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WHU - Otto Beisheim (SOM)

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WHU - Otto Beisheim (SOM) Burgplatz 2
Vallendar, , 56179
Germany
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Demographic Information

Number of full-time MBA students (2011): 

23

Number of part-time MBA students (2011): 

0

Total duration of full-time MBA program: 

16 months

MBA faculty (Fall 2010): 

71

Females as percent of student body: 

52%
Who Are the Students? See what percentage of the 2010-2011 graduating class came to this MBA program from the private sector, the non-profit sector and government jobs
 
Private Sector (99%)
 
Non-profit (0%)
 
Government (1%)


Description of MBA Program: 

The MBA Program is designed to equip participants from all over the world with the skills to master strategy, change and competition in an international context and to advance in their career. WHU is committed to educate general managers who are able to master a variety of jobs and cope with highly diverse and rapidly changing environments. Our standards of excellence value honesty and integrity, mutual trust and respect as the foundations for competent and confident leadership.

 

We strongly believe that the management of social, ethical and environmental issues is a crucial part of any successful manager’s work anyplace in the world. This is why about 36% of our core and concentration courses cover social, ethical and environmental topics. Moreover, we have designed a compulsory leadership and personal development module for our MBA program.

 

The Program’s approach for preparing the MBA students especially in the areas mentioned can be summarized as a three-step process:

 

1. Learn: We teach business ethics and many core and concentration courses address social, ethical and environmental issues. Students for instance learn about intercultural competences, approaches to tackle ethical issues, tools for analyzing complex business situations including social, ethical, environmental issues. This helps MBA students to improve decision-making by providing them the knowledge and tools which allow them to correctly identify, analyze and solve ethical, social or environmental issues. Courses are taught by WHU’s own faculty, but also by internationally renowned faculty from different parts of the world and top-tier practitioners.

 

2. Apply: We strongly believe that teaching ethics is not sufficient. By having designed a highly interactive curriculum which includes a significant amount of group-work, project work with companies or non-profit organizations, real-life business cases and guest speaker, we challenge our students to apply their newly acquired knowledge. Of course, ethical, social, intercultural or environmental issues are part of these activities. As mentioned before, the program incorporates a compulsory leadership and personal development module spread out over the course of the Program. Again, students do not only learn different leadership theories, but they have the opportunity to reflect and improve their own way of managing and leading people. Responsibility is a key concept discussed.

 

3. Initiate: We encourage students to initiate projects outside the classroom. WHU is committed to providing a stimulating environment fostering exchange of ideas, promotion of entrepreneurial and innovative thinking and action and personal development as well as social responsibility. As of today, our student initiatives cover for example the biggest financial congress in Europe organized by students, one of the biggest sports events for students from Business Schools across the world as well as many social and charitable initiatives.



How does the MBA program 'walk the talk' of social and environmental impact?: 

Within just 26 years since its founding in 1984, WHU has been able to establish an outstanding position in the European Business School Market. The School feels obliged to two key ideas - excellence and responsibility. Excellence implies to provide first-class teaching, to create new knowledge by providing a stimulating environment and to foster the exchange of ideas between the scientific and professional community. At the same time, taking responsibility for ourselves, our actions and our environment is deeply engrained in the School's culture.



Both ideas - excellence and responsibility - are vital in WHU's Mission Statement and the Schools Core Values "Passion, People and Performance". In 2010, students, faculty, alumni and staff members jointly developed and decided upon a Code of Conduct in a bottom-up approach. The objective of WHU's Code of Conduct is to capture the community's shared understanding of standards of good conduct in written form. The four cornerstones of the CoC are: Respect, responsibility, initiative and cooperation. A working group consisting of representatives of all WHU groups committed itself to nurture the Code of Conduct in the hearts and minds of the WHU community as a key element of our daily interactions and WHU's culture. It also devoted itself to the continuous improvement of the CoC.



