Tawfik Jelassi

Professor of Strategy and Technology Management

Tawfik Jelassi is Professor of Strategy and Technology Management at IMD. Since 2016 he has been Co-Director of the Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP) program in Lausanne and Singapore/Dubai, which is IMD’s largest executive education program, with over 600 participants enrolled per year. His major research, teaching and consulting interests are in the areas of digital business transformation and leadership in turbulent times. In Europe and the USA he was granted several excellence awards for his teaching and research, and the President of Tunisia awarded him two national decorations: “The Order of merit in the fields of education and science” and “The Order of the Republic”.

Before joining IMD, Jelassi was Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Information & Communication Technologies in the transition-to-democracy Government of Tunisia (2014-2015). Prior to that, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ooredoo Tunisia, the leading mobile telecoms operator in the country. Between 2000 and 2013, he was Professor and Dean of the Business School at Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris). Previously he was Coordinator of the Technology Management Department and Associate Professor at INSEAD (Fontainebleau).

At IMD, Jelassi has been teaching in leadership programs such as High-Performance Boards, Breakthrough Program for Senior Executives, Advanced Management Program, Building on Talent, and in the MBA program. He has also directed or taught on several tailored executive education programs for companies such as Mitsubishi, Bayer, Unilever, Huawei, Telecom Malaysia, Turkcell, Axiata, SOCAR, Oman LNG, Metinvest, Banpu, Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), Engie, Essilor, Adecco, Hilti, Electrolux, Conzzeta, Al Marai, Arla Foods, AS Watson, Carlsberg, SeaDrill, Lyreco, Saudi National Water Company, Julius Baer Bank, Central Bank of Indonesia, Agricultural Bank of China, etc.

Dr. Jelassi’s research has appeared in leading academic journals such as Management Information Systems (MIS) Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Information and Management, Decision Support Systems, Decision Sciences, Theory and Decision, and the European Journal of Operational Research as well as practitioner-oriented publications including Harvard Business Review, MIS Quarterly Executive, European Management Journal, and Information Systems World.

He has also authored numerous case studies on companies such as BP, Tesco, Nestlé, Otis, Ducati, Nordea, Ooredoo, NTT DoCoMo, Safaricom, Turkcell, Roche Diagnostics, Dallara, Accor Hotels. Prof. Jelassi has (co-)authored seven books, the latest of which is a strategy textbook entitled “Strategies for e-business: Value Creation and Digital Business Transformation” (published in June 2020 by Springer). For his case-study writing, he was granted numerous excellence awards from the European Foundation for Management Development (in 1992, 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2011), the US-based Society for Information Management (in 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2008), the Europe-based Case Centre (in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2013), and the Brandon Hall Group (2019).

Jelassi holds a Ph.D. degree in information systems from the Stern School of Business at New York University (USA).

Academic publications
Book
Strategies for e-Business: Concepts and cases on value creation and digital business transformation
This is the fourth edition of a unique textbook that provides extensive coverage of the evolution, the current state, and the practice of e-business strategies. It provides a solid introduction to ...
Published 29 June 2020
Article
The converging business models of Internet and bricks-and-mortar retailers
The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of traditional store-based and online retailing. To minimise the drawbacks, the emerging trend in retailing is a covergence of the two business ...
Published 1 January 2000
Article
Leveraging multichannel retailing: The experience of Tesco.com
Online retailing has become a pervasive phenomenon that has profoundly affected the structure of many different industries. Yet the challenges for retailers in some industries have been more diffic...
Published 1 June 2009
Article
From e-banking to e-business at Nordea Bank
Since the beginning of business computing, financial services firms have been major innovative users of IT. In particular, banks have used IT internally to enhance their efficiency and effectivenes...
Published 1 January 2006
Insight for Executives
Article
La régulation des réseaux sociaux n'affaiblit pas la liberté d'expression, elle la renforce
It is necessary to regulate social networks in order to limit fake news, hate speech and conspiracy theories with disastrous consequences for our societies. At the same time, it is not acceptable t...
Published 21 February 2023
Article
Five lessons of cybersecurity the public sector can offer
The public sector’s many years of experience fighting for cybersecurity offers unique insights for businesses to increase their resilience against cyber-attacks. In May 2021, Belgium’s parliament, ...
Published 24 May 2022
In the field with Turkcell
Article
In the field with Turkcell
Digital disruption is a reality in most industries and geographies. Established players are up against new competitors that use asset-light digital business models to compete very effectively with ...
Published 19 May 2019
In the field with Dallara Automobili
Article
In the field with Dallara Automobili
Dallara Automobili hired a new CEO to lead the company on an innovation journey, from its past of high-end car craftsmanship to its future as a digital firm. The company invested in creating two...
Published 3 April 2019
Formula One motor firms are becoming textbook cases in how to successfully branch into other sectors
Article
Formula One motor firms are becoming textbook cases in how to successfully branch into other sectors
Formula One race cars are the most technologically advanced cars in existence. Every car is equipped with 120 sensors which generate over a million pieces of information every second. This torrent ...
Published 21 March 2019
Article
Formula One motor firms are becoming textbook cases in how to successfully branch into other sectors
Formula One race cars are the most technologically advanced cars in existence. Every car is equipped with 120 sensors which generate over a million pieces of information every second. This torrent ...
Published 15 March 2019
Report
Turkcell and IMD: Turbocharging a digital business transformation
In 2015, Turkcell faced challenges that threatened its leading position in mobile communications in Turkey, including the upcoming move from 3G to 4.5G networks and increasing competition from over...
Published 1 March 2019
In the field with Accorhotels
Article
In the field with Accorhotels
The hotel industry is being disrupted by new digital players who have entered the market and challenged the conventional hospitality approach. The sharing economy in particular, with the Airbnb sta...
Published 22 November 2017
Report
Public sector and the Digital Vortex: How government organizations can harness digital disruption for positive change
Public Sector and the Digital Vortex illustrates how government organizations can harness digital disruption for positive change. For their own viability as well as that of constituents, public sec...
Published 28 June 2017
Article
What I learned from leading a Tunisian ministry during the Arab Spring
How can you start each day being positive and ready to lead under these circumstances? Despite all of the hardships, it was the experience of a lifetime, and I learned five lessons about leading in...
Published 16 May 2016
How to lead in high turbulence
Article
How to lead in high turbulence
Success one year, or even one week, doesn’t at all guarantee future wins. So leaders in any types of organizations need to prepare themselves, mentally and otherwise, to face high turbulence. Do yo...
Published 30 March 2016
Tunisia five years after the revolution: Was it worth it?
Article
Tunisia five years after the revolution: Was it worth it?
IMD Professor Tawfik Jelassi discusses the country’s progress and challenges.
Published 14 January 2016
Strategies for e-Business – 4th ed.
Book
Strategies for e-Business – 4th ed.
This is the fourth edition of a unique textbook that provides extensive coverage of the evolution, the current state, and the practice of e-business strategies. It provides a solid introduction to ...
Published 1 January 0001
Concepts and Cases on Value Creation and Digital Business Transformation
Strategies for e-Business - 4th ed.
Programs