Competence Center
Strategic Innovation

The Competence Center for Strategic Innovation, co-led by Prof. Karolin Frankenberger and Prof. Ann-Kristin Zobel focuses on enabling organizations to systematically shape their future by exploring, designing, and implementing new business opportunities.

We combine rigorous research with application-oriented practice collaborations to help companies develop strategic innovation capabilities, experiment with new business models, and navigate transformation.

Our goal is to create meaningful impact by bridging cutting-edge academic insights with real-world strategic challenges.​

Karolin Frankenberger
Prof. Dr.
Ordentliche Professorin für Strategisches Management

Ann-Kristin Zobel
Prof. Dr.
Associate Professor of Management

Highlights

What Customer Workarounds Can Reveal About Your Business Model

21. May 2026

Just published in Harvard Business Review: “What Customer Workarounds Can Reveal About Your Business Model”.
Most companies treat customer workarounds (e.g. account sharing, employees expensing tools their company doesn’t offer) as product feedback or compliance issues. We argue they’re something more useful: prototypes of business models that companies haven’t built yet. By the time a workaround exists, customers have already done the job. They’ve identified a gap in the way they can access, use, and pay for what you offer. They’ve demonstrated demand. And they’ve proven willingness to pay – this time in effort and time instead of money. The resulting monetization gap has a name: the Business Model Void. Spotting one is hard. Closing it before someone else does is harder. Read the full article here.

Introducing the Next-Generation of Business Model Innovation

2. April 2026

The third edition of the Business Model Navigator, published in 2025, introduces 66 business model patterns, fresh global case examples, and a strong focus on AI-driven business model innovation. It also features a new chapter on business model testing and reveals previously hidden success factors. Business models tell the story of how organizations create and capture value – an essential capability in today’s dynamic economy.

Digital and Collaborative Innovation for Net Zero

1. April 2026

Three recent publications by Prof. Ann-Kristin Zobel and colleagues examine how digital and collaborative innovation contribute to the transition to net-zero emissions, highlighting the role of digital technologies, the importance of cross-firm collaboration, and the power of virtual formats as key enablers of progress in the ‘race to net zero’. 👉 Find an overview here.

Focus Areas

Research

Learn more about our research on strategic innovation.

Practice Collaborations

Learn more about our activities bringing together academia and business.

Teaching

Discover our range of courses in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programs of the University of St.Gallen.

Executive Education

Get to know our portfolio of part-time executive education programs focusing on different aspects of strategic innovation.

Research – Selection of Current Research Outcomes

Academic Publications

Our research in the realm of strategic innovation examines how firms purposefully shape new directions by integrating long-term strategic thinking with innovation activities that create novel value, business models, and ecosystems. Strategy focuses on where and how an organization competes, while innovation drives the creation of new solutions, technologies, and ways of organizing; together, they enable companies to proactively transform rather than merely adapt.

This perspective is highly relevant in today’s environment, where economic, societal, and environmental pressures, such as the urgent need for decarbonization, demand that organizations rethink their role and impact. Our research takes an embedded, systemic view of business, exploring how firms can innovate collaboratively and responsibly within broader societal and ecological contexts.​

Abstract

This study, published in the Strategic Management Journal, examines how organizations design collaboration between humans and generative artificial intelligence when both draw on fundamentally different forms of knowledge and cognition. Based on a qualitative case study in perfume development, the research team shows that the central challenge lies not only in task allocation, but above all in integrating the contributions of humans and AI.
In this process, the juxtaposition of human, implicit experiential knowledge and the data-driven, codified logic of GenAI creates what is referred to as a cognitive asymmetry, which in turn generates a “representation gap” in the collaboration.

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Tomoko Yokoi, Daniella Laureiro Martinez, Federico Magni, Stefano Brusoni

Year

2026

Journal

Strategic Management Journal

Abstract

This study, published in Organization Science, examines how members of boundary organizations – collaborative arrangements comprising diverse actors such as firms, startups, and nonprofits – manage the ongoing tension between collective goals and their own organizational interests. Based on a longitudinal case study in the energy sector, the research team shows that members sustain collaboration by continually shifting their agency and focus between collective and individual goals. The paper reveals that maintaining this dynamic balance, rather than eliminating tensions, is what enables boundary organizations to endure and evolve in the pursuit of grand challenges like the energy transition.

