The research activities of Prof. Dr. Michael Kleinaltenkamp focus on the following areas: Business-to-Business Marketing, marketing of business-related services, and business relationship management. The theoretical approach underlying this research is the New Institutional Economics, possibly in combination with other theories such as Market Process Theory.

New Institutional Economics is an economic research approach rooted in Neoclassicism. The market models of Neoclassicism assume that economic agents have perfect information, complete market transparency, no personal, factual, spatial, or temporal preferences regarding specific providers (homogeneity condition), act with perfect rationality, and pursue the goal of utility maximization (for consumers) or profit maximization (for providers). Without abandoning the advantages of analyzing market participants' behavior, New Institutional Economics approaches reality by relaxing at least one, often several, of these assumptions.

New Institutional Economics is typically divided into four research directions: Information Economics, Property Rights Theory, Principal-Agent Theory, and Transaction Cost Economics.

Prof. Dr. Michael Kleinaltenkamp's research activities are in the tradition of the so-called "Engelhardt School." The "Engelhardt School" is a term coined by the students of Prof. Dr. Werner H. Engelhardt. Prof. Dr. Werner H. Engelhardt was one of the first German scholars to engage with investment goods marketing, also known as industrial goods marketing or Business-to-Business Marketing. He was also among the first to explore service marketing, emphasizing the integration of the customer as a unique feature.

Overview of the "Engelhardt School":