Research
Research is the foundation of high academic quality in education, and at SDU Business School, research takes place in close collaboration with industry and society.
Research at SDU Business School is driven by the ambition to create groundbreaking knowledge that addresses societal challenges - regionally, nationally, and internationally.
The research takes place in open collaboration with companies and organisations to ensure research that is applied in practice and drives important development and innovation.
Research at SDU Business School is organised in 5 sections, each with its own research groups.
Marketing
Markets, consumption and branding
Research themes include consumption and material cultures, branding and commercial representation, market transformations, digital consumption practices, well-being and health, sustainability transitions, and design-driven innovation.
Our research aims not only to understand changes in the market, but also to support the development of alternative practices, institutions, and narratives that promote resilient communities and a more sustainable future.
Head of section: Julie Emontspool, juli@sam.sdu.dk, +45 6550 3239
Research Groups
Research themes include consumption and material cultures, branding and commercial representation, market transformations, digital consumption practices, well-being and health, sustainability transitions, and design-driven innovation.
The research group is headed by Alev Kuruoglu.
Research themes include consumption and material cultures, branding and commercial representation, market transformations, digital consumption practices, well-being and health, sustainability transitions, and design-driven innovation.
The research group is headed by Dorthe Brogård Kristensen.
Innovation and entrepreneurship
Ideas, technology and growth
The section researches how new ideas and technologies develop into new businesses. Overall, the section covers the entire value chain from the emergence of ideas to implementation, establishment and scaling in markets and ecosystems that are emerging or complex.
Through close interaction with entrepreneurs, startups, companies and decision-makers, among others, the research contributes to an understanding of new opportunities in a changing world and solutions to complex societal challenges.
Head of section: Majbritt Evald, mre@sam.sdu.dk, +45 6550 1315
Research Groups
The group develops evidence-based knowledge on how companies create, manage, and realise innovation - from idea to application and commercial value.
The research focuses, among other things, on new technologies, innovation capabilities, market formation, and the interaction between companies and the ecosystems they are part of. With a focus on both scientific quality and practical relevance, the centre helps strengthen companies' ability to turn ideas, technology, and knowledge into growth and competitiveness.
The research group is headed by Mette Præst Knudsen.
The group researches how entrepreneurs and new ventures emerge, develop, and create value in society. The research draws on several perspectives and integrates psychological, organisational, interorganisational, economic, and sociological perspectives.
A central focus is that entrepreneurship unfolds through interaction between actors - in networks, collaborations, and broader ecosystems across organisational and societal boundaries. The group examines, among other things, how entrepreneurial processes are shaped by relationships, collaboration, and context - from individuals' motivation and well-being to firms' growth, social networks, major crises, and sustainable transitions.
The research group is headed by Kim Klyver.
Strategy, organisation and leadership
Organisations, people and decisions
The research spans several levels of analysis, from individuals and groups to organisational structures, institutions and broader ecosystems.
We examine how people and organisational entities make decisions, search, learn, adapt, exercise leadership, negotiate identities and create meaning – and how structures, authority, routines, incentives, information flows, management practices and technologies shape these processes and their outcomes.
Head of Section: Mette Lund Kristensen: mlk@sam.sdu.dk, +45 6550 3371
Research groups
The group examines leadership, work, identities, social relations, and organising processes, with a particular focus on how people experience, negotiate, and shape organisational life.
The research group is headed by Elke Weik.
The group examines how dispersed assessments and actions collectively lead to organizational outcomes, how organizations learn and adapt under uncertainty, and how structures and decision systems support strategic goals.
International business
Markets, supply chains and international management
The section researches international business with a focus on markets and industrial change, supply chains and technology, and international management. The research examines how companies and markets develop across national, cultural, societal and institutional boundaries.
Head of section: Martin Hannibal: mhk@sam.sdu.dk, +45 6550 3387
Research Groups
The group focuses primarily on companies, strategy, organisation, leadership, and internationalisation and conducts research on the strategies, organisation, leadership, and internationalisation of companies that operate across national, cultural, and institutional boundaries.
The research group is headed by Victor Martin Sanchez.
The group focuses primarily on markets, relationships, networks, ecosystems, and broader processes of change, and studies how industrial markets, relationships, networks, and ecosystems influence, and are themselves influenced by, technological, environmental, economic, and societal changes.
The research group is headed by Mads Bruun Ingstrup.
The group focuses primarily on operations, supply chains, production, technology and implementation, and researches the management and transformation of supply chains, operational processes, production systems and technologies in an increasingly digital and sustainable economy.
The research group is headed by Kent Adsbøll Wickström.
Accounting and finance
Accounting, investments and economics
The section analyses accounting as an information system using information economics. All aspects of accounting form part of the section’s research, including management accounting, financial accounting and auditing.
Within finance, the focus is on understanding the role of different markets and how frictions in these markets affect decisions under uncertainty.
Head of Section: Jochen Theis: jot@sam.sdu.dk, +45 6550 1512
Research Groups
Research beyond the obvious
Contact
You are always welcome to reach out to SDU Business School - we are ready to help by email and phone.
Tel.: +45 6550 2201