Apart from teaching ethics and sustainability and thus giving students a profound theoretical view regarding these topics, tangible actions are supposed to exemplify and complement theory. Some examples of sustainable or responsibly practices at WHU are:

- Student initiative "First Responder": Since Vallendar is a small town, it takes some time until ambulances from the surrounding hospitals arrive in case of emergencies. The "WHU First Responder" have been trained for medical emergencies and cover the first but decisive minutes until ambulances arrive. With the help of sponsors, this initiative has been able to buy a car with medical equipment and can reach any person in Vallendar within five minutes.

- Student initiative "WHU Students help": This charitable student initiative pursues various regional and international projects including for example fundraising activities for a women's hospital in Afghanistan, giving private lessons to kids with less privileged backgrounds or organizing supplies for the local kindergarten.

- Congress "SensAbility": "SensAbility" is an annual social enterprise congress organized by WHU students. The congress covers topics related to social responsibility and social entrepreneurship. The congress is targeted at students from other business schools, social entrepreneurs, alumni, corporates and scientists doing research related to the topics.

- Congress "Forum WHU": "Forum WHU" is an annual congress organized by WHU students relating to the topic "business and responsibility". In 2010, the main theme of the conference was "Going Green - Profit meets Sustainability" and addressed students as well as corporates.

- Initiative "Integration@WHU": This government-funded initiative covers various activities to increase the integration of international students into the WHU community as well as into the local community. It is a community outreach project jointly pursued by WHU, the city of Vallendar, the School of Theology also located in Vallendar.

- Environmental practices: WHU lives up to the green environmental practices common in Germany such as using energy saving light bulbs, waste separation and recycling of toner cartridges.
 

Academic Department

Course Name: Competitive & Corporate Strategy Tools
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Weigand, Prof. Dr. Thomas Hutzschenreuter

In this course, an holistic perspective of strategic management is taken up that considers social and environmental issues as integral elements. Companies are thereby discussed as socio-economic entities that are embedded in a network consisting of different stakeholders. By using a business simulation game in which students have to manage an enterprise over several periods of time, they learn to define goals and strategies, and realize them in an environment in which economic and ecological factors play decisive roles. For instance, ecology constitutes a core area of decision-making as it significantly influences the success of a firm. High learning effects are achieved due to the fact that students are directly confronted with the consequences of their decision-making such as environmental damage caused by the company or the degree of environmental-friendliness of the products. Altogether, students are sensitized to strategic management that - besides economic and technological issues - also has to take social and environmental issues into account to ensure a sustainable development of the company.

Course Name: Corporate Restructuring
Instructor: Professor Timothy A. Thompson

The course is designed as a capstone class in corporate finance. It takes a valuation perspective on corporate restructuring decisions made by the management of firms. We will be focusing on transactions significantly affecting the corporation’s asset strategy (mergers and acquisitions, divestitures), liabilities (distressed debt restructurings: workouts and bankruptcy reorganization), equity claims (spin offs, equity carve outs and tracking stock restructurings), and restructuring employee claims. We will examine transactions from the perspective of the corporation’s management and from the perspective of investors. Cases will be the primary method of instruction.

Course Name: Corporate Strategy
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Thomas Hutzschenreuter

The aim of this course is to develop an understanding of the principles of corporate strategy and their applications. Starting from the initial premise that a company is a coalition of different stakeholders that follow possibly diverging goals, the course addresses possibilities how the different interests can be aligned and the success of doing so can be measured. The course then proceeds by focusing on the creation of economic value. Building on the premise that competition occurs at the level of the business unit, and that value must therefore ultimately be created at the business unit level, the course seeks to address two fundamental questions: How can a corporation create economic value through its multimarket activity along the dimensions of products and regions? How can a corporation make use of growth via mergers and acquisitions? These questions are discussed in the light of the concept of managerial discretion that leads back to the interests of the different stakeholder groups. Thereby students are sensitized to the fact that today the mere creation of economic value is not enough, but that social as well as environmental requirements must be taken into account when formulating corporate strategies.

Course Name: Fundamentals of Strategy
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Thomas Hutzschenreuter

The course discusses the role of managers in strategic decision making and how firms can create value by focusing on the development of their corporate portfolio. The discussions include highly relevant concepts enriched with numerous practical examples. For instance, the "managerial discretion" framework by Hambrick & Finkelstein is presented, which illustrates the role of stakeholders for the decision making of managers in firms. In so doing, the students are encouraged to think about the responsibility of managers to adapt their decision making to the demands of their core stakeholder (e.g., employees, shareholders, environmental groups), and how the different interests may be aligned.