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Ann-Kristin Zobel, Stephen Comello

Year

2025

Journal

Journal of Organization Science

Abstract

This article, published in the Academy of Management Perspectives (AMP), explores how digital innovation can drive progress toward net-zero emissions. It distinguishes between “digitally enabled” approaches, which optimize existing physical systems using digital tools, and “digital-first” approaches, which start with digital experimentation to redesign systems before implementing them in the physical world. By leveraging both, the framework highlights how technology can measure, reduce, and remove emissions, accelerating the transition to a sustainable, net-zero economy.​

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Lukas Falcke, Ann-Kristin Zobel, Youngjin Yoo, Christopher Tucci

Year

2024

Journal

Academy of Management Perspectives

Abstract

We study how orchestrators of innovation ecosystems govern their relationships with multiple heterogeneous complementors that differ in their positions and activities that contribute to an integrated value proposition. Prior research has focused on ecosystem-wide and complementor-specific governance, each not suited to adequately address the challenges of this context. Building on a multiple-case study in the financial services sector, our findings demonstrate that orchestrators create distinctly governed tiers of complementors based on the domains of uncertainty underlying their ecosystem blueprint. The organizational form and coordination mechanisms of these tiers reflect the convergent or explorative role of complementors in the core or the periphery of the blueprint. We contribute to ecosystem governance by introducing complementor tiers as a governance approach that blends elements of ecosystem-wide and complementor-specific governance and by linking governance choices to uncertainty and complementor roles. Furthermore, we discuss the potential for future research at the intersection of ecosystem and open innovation governance.​

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Joachim Stonig, Karolin Frankenberger

Year

2024

Journal

Research Policy

Abstract

In this book chapter, the research team argues that achieving net-zero emissions requires firms to move beyond internal innovation and embrace open innovation, actively collaborating across organizational and sectoral boundaries.
They propose a framework that stipulates how firms can open up and collaborate with partners:

(1) to set clear net-zero goals and overcome measurement issues,
(2) to test, scale, and deploy carbon reduction technologies, and
(3) to build carbon removal markets with quality control.

This framework is intended to inspire further research and corporate analysis on how to accelerate and overcome the hurdles in the race to net-zero.​Dieses Framework soll weitere Forschung und unternehmerische Analysen dazu anregen, wie die Hürden im Wettlauf zu Netto-Null schneller überwunden werden können.

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Ann-Kristin Zobel, Steven Comello, Lukas Falcke

Year

2024

Journal

The Oxford Handbook of Open Innovation

Abstract

In this study, the research team focused on individuals known as boundary spanners – those who bridge gaps between external and internal knowledge sources. The study aimed to understand how these individuals can maximize the transfer of knowledge back to their home organizations. The results show that the key to an effective knowledge transfer lies in how these individuals switch between working with external partners and focusing on internal matters.

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Ann-Kristin Zobel, Lukas Falcke, Steven Comello

Year

2024

Journal

Organization Science

Abstract

In this study, published in the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), the research team explored how companies, both established and new players, come together in innovation ecosystems to combat climate change. The study uncovers three key ways how these collaborations can have a significant impact on mitigating climate change. Contrary to the common belief that only newcomers disrupt industries, the study shows that existing companies can also take the lead in reshaping innovation ecosystems within their industries.​

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Lukas Falcke, Ann-Kristin Zobel, Steven Comello

Year

2024

Journal

Journal of Product Innovation Management

Abstract

To create value in an open innovation context, firms need to increase the permeability of their organizational boundaries to enable knowledge exchange with a broad set of partners. Yet to capture value, firms also need to consider how to govern their cooperative efforts and prevent unintended knowledge leakage.

