Zurich University
of Applied Sciences

Prof. Zeynep Erden Özkol

Prof. Zeynep Erden Özkol

Prof. Zeynep Erden Özkol

ZHAW School of Management and Law
Department International Business
Theaterstrasse 17
8400 Winterthur

+41 58 934 72 49
zeynep.erdenoezkol@zhaw.ch

Work at ZHAW

Position

  • Professor at the School of Management and Law, Department of International Business
  • Zeynep Erden is Professor at the ZHAW School of Management and Law. She also serves as a lecturer (Privatdozentin, PDA) at the Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (MTEC) at ETH Zurich and teaches in programs at ETH Zurich, EPFL, and the University of Basel. Her teaching focuses on innovation management, healthcare management, and strategy across a range of degree and executive education programs, including Master's and Executive MBA programs.

Focus

Innovation and strategic management in knowledge-intensive industries, with a particular interest in how digital technologies transform organizational design, work practices, and coordination mechanisms, shaping the future of work in the global life sciences and healthcare sectors.

Teaching

Innovation, Strategy, Healthcare Management

Experience

Zeynep Erden is Professor of Global Strategy and Leadership at the ZHAW School of Management and Law. She is also a Privatdozentin (PD) at the Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (MTEC) at ETH Zurich. In addition, she teaches innovation management, healthcare management, and strategy in a variety of academic and executive education programs, including Master's and Executive MBA programs at institutions such as ETH Zurich, EPFL, and the University of Basel. Zeynep received her Habilitation and PhD in Strategic Management and Innovation from ETH Zurich and holds an MSc from RWTH Aachen University. During her academic career, she was a Visiting Scholar at Chalmers University of Technology. She subsequently joined Vlerick Business School as Professor of Strategy and Innovation, where she later served as Program Director of the Master in General Management. Her research and teaching focus on innovation strategy and leadership in global and multinational organizations, with particular emphasis on strategic renewal, team dynamics, and organizational change in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. She has led collaborative projects with major pharmaceutical companies and has also gained experience in the banking industry, providing her with a strong perspective on the intersection of strategy, innovation, and organizational transformation.
ZHAW
2021 - today

Education and Continuing education

Education

  • ETH Zurich / Strategic Management and Innovation
    Habilitation
    12 / 2010 - 12 / 2016
  • ETH Zurich / Strategic Management and Innovation
    PhD
    11 / 2006 - 03 / 2011
  • RWTH Aachen / Mechanical Engineering
    MSc
    2003 - 2006
  • METU / Major in Industrial Engineering and Minor in Psychology
    BSc
    1998 - 2003

Continuing Education

  • Mentoring fff - Women for Leadership Positions
    ZHAW
    08 / 2026
  • Name der Weiterbildungsstätte Englisch
    INSEAD
    2021
  • Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy
    MIT Executive Program
    2019

Network

Membership of networks

  • ZHAW Digital Futures Lab
  • Academy of Management Society
  • European Academy of Management
  • European Group for Organization Studies

Awards

  • Best Project Award
    School of Management and Law, ZHAW
    08 / 2024
  • Best Paper Award - European Management Review
    European Management Review
    01 / 2012
  • Best Paper Award - Journal of Strategic Information Systems
    Journal of Strategic Information Systems
    01 / 2008

Social media

LinkedIn

Projects

Selected publications

Publications

Articles in scientific journal, peer-reviewed

Written conference contributions, peer-reviewed

Haefliger, S., Wallin, M. W., von Krogh, G., Erden, Z., & Spaeth, S. (2019, July 5). Excellence in management research : how universities support or destroy intellectual virtues. 35th EGOS Colloquium : Enlightening the Future: The Challenge for Organisations, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 4-6 July 2019.

Other publications

Oral conference contributions and abstracts

Erden Özkol, Z., & Findikoglu, M. (2021). Multiple institutional logics : how primary care physicians respond to conflicts. ETH Zurich Chair of Technology and Innovation Management Research Presentation Series, Zurich, Switzerland, 1 July 2021.

Publications before appointment at the ZHAW

  • Erden, Z., von Krogh,G., Nonaka, I. 2008, “The quality of group tacit knowledge”. Journal of Strategic Information Systems 17, pp. 4-18.
  • von Krogh, G. , Kim, S., Erden, Z. 2008. “Fostering the knowledge-sharing behavior of customers in interorganizational healthcare communities”. Proceedings of IEEE-IFIP International Conference on Network and Parallel Computing, 426-433.
  • Erden, Z., von Krogh, G., Nytorp,C., Hultberg, M. 2009. “Strategic Groups in the Biopharmaceutical Industry: Implications for performance”. Drug Discovery Today, 14 (15-16), 726-730.
  • Erden, Z., von Krogh, G. 2011. “Clusters in the biopharmaceutical industry: Toward a new method of analysis”, Drug Discovery Today, 16, 450-456.
  • Erden, Z., von Krogh, G., Kim, S. 2012. “Knowledge sharing in an online community of volunteers: The role of community munificence”, European Management Review, 9, 213-227.
  • Schneider A., Erden, Z., von Krogh, G. 2012. “Rethinking Leadership in Drug Discovery”. Drug Discovery Today, 17, 1258-1262.
  • Erden, Z., Klang, D., Sydler, R., von Krogh, G. 2014. “Knowledge-Flows and Firm Performance”, Journal of Business Research, 67, 2777-2785
  • Erden, Z., Schneider, A., von Krogh, G., 2014. “The multifaceted nature of social practices: A review of the perspectives on practice-based theory building about organizations”, European Management Journal.
  • Erden, Z., Klang, D., Sydler, R., von Krogh, G., 2015. "How can we signal the value of our knowledge? Knowledge-Based Reputation and its Impact on Firm Performance in Science-Based Industries”, Long Range Planning.
  • Ben-Menahem, S., von Krogh, G., Erden, Z. and Schneider, A., 2016. “Coordinating knowledge creation in multidisciplinary teams: Evidence from early-stage drug discovery”, Academy of Management Journal.
  • Erden, Z. 2017. “The publishing and patenting strategies of successful university spinoffs in the biopharmaceutical industry”, Drug Discovery Today.
  • Erden, Z., Ben-Menahem, S., Von Krogh, G., Schneider, A., Koch, G, & Widmer. H. 2019. “Fostering multidisciplinary collaboration in drug discovery”, Drug Discovery World, Spring: 58-62.
  • Ben-Menahem, S., Erden, Z. 2020. “Safeguarding Serendipitous Creativity During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, California Management Review Insight.

go back