Adrian Ade

Short Profile

Adrian has been working as external doctoral student at the department of strategy & leadership since October 2020. His research focusses on the aspect of socioemotional wealth in family businesses and its influence on strategic management decisions.

After graduating with a bachelor degree from HSBA in 2008, Adrian headed a sales division in Shanghai, China. After some years in Asia, Adrian studied in Madrid and received his master degree in international management from I.E. Business School. Thereafter, Adrian started his employment as a project manager with a German ship owning company. Presently Adrian works as General Manager Business & Corporate Development in the company and is in charge of different shareholdings as well as a joint venture company.

Adrian benefits from his experience in different management positions and diverse family businesses during his doctoral thesis at the Ingeborg-Gross Graduate Center. Adrian Ade is supervised at HSBA by Prof. Dr. Peter Klein and at Andrássy University in Budapest by Prof. Dr. Stefan Okruch. 

Research Areas

  • Family Business
  • Social Emotional Wealth
  • Strategic Management

Publications

Journal articles (peer-reviewed)

Ade, Adrian, and Börje Boers. 2026. "Navigating Uncertainty: A German Case Study on How Family Business Entrepreneurs Assess the Business Environment." Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 33 (1): 17-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsbed-02-2025-0100.

Ade, Adrian. 2025. "A Mapping of Two Spheres: How SEW Stimulates the Strategic Analysis and Forecast of a Family Firm." Management Review Quarterly 75 (1): 705-745. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-023-00394-w.

Boers, Börje, Thomas Henschel, Adrian Ade, and Stefan Kemp. 2024. "The Knowing–doing Gap: Family SMEs and Sustainability in Germany and Sweden." Journal of the International Council for Small Business 6 (1): 55-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/26437015.2024.2390868.

Book chapters

Kemp, Stefan, and Adrian Ade. 2026. "The Stewardship PLC." In Listed Family Companies, edited by Holger Fleischer and Stefan Prigge, 75-102. Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80592-597-220261004.

Ade, Adrian, Stefan Kemp, and Peter Klein. 2023. "Germany: 20 Years of Corporate Development of Frosta AG – from Thought Leader to SDG#12 and Category Leader." In Attaining the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of Responsible Consumption and Production, edited by Naomi Birdthistle and Rob Hales, 51-65. Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-840-920231005.

Working Papers

Ade, Adrian. 2022. "The systematic view on literature – a bibliometric analysis of the research front." Working Paper, Andrássy Working Paper Series in Economics and Business Administration. https://www.andrassyuni.eu/pubfile/de-350-49-awp-adrian-ade.pdf..