Higher education and especially small and private universities have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditionally, university study programs have been taught in a physical classroom setting while online channels have mainly been used for organizational reasons such as the transfer of study material and the communication outside the classroom. With the arrival of the crisis, however, this has changed abruptly. Regulations and guidelines for the containment of the coronavirus led to a rapid shift in teaching methods as universities started to transform their lectures into pure online or hybrid (blend of offline and online lecture) for-mats. Pure online classes, however, have struggled with technical difficulties, inefficient didac-tics, and low engagement during class. Hybrid teaching, on the other hand, is supposed to integrate online and offline experiences live and at the same time, thereby combining the best of both worlds. That is why hybrid teaching has been particularly interesting for many universi-ties; for being an appropriate balancing act to implement the required countermeasures against the pandemic, while at the same time preserving proven didactics to keep the quality of education high. However, hybrid teaching has turned out to be way more demanding than anticipated; primarily for the lecturers, as they have to multitask and show awareness for two channels simultaneously. It also turned out that the didactics and engagement strategies of offline course formats could not simply be transferred to a hybrid teaching environment with-out clear conceptual guidelines and appropriate training.
This project aims to solve the issues described above by developing a new hybrid approach for courses and programs offered by universities. The idea is to still teach the program at the university in presence, but at the same time, offer this program live for remote participants, without a loss of quality for either side, especially by solving the problem of decreased inter-action. This is achieved in particular through a concept study of a next-level classroom equip-ment, the development of training materials as well as guidelines in regard to technology, communication modes and examination modes. Moreover, it includes an exemplary curriculum adaptation of a certificate program for executives in the field of blockchain and fintech.

While supply networks are increasingly global, multitiered and complex, the pressure to enhance their resilience and sustainability keeps increasing. To support the sustainable improvement of supply chain resilience, the dissertation project aims at analyzing and bringing solutions to selected supply chain challenges. Network analysis will be implemented on the value chain of a supply network. Results will be analyzed under the lens of existing supply chain resilience and sustainability theories. A series of studies in various supply chain research subfields will support the identification of propagation effects and consequences of an event, a crisis, a measure, on an organization's performance in terms of sustainability and resilience. Potential research subfields include supplier selecting, sourcing, supplier risk management and reverse logistics. The studies will be conducted following the Design Science Research framework and in collaboration with HILTI AG. The project will start by a systematic literature review on the available research at the intersection between supply chain resilience and supply chain sustainability.

While supply networks are increasingly global, multitiered and complex, the pressure to enhance their resilience and sustainability keeps increasing. To support the sustainable improvement of supply chain resilience, the dissertation project firstly aims at analyzing the current situation of the intersection between supply chain resilience and sustainability from an empirical perspective. Based on this descriptive research, the complex relationships between the two objectives of sustainability and resilience in supply chain can be detailed out and conceptualized. After laying out a strong description of this nexus, an explanatory approach focuses on the affordances of certain key factors and technologies identified empirically, such as cloud computing, which contribute to achieve both objectives. Finally, a more prescriptive approach will define how to leverage data and process science to identify the challenges and solutions to respond to the trade-offs between sustainability and resilience in supply chain. The studies will be conducted following the Design Science Research framework and in collaboration with HILTI AG.

In recent years, the growth of the alternative investment industry, namely Private-Equity (PE) and Hedge-Funds (HF), has generated regulatory debates and attention across jurisdictions. Whereas the legal framework for setting up mutual funds is step by step being standardized across Europe, and thus taking away competitive advantages for individual domiciles, regulatory environment for alternative investments differs in each jurisdiction to gain competitive advantage against other players. A common misconception of the general public regarding alternative investments is, to think of them as unregulated investment vehicle. Even though they might only be lightly regulated in comparison to mutual funds, they still have to adhere to many laws. While the consequences of PE/HF regulation on PE/HF value effects is nowadays one of the largest concerns in the PE/HF industry, it has received little research attention from studies exclusively focusing on this subject.

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Empirical studies since the 1980ies have shown that users are a very important external source of innovation. However, most of the research on user innovation has been conducted on the basis of case and small-sample studies exploring specific product and process innovations as the main unit of analysis. The purpose of this research project is thus to provide broader empirical evidence on the relationship between interacting with users during the innovation process and firm innovation performance.

Findings from this research project should shed further light on how pervasive and economically important external end users' knowledge is as an input to firm innovation. Reported results should also help managers and policy makers to better assess and manage the innovative input of external end users.

Specific questions that drive the research project are:
What are plausible explanations for a positive relationship between cooperating with external end users and firm innovation performance?
How can we capture and model the impact of end users knowledge on the innovative capacity of firms?
What are the relationships between cooperating with end users in the process of innovation and innovative output?
How can managers and policy makers adapt their actions to benefit from end users' knowledge for the purpose of innovation?

Intended results of the project are (1) to gain a better understanding of how pervasive end user innovation is with respect to innovative output of firms, (2) to provide managers and policymakers with appropriate tools to analyse the efficiency and efficacy of interventions and (3) to assess modes of systematic interaction with end users to benefit from their innovative capacity.

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Business model innovation represents an essential cornerstone of entrepreneurship and innovation research and gains prominence among enterprises as differentiation and innovation factor in the context of global digitalization.
This dissertation investigates business models and their iterative process of business model innovation. Further, it presents the linkage to business strategy, innovation management and economic theory.
Despite the growing interest in business model innovation, empirical findings are rare and not clear-cut and the research field so far lacks a comprehensive framework that supports entrepreneurs and managers in their endeavor to innovate their firms' business models.
This dissertation contributes in theoretical and empirical ways to the young and fragmented research field of business model innovation and allows to derive practical as well as theoretical implications.

Business model innovation represents an essential cornerstone of entrepreneurship and innovation research and gains prominence among enterprises as differentiation and innovation factor in the context of global digitalization.
This dissertation investigates business models and their iterative process of business model innovation. Further, it presents the linkage to business strategy, innovation management and economic theory.
Despite the growing interest in business model innovation, empirical findings are rare and not clear-cut and the research field so far lacks a comprehensive framework that supports entrepreneurs and managers in their endeavor to innovate their firms' business models.
This dissertation contributes in theoretical and empirical ways to the young and fragmented research field of business model innovation and allows to derive practical as well as theoretical implications.

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