This article, published in the Academy of Management Perspectives (AMP), develops a novel framework for researching this paradox of openness, which combines an organizational boundary with a relational contract design perspective, and discusses how firms can strategically manage configurations of firm boundaries and contract design via a set of dynamic capabilities.​

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Ann-Kristin Zobel, John Hagedoorn

Year

2020

Journal

Academy of Management Perspectives

Abstract

This study draws on resource orchestration theory to develop and test a framework that explains when the imitation of business models from other industries increases new venture growth.

We propose that extra-industry business model imitation enhances growth when extra-industry business models are bundled together with novel technologies, and when founders possess the necessary industry experience to orchestrate these resource combinations effectively.

Using a unique multi-source, time-lagged dataset of 122 Swiss technology ventures from four industries, we find support for our theoretical model and discuss its implications for research at the intersection of business models, competitive imitation, and resource orchestration.

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Karolin Frankenberger, Wouter Stam

Year

2020

Journal

Long Range Planning

Abstract

A firm’s ability to conceive performance-enhancing business models (BMs) has become a cornerstone of competitive advantage. There is consensus that external triggers spur such BM change, but the literature has remained silent on the role of internal and cognitive antecedents such as managerial attention.

In our inductive case study of four corporate spin-offs, we find that top management teams (TMTs) with a specific set of attention patterns are more likely to develop performance-enhancing BM designs. However, our findings provide evidence that specific attention foci are not sufficient to enhance particular BM designs, as it is also a matter of the intensity of attention.

We further find that, over time, TMTs attention patterns shift and cause changes in BM designs. The emergent theoretical framework highlights that attention is an antecedent in explaining BM designs.​

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Karolin Frankenberger, Saurer R.

Year

2020

Journal

Long Range Planning

Abstract

As an overarching concept a business model describes how a firm creates and captures value for itself, its customers, and its partners. Although research has highlighted the importance of value creation and capture of business models, it primarily focused on the value creation mechanisms and neglected aspects of value capturing: until to date, little is known about how firms attempt to protect their business models from competition, which is a critical component of value capture.

Drawing on a sample of 24 cases, we explore how business models relate to IP protection mechanisms for value capture and derive a business model protection framework. Our empirical study reveals that the choice of IP protection is contingent on the applied business model. Whereas some razor and blade business models are characterised by a high degree of both formal and informal protection, firms operating franchising business models put higher emphasis on informal protection strategies. Firms running the pay-per-use business model or the multi-sided platform business model apply formal and informal protection strategies to a medium degree in order to capture value.

Our findings extend business model literature on novel insights on intellectual property management and also extend the ‘profiting from innovation literature’ on protection mechanisms in the context of business models.

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Amir Bonakdar, Karolin Frankenberger, Martin A. Bader, Oliver Gassmann

Year

2020

Journal

International Journal of Technology Management

Practice-oriented Publications

Our practice-oriented publications allow us to bring our research directly into the hands of managers who are navigating strategic transformation. In these articles, we show how organizations can establish trust and collaborate in emerging digital arenas such as the metaverse, and how incumbents can successfully manage the internal tensions that arise when transforming their business models. We are offering leaders concrete frameworks and actionable guidance.

Abstract

Customer workarounds (such as customers sharing accounts, or teams stitching together third-party tools) are not merely signs of product friction but early evidence that a company’s business model no longer matches how customers want to access, use, and pay for value. If firms fail to respond to customer workarounds, they leave themselves open to new competitors or to customers simply leaving. Companies should detect workaround patterns early, map them to distinct customer needs, build a portfolio of complementary business models, and monitor these signals continuously to capture demand before competitors do.

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Donna Henrike Bohrer, Karolin Frankenberger, Joakim Wincent

Year

2026

Journal

Harvard Business Review

Abstract

The Business Model Navigator provides a structured approach to developing and innovating business models. Based on extensive research, the book presents 66 proven business model patterns that companies can use as inspiration and templates for their own transformation.

Details

3rd edition, FT Pearson, ISBN 978-1-292-32712-9. Bestseller. Translated in 20 languages.

