Leading Customer-Centric Strategies program

Frédéric Dalsace is a Professor of Marketing and Strategy at IMD. Prior to that, he spent 16 years as a Professor at HEC Paris, where he held the Social Business / Enterprise and Poverty Chair presided by Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. Prior to his academic life, Frédéric accumulated more than 10 years of experience in the business world, both with industrial companies (Michelin and CarnaudMetalbox), and as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company.

He has worked with more than 40 multinational firms in many sectors, such as Porsche, Traton (VW Truck & Bus), Lafarge-Holcim, Colas, Dassault, Renault, Rabobank, Santander, Orange, Bouygues, Atos and others.

His research covers two areas. The first part focuses on inter-organizational (B2B) issues such as customer-centricity, buyer-seller relationships and value management. Frédéric also has been doing research on the role of firms in alleviating poverty and developing inclusive business models, both in rich countries and at the BOP (Bottom of the Pyramid). He has published in academic journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, Revue Française de Gestion and Business Horizons. His thesis work received the ISBM (Institute for the Study of Business Markets) 2000 Award, and he was awarded the HEC Foundation Prize for the best research piece published by the HEC Faculty in 2004, and the Best Article Prize published by Business Horizons in 2017.

Frédéric is an alumnus from HEC Paris, holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and both an MSc and a PhD in Management from INSEAD.

Katharina joined IMD as Affiliate Professor of Leadership in September 2019. She has taught executives globally, specializing in self-leadership and cross-cultural team leadership in times of Change.

Before joining IMD, Katharina led the Office of Executive Development at Singapore Management University (SMU). Being at SMU since 2013, she directed Open Programs such as ALPINE (Asia Leaders Program in Infrastructure) or the J&J Hospital Management Program. For Custom Programs, she designed, directed and taught for clients such as Maersk, UTC Carrier, Otis, Sumitomo, Mondelez, Barclays, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi-Aventis, Bayer, Infineon, Shangri-La, IBM, Pernod Ricard and the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (UAE).

Prior to her experience in Asia, Katharina was Program Director and Head Life Science Industries at the European School of Management and Technology (esmt), Berlin, where she directed and taught in executive and degree programs. 

Before her career in business education, Katharina worked 9 years with Arthur Andersen and Deloitte Consulting. Her PhD in pharmacology adds the empirical lens of a natural scientist to her profile.

Katharina has published numerous case studies for business education on Harvard Business Publishing http://hbsp.harvard.edu/ e.g. B&C in Russia, Medneo, Pina Bausch - Leadership as collective genius, as well as the SMU Case Center https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/ e.g. Sarulla Geothermal Power Project, Building the Singapore Sports Hub, Stakeholder Issues at the Singapore Sports Hub, Singhealth - Winning the war against diabetes.

Her book chapters include Pina Bausch - "Leading Collective Genius" in "Servant Leadership", ESV, 2014; Building Singapore Sportshub in "Living in Smart Cities", World Scientific, 2018.

In 2018 she was appointed as member of the Board of UNICON, the global consortium for university based executive education. From 2017 - 2019 Katharina served as Board member on the Board of Governors of the German European School Singapore.

Didier Bonnet focuses on digital economics, digital strategy, disruptive innovation, and the process of large-scale digital transformation for global corporations. A globally recognized thought leader on digital transformation, he was a precursor in anticipating the scale and impact of the digital revolution that is now sweeping through our economies. He is also the author of a bestselling book that makes the provocative argument that the next phase of digital technology adoption will make everything that’s happened so far look like a prelude.

Bonnet helps boards and management teams make the shift to the new digital economy and implement the changes in business models, operations, and customer experiences that this requires.

With over 30 years’ experience in strategy and transformation consulting, he is a trusted advisor and coach to senior executives who are leading their organizations through complex digital transformations.

His work spans information economics, digital transformation, platform strategies, digital innovation, the future of work, and organizational transformation. He also leads research programs on how the digital economy is impacting individuals, corporations, and society at large.

He has designed and directed customized digital transformation programs for large global B2C and B2B organizations and provided coaching advice to senior leaders in a variety of industries, including telecoms, banking, high-tech, insurance, consumer goods, media, transport, and industrial goods.

At IMD, Bonnet is Co-Director of the Digital Transformation in Practice (DTIP), Digital Transformation for Boards (DTB) and Leading Customer-Centric Strategies (LCCS) programs, and he teaches strategy and digital transformation in several other open programs. For the last 10 years, he has led a joint research program with the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE), at the Sloan School of Management, on the impact of digital technology on business models and society. He is also a non-executive board member of the SKEMA Foundation.

Bonnet is co-author of the bestselling book, Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation, which has been described as the “source code” for understanding the DNA of successful digital transformation. The book’s insights won praise from former EMC Chair and CEO Joe Tucci and former Pernod Ricard CEO Pierre Pringuet. This was followed in 2021 by Hacking Digital: Best Practices to Implement and Accelerate your Business Transformation, which provides a practical guide for how to navigate the challenges of digital transformation execution.

Bonnet’s research has been published in top management journals such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, R&D Management, Quarterly Review of Marketing, Strategy Direction, and Business Strategy Review. He is also a public speaker on digital transformation and has frequently been published and quoted in the media, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Financial Times, The Economist, the BBC, CNN, and CNBC.

Bonnet joined IMD in 2019 after a 30-year career in strategy consulting. He was Global Digital Transformation Practice Leader at Capgemini Invent and Global Leader of the Telecom, Media & Entertainment practice at Gemini Consulting. He started his career in hi tech and consulting with Coopers & Lybrand Consulting and Putnam Hayes & Bartlett. 

Selected publications  

Hacking Digital: Best Practices to Implement and Accelerate your Business Transformation (McGraw Hill, 2021)

The new elements of digital transformation (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2021)

Why innovation’s future isn’t (just) open (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2020)

Lifting the lid on disruption fever (Journal of Strategy and Management, 2020)

Busting the myths of digital transformation: Don’t buy the hype (Indian Management Journal, 2020)

Reframing growth strategy in a digital economy (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2017)

It’s time for boards to cross the digital divide (Harvard Business Review, 2014)

Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014)

Recognition

Named as one of the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Digital Transformation and Disruption by Thinkers360 (2021)

CDO Conclave Global Digital Leader of the Year (2018)

Education

MSc

SKEMA Business School, France

DPhil

University of Oxford