Freie Universität Berlin Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaft Graduiertenkolleg: „Pfade organisatorischer Prozesse“ Garystr. 21 D-14195 Berlin Tel.: 030/838-57180 Fax: 030/838-57186 Email: pfadkolleg @ wiwiss.fu-berlin.de

Dissertation topic:

• Path Dependence and Strategic Decisions - A Case Study of a German Book Club

  Why do companies often stick to their established strategies, even if they imply losses? Phenomena like strategic inertia, persistences, rigidities and trajectories at an organisational level have been focused on by many researchers within the last years. Actually, few of them have paid attention to path-dependent processes as an explanatory concept underlying strategic rigidities. Using the phase model of path dependency, the dissertation tries to figure out the main pillars of a path-dependent process within a company's strategic development. In contrast to the approaches of "imprinting" and of reactive sequences, the dissertation examines and classifies the central mechanisms of path-dependency from a systemic point of view.

Curriculum Vitae:
Since 04/2005	Member of the Doctoral Program "Research on Organizational Paths"
05/2004	Diplom-Kaufmann (Dipl.-Kfm.), University of Bayreuth
03/2003	Thesis: "External Business Consulting from a constructivist perspective"
1998 – 2004	Study of Business Administration at the University of Bayreuth and the University de Deusto, San Sebastián (Spain)

Job Experience:

• Rasche Umformtechnik GmbH&Co.KG (Plettenberg)
• Alcorta-Brockhaus S.A. (Elgoibar, Spain)
• LanguageCourse.Net S.C.P. (Barcelona, Spain)
• Nestlé Deutschland A.G. (Frankfurt/M.)

Research Interests:

• Modern approaches of management research
• Constructivism
• Communication and Knowledge Management
• Market segmentation and consumer behaviour

Publications:

• Roedenbeck, R.H./Holtmann, P. (2008): Raus aus der Pfadabhängigkeit – rein in die Pfadgestaltung!, in: OrganisationsEntwicklung, 04/2008, S. 76-84.

Conferences:

• Holtmann, P. (2008): Pfadabhängigkeit strategischer Entscheidungen, präsentiert auf der 70. Jahrestag des Verbands der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft e.V., 15.-17. Mai 2008, Berlin
• "Strategic Rigidity: The Interplay of Organizational Levels in Self-Reinforcing Processes", präsentiert auf der Konferenz “Studying Path Dependencies of Businesses, Institutions and Technologies" in Berlin
• "Books for Sale? Strategic Path Dependency in the Case of a German Book Club", präsentiert auf der EGOS-Konferenz 2007 in Wien