Breakfast Research Seminar

Prof. dr. Shaker Zahra holds the Robert E. Buuck Chair of Entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management (University of Minnesota). He is a fellow of the Academy of Management, Academy of International Business, and several other organizations. His research focuses on international entrepreneurship, technology entrepreneurship, dynamic capabilities in global technology industries, digital platforms and business ecosystems, and dynamics of ecosystem disruptions. He has served on two dozen editorial boards (in different capacities) and served as guest editor of several others. He served as area editor at Journal of International Business Studies. He is the recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research and 5 honorary Ph.D. degrees from universities in Sweden, Italy, Spain and Belgium. He is the recipient of the Mentor Award from the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management for his work with doctoral students. He has presented his work to several national and international organizations, including the United Nations. Professor Zahra was listed as a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher (a listing of the world’s most influential researchers) and as one of The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (a listing of the top-cited researchers in science around the globe). 

Prof. dr. Alain Verbeke (PhD, University of Antwerp, Belgium) has served as the McCaig Research Chair in Management and as Professor of International Business Strategy at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary since 2001. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Business Studies. Dr. Verbeke’s influential academic work covers a wide range of areas in defense of globalization, which he views as critical to the future of small open economies such as Canada. He presently works with more than 50 other scholars from Canada and around the world on the ‘grand challenges’ facing international business. His writings highlight the vulnerability of multinational firms and the many mistaken perspectives on this governance form’s purpose and on its outcomes for society. In a first stream of research, he shows how the relations of internationally operating firms with non-market stakeholders can be improved. In a second stream, he provides actionable ways to improve the corporate social performance of business. In a third stream, he provides pathways for better relationships between corporate head offices and subsidiaries inside large multinational firms. Dr. Verbeke has crafted more than 40 books and he has published 130 journal articles in scholarly journals. He has also supervised more than 25 doctoral students. A recent Stanford University study placed Dr. Verbeke’s research productivity in the top 1% of all research active scholars in business and management in the world. A Research.com analysis ranked Dr. Verbeke as the 2nd most influential scholar in Canada and 58th in the world in the field of business and management.