The Competence Center for Entrepreneurship
supports small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their entrepreneurial activity. We are a forum for exchange and expertise that brings together thought leaders from industry, academia, and government. Together we strengthen entrepreneurial activity in SMEs.
We take an inclusive perspective when defining SMEs, “Mittelstand” in the German or “KMU” in the Swiss context, by looking beyond traditional cutoff values in terms of employee count or revenue generation. We also consider ownership structure and company culture.
The competence center for entrepreneurship serves as its constituents SME owners and executives, students, scholars, and policy makers, by developing (1) actionable advice for practitioners, (2) the newest teaching material and research insights about entrepreneurial activity in SMEs, and (3) clear recommendations for policy makers. Specific fields of interest and subject areas of research include:
- Decision making in SMEs
- Digital transformation of SMEs
- Design thinking
- Creativity in value creation
Through our research and outreach activities we understand and improve how SME owners, entrepreneurs, executives, and investors decide and act entrepreneurially. With intercultural teams now a given in most SMEs, and top talent frequently crossing borders, we aim to contribute also to intercultural cognitive sensibility.
We do so by leveraging the best of different decision making styles and entrepreneurial behaviors from the middle of Europe and the center of South East Asia. This puts the competence center for entrepreneurship at the forefront of knowledge creation to help SMEs succeed in growing and internationalizing.
The Competence Center for Entrepreneurship at the St.Gallen Institute of Management in Asia develops research programs around its expertise and designs practice-oriented courses for students on all levels as well as custom-build executive training programs (open enrollment and in-company).
The person responsible for the Competence Center for Entrepreneurship is Prof. Matthias A. Tietz, Ph.D.