PD Dr. habil. Jan-Philipp Ahrens


PD Dr. habil. at University of Mannheim
Head of the Interdisciplinary Research Group Family Firms

Curriculum Vitae:

Jan-Philipp Ahrens holds a venia legendi (Habilitation) from the Faculty of Business Studies at University of Mannheim. He is head of the interdisciplinary research group family firms of the University of Mannheim.

His research appears in international peer-reviewed top journals, such as Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice (VHB: A), Journal of Management Studies (VHB: A), or ICIS (VHB: A), he is author of the books "125 Jahre Mittelstand - Freiheit, Markwirtschaft, Soziale Verantwortung" and "Topics in Entrepreneurship and Family Business Management" and supported tech-reports comissioned by German Federal Ministries. His research won more than 10 international peer-reviewed awards, including a "Best Paper Award" at the European Academy of Management in 2013, a "Best Paper Award" at 2014 Family Enterprise Research Conference (USA), the Best Unpublished Paper Award 2014 of the Family Firm Institute (USA / publisher of the Family Business Review), and was selected for the "Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings" of the 2015 and 2019 Academy of Management (USA). His work on gender equality in CEO leadership was awarded with the WOVEN publish prize 2015. In 2016 and 2019 his research was credited with best article awards at the International Family Business Research Forum (Italy/France), and in 2017 his work on Family CEOs was awarded the “Best Article Award” at the Forum Mittelstandsforschung. Moreover, his research was nominated for international peer-reviewed awards multiple times.

Jan-Philipp Ahrens is a frequent reviewer for several international top journals, was honored for this service by receiving a best reviewer award, and he supports his profession by co-organizing international conference tracks at European Academy of Management and the Interdisciplinary European Conference on Entrepreneurship Research. He teaches at Bachelor, Master, and PhD level (entrepreneurship and innovation management, strategic and international management, and econometrics), is a frequent speaker in classes for international executive education (family business management, entrepreneurship and innovation management, University of Mannheim, Business School), and has coached more than 20 start-up teams. Jan-Philipp Ahrens’s research is frequently discussed in the public media, such as Deutschlandradio/Deutschlandfunk, Spiegel Online, Der Standard (Austria), PCGames Hardware, Heise online, or Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Jan-Philipp Ahrens gained his PhD (Dr. rer. pol.) from the University of Mannheim (2/2010-6/2013). During his dissertation he was a visiting student at the Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität München, following to a visit at the Humboldt University at Berlin in the BDPEMS-Program (Berlin Doctoral Program of Economics and Management Science). From 7/2013-9/2014 he joined the German Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin as a political advisor in business restructuring. Marathon-Rowing is one of the passions of him. In 2007 he finished 3rd in the quad-scull team discipline of the international Rhine marathon contest and 1st in the eight-team of the Technical University Munich at the 2012 Roseninsel contest.

Jan-Philipp Ahrens's research interests include

  • family business management
  • entrepreneurship and innovation management
  • digital entrepreneurship & crowdfunding
  • sustainability and social impact
  • strategic and international management
  • crisis management & corporate change
  • CEO attributes and behavioral biases
  • gender equality in leadership
  • controlling & value-based management
  • development economics
  • regional and urban development

Outstanding students who wish to dedicate their master thesis to quantitative research related to the above research interest and aim to continue as PhD student may apply for a supervision of their master thesis. Outstanding M.Sc. theses may be published at Junior Management Science: Junior Management Science is the academic journal to publish outstanding theses in business and management. Further exemplary theses can be found on the their website https://jums.academy/ JUMS - get inspired!

For further information, it is referred to: 
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan-Philipp_Ahrens or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-philipp-ahrens/ .
For research and evaluations of Jan-Philipp Ahrens please see the files provided below.



