Patricia Klarner

Professor Dr. Patricia Klarner is Director of the Institute for Organization Design at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna). Prior to her current position, she worked on the faculties of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, and the University of Munich (LMU).

She received her Habilitation in Business Administration from the University of Munich (LMU) and holds a PhD in Business Administration from HEC, University of Geneva (now Geneva School of Economics and Management, GSEM). She holds a Visiting Associate position (Honorary appointment) at Cambridge Judge Business School. She was also a repeated Visiting Scholar at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and held a Senior Fellowship position at the Wharton School’s Center for Leadership and Change Management from 2016 – 2017. From 2006 to 2010, she was a Research Associate at the University of St. Gallen’s Center for Organizational Excellence.

Professor Klarner’s research focuses on corporate strategy and adaptation, corporate governance, strategic organization design, and strategic leadership. She particularly examines how organizations can remain agile and successful in times of increasingly volatile and unpredictable business environments. Her research provides insights into how organizations can balance change and stability in their organization design and how key strategic actors – top management teams and boards of directors – influence strategic adaptation and growth decisions over time. In her research, she cooperates with colleagues from renowned institutions in Europe, the United States, and in Asia.

Her work has been published in several international journals, such as the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Perspectives, Strategy Science, and Long Range Planning, and it has received distinctive awards and research grants from renowned international institutions, such as the Academy of Management, the Strategic Management Society, the German Excellence Initiative, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the Center for Effective Organizations of the Marshall School of Business (University of Southern California).

In her research activities, she engages in close dialogue and interaction with multinational companies and government institutions in several countries. She serves the scientific community in numerous functions such as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Organization Design, an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Management and of Strategic Organization, an Advisory Board member of the Strategic Management Society’s Strategy Process Interest Group (IG), and a regular reviewer for top tier international journals, conferences, and funding institutions. She served as elected Chair of the Strategic Management Society’s Strategy Process IG until 2021 and frequently presents her work and serves as session chair, panel organizer, and webinar host at international conferences.

Professor Klarner is very active as a keynote speaker, educator, and advisor. She has developed and taught many core courses and electives in various programs at the Rotterdam School of Management, EM Lyon Business School, the University of Geneva, and the University of Munich (LMU). She particularly enjoys bringing her international background to the classroom; having lived and worked in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, the Netherlands and in Austria.