attention to women’s entrepreneurship has increased in the past two decades. Nevertheless, there...
That was the pivotal question we asked entrepreneurship researchers in a recent workshop about the future of entrepreneurship (research). Interestingly, it seemed to be a difficult question as many participants realized that their attempts to explain context fell short. Some examples were “silicon valley context,” “social context,” “business contex...
The existing data regarding gender and innovation show that women are less likely to carry out technologically based product and process innovations than men. We present some empirical evidence for Germany and propose several conceptual explanations for these findings. With this, we contribute to explain gender-dependent differences regarding innov...
The present study examines how the daily press in Germany contributes to presenting and
spreading role models for women entrepreneurs. Therefore we analyzed six of the biggest
nationwide newspapers in the space of time 2004-2013. For comparison we furthermore included
selected Swedish print media. Our results show that women entrepreneurs get more...
The book can be accessed from: http://www.elgaronline.com/abstract/9781783478118.xml
or from http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/research-handbook-on-gender-and-innovation
ABSTRACT
Innovation is seen as one of the main engines of economic growth. It is generally assumed to be gender neutral when, in fact, the gendered construction of innovation has been t...
Empirical studies evidence an under-representation of women in innovative activities across all countries (eg. Bunker et al. 2008; Tonoyan & Strohmeyer 2005/2006), however to date research is only starting to discuss gender influences on the innovativeness of persons or companies (e.g. Alsos et al. 2013; Nählinder et al. 2012, 2015). This chapter p...
The role of resources is pivotal in entrepreneurship for the success of new and small ventures, though most face resource constraints. The book offers multiple perspectives on analysing and understanding the importance of resources in entrepreneurship development.
Approaching the subject with both a practice-theory and research-based approach, th...
More information at http://sej.strategicmanagement.net/entrepreneurship_and_strategy.php
When they hear the term "entrepreneur", many people spontaneously think of personalities like Rudolf-August Oetker, the recently deceased dowel inventor Artur Fischer or the "screw king" Reinhold Würth. People, in other words, who stand for the classic image of the shirt-sleeved entrepreneurial type: Not only do they show great personal commitment...
The report presents a brief overview of current and planned support for women’s entrepreneurship in Germany and provides an assessment of current and planned offerings in the areas of entrepreneurship skills, access to finance and the regulatory and institutional environment. Key strengths of women's entre-preneurship support in Germany lay in a wi...
TTIP verspricht tendenziell Kostenreduktionen und erleichterte Expansions-möglichkeiten insbesondere für den exportorientierten deutschen Mittelstand. Für binnenorientierte KMU wird allerdings voraussichtlich der inländische Wettbewerb steigen. Investitionsschiedsgerichte erscheinen sachlich nicht er-forderlich und im Hinblick auf die rechtliche Gl...
Abstract: SMEs show greater deficits in implementing digital processes in comparison
to big companies. Lack of resources to assess costs and benefits of new ICT
technologies as well as the absence of harmonized standards and safety concerns
are the main reasons why SMEs are lagging behind. High speed internet infrastructure
on the base of glass fib...
Schätzungen des IfM Bonn legen nahe, dass in den zurückliegenden Jahren eine steigende Zahl von mittelständischen Unternehmen übergeben wurde. Derzeit sind es etwa 27.000 pro Jahr. Hauptgrund ist eine sich im Zuge des demografischen Wandels beschleunigende Alterung der Eigentümer mittelständischer Unternehmen. Dieser Trend wird sich in den nächsten...
By combining high quality and in-depth research in the field, this book provides a state of the art analysis of the current topical issues in European entrepreneurship and small business research. With contributions from international experts, the book provides a particular focus on the behaviour between individuals and groups within different cont...
Call for Papers - EURAM 2017. Family Business in Emerging, Developing, and Transitional Economies.
This paper takes stock of the current debate around the informal sector and informal entrepreneurship. Informal entrepreneurship represents a worldwide characteristic of entrepreneurial activity, the main distinguishing feature of which is that it is operating outside the law. Since what is legal can vary considerably between countries, studies of...
This paper investigates the relationship between business contacts and innovativeness in women-owned firms and how women entrepreneurs’ perception of gender stereotypes affects this relationship. Data were collected through a survey of 107 women entrepreneurs in Spain. The results show that maintaining close contacts with managers/entrepreneurs in...
The aim of this chapter is to advance an understanding of the value of informal entrepreneurial activities in relation to context using an institutional perspective arguing that heterogeneity in institutional embeddedness affects the value individuals attach to entrepreneurial actions. The analysis offers important insights on how three institution...
The term "Mittelstand" is a typical German label for a large part of the German enterprise population. Outside German-speaking countries, the term "SME" is more frequently used instead. Do both terms describe the same phenomenon? We analyze the terms and defini-tions of Mittelstand and SME as well as enterprise, entrepreneur and self-employment whi...
In recent years, the entrepreneurial landscape has been subject to structural change which also impacts on the German Mittelstand. This study explores key characteris-tics of the Mittelstand, drawing on a business survey. We analyse potential discre-pancies between our definition that classifies the Mittelstand based on the unity of ownership and l...
Research in entrepreneurship has been booming, with perspectives from a range of disciplines and numerous developing schools of thought. It can be difficult for young scholars and even long-time researchers to find their way through the lush garden of ideas we see before us.
The purpose of this book is to map the research terrain of entrepreneursh...
Examining the compilation of chapters in this companion leads to a sweeping conclusion that we believe entrepreneurship scholars should celebrate: the good news is that legitimacy has been achieved without the field embracing the artificial tethers of a distinctive domain. Not only do the contributors represent the juxtaposition of an extraordinary...