The relevance of the environment is also emphasized with regard to internationalization issues. When firms are entering foreign markets managers have to cope with a different cultural, economical and political environment. In the course the impact of these differences in the environments between countries are discussed, as well as strategies to overcome the liabilities of foreignness.

Course Name: Innovation Management
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Holger Ernst

The course focuses on achieving sustainable competitive advantage through innovation. It discusses different management approaches and compares short-term, shareholder-value driven strategies with long-term, innovation driven strategies. In that context, the course has a strong emphasis on identifying and discussing certain leadership characteristics at multiple levels of the organization that are required to foster innovation and change. Further, we discuss innovations in emerging or BOP (Bottom of the Pyramid) markets and look at cases where entrepreneurs or firms have created social value, while at the same time creating value also to the firm. Thus, social innovations do not necessarily conflict with market and financially-driven innovations. Here, we discuss what managers need to do to successfully implement these strategies.

Course Name: Innovation Management
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Holger Ernst

The course focuses on achieving sustainable competitive advantage through innovation. It discusses different management approaches and compares short-term, shareholder-value driven strategies with long-term, innovation driven strategies. In that context, the course has a strong emphasis on identifying and discussing certain leadership characteristics at multiple levels of the organization that are required to foster innovation and change. Further, we discuss innovations in emerging or BOP (Bottom of the Pyramid) markets and look at cases where entrepreneurs or firms have created social value, while at the same time creating value also to the firm. Thus, social innovations do not necessarily conflict with market and financially-driven innovations. Here, we discuss what managers need to do to successfully implement these strategies.

Course Name: International Business Law
Instructor: Dr. Georg Weidenbach

International Business Law involves a large variety of different legal topics. These include state restrictions on international trade (and the limits for such restrictions), the conclusion of contracts in the context of an international sale of goods as well as the international enforcement of rights arising out of international trade. More specifically, International Business Law provides an overview of WTO law, EU law, CISG law, the financing of international transactions and international dispute resolution. Furthermore, it deals with the national, but globally enforced principles of anti-corruption and antitrust compliance. Besides giving an insight into the major legal aspects, International Business Law aims to also show that International Business Law and the peaceful relation between nations are closely linked. Roughly half of the time of the lectures is "taught", whereas the remaining time is spent with the students working in groups to resolve and discuss actual cases. In each lecture, a group of students will give a brief presentation about a specific issue relating to the previous lecture. Some topics will be covered by guest lecturers.

Course Name: International Business Strategies
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Lutz Kaufmann

International Business Strategies affect the triple bottom line - everywhere. Social, ethical and environmental stewardship is needed in MNCs at the HQ and subsidiary level. It is not addressed in specific sessions but part of all sessions. Our research on sustainable management of Western subsidiaries in emerging economies was covered by the Wall Street Journal. Innovative case studies like "EBIT and Ethics - Merck Thailand" help illustrating the integrative nature of managing today's MNCs.

Course Name: International Module India
Instructor: accompanied by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Weigand

The International Module "Business Challenges and Opportunities in India" introduces students to the cultural and business environment of India. Students learn from native faculty about the core factors which determine the business and non-business environment of India. An integral part of the Module are visits to Indian and international for-profit organizations as well as to social ventures and governmental organizations. In the discussions with the leaders and decision-makers of the visited organizations students develop an deeper understanding of management and leadership in the Indian cultural context.

Course Name: Leadership (In) Practice Week
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Weigand, Prof. Dr. Martin Högl

The course intends to build a bridge from leadership concepts to leadership action. This approach links real-world business experiences and corporate performance with the scholarship and wisdom of leadership theorists. Case-based class discussions consider the success and failure of applied concepts. Team and individual exercises allow students to evaluate themselves regarding personal growth and to develop leadership skills. Guest lecturers from renowned business organizations bring practical knowledge and experience to the classroom setting and view the learnings from the perspective of business and leadership practice.

