PLENARY SESSIONS AT BERLIN
Plenary sessions are a highlight of the SMS Annual Conference, bringing together top scholars, industry leaders, and influential voices to explore timely, thought-provoking topics that align with the conference theme. These sessions are designed to inspire, spark cross-sector dialogue, and connect research with real-world strategic impact. Held in a large, main-stage setting with no competing sessions, plenaries offer a shared experience for all attendees and feature keynotes, fireside chats, and panels with leading academics and practitioners.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18
Sunday, October 18, 2:15-3:30 PM
This year’s SMS conference focuses on the implications of geo-economic developments for industries, firms, and strategic leaders. This plenary session flips perspectives: What do these developments mean for strategy as a research field, for the organizations within it, and for us as scholars?
Academics from Europe, the U.S., and Asia will discuss whether fragmentation is the baseline we should expect - or whether new technologies, interdependencies, and reactions against division may also foster integration. We will then explore the implications for three aspects of our own academic world. For research: if strategy-making becomes more heterogeneous across regions and institutional settings, should we still aspire to general theories of strategy, or is this an opportunity for more context-sensitive theorizing? How will research access to data, firms, and funding change? For the community: will conferences, journals, collaborations, and scholarly exchange become more fragmented, or can they bridge across divides? For careers: how might these developments shape PhD training, faculty hiring, and mobility across career stages?
Moving beyond describing and analyzing, the panel will conclude by recognizing our collective agency: What strategies should we pursue to strengthen our field and to turn challenges into opportunities?
Panelists:
Giada Di Stefano is Professor of Management and Technology at Bocconi University in Milan, where she directs the Doctorate in Business Administration at SDA Bocconi and sits on the department's Executive Committee. Before joining Bocconi, she was on the faculty at HEC Paris and worked as a product manager at L’Oréal. Her research examines the creation and transfer of knowledge within and across organizations, and the interplay between competition and cooperation, often using field experiments conducted with partner organizations in industries ranging from cuisine to science. Her work has appeared in journals such as Organization Science, Strategy Science, and the Strategic Management Journal. She is an Associate Editor of the Strategic Management Journal and a board member of both the Strategic Management Society and the Consortium on Competitiveness and Cooperation (CCC).
Nan Jia holds the Capt. Henry W. Simonsen Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship and is Professor of Strategic Management and Chair of the Department of Management and Organization at USC’s Marshall School of Business, where she also co-directs the Graduate Certificate in Product Management. She began her career as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School before joining USC Marshall in 2009. Her research examines how firms build and sustain competitive advantage in complex institutional and technological environments, with particular attention to business-government relations, public policy, and the effects of artificial intelligence on organizations. Her work has appeared in journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, and the Strategic Management Journal. She serves as Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Review and previously served as Associate Editor of the Strategic Management Journal. Nan also serves on the leadership track of the AOM STR division.
Jasjit Singh is Professor of Strategy and holds the INSEAD Alumni Chaired Professorship of Sustainable Development at INSEAD, where he has been on the faculty since 2004 and is based on the Singapore campus. He holds a PhD in Business Economics from Harvard University, a BTech from IIT Delhi, and dual master’s degrees from Georgia Tech. His research and teaching focus on sustainability strategy, inclusive business, impact entrepreneurship, impact investing, and impact evaluation. His work has appeared in journals such as Management Science, the Strategic Management Journal, and Organization Science. Jasjit serves as an Associate Editor of Management Science and on the editorial boards of the Strategic Management Journal and Organization Science, and he sits on the Board of Directors of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.
Yanbo Wang is Associate Professor of Strategy and Innovation and Associate Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Hong Kong Business School. He earned his PhD at MIT and previously held faculty positions at Boston University, the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, and the National University of Singapore, where he directed the doctoral program in strategy and policy. His research focuses on technology-based entrepreneurship, examining how institutions shape the strategic choices, organizational forms, and performance of startups, with particular attention to China’s innovation and entrepreneurship policies. His work has appeared in journals including Management Science, Research Policy, and the Strategic Management Journal. He serves on the editorial boards of Administrative Science Quarterly and the Strategic Management Journal.
Moderator:
Henry Sauermann is Professor of Strategy and holds the TEAM GLOBAL Chair for Disruptive Innovation at ESMT Berlin. He earned his PhD from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and was previously a faculty member at the Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology. His research examines the role of human capital in science, innovation, and entrepreneurship, focusing on how scientists’ motivations and incentives shape innovative performance, academic patenting, and career trajectories. His work has appeared in journals including Science, PNAS, Management Science, and Organization Science. He serves on the editorial boards of the Strategic Management Journal and Organization Science and was Associate Editor at the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He was a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves as Vice President of the Consortium on Competitiveness and Cooperation (CCC).
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19
Monday, October 19, 10-11 AM
For decades, regions such as Silicon Valley and Boston/Cambridge have served as reference points for ecosystem building and technology commercialization. Successful support organizations such as DARPA have also inspired similar institutions in other regions. But will these models remain blueprints as markets fragment and regional and national dynamics reassert themselves? Panelists will discuss potential sources of divergence such as efforts to build ecosystem at national or supra-national rather than regional levels, the presence – or absence – of large tech firms and funders, or the quest for national sovereignty. What are the implications for startup strategies and policies, and where are the major regions of the world headed? What research questions emerge for scholars in strategy and entrepreneurship?
