Marc Sachon

Marc Sachon is a Professor in the Production, Technology and Operations Management Department.

He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (MS&E) from Stanford University, an MBA from IESE, University of Navarra, and a Master in Aerospace Technology from the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

Prof. Sachon is a member of the Executive Education Academic Committee, where he monitors all custom programs of IESE. He is the academic director of all Advanced Management Programs (AMP) and the focused programs “Driving Change Successfully”, “Achieving Operational Excellence” and “Industry 4.0”. He is the Chairman of the Automotive Industry Meeting (IESE AUTO), held annually since 1986.

As academic director Prof. Sachon has been involved in designing and delivering programs for clients ranging from BMW Group, Haniel Group, Phoenix Group, TRATON Group to Roland Berger and other leading companies.

Prof. Sachon teaches Operations Strategy, Industry 4.0 and Operations Management in IESE´s senior executive programs. This also includes blended or purely online programs. He also teaches courses in IESE´s Executive-MBA and Global Executive-MBA programs, where his students have done company-sponsored team projects for more than 15 years, presenting to senior executives of companies like BMW, Coca-Cola, or Media-Markt. He has been a guest professor at universities and business schools in Colombia, Germany, Iceland, Mexico, Russia and Saudi Arabia. He has received multiple teaching awards.

His research focuses on operations strategy (especially in the automotive industry) and Industry 4.0. He has published in academic journals such as IEEE Transactions and in business journals such as European Business Forum (EBF).

Prof. Sachon has written chapters for several books on operations management and process improvement. He has co-authored three books on the state of the Chinese automotive industry. His case studies are among those most widely distributed by IESE (e.g., Aldi, Porsche, Netflix).

Prior to entering academia, he worked at Airbus Germany and IBM Germany. As a consultant, he has taken part in projects in different industries, from airlines to automotive, fashion, FMCG, logistics, pharmaceuticals and utility companies. He serves on the board of directors of a startup company in mobility.

Prof. Sachon is based IESE´s Barcelona campus.

Education

• Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, Stanford University
• MBA, IESE Business School
• Master in Aerospace-Technology, University of Stuttgart

Areas of interest

• Operations strategy
• Industry 4.0
• Supply Chain Management
• Verticals: Automotive, Manufacturing, Hard Discounters