Dissertations We are interested in supervising dissertations that are closely related to our four main research fields. Currently, five dissertations are being worked on. Currently supervised Dissertations Maximilian Groh Family Business Groups, Inheritance Taxation and Unplanned Succession Anna Kravchenko Capital Structure and Family Firms. Tobias Schori Corporate Finance Decisions in Asian Family Businesses Dean Tong Professionalization of Asian Family Firms Matthias Ch. Würsten Strategic challenges in family dynasties and strategic processes in SMEs former doctoral candidates Tobias Dehlen Acquisitions and Divestitures in Family Firms: The Role of Socioemotional Wealth Michael Gaska Governance Challenges in Family Offices Isabella Hoffend Family Firm Succession as Career Option of Siblings in Swiss Entrepreneurial Families - Insights based on the Family Niche Model and Sibling Research The role of siblings in the context of succession intentions in family firms. So far, there is a lack of knowledge on how the intention of potential successors in family firms to succeed in the business is affected by siblings and their characteristics. The author addresses this gap qualitatively. Jörg Keller Resource Shedding in Family Firms: Distinguishing between Opportunity- and Threat-related Contexts Sonja Kissling The Interrelation between Governance in Family Firms and the Choice of the Justice Principles of Equity and Equality in Succession Alexandra Michel Advisors in the Family Business Succession Process: Their Challenges, Roles and Role Adjustment throughout the Process, as well as their Influence on Agency Costs, Objective Post-Succession Performance and the Level of Satisfaction Succession processes pose major challenges for family firms and are therefore oftentimes accompanied by advisors, such as fiduciaries, lawyers and bank counsellors. Yet, little is known about the influence that those advisors have on the succession process. This dissertation thus investigates on a conceptional and empirical basis the advantages and disadvantages as well as success factors when drawing upon so-called «trusted advisors». Melanie Richards The realm of the family in a corporate world: On the role of family principles for entrepreneurial exit and CSR efforts Philipp Sieger Long-Term Success of Family Firms: Investigating Specific Aspects of Firm-level Entrepreneurship and Individual-level Antecedents Johannes Stankiewicz Socioemotional Wealth and the Performance of Family Firms: The Role of Identification and Transgenerational Control Family control, financial independence or family harmony are considered as mainly non-financial goals of the family firm and are widely referred to as socioemotional wealth. This dissertation looks at the socioemotinal wealth and its influence on firm performance. An empirical reserach design will further try to reach conclusions on potential mediating factors such as brand strategy, diversification efforts or research & development initiatives. Marta Widz When Does a Founder Firm Become a Family Firm: Institutional Antecedents to the Entrepreneurial Exit Options The institutional antecedents to the family-internal versus family-external mode of succession in Poland. The scope of her dissertation encompasses the succession phenomenon in the family firms in Poland, where the economy is only 22 years old and the prevailing amount of family firms are first-generation micro companies. With the application of the institutional theory, Marta Widz asks the question under which circumstances the family firms pursue family-internal versus family-external mode of succession and thus contributes to the under-researched phenomenon of the entrepreneurial exit.