Chair of Strategic Entrepreneurship

Prof. Dr. Dominik Kanbach

In times of a “VUCA” world, strategy becomes more important than ever. It has never been more challenging to assess economic, political and societal relationships: Digital technologies bring up completely new business models, industry boundaries vanish, novel competency profiles emerge for many jobs and at the same time geopolitical developments lead to a questioning of successful concepts of globalization. Good strategy today means developing a vision of the future and deriving creatively different options for the company. This requires not only the very fundamentals of strategy namely thorough analyses of the internal capabilities and external environment but also the entrepreneurial mindset of continuously thinking in opportunities and the agility to realize them. The companies with the most resources are not necessarily the successful ones in this environment, but the companies with a clear strategic vision and entrepreneurial thinking and acting.

As the leader of the Research Group Strategic Entrepreneurship, I drive the research activities in this field with over 30 doctoral candidates and researchers. My research projects focus on a variety of topics on the interface between strategy and entrepreneurship including how established companies work together with start-ups, try to bring in more entrepreneurial spirit into their organizations and make use of disruptive technologies for new products, business models or processes to master the challenges of the digital transformation.
Before joining HHL in 2018, I worked in a DAX company and in strategy consulting. Therefore, the connection of theory and practice has high relevance for me. Besides the scientific contribution, in my research I focus on implications for practitioners in the business world. I continuously publish articles in leading academic journals, for example in Harvard Business Review, Industrial Marketing Management, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Review of Managerial Science and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. In addition to teaching at HHL, I am a lecturer at various international top universities and business schools worldwide.

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