MAN 770 Research Seminar

MAN 770 Research Seminar: Strategic Leader­ship and Family Firms
Syllabus – HWS 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 02.09.2024. 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.

MAN 770 Research Seminar – Syllabus 2
Grading: The course consists of three components: I. Student presentation, II. discussion, and III. final
assignment (details below). Each component accounts for 33,3% of the course grade.

I. Student presentation: For the presentation, each student (or team of students, depending on participation) will be assigned one (or more, depending on participation) seminal article(s). They will present and defend the assigned article in detail in a graded 20-minute PowerPoint presentation as if it was their own (20 minutes presentation + 3 minutes discussant comment + 12 minutes group discussion). Each presentation is flanked by an assigned discussant (student or team of students). It is the discussant’s task to reflect upon a paper’s strengths and, particularly, its weaknesses in detail and to suggest potential ways to alleviate these concerns. Thereafter, the entire course will discuss the presentations and the presenter answers questions.

II. Discussion: All seminar participants are expected to read each article and engage in discussion. You are expected to hand in five questions for each article. Discussion grades will be given on questions to be uploaded to the ILIAS Group “MAN 770 Research Seminar [S] (HWS 2024)” according to the deadlines listed below. Regarding the preparation of discussion questions, it may be useful to reflect upon the following questions during the readings:
• What are the central questions addressed? Are the theory and its assumptions consistent?
• What are the core arguments or hypotheses? Are they convincing?
• What is the empirical evidence to support the argument(s)? Is it convincing?
• How could the empirical analysis be improved? Is there a way for a smarter approach? Has the author omitted anything or could adding another angle add new insights? (Be fair and do not make any suggestion that you would not envision performing yourself realistically.)

III. Final assignment (15–20 pages + data carrier): The final assignment is closely related to the readings. It is designed to be a practice for the master thesis and carried out in teams of students. Student teams will write a scientific article and properly apply and evaluate panel regressions. The content and structure of the assignment will follow the guidelines outlined below:
What is a family firm (FF) according to Anderson & Reeb (2003) and Miller & Le Breton-Miller (2011) (1 page)? How can U.S. S&P 1500 FFs & their CEOs be identified in the data sources accessible from the University of Mannheim (2 pages)? Collect a panel of U.S. S&P 1500 FFs & non-FFs (1996-2018, classify 100 firms as a family or non-family firm across time), including CEO data, describing each step (2 pages). Analyze your panel in STATA: How & why do strategic leaders (or does the effect of strategic leaders) such as CEOs differ in FFs as compared to non-FFs in a variable (respectively a personal disposition) of your choice? Craft a theory-based hypothesis (5 Pages). Test the hypothesis using your panel. Report analysis & results (5 pages). Hand in collection routines, sample data, STATA .do & .log file digitally. Violating the upper- or lower-page limit will result in a grading penalty.
Assignment format: A4, Times New Roman, size 12, double spacing, 2,5 cm margins. References and exhibits are included in the page limit. Each team can request a consulting session for the quantitative methods of their final assignment. Please register for it via an email to the course tutor.

MAN 770 Research Seminar – Syllabus 3
Deadlines:
• Application deadline: 02.09.2024 (23.59 CET)
• Announcement of participants: 04.09.2024
• Acceptance of offer: 05.09.2024
• Questions for papers scheduled for day 2: September 12th, 2024 (23.59 CET)
• Questions for papers scheduled for day 3: October 1st, 2024 (23.59 CET)
• Questions for papers scheduled for day 4: October 10th, 2024 (23.59 CET)
• Final assignment: Dezember 6th, 2024 (23.59 CET)
Only applications, questions, and assignments handed in to the course secretary on time are considered. No extension will be granted.

Attendance: Attendance of each session is mandatory. Exceptions will be made for students having an exam or if a medical certificate is provided. Students must attend for a grade. Attendance of exercise classes is highly recommended but not mandatory.