Panelists:
Isabelle Canu is Partner at GET Fund, an impact venture capital fund investing in European cleantech startups. She previously founded and led respin, a consultancy advising venture capital and private equity funds on sustainability strategy, and co-founded and co-led coparion, a €275 million venture capital fund backed by the German government. Earlier in her career she held roles at KfW and Germany's Federal Chancellery, working at the interface of finance, law, and policy. She serves on the German government's Sustainable Finance Committee and holds a diploma from Sciences Po Paris and a PhD from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
Carolin Haeussler holds the Chair of Organization, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Passau. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI), which advises the German Federal Government on innovation policy; Carolin was elected deputy chairwoman in 2025. Her research examines how organizations and institutions coordinate to turn scientific knowledge into economic and societal value – including how academic researchers share information and pursue entrepreneurship, how firms structure alliances and collaboration agreements under uncertainty, and how innovation ecosystems connecting universities, industry, and policymakers can be designed and governed. Her work has been published in leading journals such as Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Research Policy, and Science Advances. Beyond academic publishing, she frequently authors reports, policy briefs, and opinion pieces on German innovation policy, and serves as a mentor and board member for (deep tech) ventures.
Scott Stern is the David Sarnoff Professor of Management of Technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where his research focuses on entrepreneurial strategy, innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystems, and innovation policy. His work examines how clusters and institutions shape entrepreneurship and the commercialization of scientific and technical knowledge. Stern co-founded the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP), which works with regions around the world to strengthen innovation ecosystems, and led MIT’s work on the U.S. Cluster Mapping Project. He has also advised startups, governments, and other stakeholders on competitiveness and regional economic performance, giving him a particularly relevant perspective on when models such as Silicon Valley can – and cannot – be replicated elsewhere.
Andreas Zaby is an Innovation Manager at Germany’s Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND) and Professor of International Management at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, where he served as president from 2016 to 2024. His career spans several parts of the innovation system: strategy consulting at Bain & Company, co-founding and serving as CFO of a German-American biopharmaceutical company, research and teaching on technology management and entrepreneurial finance, university leadership, and now public support for breakthrough innovation. At SPRIND, he works at the interface of government, startups, research, and private capital, including efforts to move promising technologies across the “valley of death” toward private investment – giving him a practitioner and policy perspective on Germany’s emerging institutional model for fostering technology ventures.
Moderator:
Ariel Dora Stern is the Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Digital Health, Economics and Policy at the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam, following a decade on the faculty of Harvard Business School. Her research sits at the intersection of technology strategy, innovation, regulation, and public policy, examining how institutions and policy shape the development and adoption of emerging technologies, particularly in health care. She also brings direct policy and entrepreneurial experience: she previously served as Director for International Health Care Economics at the Health Innovation Hub, an independent think tank of the German Federal Ministry of Health, and advises numerous health-care startups. Her combination of U.S. and German academic experience and work across government, startups, and innovation policy makes her particularly well positioned to moderate this discussion.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20
Tuesday, October 20, 10-11 AM
In this fireside chat, Admiral Sascha Helge Rackwitz, who leads the academy responsible for developing Germany's future military leaders, will explore strategy across the business and defense domains. Where do the two worlds resemble each other, what can business strategy learn from defense strategy, and what might defense leaders learn from business? The conversation will then turn to the evolving relationship between economic and military power. Economic strength has long underpinned defense capability, while military power and security guarantees increasingly shape the environment in which companies compete. Geopolitical tensions affect supply chains, technology, and investment decisions, raising new challenges for corporate strategy, non-market strategy, and collaboration with governments and allies. Finally, the discussion will examine leadership: how leaders in business and defense make strategic decisions under uncertainty and in adversarial settings, and what judgment, capabilities, and ethical awareness future leaders will need. The session will conclude by reflecting on how universities and defense academies can prepare leaders to strategize responsibly in an increasingly uncertain world.
Speakers:
Admiral Sascha Helge Rackwitz is Commandant of the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, Germany's premier institution for educating senior military leaders. Over a career spanning more than three decades, he has combined operational command, strategic leadership, and policy experience, including leading Germany's submarine force, directing NATO's Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters, serving as a defense policy advisor to Germany's representation at the European Union, and as Chief of Staff to the German Chief of Defense. Having also taught operational art and naval strategy, he brings a rare perspective on how organizations develop strategic leaders and make high-stakes decisions in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment.
Rafaela Kraus is a professor of business and human resource management at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich (UniBw M). She is an expert in entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology transfer in the public sector and defense. After studying at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and the Sorbonne in Paris, she earned her PhD at LMU. After working as a management consultant, she became a professor in 2006, serving as vice dean, dean and vice president from 2010 to 2024. Prof. Kraus has made significant contributions to the development of an ecosystem that supports technology transfer in dual-use, DefTech and SpaceTech start-ups across Europe. Among others, she founded the centre for entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship at UniBw M and brought NATO’s DIANA Defense Innovation Accelerator to the university.