Authors

Oliver Gassmann, Karolin Frankenberger

Year

2025

Publisher

FT Pearson

Abstract

Improve the decisions you make every day with the latest insights from neuroscience!
Every day, we make hundreds of decisions—from small ones, like what to wear or how to get to work, to major ones, such as shaping corporate strategy or deciding whether to launch a restructuring program that may affect thousands of people. Studies suggest that leaders spend around 40 percent of their time making decisions, and the effectiveness of those decisions largely determines the performance of the organizations they lead.

Details

1st edition, Wiley, ISBN 978-3-527-51212-6. Translated into three languages.

Authors

Claudio Feser, Daniella Laureiro-Martinez, Karolin Frankenberger, Stefano Brusoni

Year

2024

Publisher

Wiley

Abstract

This article explores how corporate-startup collaboration programs can shift from traditional in-person settings to virtual environments inspired by the metaverse.

Using a case study from the energy industry, it demonstrates how digital tools like web conferencing and direct messaging can foster trust, a key element for successful innovation pilots. The study highlights opportunities and challenges in using digital features, emphasizing that thoughtful program design can unlock the metaverse’s potential to scale open innovation across industries.

Details

For more details, please click here (article) and here (video).

Authors

Lukas Falcke, Karolin Frankenberger

Year

2024

Journal

California Management Review

Abstract

The Digital Transformer’s Dilemma addresses the central challenge facing modern organizations: digitizing the core business while simultaneously building new, innovative business models. The book provides practical strategies and frameworks that help leaders successfully navigate this balancing act without jeopardizing the stability of the existing business.

Details

1st edition, Wiley, ISBN 978-3-527-51047-4. Finalist (Top 5) for the prestigious International Book Award by brand eins and getAbstract.

Authors

Karolin Frankenberger, Hannah Mayer, Andreas Reiter, Marc Schmidt

Year

2021

Publisher

Wiley

Abstract

Incumbent firms face a critical dilemma: they must both digitize and defend their core business while simultaneously building a new digital-business engine. Achieving this dual transformation demands different strategies, structures, and mind-sets for the “old” and “new” businesses while addressing the tensions between them. The authors draw on interviews with leaders from established companies to identify five key practices that help navigate this transformation challenge successfully.

Details

For more details please click here.

Authors

Karolin Frankenberger, Hannah Mayer, Andreas Reiter, Markus Schmidt

Year

2019

Journal

Harvard Business Review

Case Studies for Teaching

Our teaching case studies illustrate how strategic concepts are applied in real-world situations, allowing learners to see the practical consequences of managerial decisions. They also support learners in developing problem-solving and critical-thinking skills by encouraging systematic analysis, comparison of alternatives, and justification of chosen strategies.

Abstract

This two-part case study examines how adidas shapes and defends competitive advantages through portfolio decisions and strategic realignment.

adidas (A): Defining a Strategy for Reebok highlights the initial situation surrounding the Reebok brand within the adidas Group. The focus is on the historical development, the strategic rationale behind the acquisition, and the challenges of managing a multi-brand portfolio. The case study introduces the key strategic options—divestment versus turnaround—and addresses the trade-offs between brand positioning, resource allocation, and long-term value creation.

adidas (B): Defining a Strategy for Reebok builds on these options and analyzes their reassessment in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study challenges readers to assess the impact of external shocks on strategic decisions, particularly with regard to uncertainty, liquidity management, digital transformation, and changing market conditions. Students must weigh how crises affect portfolio decisions and the future of Reebok within or outside the adidas Group.

Details

For further details, please select the case study that interests you:

adidas (A): Defining a Strategy for Reebok
adidas (B): Defining a Strategy for Reebok

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Authors

Ramón Casadesus-Masanell, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger

Year

2025

Journal

Harvard Business Publishing

Abstract

This three-part case study examines how Zurich Insurance Group rebuilds competitive advantages in the insurance business through strategic realignment, operational transformation, and cultural change.

Zurich Insurance Group (A): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail highlights the company’s starting position following a period of weak performance, particularly in its European property and casualty (P&C) retail business. At the core are structural challenges such as a weak competitive position, digital disruption from InsurTechs, and fundamental strategic choices between withdrawal, optimization, or transformation of the retail business.

