External publications
All publications that IfM scientists have published externally are compiled here.
215 Results
External publication | 2023 In danger of being left behind?
Has the Mittelstand lost its charisma? Based on a corpus of newspaper articles, the autors use a multi-dimensional approach combining content, framing, and metaphor analysis to expose how media report about the digital transformation in the German Mittelstand.
External publication | 2023 Resilience of the construction sector: First insights on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction industry
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the German construction industry developed positively in 2020 and 2021 and was thus able to bolster the economy as a whole during this crisis.
External publication | 2023 How do working conditions, network relationships, and institutional support offers effect entrepreneurial intentions of German university scientists?
In this paper, we study whether and how (i) working conditions, (ii) network relationships, and (iii) institutional support offers simultaneously relate to entrepreneurial intentions among German university scientists.
External publication | 2023 Incentives, Values, and the Creation of Opportunities for Action and Interaction
Economic action requires well-functioning institutions, both formal and informal ones. In their chapter, the authors use the example of entrepreneurship in different contexts to explore the interplay between institutions, values, and the agency of entrepreneurs towards institutions.
External publication | 2023 Servitization in the Manufacturing Industry: Where Do We Stand? Where Do We Come From?
Manufacturers are increasingly shifting their strategic focus from products to services to create customer value and defend a competitive edge in the marketplace. The transition process from product- to service-centric logic is referred to as servitization.
External publication | 2023 Strategic Emphasis on Service-Based Business Models During the Corona Crisis
Firms increasingly rely on service-based business models, such as customer solutions, to strengthen their market position and secure robust revenues in competitive environments. While extant research has shed light on the financial implications of service-based business models in general, no empirical research has yet explored whether a strategic emphasis on customer solutions pays-off or backfires in a global crisis such as the corona pandemic.
External publication | 2023 Business Solutions in the B2B World - A Systematic Literature Review
In an increasingly competitive environment, manufacturers are seeking for new ways of sustainable growth. Different resources (i.e., products, services, knowledge) are integrated into innovative business solutions to solve an entire customer problem.
External publication | 2023 Anorganized anarchy? Understanding the role of German cooperation in the constructionand export of the dual training model
The role of German cooperation as a key force behind the worldwide dissemination of dual training is well‐established within the specialized literature. The multilayered and fragmented nature of the German cooperation landscape suggests that German efforts in this area follow a complex and evolving interplay of motivations—yet the rationales behind Germany's bilateral work in the area of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) ..
External publication | 2023 attractiveness of Indian Polytechnicsgraduates — An analysis from the (demand-side) perspective of companies and colleges
The paper examines the attractiveness of graduates from Indian Polytechnics (PTs). The attractiveness is examinedfrom the perspective of actors who have a demand for thegraduates, namely companies and engineering colleges.To understand the reasons for their assessment ofattractiveness, this study uses the concept of institutionallogics (ILs) to unveil the inherent reasons behind thestakeholders' perception of attractiveness.
External publication | 2023 Theory and Practice of Teaching and Learning in the Classroom – Lessons from Indian Industrial Training Institutes
In India, the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are a vital part the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system. Previous research reveals that in addition to some other problems, it is the strongly theory-based training that impedes the transition of VET graduates into the labour market, and leads to a lack of work-readiness in young graduates.

External publication | 2023 Bureaucracy costs of companies in the mechanical and plant engineering industries
The study examines the specific bureaucratic costs that arise in the everyday operations of three selected companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector.
External publication | 2022 Going from one crisis to the next? Family businesses in the 21st century
Amid the war in Ukraine, the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and structural change, family businesses in Europe face many challenges. How can they master them, and how can Mittelstand policy support them?
External publication | 2022 Female Entrepreneurship
Female entrepreneurship and its contribution to job creation, innovation, and economic prosperity have attracted increasing interest in policy, theory, and practice over the last decade.
External publication | 2022 Dreaming of a Different Future
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.
External publication | 2022 Company succession in the construction industry
To date, no estimate or survey provides reliable information on how many of the companies in the construction industry are facing succession in the coming years or the specifics of the succession process in the construction industry.
External publication | 2022 Motives for cooperation between established SMEs and start-ups
Cooperations between start-ups and established Mittelstand companies are be-coming increasingly popular. This article deals with the motives for entering into such a cooperative relationship. After all, young innovative companies and es-tablished Mittelstand companies have different prerequisites.
External publication | 2022 In the eye of the beholder? Differentiating between SMEs and Mittelstand
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 makers lacking.
External publication | 2022 Knowledge Accumulation in Entrepreneurship
As the field of entrepreneurship has grown, so has the accumulated knowledge about individual entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial ventures, and the entrepreneurial environment.
External publication | 2022 Protection against discrimination and the promotion of diversity in the workplace
This study analyses the implementation of diversity and antisdiscrimination measures in companies, administrations and third sector organisations 15 years after introduction of the AGG and the establishment of the „Charta der Vielfalt.
External publication | 2022 Business Successions in Germany. Current estimates of the IfM Bonn
Due to the lack of available official statistics, the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn has been regularly estimating the number of family businesses in Germany that are due for succession in the next five years for almost 30 years using a specially developed estimation procedure.