Keynote speakers
professor Mats Alvesson (Lund University, Sweden)
Mats Alvesson is Professor of Business Administration at the University of Lund, Sweden, at University of Queensland Business School, Australia and at Cass Business School, London. Research interests include critical theory, gender, power, management of professional service (knowledge intensive) organizations, leadership, identity, organizational image, organizational culture and symbolism, qualitative methods and philosophy of science.
Recent books include Return to Meaning. For a Social Science with Something to Say (Oxford University Press 2017, w Yiannis Gabriel and Roland Paulsen), Reflexive Leadership (Sage 2017, w Martin Blom and Stefan Sveningsson), The Stupidity Paradox (Profile 2016, w André Spicer), Managerial Lives (Cambridge University Press 2016, w Stefan Sveningsson), The Triumph of Emptiness (Oxford University Press 2013), Qualitative Research and Theory Deveopment (Sage 2011, with Dan Kärreman), Constructing Research Questions. (Sage 2013, w J Sandberg) Interpreting Interviews (Sage 2011), Metaphor We Lead by. Understanding leadership in the real world. (Routledge 2011, ed with Andre Spicer), Understanding Gender and Organizations (Sage, 2009, 2nd ed with Yvonne Billing), Reflexive Methodology (Sage, 2017, 3rd ed, with Kaj Skoldberg), Changing Organizational Culture (Routledge 2015 2nd ed, with Stefan Sveningsson).
Professor Mats Alvesson at Lund University
professor Peter Wells (Cardiff University, UK)
Peter Wells has an MSc in Planning and a PhD on the socio-economic consequences of military R&D. He is Director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research and Professor of Business and Sustainability at Cardiff Business School. His research and publishing interests are focused on the global automotive industry, mobility studies including electric bicycles and car-sharing, and on sustainable business models in the circular economy. He has contributed 76 academic journal papers, 6 books, 33 book chapters, 5 edited books, 81 reports in the public domain, 183 academic and industry conference papers, 270 industry journal and website papers, and 68 other Internet papers. He has conducted or participated in over 70 research projects. He has recently completed two major research projects: A H2020 study on car sharing called STARS and an EPSRC study on recycling car batteries called ReLib. Peter is currently a visiting professor at UnB and FGV (Brazil).
In terms of academic disciplines his work has ranged across spatial industrial development, economics, organisational theory, industrial ecology, technological change, socio-technical transitions theory, business model innovation and sustainability. His research and consulting on the automotive industry has involved companies throughout the value chain, national and international government bodies, and NGOs.
Learn more about the project STARS
Learn more about the project ReLib
Professor Peter Wells at Cardiff University
Professor Minna Halme (Aalto University School of Business, Finland)
Minna Halme is professor of Sustainability Management at Aalto University School of Business. Her research focuses on sustainability innovations, co-creation of sustainable innovation, sustainable business models and frugal innovation for poverty alleviation (The New Global Project). She has participated in several European research projects and heads a number of national ones. She teaches Sustainability Management at Aalto’s Master programmes, in executive education and in the CEMS MIM program. She is Associate Editor of Organization & Environment, and member of the editorial boards of Business Strategy and the Environment, Technovation and Scandinavian Journal of Management. She has published in several refereed journals such as Ecological Economics, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, and Journal of Cleaner Production, and authored a number of books and reports. Academy of Management has acknowledged her papers with All-Academy Best International Paper award, the ONE Unorthodox Paper award and three Best Paper awards. Her work has also been featured by The Ecologist and The Newsweek.
She is member of Finland’s Sustainable Development Expert Panel, and of Advisory Boards of Finland’s largest retailer SOK and the Central Chamber of Commerce. She has held memberships in e.g. UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability and Finnish Government Foresight2030 group. She is co-founder of Aalto University’s cross-disciplinary Creative Sustainability master programme, Aalto Sustainability Hub, and Aalto Global Impact, and has received the Academy of Finland award for the societal impact of her research.
Learn more about The New Global Project
Learn more about Creative Sustainability master programme
Learn more about Aalto Sustainability Hub
Learn more about Aalto Global Impact
Professor Minna Halme at Aalto University School of Business
Professor Thomas Ritter (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark)
Thomas Ritter is Professor of Market Strategy and Business Development at the Copenhagen Business School. For many years, he has been researching business models and the role of customers in innovation. In 2008, he published the booklet “Alignment Squared” which details a way to map and analyse business models that is frequently used in many firms and organizations. He also co-edited a special issue on business models for Long Range Planning. More recently, he has been leading three larger research projects on the role of data and digitization on business models, the integration of products, services, and data as well as the use of data for developing growth strategies. Since March 2020, he has been analysing the impact of the coronavirus crisis on business models—the business model workbook is the most downloaded item at the Copenhagen Business School. His work has been widely published in Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Business Venturing, Long Range Planning, HarvardBusinessReview.org, and Journal of Service Research, amongst others. Beyond research, Thomas Ritter is a highly-rated lecturer and executive educator in strategic management and business development. He also supports start-ups and established firms in their business model development.
PROFESSOR Joan Enric RICART (IESE Business School, UNIVERSITY OF NAVARRA, SPAIN)
Joan E. Ricart, Fellow of the SMS and EURAM, is the Carl Schrøder Professor of Strategic Management at the IESE Business School, University of Navarra. In this school, he has also Director of the Doctoral Program (1995-2006), Associate Dean for Research (2001-2006), and Associate Director for Faculty and Research (2006-2014) and Chairman of the Strategic Management Department (1993-2016).
He was the Founding president of the European Academy of Management (EURAM). He has been President of the Strategic Management Society (SMS), and Vice-president of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management. He was the academic director of the EIASM and member of the research committee of the EFMD.
Joan E. Ricart holds a Ph.D in Managerial Economics, Northwestern University; Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya; and Ph.D. in Economics and Business Administration, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Joan E. Ricart has a wide and recognized international experience as lecturer. Throughout his career, he has been visiting Professor in many Business Schools around the world: IPADE (Mexico); IAE (Argentina); IDE (Ecuador); UNISA (South Africa)... He has also supervised several doctoral theses and research projects.
He has published several books and articles in leading journals as Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Econometric or Quarterly Journal of Economics. He is co-academic director of IESE Cities in Motion and academic director of the UN center of excellence of PPP for Cities. His current work focuses on cities, business models, offshoring, and sustainability.
ASSOCIATE Professor WENDY STUBBS (Monash University, AUSTRALIA)
Wendy Stubbs is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Her research seeks to understand how business can more holistically address its environmental, social and economic responsibilities. Her PhD (2006) in corporate sustainability developed a ‘sustainability business model’ that integrates sustainability into the core business model. This research is recognised as pioneering in the field of business models for sustainability, and her research continues to explore business models that are grounded in the principles of sustainability. Current research projects include Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project "sustainability transformation pathways for small to medium enterprises (SMEs)"; and the role of "purpose ecosystems" as a private governance mechanism to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Wendy’s research also examines sustainability reporting and integrated reporting (IR), which enhances accountability and stewardship to improve management of environmental, social, human and financial capital. Recent research investigated how organisations reconcile the multitude of reporting frameworks with the introduction of the SDGs, and the implications for reporting effectiveness. Wendy has taught Corporate Sustainability at Monash University for over 15 years in the Master of Environment & Sustainability, the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Business. Prior to her academic career, Wendy was a senior executive in the telecommunications and IT industries.
