Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien | Österreich

Professor Christopher Lettl is Director of the Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He is also Director of the Research Program on Business Model Innovation at the Department of Strategic Management and Innovation and Academic Director of the International Summer University Russia in Vienna.

His research takes point of departure in two paradigm-shifting phenomena: (1) the shift from closed and producer-centered towards open and user-centered innovation processes, and (2) the shift from vertical integration towards complex business ecosystems. In his research, he analyzes how organizations may best manage the opportunities and threats induced by these phenomena with a specific focus on implications for strategy and organization design. Beyond this and more generally, he is interested in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation management, strategic management, and organization theory. He has been cooperating in his research with scholars from renowned international institutions such as for example Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Berkeley University of California, Bocconi University, Copenhagen Business School, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. He received extensive research funding from various funding organizations (e.g., the Danish Strategic Research Council). The results of his research have been presented on international conferences and published in leading academic journals like Journal of Consumer Research, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Research Policy, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. His research has been featured in leading business media, including the New York Times and Handelsblatt. He received numerous research and teaching awards.

He serves the scientific community in numerous functions as Co-Editor and Referee for international journals, conferences, search committees, and funding organizations. For example, he has been a Referee for leading academic journals including Management Science and Strategic Management Journal, and is on the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and the Journal of Organization Design. He served as Key Note Speaker at distinguished policy events such as the EU Presidency Event in Helsinki and the Czech Innovation Day in Prague. He has been serving as Academic Advisor for the G8-G5 Heiligendamm Process on Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights, for the UK Minister of Science and Innovation, and for the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Resort: Invest in Denmark). He consulted numerous companies including for example IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, Lego, or Bang & Olufsen in their entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives.

He has founded and established several educational programs in entrepreneurship and innovation (e.g. master program at the University of Aarhus, Denmark) and teaches in the EDEN doctoral program of the European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM). Beyond leading the Institute and contributing to the development of the Department, he serves WU in numerous other positions such as for example as Advisor and Jury Member of the WU Alumni Entrepreneur Award, Scientific Advisor for the Global Organizational Learning Network (GOLDEN), or as Co-Organizer of the WU Competence Day on Business Model Innovation.

Curriculum Vitae

• 2009 Vienna University of Economics and Business
• 2006-2009 Full Professor, Chair of Technology and Innovation Management, Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus
• 2006 Habilitation in Business Administration
• 2003-2006 Assistant and Associate Professor (wissenschaftlicher Assistent & Privatdozent), Berlin University of Technology
• 2003 Doctoral Degree in Business Administration, Hamburg University of Technology
• 2000-2003 Lecturer (wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) and doctoral student, Hamburg University of Technology
• 1999-2000 Lecturer (Vertragsassistent), Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration
• 1993-1998 University of Hamburg

Honors

• Winner of the Tudor Rickards Best Paper Award 2008 for the article “Towards a social network perspective of lead users and creativity: An empirical study among children”, Creativity and Innovation Management 17, with Jan Kratzer)
• Finalist for the Danish Elite Research Award 2009
• Elite Teaching Award 2009 by the Danish Ministry of Education for the course concept „Collaborative New Business Development“
• Research Grant from Danish Strategic Research Council for research program on the Governance of Community-based Innovation (together with Professor Sören Salomo from the Danish Technical University, Copenhagen) – Funds provided by the Council: Euro 2.5 Million
• Active Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Art
• WU Teaching Award 2010 in the category „Excellent Teaching“ for the course “Exploring Core Challenges in Open Innovation".
• Best Paper Selection for AOM Conference 2010, Montreal, for the article: “Forecasting the attractiveness of user-generated designs via online data: An empirical study within the LEGO community” (together with Morten Berg-Jensen and Christoph Hienerth).
• WU Award: Cooperation Representative of the Year (2011) - Granted by the WU Vienna International Office.
• Best Paper Selection for AOM Conference 2012, Boston, for the article: “From funding to founding - The changing role of investors” (together with Stephan Jung).
• Nominated and selected for Election Ballot for the position as Division Representative-at-Large of the TIM Division - Academy of Management.