Distinguished Lecture Series: Startups in the Supply Chain Ecosystem—Practice and Research

Startups in the Supply Chain Ecosystem—Practice and Research

Startups are associated with innovation, emerging technologies, digitalization and disruptive business models. Therefore, more and more corporates are urged to access innovations that increase the competitiveness of products or productivity of processes.

The scholarly supply chain, logistics and operations management literature has up to now paid little attention to startups’ role in the supply chain ecosystem. Through his lecture on April 20, Stephan Wagner aims to motivate researchers, both in Africa and other parts of the world, to take up projects at this OM–entrepreneurship interface.

Wagner, a professor of supply chain management at ETH Zurich, will discuss research that has already shed light on different modes of corporate–startup interaction, or on the capabilities buying firms need to build up in order to identify, select and integrate startup suppliers.

The talk will also reveal the opportunities and challenges of publishing research at the OM–entrepreneurship interface.

Speaker Biography:

Stephan M. Wagner is a professor of supply chain management at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich). He holds the Chair of Logistics Management and is the founder and director of the HumOSCM Lab.

Wagner is an active researcher and an advisor to several supply chain startups. He serves as an editor for five academic journals. He also is author and editor of 13 books and 150 book chapters and articles.

His award-winning research has been published in numerous journals on management, operations management and methods. Wagner’s work has particular emphasis on strategy, networks and relationships, risk, innovation, digitalization, entrepreneurship, sustainability and humanitarian operations.