Prof. Dr. Miriam Bird

Since June 2020

Director Global Center for Family Enterprise (GCFE) at TUM School of Management, TUM Campus Heilbronn

Since June 2020

Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at TUM School of Management, TUM Campus Heilbronn

01/2018 – 05/2020

Operative Director at the Global Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of St. Gallen

01/2018-01/2020

Visiting Scholar at the Center for Family Entrepreneurship and Ownership, Jönköping University

01/2015 – 05/2020

Assistant Professor of Management, University of St. Gallen

2010 – 2014

PhD studies in Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics

05/2013

Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise, University of Alberta

2012 – 2013

Visiting Researcher at McGill University and HEC Montréal

• Journal of Business Venturing
• Academy of Management Discoveries

• Norbert Szyperski Technology and Innovation Management Award, G-Forum (2024)
• Kauffman Best Paper Award in Entrepreneurial Cognitions, Academy of Management (2023)
• Research grant for the project on the role of decarbonization in Germany family enterprises, Dr. Hans Riegel-Stiftung (2021)
• EBS Best Paper Award: Outstanding scientific papers with high practical relevance (2020)
• Research grant evaluated as excellent research contribution, Swiss National Science Foundation (2019)
• Academy Best Paper Proceedings, Academy of Management (2015, 2017, 2020)
• Best Doctoral Dissertation Award, Family Firm Institute (2015)
• Carolyn Dexter Award, Academy of Management (2015)
• Nomination for Best Research Paper, IFERA (2015)
• Grant for research stay abroad: Excellent Entrepreneurship and Strategy Research, Svartz Foundation (2012)

This module introduces students into basic principles of the topic of entrepreneurship from a global and international perspective. Students will be equipped with basic knowledge on:

• Definitions, regional aspects, and special forms of entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurial individuals, including their personality, creativity, idea development, cognition, opportunity recognition, decision making, affect, and moving forward from failure, and
• Entrepreneurial firms, including their growth strategies, strategic alliances, and resources

Family enterprises are owned and/or managed by families, which face unique challenges to achieve growth and long-term sustainability. In doing so, innovation represents a critical antecedent to firm survival. Family enterprises often have long traditions and introducing innovation is often associated with tensions. This course addresses various aspects of such innovation management processes in family enterprises- Particular attention is paid to how family enterprises innovate, types of innovation that family firms integrate as well as which benefits innovation brings to them. An examination on digitalization of family firms as a way to implement innovation is also discussed in this course.

The lecture “Entrepreneurship” provides students with knowledge of the theoretical concepts and models of entrepreneurship. Students will acquire in-depth theoretical knowledge on:

• Definitions, regional aspects, and special forms of entrepreneurship in a complex and uncertain environment
• Entrepreneurial individuals, including their personality, creativity, idea development, cognition, opportunity recognition, decision making, and affect
• Entrepreneurial firms, including their growth strategies, strategic alliances, and resources.

Established companies are under unyielding pressure to remain entrepreneurial and discover new ways to grow. But how is it possible to enhance entrepreneurship of established companies in a sustainable way? Corporate entrepreneurship has been framed as important concept for firms to remain competitive and a powerful tool for managers, employees and firm advisors.
Traditionally, the main focus of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) has been about the founding of new business within established companies, such as new product or business units, stand-alone offices in new geographical areas, spinoffs, joint ventures or corporate ventures. However, CE is actually much more. Entrepreneurship is required whenever a firm or individual ventures into any unfamiliar (“far from core”) area in which success is significantly uncertain. The need for corporate entrepreneurship is clear; however, how firms should implement CE is not well understood and managed and often results in resistance. This course addresses challenges of making an established company entrepreneurial – in particular, it will also investigate how established firms can deal with the challenge of remaining entrepreneurial.  During the seminar, we will create a profound and vivid discussion on key topics around CE based on established literature and practical examples.

This course deals with the management of family firms. Given that the majority of firms around the world are family businesses (ranging between 75-90 %), it is crucial to understand better the particularities of family businesses. Given that the boundaries between the family and the business overlap, certain challenges may arise that makes family businesses unique. The objective of this course is to better understand the challenges and opportunities family firms face and how managers, owners, and advisers can best deal with them. By combining various theoretical frameworks with hands-on examples, we will elaborate on how to manage family enterprises successfully.

This course contributes to complementing the Corporate Campus Challenge organized by the Campus Founders at the Bildungscampus in Heilbronn. The Corporate Campus Challenge gives students the opportunity to take actual entrepreneurial actions by applying methods from Design Thinking and Lean Startup to a given challenge posed by a corporation. “Challenges” (i.e. real world problems faced by corporations) are provided by corporate partners and teams are guided on their experimental journey by coaches of the Campus Founders as well as lecturers of the TUM. They will work in diverse groups consisting of young professionals and students from different professions and universities. The challenge includes developing a functional prototype, delivering an inspiring final pitch, and creating a valuable documentation for the corporate partners. 14 weeks hands-on mentality to experience the full entrepreneurial journey are complemented by our course offering profound and vivid discussions on key topics based on established literature as well as reflection to reinforce key learnings.

We offer exciting project studies with companies in the region for master students. Please contact us in case you are interested in doing a project study with us.