On Friday, November 8, 2024, the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society and the Haniel Foundation presented the Friedrich Gennheimer Prize to two Master's students at a ceremony. The Master's theses show strategies for successfully overcoming crises in terms of sustainable corporate management and emerging stronger from them. The Friedrich Gennheimer Prize for Viticulture, Oenology and Wine Marketing was awarded to Leonie Wagner from the Neustadt Wine Campus. The Friedrich Gennheimer Prize for Marketing was awarded to Jessica Krauß from the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences. The prizes are endowed with 3000.00 euros each.
Keynote speaker Hendrik Hering, President of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Parliament, encouraged the guests from science, business and politics to create a future-proof framework for innovation and sustainability. It was about nothing less than shaping a positive future. He praised the Neustadt Wine Campus as a cooperation between the Rhineland-Palatinate Rural Service Center and the three Rhineland-Palatinate universities of Ludwigshafen, Kaiserslautern and Bingen in its unprecedented approach to education and research. "The young generation must be encouraged by us. The pessimism of previous generations must not slow them down. In a democratic society, we must strengthen discourse, be able to withstand contradiction and facilitate respectful dialog," said Hering.
Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller, President of the School of Business and Society, paid tribute to the prizewinners: "We are very proud of our two prizewinners and would also like to acknowledge the commitment of the supervisors involved this evening.
It is very impressive how the university in Ludwigshafen and the Weincampus continue to develop their range of courses in a forward-looking way and address current and relevant topics in their theses."
Leonie Wagner, a graduate of the dual German-French Master's degree course in Viticulture & Oenology, examined methods of summer greening in her thesis "Influence of different summer greening on drought stress and the grape and must quality of the Pinot Noir grape variety" and analyzed them in terms of nature conservation, practicality and cost-effectiveness. Green cover in vineyards offers a number of advantages, such as promoting biodiversity, protecting against erosion and improving soil health. At the same time, revegetation can compete with nutrient and water requirements and lead to drought stress in vines. The type of greening determines the extent of competition for water. This illustrates the need for water-conserving greening. The studies for the Master's thesis took place at the Jülg vineyard in Schweigen-Rechtenbach. In her acceptance speech, Wagner explained that her specialization in viticulture and her studies at the Weincampus were a logical decision from her previous studies in biology with a focus on botany. "I hope that my subject will be expanded and deepened by other students in the future." Prof. Dr. Jochen Bogs, Professor of Viticulture at the Weincampus and assessor of the Master's thesis, proudly presented the award. "Ms. Wagner was not afraid of a challenge and was willing to take risks when writing her thesis. She managed to formulate complex issues in an understandable way and to familiarize herself with scientific methods," said Prof. Dr. Bogs in his laudatory speech.
Jessica Krauß, a graduate of the part-time MBA Digital Finance, Strategy & Accounting degree programs, worked on the topic "CO2 reduction management in the chemical industry: analysis and conceptual design of a target system for the operationalization of strategic goals". Her Master's thesis was written in cooperation with BASF in Ludwigshafen. Krauß dealt with the question of howCO2 reduction can be translated into a target system by the middle of the century in a leading company in the chemical industry. The practical part of the thesis focused on the control complexity in BASF's Verbund structure. Based on the case study of a large plant of the company, the problem is discussed thatCO2-free andlow-CO2 products are more expensive than conventionally produced products. This requires special market development and marketing strategies in the conversion phase in order to be able to win customers for these products with sufficient willingness to pay. Prof. Dr. Gösta Jamin, assessor of the Master's thesis, emphasized in his laudatory speech: "It really is a great achievement to do a degree alongside your job. In her Master's thesis, Ms. Krauß did an excellent job of developing a target system forreducing CO2 emissions. The topic of sustainability now permeates all areas of finance and corporate management." In her speech, Jessica Krauß thanked HWG Ludwigshafen and her supervisors at BASF for their "great support". "This award shows that practice and science must go hand in hand in order to generate real added value for business and society," said Krauß.
Friedrich Wilhelm Gennheimer was born in 1930 in Neustadt an der Weinstraße as part of the Gennheimer Brothers sparkling wine company. His professional career began with a degree in business administration. This was followed by a teaching position in general business administration at the vocational schools in Speyer and a transfer to the Staatliche Höhere Wirtschaftsfachschule in Ludwigshafen, where he also taught business administration. Just one year later, he was appointed "Professor at the University of Applied Sciences" and moved to the Ludwigshafen department of the Rhineland-Palatinate University of Applied Sciences. Gennheimer taught there in the fields of marketing, human resources and training. From 1979 to 1987, he also headed the Ludwigshafen department as dean and was responsible for founding the Worms department (now an independent university) and the later East Asia Institute in Ludwigshafen. Gennheimer retired in 1996, although he continued to teach as a lecturer in the Department of Business Administration in the two years that followed. In 2022, Friedrich Gennheimer passed away and left a will, which is now being administered by Dr. Siegfried Englert, one of the founders of the Weincampus and a former professor at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society.
In memory of Gennheimer, the Friedrich Gennheimer Prize was established in spring 2023 together with the Haniel Foundation as the awarding institution. The Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society and the Haniel Foundation can already look back on 25 years of cooperation, in which two scholarship programs and the annual Haniel Prize are awarded to students.
After the official program, the ceremony ended with a get-together with live music, drinks at the Weincampus bar and a fine buffet.
Press contact:
Aline Wyrwich
Weincampus Neustadt
University Communications
t +49 6321 671 468 m +49 (0)173 5613953
www.weincampus-neustadt.de
