Curriculum

Download Curriculum Vitae (December 2023)
Go to personal website
Go to working papers

Research areas
* Organizational Learning & Adaptation
* Behavioral Strategy & Decision-Making
* Organization Design
* Computational Modeling of Complex Adaptive Systems

Bio
I am a Professor of Strategy and Organization and head of the Strategic Organization Design research unit at the Department of Business and Management. In addition, I am affiliated with the Digital Democracy Center.

My research investigates how organizations learn, adapt, and innovate in complex and dynamic environments. I focus on the behavioral micro-foundations of strategic and organizational decision-making, exploring how individual psychology, social interactions, and organizational structure shape collaborative problem-solving. These insights inform a central theme of my work: organization design - how firms can architect their structures and processes to manage complexity, foster adaptation, and leverage knowledge for positive impact.

Methodologically, I develop formal theories of organizations as complex adaptive systems using computational modeling and simulation, drawing on frameworks such as NK landscapes and reinforcement learning. This theoretical work is enriched through laboratory experiments, in-depth field studies, and computational social science techniques.

My current agenda targets pressing challenges in organizational theory and practice. This includes understanding the dynamics of performance feedback, designing flat or AI-augmented organizations, and developing effective search strategies in uncertain landscapes. In parallel, through my involvement with the Digital Democracy Center, I study the adaptation of news ecosystems, examining the impact of AI-based imitation on information diversity - a critical concern for public discourse and democracy. More recently, I have begun exploring the potential and limitations of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and smart contract ecosystems, particularly their capacity to enable novel forms of collaboration among diverse actors, support more democratic and distributed organizational models, and facilitate the application of organization design principles for broader societal benefit.

I am a co-editor of the Journal of Organization Design and serve on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Discoveries, Organization Science, and the Strategic Management Journal. My research has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Advances in Strategic Management, Journal of Management, Organization Science, and the Strategic Management Journal, among others.

I received a PhD in Business Economics from LMU Munich, an MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, and an MS in Engineering Management from Portland State University. Prior to joining the University of Southern Denmark, I was a visiting scholar at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and an Assistant Professor at LMU Munich.

Education
Ph.D. in Business Economics, LMU Munich, 2008
Master of Business Research, LMU Munich, 2007
M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 2004
M.Sc. in Engineering Management, Portland State University, 2003

Prior positions
Professor with special responsibilities, SDU, 2017-2021
Associate Professor, SDU, 2011-2016
Assistant Professor, LMU Munich, 2009-2010 
Research and Teaching Associate, LMU Munich, 2004-2008

Visiting positions
Max-Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, 2016
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2010
EM Strasbourg Business School / Strasbourg University, 2009-2012
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2007