News

Turnaround study by Marc Kowalzick and Jan-Philipp Ahrens published in renowned Journal of Management Studies (12.06.23)
Marc Kowalzick and Jan-Philipp Ahrens (both at University of Mannheim’s Chair of SME Research and Entrepreneurship/ifm), have published a paper in the renowned Journal of Management Studies together with Jochim G. Lauterbach (TU Munich) and Yi Tang (Hong Kong University). In their paper “Overconfident CEOs in Dire Straits: How Incumbent and Successor CEOs’ Overconfidence Affects Firm Turnaround Performance,” they assess the performance implications of CEO overconfidence across incumbent chief executives who have been responsible for organizational decline and successor CEOs appointed in dire straits. mehr...
Forschungsgruppe Familienunternehmen acquires big data project on leadership equality (16.06.21)
Following the political developments of the last few years introducing FüPoG (Gesetz für die gleichberechtigte Teilhabe von Frauen und Männer an Führungspositionen in der Privatwirtschaft und im öffentlichen Dienst) and the current social discourse, the ifm research team is addressing the question of what role female leadership is playing in Germany. mehr...
ifm research awarded @EURAM (09.12.20)
Marc Kowalzick (ifm, Chair of SME Research and Entrepreneurship) and Moritz Appels (Chair of Sustainable Business) were awarded the 2020 Best Paper Award in Strategic Management during last weekend’s conference of the European Academy of Management (EURAM). The annual EURAM conference is one of the most important European conferences for management research and, this year, took place virtually from December 4th to 6th. mehr...
ifm wins IECER best paper award (20.11.20)
The paper „Business on the Line: Entrepreneurs and Family Firms in Crises” authored by Jan-Philipp Ahrens, Marc Kowalzick (both ifm/Uni Mannheim), Jochim G. Lauterbach (TU Munich) and Jennifer L. Petriglieri (INSEAD) was awarded as best conference paper at this year’s virtual IECER conference. IECER is an annual international conference on entrepreneurship, attended by researchers and business and government representatives from around the world. A central aspect on the article's data set on family firms was received as a courtesy of the chair of Prof. Kaserer (TU Munich). mehr...
Studien von Jan-Philipp Ahrens und Andrew Isaak in dem IAP Buch “European Entrepreneurship Research and Practice” erschienen (20.04.20)
Im Rahmen der IAP Reihe The Entrepreneurship SIG at European Academy of Management: New Horizons with strong Traditions ist das Buch "European Entrepreneurship Research and Practice - A Multifaceted Effort Towards Integration of Different Perspectives” (herausgegeben von Massimiliano Pellegrini, Luca Gnan, Hans Lundberg, Matthias Raith, Lucrezia Songini und Marzena Starnawska) erschienen.
In diesem Band wurden auch die Studien “The Succession Question and the Family Firm: A Theoretical, Conceptual, and Historical Reflection” von Jan-Philipp Ahrens und "An Explorative Study of Refugee Entrepreneurship and Start-up Consulting in German-Speaking Europe: A Resource-Based Perspective” von Andrew Isaak veröffentlicht.
Benchmark Familienunternehmen. Eine vergleichende Analyse der Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar und der Region Stuttgart 2019 (21.11.19)
In der Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar, einer der wirtschaftlich erfolgreichsten Regionen Deutschlands, sind viele erfolgreiche Familienunternehmen beheimatet. Macht das die Metropolregion zu etwas Besonderem? Und wie fällt ein Vergleich mit der Region Stuttgart aus? Die Studie „Benchmark-Familienunternehmen - Eine vergleichende Analyse für die Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar und die Region Stuttgart“, die diese Fragen beantwortet, wurde am 19.11.2019 bei KPMG in Mannheim vorgestellt. Vor über 90 Gästen stellte Studienleiter Dr. Detlef Keese die Kernaussagen der umfangreichen empirischen Analysen des ifm Mannheim vor. Die von Professor Michael Woywode geleitete Podiumsdiskussion mit Unternehmerpersönlichkeiten aus der Region, wie Christine Steger von Mann & Schröder GmbH, Simon Engelhorn von Engelhorn GmbH, Steffen Philipp von der Hima GmbH sowie Prof. Dr. Dieter Truxius, ehemaliger CFO von Dachser GmbH & Co KG sowie Heraeus Holding GmbH warf den Blick auf die praktischen Aspekte der Studienergebnisse. Die sehr lebendigen Statements der Podiumsteilnehmer waren eine anschauliche Ergänzung der empirischen Analysen. Das abschließende Get-Together wurde von den zahlreichen Gästen gerne genutzt, um weitere Fragen zu diskutieren und Kontakte zu knüpfen. mehr...
Ifm present with three nominations at G-Forum (23.10.19)
The ifm was present at this year’s G-Forum conference held in Vienna from September 25th to 27th with three best paper nominations in the research fields of family business and entrepreneurship education. mehr...
Forschung: Artikel von Jan-Philipp Ahrens und Michael Woywode in Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice erschienen (VHB: A) (29.01.19)
Unter dem Titel "The Enigma of the Family Successor–Firm Performance Relationship: A Methodological Reflection and Reconciliation Attempt" stellen die Forscher eine neue theoretische Konzeptionierung von Familiennachfolgen in Familienunternehmen vor. Sie präsentieren neue empirische Hinweise dafür, dass ein Familienhintergrund, abseits anderen CEO-relevanten Eigenschaften, eine positive "soziale" Kraft ist: Der Familienhintergrund des CEOs spiegelt sich positiv in der Performance der Familienunternehmen wider. Die Forscher argumentieren, dass ursächlich hierfür ist, dass durch die Familiennachfolge das gesammelte Sozialkapital der Familie auf den Nachfolger projiziert werden kann. mehr...
ifm stark auf der European Academy of Management (18.07.18)
Wissenschaftler des ifm und der Universität Mannheim organisieren Vortragsreihen zu Schwerpunktthemen und präsentieren aktuelle Forschung auf der Jahreskonferenz der European Academy of Management, der führenden europäischen Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Managementforschung in Europa. mehr...
Spiegel article about the research seminar on the crowdfunding phenomenon "Star Citizen" in HWS 2017 (11.09.17)
Spiegel Online, one of the leading German online news portal and online sibling of "Der Spiegel", has published a dedicated article on the upcoming research seminar MAN 770: www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/games/star-ci... . mehr...
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