MAN 770 Research Seminar

University of Mannheim
– Master in Management -
MAN 770 Research Seminar: Strategic Leadership and Family Firms
Syllabus – FSS 2024

Course Outline: This quantitative research seminar covers current research at the intersection of strategic leadership and family firms. Guided by recent scientific findings, students will reflect upon how organizational leaders and their needs, values, and dispositions, their biases, blinders, egos, aptitudes, experiences, and fatigue affect firm outcomes, upon the idiosyncrasies of founder and family firms, and upon how these idiosyncrasies, in turn, affect (and are affected by) firms’ strategic leadership. This is an advanced quantitative course to be taken towards the master’s end in preparation for the master thesis. It demands a high level of involvement and contribution. Please, do read this syllabus and all articles very carefully before the beginning of the course.

Instructors: Kai Frömsdorf, M.Sc., Dr. Baris Istipliler
Tutors: Kai Frömsdorf, Email: kai.froemsdorfmail-uni-mannheim.de
Secretary: Gabriele Schleicher, Email: gabriele.schleichermail-uni-mannheim.de

Objectives: The goal of the course is twofold. First, it is designed to help participants gain access to the main topics and theories in strategic leadership and family firm research. We will read and discuss 14 seminal articles and simulate an academic conference in class. This familiarizes participants with the state-of-the-art research, its designs & methods, and the respective current academic debate & practice. The second goal of the course is to familiarize students with the core techniques of quantitative scientific work in business studies. This includes developing a research idea, evaluating its contribution, obtaining data, performing analyses using STATA, and reporting results in article and presentation format. Students will learn to use statistical software. Overall, the course prepares students for writing a master’s thesis at our chair.
Contents: The course will cover panel data econometrics (Wooldridge Chapter 1–15), an introduction to the databases available at the University of Mannheim, a brief introduction to STATA software, and an extensive discussion of 14 seminal articles in line with the state-of-art scientific discourse.
Format: Lectures. Discussions led by instructors. Student presentations. Self-study. Seminar paper.
 

Prerequisites:

• Recommended Courses: CC 502 accomplished (facultative/optional).
• Recommended Books: Introductory Econometrics – A Modern Approach (Wooldridge), An Introduction to Modern Econometrics Using STATA (Baum) (check Lehr­buchsammlung).
• Required Software: STATA (We highly recommend installing STATA on your personal laptop. Please check the website of the Rechenzentrum).

Also open for: Non-MMM students, e.g., languages, psychology, MaKuWi, MMBR, etc.
Application: Registration for MAN 770 Research Seminar and MAN 770 Exercise Class via the student portal (Portal2.uni-mannheim.de) is mandatory until 12.02.2024. Additionally, apply to kai.froemsdorf@uni-mannheim.de by sending your student ID, transcript of grades, and CV (1 page) by the same deadline. Late and incomplete applications will not be considered.