Stephanie
Haily, Chris, Alan, and Katrina
Tabea and Angela
We’ve had two full days in Koblentz (near Frankfurt) now. Yesterday, we visited Ruedesheim, a quaint town with a lot of history. The entire group took a funicular ride up a vineyard-lined hill to visit a national monument (pictured) and to take a scenic walk through the forest. Beautiful! We traveled back down and had just enough time to grab a bite and then do some sight-seeing in the town. Options included the wine museum, the torture museum—seeing other people’s photos of that attraction was enough for me!—and a number of shops and narrow cobblestone lanes.
After the tour of town, we took a boat ride along the Rhine and were able to see a number of castles on the hill, one “repurposed” as a youth hostel. It was a wonderful vantage point. After we disembarked, we walked to the Loreley cliffs, and climbed what seemed like a thousand stairs to get to the top. The view was well-worth the effort. We got a few photos of the “A” and some of our group. Megan and Lindsay, some of our BComm students, are pictured below with a view of the Rhine behind and below them. After that, we were bussed back to our hotel. It was a wonderful day of sight-seeing, exercise, bratwurst, beer, and story-telling.
Today, we became students again and spent the day at WHU, the Otto Beisheim School of Management, taking in lectures on family business. WHU is located in Vallendar, which is at the junction of the Rhine and Moselle rivers. The school was established in 1984 as a privately sponsored university-level management training program.
Michael Frankl
Dr. Frankel and Dr. Jaskiewicz
After being welcomed by the Dean, and one of Germany’s top economists, Dr. Michael Frankel, we first looked at what makes family firms unique, and then some of the influence a family has on its business and vice versa. After a delicious lunch, we took in another lecture, this time on how the total value of family firms needs to be considered in more than just financial terms. Emotional, or personal, value plays an important role in family business as well. Many families are in business to do more than just make money; they might be looking to leave a legacy, impact their community, or build a future for next generations, for example.
After the classroom sessions, we were on the train and back to the hotel to eat and to work on a case study that students will present on, in groups, later in the week.