Zurich Insurance Group (B): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail builds on these options and analyzes the implementation of an ambidextrous strategy that simultaneously pursues efficiency gains and transformation. The case study highlights the tensions between short-term performance improvements and long-term digital and customer-centric transformation, as well as the challenges of scaling innovation within an established organization.

Zurich Insurance Group (C): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail deepens the transformation from an organizational and cultural perspective. The focus is on implementing customer centricity and data-driven decision-making, as well as the question of how change can be anchored without formal authority in a decentralized organization. The case study challenges readers to evaluate the role of leadership, incentive systems, and internal persuasion in driving profound organizational change.

Details

For further details, please select the case study that interests you:

Zurich Insurance (A): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail
Zurich Insurance (B): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail
Zurich Insurance (C): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail
Zurich Insurance (Teaching Note Supplement Software)

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Authors

Ramón Casadesus-Masanell, Stefano Brusoni, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger, Ana Procopio Schoen

Year

2023

Journal

Harvard Business Publishing

Abstract

This two-part case examines how On creates and renews competitive advantage through business model innovation.

On (A) focuses on the foundations of On’s success – its core strategy, distinctive business model, and positioning in the global sportswear market.

On (B): The Cyclon Spins On dives into the Cyclon circular model, challenging students to evaluate sustainability-driven innovation, scaling tensions, and strategic trade-offs as the company pushes beyond its original model.​

Details

For further details, please select the case study that interests you:

On (A)
On (B): The Cyclon Spins On
On (A) and (B) Teaching Note

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Authors

Ramón Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger, Sascha Mader, John Mitchell, Karen Elterman

Year

2023

Journal

Harvard Business Publishing

Abstract

This three-part case series examines how Novartis reimagines its strategy to become a focused, innovation-driven medicines company amid profound industry change.

Part (A) sets the strategic ambition and leadership rationale for transformation, Part (B) explores the organizational and cultural shifts needed to execute it. Part (C) evaluates results, trade-offs, and unresolved challenges. Together, the cases offer a sharp lens on leading large-scale transformation in a complex, regulated industry.

Together, the cases offer a sharp lens on leading large-scale transformation in a complex, regulated industry.​

Details

For further details, please select the case study that interests you:

Novartis (A): Reimagining Medicine
Novartis (B): Reimagining Medicine
Novartis (C): Reimagining Medicine

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Authors

Ramón Casadesus-Masanell, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger, David Redaschi

Year

2023

Journal

Harvard Business Publishing

Abstract

This case examines how Klöckner & Co SE confronts the challenge of digital transformation in a traditionally low-margin, asset-heavy industry. Students analyze the company’s digital strategy, organizational implications, and investment choices as Klöckner seeks to reinvent its business model through platforms, data, and ecosystem thinking.

The case highlights the opportunities and limits of digital transformation as a source of sustainable competitive advantage.

Details

For further details, please select the case study that interests you:

Klöckner & Co SE – Evaluating Digital Transformation
Klöckner & Co SE – Evaluating Digital Transformation (Teaching Note)

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Authors

Sascha Mader, Karolin Frankenberger

Year

2021

Journal

The Case Center

Abstract

This case explores how Holcim pursues radically new business models in response to disruption, sustainability pressures, and commoditization in the construction materials industry. Students assess Holcim’s strategic intent, experimentation logic, and organizational barriers as it moves beyond its traditional cement-focused model.

The case highlights how established firms can unlock growth by systematically exploring and scaling business model innovation.​

Details

For more details please click here.

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Authors

Oliver Gassmann, Karolin Frankenberger, Csik, M., Sauer, R., Lee, J. Y

Year

2015

Journal

The Case Center

Abstract

This case examines how CEWE responds to disruptive digital technologies that threaten its traditional photo-printing business. Students analyze CEWE’s strategic renewal through business model innovation, balancing legacy strengths with new digital growth paths.

The case highlights how incumbents can turn technological disruption into a catalyst for long-term advantage.

Details

For more details please click here.

