Entrepreneurs and teams

More than four million people are self-employed in Germany. The motives, characteristics, and general conditions vary from person to person just as much as their location and design of the entrepreneurial activity. The focus of the competence field "Entrepreneurs and Teams" is therefore on the one hand the investigation of individual and micro-social factors affecting the entrepreneurial intentions as well as the entrepreneurial success of individuals and founding teams. On the other hand, dynamics within teams and private professional networks and their effects on innovations, economic success, and the sustainability of start-up projects are of particular interest.

The investigation of backgrounds, characteristics, strategies, and behaviors of entrepreneurs (of entrepreneurially-thinking and acting people), is in the foreground of the competence field"entrepreneurs and teams". On the one hand, the focus is on the person of the founder. On the other hand, the entrepreneur is subjected to a closer analysis in the interaction in the founding team and with its micro-social network. The research focus can be specific groups of entrepreneurs (e.g.female entrepreneurship) or dedicated industries (e.g. technology entrepreneurship). Here the focus is on the individual's resources, such as education, experience or material capital, as well as personality factors. At the ifm Mannheim, research is also carried out to determine the extent to which individual and team-related behavioral aspects and framework conditions affect entrepreneurial success and resilience in times of crisis (resilience). Risk industries and highly dynamic environments are of particular interest here.