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Type of Offering

Campus for Marketing
Date: September, 2010

Campus for Marketing is hosted by the Marketing Chair and is an annual conference dealing with current developments and trends in Marketing. It is targeted at Marketing professionals, students as well as Marketing researchers.

http://www.campus-for-marketing.com/

IdeaLab!
Date: October, 2010

IdeaLab! is a forum exclusively organized by students with the aim of connecting those who are interested in founding their own companies with successful founders, entrepreneurs, scientists and venture capitalists. Ever since the first IdeaLab! took place in 2000, the congress has become more and more popular all around the country. Today it is the biggest congress of the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. Furthermore it was awarded "place in the country of the ideas" by an initiative of the German president in 2009.

At the IdeaLab! creative students from all around the country and Europe get the unique chance to get in touch with the "Who-is-Who" of the German founder's scene, in order to discuss new ideas as well as business models and concepts of financing. Furthermore exciting and thrilling discussions among the participants are stimulated by various topics that deal with uprising economic and social challenges and opportunities. Therefore, the IdeaLab! creates an excellent and unique platform for students that are passionate about founding and VCs and business angels that are looking for new investments. Over the years the foundations for many already legendary business models have been laid at this event!

Please visit www.idea-lab.org for further information!

Campus for Supply Chain Management
Date: March, 2011

"WHU Campus for Supply Chain Management" is a meeting point for managers, academics and students. New developments and challenges in the field of supply chain management are discussed from different points of view alongside speeches and workshops made by company representatives and scientists.

Purpose of "Campus for Supply Chain Management" is to give the participants a platform for exchange of information and experience. Furthermore it creates a constructive environment ideal for developing one's own ideas.

Yearly in March, "Campus for Supply Chain Management" takes place at the WHU campus in Vallendar. In 2011, WHU will host the eighth edition of the CSCM.

You may access further information on future and past events at www.campus-for-scm.de

Interview and Assessment Center Training
Date: September, 2009

The lecturer simulates interview and assessment center situations and films the students when presenting. Finally, every students gets an individual analysis and feedback on how he/she may improve.

forumWHU
Date: October, 2011

The forumWHU initiative was founded in 2003 by students due to graduate with a Diplom in 2006. The forum is dedicated to organizing and hosting an annual congress entitled “forum WHU – Responsible Business”, which draws both current and future decision-makers together to exchange ideas and experiences in lectures, discussions and workshops, thereby becoming more aware of social responsibility in business.

Participants are company representatives and students from all academic backgrounds. Prior to the congress, a call for paper takes place. The best essays are selected by an independent jury and are awarded at the convention.

Further Information can be found at http://www.forumwhu.com.

PoweReading Seminar
Date: March, 2010

This seminar focuses on the reading speed of the students. The lecturer finds out how and how fast the students read and explains how they may improve their techniques. In the end the students doubled their reading speed and still caught the content of the text.

German class for foreign students (Beginner & Advanced)
Type: Language courses
Date: September, 2009

German classes are offered to all international MBA students starting in the preparation courses until the end of the program. The aim is to ease the students' daily life in Vallendar and to communicate with the residents.

Campus for Finance
Date: January, 2011

The Campus for Finance was founded in 1999 by the initiative of WHU students and the Dresdner Bank Chair for Finance. The basic concept was, and is, to provide an international platform for high-ranking academics, politicians, companies and students, facilitating unconventional discourse and exploration of current affairs in the financial sphere.

The event takes place on three days each January and is divided into two separate conferences – the the “WHU Campus for Finance New Year’s Conference” and the "CFF Research Conference".

An additional conference, the "WHU Private Equity Conference" specialising on private equity topics also takes place every year.

www.campus-for-finance.com

Campus for Strategy
Date: April, 2011

Campus for Strategy is an annual conference addressing recent developments and trends regarding strategic decision making. It is addressed to corporates as well as students.

CV Training
Date: May, 2010

The lecturer provides useful hints to develop a personal career profile of each student:

- country specific CVs for US, UK and Germany

- special CV formats

- labeling CV categories

- cover letter writing

- developing content for the application: e.g. describing skills

COMPANY PRESENTATIONS

Companies that are WHU benefactors or donors have the possibility to introduce themselves to students during the semester through a company presentation.

