Chairholder

Andreas König is Professor of Strategic Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Passau, Germany.

Andreas König studies at the interface of three central topics of strategic management research: (1) strategic leadership in the context of discontinuous technological change, particularly digital transformation; (2) the impact of top executives' characteristics on organizational outcomes (Upper Echelons Theory); and (3) the use of strategic rhetoric, primarily by top executives, and its influence on how constituents evaluate organizations. His research has appeared in outlets such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Research Policy, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of World Business, and MIT Sloan Management Review. He has received numerous awards, including: The Glueck Best Paper Award by the Strategic Management Division of the Academy of Management in 2011 and 2013 (runner-up in 2012); an Honorable Mention for the Best Conference Paper Prize of the Strategic Management Society and the Best Paper Award of the Cooperative Strategies Division of the Strategic Management Society, 2018; the Fellow Award of the Dr. Theo and Friedl Schöller Research Center for Business and Society in 2012; the Outstanding-Habilitation-Prize by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 2013; the Best Paper Award by the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB) in 2014; a recognition as runner up for the Best Paper Award at the European Academy of Management (EURAM) in 2017; the Best Paper Award of the European Academy of Management (EURAM) Special Interest Group Strategic Management in 2017; and the Best Paper Award of the EURAM Track Behavioral Strategy in 2017, 2018, and 2019. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Academy of Management Review and the Academy of Management Journal, respectively. 2020-2021, he was Representative-at-Large at the Strategic Leadership and Governance Interest Group of the Strategic Management Society. Currently, he also serves as Guest Editor on a Special Issue on Digital Transformation of Incumbent Firms in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.

Andreas König is Visiting Professor at Free University Amsterdam and has been or is member of the visiting faculties at the Leipzig Graduate School of Management, the Vienna University of Economics and Business, ESMT Berlin, and IMD Lausanne. As researcher, keynote speaker, and executive coach, Andreas König has been working with partners from firms such as BASF, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Douglas Holding, Dr. Oetker, ERGO Direkt Insurances, HOCHTIEF, Jenoptik, McKinsey, Nestlé, SAP, Siemens, SCHOTT, Schüco, Telefónica, ThyssenKrupp, and Volkswagen. He also cooperates closely with a number of start-ups and non-profit organizations. 

Both his scholarly and his educational work are significantly influenced by his uniquely diverse experiences, particularly as a professional musician, which he made prior to entering the field of business studies. After studying classical trumpet at the Rotterdam Conservatoire, Andreas König completed a degree as Master of Music at the Royal Academy of Music and King’s College, London.  As a musician, he was especially influenced by his professors Edward Carroll, John Wallace, Howard Snell, and Ray Allen. He played solo recitals in places such as St Paul's Cathedral, London, the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, and St Nicolas' Church in Leipzig. He recorded several CDs and performed under the batons of conductors such as Sir Colin Davies, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, and Sir Charles Mackerras. To complement his music studies, Andreas König visited lectures in protestant theology, classical philosophy and philology at the Universities of Bonn, Madrid, and Leiden.

Andreas König is married and has four children.