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New Conference Paper: Towards Domain-Specific Knowledge on Digital Transformation

In summer 2023, a joint paper, authored by Simon Zeiher, a doctoral student at Munich Business School, Professor Alexander Richter, a Research Fellow at Munich Business School and myself was accepted at the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), a premier international conference in the field of information systems, which took place in Kristiansand, Norway. In the paper, titled “Towards Domain-Specific Knowlegde on Digital Transformation – The Case of the Furniture Industry,” we are looking at digital transformation from an industry-level perspective. More specifically, we are focusing on the furniture industry, in which Simon works in his day job.

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Professor in the Spotlight: Interview with David Wagner

I recently won the 2022 MBS Teaching Award and was appointed the Vice Dean of Research at Munich Business School, thereby joining the (extended) University Management. Below is the link to an interview that was published on the MBS website a little while ago, with some reflections on both achievements.

Of course, I am humbled, but also happy, excited, and proud. I hope to continue inspiring students to learn and explore, while further developing the institution’s research agenda to make an impact on both business and society.

Winning the MBS Teaching Award 2022

I self-identify as a Management Professor with head, heart and hand. I think this slogan represents nicely what I stand for in teaching. Of course, university courses are first and foremost about content – that’s the head. That means we need good texts, cases and other media as a basis for presentations and discussions. Next is the heart, the passion: I burn for the courses and the content I teach. The students also notice this and regularly feed this back to me. Finally comes the hand, the doing and trying out. Experimentation plays an important role, especially in digital contexts. That’s why I think it’s important that we build prototypes and websites, visit trade fairs, and invite practitioners to engage in dialogue. These type of experiences also distinguish MBS as a business school from many other higher education institutions, especially traditional universities.

Becoming the Vice Dean for Research

As Vice Dean for Research, I can now accompany and shape the research activities of MBS more closely, also from a strategic perspective. More specifically, we are positioning ourselves as a business school with the topics and content that we stand for. The selection is no coincidence, but the result of a collaborative process that must be supported by the entire faculty – and, ultimately, the entire university with all its stakeholders.

New Book Chapter: COVID-19 and the Bundesliga – A Study of Digital Fan Engagement Strategies

In late 2022, a Research Handbook on Sport and Covid-19 was published by Paul Pedersen, Professor of Sport Management at Indiana University (USA). About a year earlier he consulted the international sport management community about studies focusing on the impact of Covid-19 on sport organizations. We had just finished one on digital fan engagement strategies in the German Bundesliga. A book chapter with Laura Matz, a graduate from Munich Business School, now at Brands and Emotions, an agency, and Gashaw Abeza, Associate Professor at Towson University (USA) as well as a Research Fellow at Munich Business School, made it into the Research Handbook. Please find the abstract and the links to the full version of the chapter below.

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Cloud Computing for Digital Transformation: From Course to Conference

I have been teaching a course on Digital Transformation for a few years now, normally with Ben Ellermann, Managing Director of MUUUH! Next and Future of Voice as well as a frequent collaborator in past projects. We have run the course at Munich Business School and were recently invited teach it at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg as well. While I focus on the relevant frameworks, models and up-to-date research literature, Ben usually brings his perspective from practice and contributes several real-world examples he has been working on lately.

After a discussion of some well-known frameworks, I have broken up the course into so-called immersion sessions, in each of which we discuss relevant sub-topics to the field of Digital Transformation, normally presented by course participants. Topics covered in these immersion sessions include digital (transformation) strategy, business model innovation, digital platforms, data analytics, digital labs, agility/scrum and cloud computing. Depending on the set-up, course participants may also need to write a seminar paper on an immersion topic of their choice.

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Conference Presentation: The Strategic Impact of Online Communities

From May 18-20, 2016 the 21st conference of the International Academy of Management and Business took place in Montreal, Canada. I presented a paper entitled “Exploring the Strategic Impact of Online Communities: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective.” In the paper we argue that online communities may help organizations to attain a competitive advantage by allowing them to sense and seize opportunities and reconfigure resources. We present three cases and describe how organizations have employed them accordingly. The paper was nominated for the Best Applied Research Award. You can find more details about the conference and my presentation below. Continue reading Conference Presentation: The Strategic Impact of Online Communities