These usually start at 7 p.m. Following a presentation of approximately one hour, the company presenting itself invites participants to a reception. This informal get-together in the historical wine cellar is a favorite event among company representatives and students alike. It is not uncommon that first contact for future employment is made here. Company presentations are also ideal in the search for qualified interns.

ON CAMPUS RECRUITING

The “Profile” brochures of the Bachelor, Master and MBA programs publish the résumés of the graduates, and are sent out to selected companies. They provide the basis for on-campus recruiting. The companies choose the candidates that they would like to meet, and the initial interviews usually take place on campus. These interviews are organized and coordinated by the Career Service.

The advantages of on-campus recruiting are obvious. It offers companies the possibility to recruit first hand. They are able to meet several candidates at the same time, and compare them directly.

MASTER YOUR CAREER

After the successful premier of "Master your Career" in 2009, WHU's MBA students have the opportunity to interact with representatives of leading international companies every year.

Altogether, six career-promoting elements from the WHU Career Service platform were offered to participants: short company presentations, a career fair, workshops, a networking business dinner, on-campus recruiting, and career speed dating. Both company representatives as well as students were given the opportunity to gauge if a basis for future collaboration existed. For example, the point of the career speed dating was to convincingly present oneself in as short a time as possible during interviews that were selectively conducted over 30 to 60 minutes.

The following companies have already taken part in the Master Your Career fair: Accenture; A.T. Kearny, GmbH; BASF The Chemical Company; Beiersdorf, AG; Deutsche Post DHL Inhouse Consulting; BP; Henkel AG & Co., KGaA; SMP Strategy Consulting, AG; and Vodafone D2, GmbH.

CAREER SERVICE & RESUME BOOK

The school’s own Career Service coordinates on-campus recruitment programs, organizes countless company presentations and an annual Career Day, where companies that support WHU receive preferential treatment. They are provided with the "Resume Book" containing résumés of each graduate class.

CV TRAINING

The lecturer provides useful hints to develop a personal career profile of each student:

- country specific CVs for US, UK and Germany

- special CV formats

- labeling CV categories

- cover letter writing

- developing content for the application: e.g. describing skills

INTERVIEW AND ASSESSMENT CENTER TRAINING

The lecturer simulates interview and assessment center situations and films the students when presenting. Finally, every students gets an individual analysis and feedback on how he/she may improve.

Kellogg-WHU Executive MBA
Master of Law and Business
Center for EUropean Studies (CEUS)
Business School Housing? Yes
Number of Faculty: 3
Contact Name: Michael Frenkel
Contact Email: michael.frenkel@whu.edu

The Center for EUropean Studies (CEUS) at WHU was founded in 2004 by the initiative of Professor Michael Frenkel, Head of Chair of Macroeconomics and International Economics. It has been established with the aim to expand the academic activity in the field of European integration.

Center of Private Banking
Business School Housing? Yes
Number of Faculty: 10
Contact Name: Markus Rudolf
Contact Email: markus.rudolf@whu.edu

With growing wealth of private households, Private Banking in general and Private Wealth Management in particular gain further importance. Companies fight for the market and innovation and quality of the products and the advisory are essential to win and sustain market shares. Up to now Germany lacked an independent scientific view of Private Banking and its sub areas like Asset Management, Financial Planning, Customer Relationship Management or even Estate Planning. WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management is closing this gap by founding a "Center of Private Banking" with the support of the industry. The center aims at backing this special bank service with the help of scientific research and at improving service quality of banks combined with customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, that in the end lead to an increased profitability.

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Corporate Hypocrisy: Overcoming the Threat of Inconsistent Corporate Social Responsibility Perceptions
Author(s): Wagner, Tillmann; Lutz, Richard J.; Weitz, Barton A.

