Holger Ernst – författare

This book contains the stories of multiple fast growing companies. All these case studies were written by our students at the Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management (WHU), Vallendar, Germany, in consecutive seminars on success factors of fast growing companies. We have been conducting this seminar for graduate students on an annual basis in close cooperation with entrepreneurs and managers from high growth firms since the fall semester of 2001. The idea for such a seminar came up in early 2001, after the downturn of the new economy. We strongly felt that the time for entrepreneurship and successful innovation management in growing companies was not over, it was rather just about to re-start again. We decided to start the academic exercise of a seminar with graduate business students and look for cases of firms from different industries that suc­ cessfully grew and prospered despite the crisis and despite difficult capital market condi­ tions. This book covers a broad range of industries, company ages, and company sizes. Most of the case studies in this book were written about German companies. Although they were founded and are now headquartered in Germany, many of them have become interna­ tional while growing. some nowadays are truly global firms, like Qiagen and SAP. The companies under consideration in this book are active in diverse industries like biotech­ nology, internet services, nanotechnology, software, food processing and others.

Since nanotechnology is considered a key for the 21st century, its promises have been assessed by various scientific communities. By meeting at the nanoscale, various disciplines, from physics via chemistry to biology, from engineering to medicine, contribute synergetically to the newly created knowledge base and the resulting technological advances. Considering that large societal sectors will be impacted, the unique aspect of this two-year study was to assess nanotechnology from various interrelated perspectives: scientific progress, industrial relevance, economic potential, educational needs, potential adverse health effects, and philosophical aspects. The goal of this study was to derive integrated recommendations which consider the large range of societal implications reflecting the different views in an integrative manner. The study attempts to link previously isolated statements, bundling the various concepts and giving unified recommendations to decision makers in relevant society sectors such as politics, economy and research. Special attention was given to the European situation with respect to commercial consequences, an aspect that has not yet received the attention it deserves so far.

Since nanotechnology is considered a key for the 21st century, its promises have been assessed by various scientific communities. By meeting at the nanoscale, various disciplines, from physics via chemistry to biology, from engineering to medicine, contribute synergetically to the newly created knowledge base and the resulting technological advances. Considering that large societal sectors will be impacted, the unique aspect of this two-year study was to assess nanotechnology from various interrelated perspectives: scientific progress, industrial relevance, economic potential, educational needs, potential adverse health effects, and philosophical aspects. The goal of this study was to derive integrated recommendations which consider the large range of societal implications reflecting the different views in an integrative manner. The study attempts to link previously isolated statements, bundling the various concepts and giving unified recommendations to decision makers in relevant society sectors such as politics, economy and research. Special attention was given to the European situation with respect to commercial consequences, an aspect that has not yet received the attention it deserves so far.

Die Identifikation von Erfolgsfaktoren neuer Produkte hat traditionell große Bedeu-tung für Wissenschaft und Praxis. Die Erfolgsfaktorenforschung beruht zumeist auf den Angaben einzelner Informanten ("key informants") in den befragten Unter-nehmen. Aus anderen Forschungsdisziplinen ist bekannt, dass dadurch ein systematischer Messfehler ("informant bias") entstehen kann, der die Validität der empirischen Befunde negativ beeinflusst.Holger Ernst analysiert erstmalig Ausmaß und Ursachen des Informant Bias in der Erfolgsfaktorenforschung anhand einer Mehrpersonenbefragung in deutschen Unternehmen im Rahmen des Innovationserfolgs-Panels. Mittels Multitrait-Multimethod-Verfahren weist der Autor nach, dass der Informant Bias erheblich ist und die Validität der Befunde gravierend beeinträchtigt. Dies hat retrospektiv zur Folge, dass bisherige Erkenntnisse der Erfolgsfaktorenforschung einzuschränken sind und der Test von Hypothesen zukünftig unter expliziter Berücksichtigung des Informant Bias vorzunehmen ist, wenn Informanteneinflüsse erwartet werden. Dabei kann das hier skizzierte Instrumentarium Anwendung finden. Auf Basis valider Messverfahren gibt diese Arbeit der Praxis genauere und neue Handlungsempfehlungen zum erfolgreichen Management der Neuproduktentwicklung.

Wie bauen namhafte Unternehmen F&E-Standorte für ihre Kernprodukte in Emerging Markets auf? Welche Faktoren sind dabei erfolgsentscheidend? Untermauert durch eine praxisnahe Aufbereitung des aktuellen Forschungsstands geht das Buch diesen globalen Fragen konkret nach. Hochkarätige Manager beschreiben in praxisrelevanten Beiträgen ihr spezifisches F&E-Engagement. Die Unternehmensbeispiele decken ein Spektrum ab, das vom Offshoring einfacher Standardtätigkeiten bis zu komplexen globalen Kompetenzzentren reicht. Verschiedene Formen werden im Detail beleuchtet: Übernahme, eigene Tochtergesellschaft, Zusammenarbeit mit lokalen Partnern. Eine Zusammenfassung mit Checklisten und "Lessons learned" rundet die Diskussion ab.