Holger Ernst - Böcker

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.

Holger Ernst analysiert Erfolgsfaktoren neuer Produkte unter Berucksichtigung von Informanteneinflussen auf der Basis einer Mehrpersonenbefragung in deutschen Unternehmen im Rahmen des Innovationserfolgs-Panels.