Reports of firms' behaviors with regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR) are often contrary to their stated standards of social responsibility. This research examines the effects of communication strategies a firm can use to mitigate the impact of these inconsistencies on consumer perceptions of corporate hypocrisy and subsequent beliefs about the firm's social responsibility and attitudes toward the firm. Study 1 indicates that a proactive communication strategy (when the firm's CSR statements precede conflicting observed behavior) leads to higher levels of perceived hypocrisy than a reactive strategy (when the firm's CSR statements follow observed behavior). The inconsistent information in both scenarios increases perceptions of hypocrisy, such that CSR statements can actually be counterproductive. Study 1 also reveals how perceived hypocrisy damages consumers' attitudes toward firms by negatively affecting CSR beliefs and provides evidence for the mediating role of hypocrisy during information processing. Study 2 finds that varying CSR policy statement abstractness acts to reduce the hidden risk of proactive communication strategies and can improve the effectiveness of a reactive strategy. Study 3 reveals that an inoculation communication strategy reduces perceived hypocrisy and minimizes its negative consequences, regardless of whether the CSR strategy is proactive or reactive.

Journal Title: Journal of Marketing (American Marketing Association) Volume: 73 Edition: 6 Page Numbers: 77-91
Cultural and Societal Influences on Shared Leadership in Globally Dispersed Teams
Author(s): Muethel, Miriam; Hoegl, Martin

Leading globally dispersed teams poses critical challenges, especially if the team members are not only physically separated, but also culturally diverse and their tasks are dynamic and complex. It has been argued that shared leadership behaviors, such as continuous reflection, anticipation of a team''s information needs, and initiating a team''s social influence, positively influence virtual team performance. Country-level effects on shared leadership in globally dispersed teams, however, have been neglected. Building on the country institutional profile developed by Kostova (1997), we argue that regulative, cognitive, and normative components influence the likelihood that the individual will engage in shared leadership behaviors. Analyzing the differences between the institutional profiles of team members'' home countries as reflected in institutional diversity as a team-level property, we furthermore point to different levels of institutional diversity as an enabling or hindering condition of shared leadership.

Journal Title: Journal of International Management Volume: 16 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 234-246
Innovative Performance in African Technical Projects - A Multi-level Theory
Author(s): Seriki, H. Titilayo; Hoegl, Martin; Parboteeah, K. Praveen

In this paper, we discuss how the societal context of sub-Saharan Africa is related to the innovative performance of project teams. We developed propositions based on previous literature while also using insights from experts from the sub-Saharan section of Africa. We then tested these propositions using a case based approach. Specifically, we examined the propositions through interviews with team leaders in three companies located in sub-Saharan Africa (two located in Nigeria and one located in South Africa). This empirical examination of real-life project teams in sub-Saharan Africa led us to an improved understanding concerning the consequences of African societal characteristics for the innovative performance of teams. Essentially, our findings suggest that managers of African projects need to adapt their methods (1) to incorporate and utilize the diversity inherent in society, (2) to (re)direct the focus of entire projects towards creating value for human beings, and (3) to maintain acceptable and security-giving hierarchies. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Journal Title: Journal of World Business Volume: 45 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 295-303
National business ideology and employees' prosocial values
Author(s): Muethel, Miriam; Hoegl, Martin; Parboteeah, K. Praveen

Employees’ prosocial values have been shown to foster helping, cooperating, and volunteering behaviors, which in turn increase firm performance. However, despite the importance of prosocial values, there is a general neglect of this area in the international arena. As more trade occurs globally, interest in crosscultural prosocial values is growing. We therefore build on socialization theory and introduce national business ideology as a country-level determinant of employees’ prosocial values. We thus argue that transformational leadership and professional altruism are key elements of a national business ideology’s stimulation of employees’ prosocial values, while corporate corruption is considered to be an impediment. Based on 19,026 individuals from 17 countries, our cross-level analyses point to the national business ideology explaining national-level variances above and beyond cultural aspects. Results support our hypothesis that national business ideology, including transformational leadership and professional altruism, is positively related to employees’ prosocial values. The hypothesis on corporate corruption, however, was not supported. Instead, results indicate that employees apply rationalization strategies to justify corruption. With prosocial values being important for organizational performance as well as social welfare in general, we thus draw attention to socialization processes in national corporate work contexts.

Journal Title: Journal of International Business Studies Volume: Edition: online Page Numbers: