Teaching at SRH University Berlin benefits from the different SRH research projects. These research topics are treated in the master program International Strategic Management/International Risk Management’s teaching.
Effects of Demographic Change on the Economy, in Particular Towards Management Aspects
Demographic change is one of the big upcoming challenges for industrialized economies. It will greatly affect the way in which businesses and the economy operate. Because our graduates’ career is bound to take place in a business environment that is greatly affected by this change, they have to be equipped with a sound understanding of this impact. SRH Hochschule Berlin’s research in this field is carried out in cooperation with national and international businesses that have understood the importance of demographic change. Students are involved in these research projects in order to learn how it will affect the different areas of business and the chances and challenges that are connected to it.
(cf. Modules: Company Project I+II+III Research contacts with: Gfk Healthcare Germany, Qualitative Research Siemens AG, Healthcare Sector GlaxoSmithKline GmbH & Co. KG, Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH, Karl Zeiss Meditec Berlin, Chemie Menarini, SRH).
Diversity Management, Development of Human- and Social Capital, Evaluative Research
Master students benefit from SRH Hochschule Berlin’s social science and methodological research because it allows them to understand and predict social trends and social developments. Such an understanding is vital for future managers. It enables them to foresee and respond to changes in the environment in which their businesses operate. The research at SRH Hochschule Berlin therefore especially focuses on applied methods that can be taught to the students on the basis of real life company projects. These company project and case studies teach the students how to apply social science analysis and how to develop a business strategy in accordance to its results (cf. Modules: Company Project I+II+III, Intercultural Management, Global Strategic Management Research contacts with: Stanford University Berlin Study Centre, Profis (DAAD)).
Business Informatics and Web-Based Services
Information Technology is the backbone of modern business. Because of its ever changing nature and the high pace in which it develops, Information Technology can only be taught in close connection to cutting edge research. SRH Hochschule Berlin’s research is focused on several IT fields. The main research areas are webbased services driven by sensor technology (e.g. RFID). RFID promisses to revolutinize the way in which logistics operates and is expected to have an ever increasing impact on manufacturing, transportation and many other industries. SRH Hochschule Berlin is cooperating with leading universities and innovative businesses to be able to teach the impact of this and other technologies to its students (cf. Modules: Company Project I+II+III, Technological Foresight and Commercialization Strategies, Research contacts with: BMWi – Forschungsprojekt Ko-RFID, Humboldt-Universität, SAP Research Dresden, Deutsche Telekom AG).
Law and Contract Knowledge Management
The research in the field of law and contract knowledge management aims at analysing the influence of the national and international legal framework on businesses behaviour. Two key research areas can be identified. The first research area focuses on how technological developments e.g. in the field of information technology make it possible to control the business decision processes by integrating legal and contractual problems into the organisation (e.g. legal risk management in company projects). The second research area analyses the competition between different national and privately drafted contract codes. It aims to analyse how agency and transaction costs influence businesses choice of law and forum in international commercial transactions. The aim of both research areas is to make a recommendation of how international businesses can best handle legal and contractual problems despite acting across multiple jurisdictions (cf. Modules: International Contract and Company Law, Contract Knowledge Management, International Private Law and Comparison of Legal Systems, Negotiation and Conflict Management, International Protection of Intellectual Property, Project Development I+II, Research contacts with: Symfact AG, MCOM Research GmbH, London School of Economic, University of Oxford).
Risk Management in Value Creation/Risk Management in Financing
The research at SRH Hochschule Berlin in the field of risk management is split up in the fields risk management in value creation and risk management in financing. The field risk management in value creation focuses on how businesses can manage the risk they need to take in order to be able to innovate. The field risk management in financing is closely connected to this, it analyses how innovative behaviour is financed by the means of high risk capital e.g. venture capital. The research therefore combines both, the internal business perspective on risk management as a tool to control risky, innovative behaviour and the external view on how financial markets provide risk capital to foster innovative behaviour.
Risk Management in Value Creation
The SRH research on risk management in value creation analyzes how management’s attitude towards risk-taking and risk decisions affects innovative behaviour. Social and cultural norms are the primary determent of how managers deal with risk-taking and risk decisions. An understanding of these norms is therefore key to foster innovative behaviour. The research aims at making a recommendation for strategic business decisions in regard to innovative behaviour, taking into account the legal norms that govern risk decisions and management liability (cf. Modules: Risk Management in Value Creation, Research contacts with: Kyoto University).
Risk Management in Financing
The research in the field of risk management in financing is closely connected to that of value creation. Based on a comparative approach the research analyzes how innovative business behaviour is financed across different risk cultures. The focus lies on venture capital financing which has been the dominating form of financing start-ups in risk loving cultures around the world, like the US. It is also beginning to replace the banking based finance of innovative behaviour in risk averse cultures like Japan and Germany. The research aims to describe the underlying reasons for this change and to make a recommendation for the best way of financing businesses innovations (cf. Modules: Risk Management in Financing, Research contacts with: Kyoto University).
