It is our pleasure to invite you to join us at the biennial conference 6th International Research Forum on Mittelstand – ‘Exploring Entrepreneurial Ventures, Family Firms, and Hidden Champions’ which will be held at the Castle of the University of Mannheim, Germany, in May 24th/26th 2020.
In its sixth edition, the conference aims to serve as a distinguished platform for developing academic articles in a structured, stimulating, challenging and friendly environment as well as for networking. This time we are at the wonderful location of Mannheim that is situated near the famous German Wine Road where wine is cultivated since Roman times as it is one of the warmest and sunniest regions of Germany.
The University of Mannheim is located in the world’s second largest baroque castle after the Palace of Versailles. Moreover, the forum promotes exchange with decision-makers. There will be an opportunity to discuss and reflect findings with invited entrepreneurs, family firm and hidden champion leaders.
There will be unique publishing opportunities for submitting authors, as papers nominated for one of the three best paper awards and competitively selected papers will be invited to submit to one of the two special issues (Journal of Family Business Strategy [Impact Factor: 3.2] and The German Journal of Economic Geography [Impact Factor: 0.8]) which are connected to the conference. Moreover, there will be the opportunity to discuss your work with the editors of the field’s leading journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Family Business Strategy, Management Review Quarterly.
The format has a developmental nature and welcomes submissions at later stages of work such as evolved drafts and full articles. The geography track also welcomes short drafts and ideas. The forum will only accept high quality scientific papers in its seven tracks (you can find the calls for papers attached), ensuring a family-like and stimulating atmosphere. The tracks are connected to various disciplines such as business studies, economics, sociology, psychology, geography and history. In addition to that, there will be two moderated panel discussions as keynote events; one with leading scholars and another with hidden champions.
The conference will include five social dinners and one social night event including a live rock band show. Conference fees will be kept at minimum beyond excellent food and locations. Moreover, we aim to be an inclusive and international conference and facilitate child-care at the conference.
Important deadlines:
· January 25th, 2020 – Submission (blind-review) deadline.
· February 25th, 2020 – Notification of acceptance participants and review feedback.
· April 25th, 2020 – Deadline to respond to reviews and send a final revised version.
Please visit the conference website for further information as well as to submit your paper and to register. You can follow the updates under the Research Gate project as well!
For further questions please do not hesitate to contact us!
In any case we would like to wish you a merry Christmas and a relaxing winter holiday. We look forward to welcoming you in Mannheim for this unique event next spring!