Professor Dr. Nadine Kammerlander of WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management has recently received a special award. The online portal “Family Capital” has listed the Chair of Family Business as one of the Top 100 Family Influencers in the world. The portal users nominated the most influential individuals concerning family businesses in eight categories – one of them academics. Nadine Kammerlander is particularly proud because only 12 other international researchers made it to the final list. “For five years it has been our ambition at the Institute of Family Business and Mittelstand at WHU to answer hands-on questions concerning family businesses and family offices with high-quality research. Family Capital‘s award now shows us, that we have succeeded so far.”
Family Capital emphasizes Kammerlander’s prophetic remarks four years ago in one of the portals “ViewPoints”. She argued that family businesses mostly only observed digitalization and did not take part themselves. They therefore jeopardized their enterprises’ future. Even today, this trend is continuing. “Our studies show enormous variability. Unfortunately, many family businesses are not as far as they ought to be with regard to digitalization. But ongoing activities like the Maschinenraum initiative in Berlin show that there is an attitude of change,” Professor Kammerlander explains the current situation. For her observations, Family Capital also pronounced Kammerlander one of the most influential researchers in Germany’s academic landscape with regard to family businesses.