Holger Patzelt

Holger Patzelt has been a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Chair of Entrepreneurship at TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich since 2010. Since 2013 he also serves as the school’s Vice Dean of Academic Affairs. Prior to his employment at TUM, he worked at the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena, Germany, as a Post-Doc and as an Associate Director of the Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group. He completed his doctoral studies in Entrepreneurship at the University of Bamberg, Germany, and his doctoral studies in Biosciences at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

In his research Prof. Patzelt draws on perspectives from psychology, business strategy, and organization theory. His interests include entrepreneurial decision making and opportunity recognition, strategy of young ventures, managing entrepreneurial projects in large firms, and entrepreneurial failure. His research has been published in leading international academic journals of both social sciences, such as the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Management, the Journal of Business Venturing, and Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, and natural sciences, such as Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Prof. Patzelt teaches entrepreneurship at the undergraduate, Masters, Executive MBA, and PhD levels.

Selected current research projects

“Startup EKG” – We explore the development of organizational cultures and organizational identity in entrepreneurial ventures using a longitudinal study of more than 100 startups.

“Project success panel” – We investigate how large firms can facilitate team members’ transitions from one entrepreneurial project to the next.

“FIT project” – We analyze how failing projects can be identified early on, the effect of project failure of employee motivation, and what firms can do to create a culture of openly communicating mistakes and failure.

Areas of interest

• Entrepreneurial Decision Making
• Opportunity Recognition and Exploitation
• Entrepreneurial Strategy
• Entrepreneurial Failure
• Managing Entrepreneurial Projects in Large Corporations

Editorship (2013-2016)

• Academy of Management Journal, Member of Board of Reviewers
• Journal of Business Venturing, Member of Board of Reviewers
• Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, Member of Board of Reviewers
• Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, Member of Board of Reviewers

Key Publications

• Breugst, N.;Patzelt, H.;Rathgeber, P.: How should we divide the pie? Equity distribution and its impact on entrepreneurial teams. Journal of Business Venturing 30 (1), 2015, 66-94
• Patzelt, H.;Williams, T.A.;Shepherd, D.A.: Overcoming the walls that constrain us: Reactions to an entrepreneurship education program in prison. Academy of Management Learning & Education 13 (4), 2014, 587-620
• Shepherd, D.A.;Patzelt, H.;Baron, R.A.: "I care about nature, but ...": Disengaging values in assessing opportunities that cause harm. Academy of Management Journal 56 (5), 2013, 1251-1273
• Breugst, Nicola ; Domurath, Anne ; Patzelt, Holger ; Klaukien, Anja: Perceptions of entrepreneurial passion and employees' commitment to entrepreneurial ventures. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 36 (1), 2012, 171-192
• Laspita, Stavroula;Breugst, Nicola;Heblich, Stephan;Patzelt, Holger: Intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Business Venturing 27 (4), 2012, 414–435
• Patzelt, H.;Shepherd, Dean A.: Recognizing opportunities for sustainable development. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice 35 (4), 2011, 631-652