WHU Professors among the Top Female Researchers in DACH

Renowned business magazine WirtschaftsWoche has recently issued the latest edition of its ranking assessing the most research-oriented economists active across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). This year’s results have reaffirmed that two professors from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management are among the strongest female researchers active in the field today: Professor Nadine Kammerlander (Chair of Family Business) and Professor Fabiola H. Gerpott (Chair of Leadership), who have both reached top positions, coming in at #1 and #3 respectively. 

The overall ranking encompasses all genders, painting a clearer picture of the area’s strongest 100 researchers in business administration. Here, Professor Kammerlander ranks at #23 for the work she has conducted over the past five years, and she is in good company with Adjunct Professor Malte Brettel (Chair of Entrepreneurship) at #78 and Professor Stefan Spinler (Chair for Logistics Management) at #97. Professor Gerpott, who ranks at #77 in this overall comparison, also appears at #26 in a comparison of all researchers under forty.

Professor Kammerlander, a three-time Schulze Award recipient, has spent 15 years dedicating herself to answering the most pertinent and unexplored questions affecting today’s family businesses, often referred to as the backbone of a country’s economy. Her research has led to a wider understanding of how these unique companies can rethink their business models to remain competitive, make good use of their generational knowledge, and strike a balance between innovation and tradition.

Professor Gerpott, who was also recently recognized in Capital’s Top 40 Under 40 list of prominent business experts, is dedicated to advancing leadership—both self-leadership and the leadership of others—through her research. Her award-winning work explores leadership and organizational behavior in contemporary work environments, including the influence of artificial intelligence, an increasingly diverse workforce, and evolving, less hierarchical organizational structures.

WirtschaftWoche’s analysis, conducted in collaboration with the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich, pulled in contributions published in 860 business administration periodicals, assigning a weighted score to each. The full results of the ranking can be read in full here (paywall; in German).