Hidden Champions: Survey Analysis of Corporate Strategies in Niche Markets

Participation Prerequisites

Willingness to learn and understand the basics of Survey Design and work with statistical software (STATA)

Course Content

This seminar focuses on Hidden Champions, highly successful firms that lead global niche markets while remaining relatively unknown to the broader public. Often deeply specialized and frequently family-influenced, these firms are essential players in global innovation networks and supply chains.

The seminar introduces:

• The definition and strategic characteristics of Hidden Champions
• How niche strategizing differs from mainstream competitive strategy
• Key drivers of success: customer intimacy, focus, innovation, and long-term thinking
• Cross-country variation in the prevalence and logic of Hidden Champions

  Each student will:

  1. Select one country of interest
  2. Conduct a survey of Hidden Champions in that country, using a core questionnaire template provided in class.
  3. Add a couple self-designed topic-specific questions linked to their research angle (e.g., human capital strategy, market structure, corporate visibility, sustainability, innovation culture, internationalization etc.).
  4. Analyze their data using Stata and write an individual seminar paper.

Intended Learning Outcomes and Competencies

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Explain the strategic logic of niche market leadership.
• Identify and characterize Hidden Champions in different country contexts.
• Understand how culture, institutions, and competitive landscapes shape firm strategy.
• Design and execute a survey-based research project.
• Perform basic statistical analysis in Stata (data cleaning, descriptive statistics, visualization, interpretation).
• Develop and defend an independent academic argument in written form.
• Present empirical results clearly and convincingly.

Instruction Type

☒ Presence
☐ Online synchronous
☐ Online self-paced
☐ Hybrid

Form of Examination

Literature

Foundational readings, case materials, and survey templates will be provided via Moodle. Additional recommended academic literature will be discussed in class.