Johannes Meuer

Johannes Meuer is Associate Professor for Sustainability Strategy and Operations at Kühne Logistics University (KLU) and Co-Director of KLU’s Center for Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chains (CSLS). He also serves as the President of the Group for Research on Organizations and the Natural Environment (GRONEN), an international network of researchers concerned with the role of companies in the environment and society.

His research focuses on understanding the tensions that corporate decision-makers face when taking sustainability decisions, and relatedly, how firms effectively integrate sustainability into their strategy and business operations. He has studied these questions in various settings and industries (e.g., energy, plastics, automotive supply chains, food retail). Johannes has also been at the forefront of developing new methodological approaches for studying configurational phenomena based on set-theoretic analytics such as fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).

He is affiliated with several institutes and centers such as the Group for Sustainability and Technology (SusTec) at ETH Zurich, the Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw. He has published his research in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Operations Management, Organization & Environment, Research Policy, and Organizational Research Methods.

Johannes actively integrates insights from both academia and practice in his research, teaching, and professional service activities. He conducts translational research together with industry partners, using in-depth case studies, action and participatory research approaches. Johannes has developed innovative teaching approaches that center around translating relevant industry experience into the foundational concept of corporate sustainability.

He has received a number of honors and awards for his research, teaching, and commitment to professional service, including grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Swiss Federal Government (Energy Department), the German Science Foundation, and the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS). He received Best Paper Awards from the Academy of Management’s Organization and Management Theory (OMT) and the Human Resource (HR) Division as well as a best reviewer award from the Organization and the Natural Environment and the “Above and Beyond the Call of Duty” Award of the OMT Division. Johannes has also been awarded the “Golden Owl 2020” Award at ETH Zurich for providing exceptional education. Several of his courses have received awards for innovation in teaching. For his teaching cases, he received the ecch Case Awards for the Best Case in Category Strategy and General Management and the AESE Case Writing Competition.

Prior to joining the KLU faculty, Johannes was a senior researcher at ETH Zurich. Prior to completing his PhD, he spent time at USC Marshall Business School in Los Angeles, and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. Johannes has earned an MSc in International Economics from Corvinus University Budapest, a PhD degree from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and a habilitation (Venia Legendi) from ETH Zurich.

Academic Positions

• Since 9/2021 Associate Professor of Sustainable Operations, Kühne Logistics University, Hamburg, Germany
• Since 6/2022 President, Group for Research on Organizations and the Natural Environment (GRONEN)
• 2015 - 2021 Senior Scientist and Lecturer, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• 2019 Visiting Scholar, Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw, Poland
• 2012 - 2015 Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Zurich, Switzerland
• 2011 - 2016 Visiting Fellow, School of Management, University of Cranfield, United Kingdom
• 2010 Visiting Researcher, Marshall Business School, University of Southern California, USA

Education

• 2006 - 2011 PhD in Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands
• 2003 - 2005 MSc in International Economics, Corvinus University Budapest, Hungary
• 2005 Semester abroad, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai, China
• 2000 - 2003 Diplom-Kaufmann (FH), International School of Management, Dortmund, Germany
• 2001 Semester abroad, Villanueva Centro Universitario, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

AWARDS

• 2021 - Innovedum "Case-based Collaborative Group Coaching in Corporate Sustainability"
• 2020 - Golden Owl "Best Lecturer" at D-MTEC, ETH Zurich
• 2019 - Best Reviewer Awards, ONE Division, Academy of Management Meeting 2019
• 2018 - ABCD Award, OMT Division, Academy of Management Meeting 2018
• 2018 - Finalist ETH KITE (Key Innovation in Teaching at ETH) Award
• 2016 - Finalist Best Divisional Paper, HR Division, Academy of Management
• 2015 - Best Paper Award, Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education"
• 2012 - ecch Case Awards: Best Case in Category Strategy and General Management
• 2011 - Finalist Decision Sciences Institute's Best Teaching Case
• 2010 - First Price AESE Case Writing Competition
• 2010 - Best Paper Award, OMT Division, Academy of Management