Increased competition in mature markets and growing pressure through new entrants from emerging economies has led to an ever stronger relevance of shareholder value. To address this issue, a first wave of managerial concepts focused on bottom-line measures, i.e. programs aiming at higher efficiency, reducing failure rates, or cutting costs.

However, currently a new approach to foster shareholder value gains traction - the focus on value creation. The key idea is to leverage hidden potentials and stimulate creative solutions to develop new sources of value for a firm and, thus, shifting the focus from the bottom line to the top line. Sources for such hidden potentials can be found within all elements of the corporate framework: Employees, who can be qualified to better serve stakeholder requirements; customers, who can be motivated to spread word-of-mouth and to act as co-innovators; managers, who learn to create sustained team motivation beyond mere financial incentives. Customer-centric processes in logistics and SCM increase the value of provided services, while the better utilization of intangibles such as brands enables higher margins.

With its study programs and research, the KLU's mission in the field of value creation is to prepare future business leaders to evolve beyond a defensive mindset of maintaining market shares and saving costs. Through new methods, our students are encouraged to develop their creative thinking and learn how to devise innovative products and processes that break new ground and provide future growth potentials. They are capable to take their global teams along when venturing into new markets or segments.