MOTIVATION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT. In today's economies, the foundation and growth of innovation-based businesses is more important than it has ever been before. A major reason for this requirement is the ongoing globalisation that has altered the rules of the game substantially. Germany as Europe’s largest economy has encountered these changes as well. A few decades ago, large corporations like Siemens, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, or Mannesmann provided major benefits to the economic growth in Germany. Nowadays, these corporations follow the paths of global competition and transfer large parts of their value creation to regions that allow substantial labour cost reduction. In addition, German mid-sized companies, the so- called “Mittelstand”, which had been very successful over many decades has slowed down in its development and is driven into mergers or is acquired by larger international players. This trend leads to a stagnation of the German economy and results in increasing unemployment. In Germany, the source of growth has shifted away from large corporations during the 1980s to entrepreneurial start-up firms (Xxxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxx 2003). In fact, the foundation and development of new businesses is generally expected to create new jobs and wealth for society (Amit, Glosten, and Xxxxxx 1993; Xxx 1995; Xxx, Xxx, and Pennings 2001). While in the US a growth-oriented technology industry has evolved over the past decades, Germany has more or less neglected this trend for a long time (Lehrer 2000). A possibility to impede the current trend could be the systematic development of a technology-based growth industry (Xxxxxx, Xxxxxx, Xxxxxxx et al. 2004). Innovation- based businesses can justify higher labour costs and provide the country with a competitive edge on the global market that leads to higher employment rates and economic growth and wealth. The development of such an industry is a difficult task and requires different important boundary conditions (Brettel 2002). These conditions comprise the technical and environmental infrastructure, highly skilled employees, as well as committed university institutes performing the necessary fundamental research and providing excellent education. In most of these areas, Germany plays a leading role (Xxxxx, Xxxxxxx, and Xxxxx 2000). The country has a long and fruitful scientific history accounting for 84 Nobel Prize winners. Especially in the field of technology development and advanced engineering, Germany still holds a leading position in the wor...
MOTIVATION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