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Authors

Oliver Gassmann, Karolin Frankenberger, Sauer, R., Lee, J. Y, Meister, C.

Year

2015

Journal

The Case Center

Practice Collaborations

Zurich AI Lab

Free Electrons

Interested in research collaborations? ​

We are always looking for cutting-edge research projects on Master and PhD level.
Reach out!

Teaching

Strategic Management

Bachelor in Business Administration (BA)
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Ann-Kristin Zobel

Strategic management is fundamentally about understanding why some firms achieve a sustainable competitive advantage while others do not. This course covers core elements of strategic success – competitive analyses, positioning, business models, and innovation – equipping students with frameworks and tools to analyze, develop, and implement effective strategies.​

Strategy II

Master in General Management (MGM)
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Karolin Frankenberger
Develop the strategic mindset leaders need to win by combining creative, critical thinking with real-world strategy and innovation. Building on Strategy I, this course shapes holistic, cross-functional decision-makers ready to tackle today’s most complex and ambiguous challenges.​

Strategy for Sustainability

Master in Strategy & International Management (SIM)
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Ann-Kristin Zobel
Businesses today face unprecedented societal challenges, including climate change, resource depletion, and inequality, making sustainability a strategic imperative. Exploring the intersection of strategy and sustainability, this course provides students with insights and tools to address these challenges and contribute to a more sustainable economy, using the UN SDGs as a guiding framework.​

Business Model Innovation

Master in Strategy & International Management (SIM)
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Karolin Frankenberger
​In a world reshaped by digitalization, AI, and sustainability, staying competitive means reinventing your business model or sharing the fate of Blockbuster and Kodak. This course equips you to design, test, and scale bold new business models that drive lasting advantage.

Managing Collaborative Innovation for Net-Zero

Master in General Management (MGM)
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Ann-Kristin Zobel
In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, collaborative innovation is key to driving sustainable change, particularly for addressing climate change. This course examines how businesses can leverage external knowledge and embrace multilateral organizing within networks of distributed actors through crowdsourcing, platforms, and ecosystems.​

Bachelor and Master Theses

Are you interested in a bachelor’s or master’s thesis on strategic innovation with Prof. Frankenberger or Prof. Zobel?
Open topics as well as further information regarding the application process can be found here:

Executive Education

For individuals, we offer public continuing education programs related to topics of strategic innovation. Our programs are modular, providing great flexibility to tailor your personal learning journey, and the focus is always on personal contact with fellow students, speakers, executives or partners within the IFBS’ exclusive network.

Next to these pre-designed programs, our executive education team is also happy to support your organization in the development and implementation of customized in-house training courses that are tailored to your culture, strategy, and processes.

CAS HSG

Strategisches Management CAS HSG

Stärken Sie Ihre strategischen Fähigkeiten als Führungspersönlichkeit mit strategischer Verantwortung

Starttermin:
02.11.2026
Präsenz:
16 Tage
Kosten:
CHF 18'400
Details
Kompaktseminar

Business Model Innovation und Transformation

Zukunftsfähige (digitale) Geschäftsmodelle innovieren und bestehende transferieren

Starttermin:
15.03.2027
Präsenz:
3 Tage
Kosten:
CHF 3'900
Details
Kompaktseminar

Innovationsmanagement und Nachhaltigkeit

Strategische Transformation zu einer Net-Zero Circular Economy

Starttermin:
24.05.2027
Präsenz:
3.5 Tage blended
Kosten:
4'490
Details

Team

Karolin Frankenberger
Prof. Dr.
Ordentliche Professorin für Strategisches Management

Ann-Kristin Zobel
Prof. Dr.
Associate Professor of Management

Joachim Stonig
Dr.
Managing Director of the Master Programme in Strategy and International Management (SIM) and Senior Lecturer of Strategic Management

Rhea Riemke
M.Sc.
PhD Candidate, Research Associate

Heinrich-Jakob Wild
M.A.
PhD Candidate, Research Associate

Daniel Gatz
M.A.
PhD Candidate, Research Associate

Tomoko Yokoi
Scientific Director Zurich AI Lab