Empowering Innovation

Jim Pulcrano has extensive expertise in entrepreneurship, particularly startup culture, strategy, customer centricity, marketing, and disruption. A former Executive Director at IMD, he runs the annual IMD Startup Competition and teaches entrepreneurship courses for Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency. He works with a range of individuals, corporations, startups, and not-for-profit organizations on projects at the interface of business and academia and is particularly enthusiastic about assignments requiring creativity to unlock solutions that are not immediately obvious.

He has taught programs for a range of major clients including Audemars Piguet, Bayer, Bossard, Bühler, Caterpillar, EDF, Engie, INEOS, KPN, Lenovo, Medtronic, Mölnlycke, Monsanto, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Straumann, UEFA and the Swiss federal government. He also teaches on IMD's Executive MBA (EMBA), Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP) and full-time MBA programs.

Pulcrano founded the IMD Startup Competition in 1998, believing that an understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation had to be at the core of the school’s EMBA and MBA programs. The competition allows selected Swiss-based startups to receive support from EMBA and MBA teams, and course participants have now worked with more than 500 startups as a result.

More recently, he launched a custom program for scaleup companies – startups that have started to gain market traction and achieve significant growth. This program was created for Swiss companies in collaboration with the Canton de Vaud, but may ultimately be offered to scaleups from across Europe.

Pulcrano joined the management team of IMD in 1993 as Director of Marketing and remained an Executive Director until 2013. During this time, he was responsible for IMD's client relationships across a wide part of the world, the school's global alumni organization, and its entrepreneurial work in Silicon Valley. He was also a founding member of the EMBA teaching team. He continued as an Affiliate Professor until 2019 when he became an Adjunct Professor, and still devotes the bulk of his time to IMD.

He produces regular case studies and articles, including cases on Logitech and the proposed creation of a new European football Super League, and in 2021 made a seven-part podcast series with Patrick Reinmoeller on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the aviation industry.

He has contributed substantially to six startup companies in the US and Switzerland over the past 30 years, three as co-founder. He is also an investor and advisory board member in several early-stage companies, and recently joined the board of Kwera, a not-for-profit organization set up by an IMD EMBA alumnus to improve education access for young people in Malawi.

In 2003, the Swiss federal government invited him to join its strategy committee for Swissnex, a network of education, research, innovation, and art outposts aimed at connecting Switzerland with the world's innovation hubs. He currently teaches on the government's Innosuisse entrepreneurship courses and at AISTS, the International Academy of Sports Science and Technology in Lausanne, where he previously served as a board member.

He is also a jury member for Switzerland's Venturelab grant program for nascent entrepreneurs, serves on the candidates' committee for the EPFLinnovators doctoral program, and is a member of the Swiss National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR) on robotics, which provides grants for promising research in the field.

Pulcrano is a former Chairman of UNICON, an association of the world's top business schools.

Before joining IMD, he was Managing Director of a Swiss startup in the medical device industry and previously worked as an engineer in the USA and Africa for petroleum services group Schlumberger.

He earned a doctorate from the Grenoble Ecole de Management in 2012 with a thesis focused on entrepreneurship and networking. He received an MBA from IMD in 1984 and has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Julia Binder specializes in the intersection between sustainability and innovation. Her research and teaching explore the processes, strategies and mechanisms that allow entrepreneurs and managers to combine economic, social and environmental impact in their businesses. As Director of IMD's new Center for Sustainable and Inclusive Business, she aims to help business leaders find radical and innovative solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our time. Her work on how sustainable entrepreneurs could provide a blueprint for other business leaders led to her being named on the 2022 Thinkers50 Radar list of management thinkers to watch in the coming year.

While companies are often denounced as being part of the sustainability problem, Binder believes that seizing their size and scale to achieve positive impact is likely to be one of the decisive factors in our collective efforts to halt environmental degradation and reduce social inequalities.

She is particularly interested in new business models that have the potential to transform our economic system by putting humans and the natural environment at the heart of the organization.

In this work she draws inspiration from sustainable entrepreneurs, who seek to radically change entire industries and create truly holistic and inclusive organizations. Sustainable entrepreneurs engage in radical leadership, question and rethink common practices and procedures, and envision and implement bold new ideas that seem impossible to others. Instead of aiming for a competitive advantage and profit maximization, they are joining forces with all possible stakeholders to co-create, co-execute, and co-impact for a sustainable future, she says.

Binder received her PhD summa cum laude from the Technical University of Munich for her thesis on sustainable entrepreneurship, and she continues to research the topic at IMD. She has discovered that sustainable entrepreneurs display psychological traits that could help other executives learn how to reframe problems so that they can better identify solutions. "From the studies with the entrepreneurs we found they are looking at these problems through different lenses and by doing that they are coming up with non-obvious, interesting and insightful solutions to the biggest challenges of our times," she says.

She also focuses on processes and approaches that are being piloted by sustainable entrepreneurs – such as new work structures with unlimited vacations, and strategies that equally weight social and environmental issues with profit – to see how they could be implemented at larger organizations to enable them to stay relevant in the future.

The Center for Sustainable and Inclusive Business led by Binder also aims to support leaders and companies who are keen to take steps towards a more sustainable and inclusive business world, by

harnessing IMD's knowledge and expertise in the area and offering tools to help them deliver systemic, innovative and impactful responses.

Binder's research has been published in the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and the Academy of Management Review, and she teaches on IMD's Transition to Business Leadership (TBL) and Digital Marketing Strategies (DMS) programs, as well as organizing its MBA Innovation Week.

Prior to joining IMD in 2021, Binder was Deputy to the Vice President for Innovation at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and led the school’s sustainability initiative Tech4Impact. In this role she established a multi-stakeholder platform bringing together actors from academia, business, NGOs, governments and civil society to realize innovative and entrepreneurial solutions with potential to achieve sustainable impact. She also served as Chair of the Swiss Space Center.

Selected publications

Getting more from many—A framework of community resourcefulness in new venture creation (Journal of Business Venturing, 2021)

I am what I pledge: The importance of value alignment for mobilizing backers in reward-based crowdfunding (Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2021)

Painting with all the colors: The value of social identity theory for understanding social entrepreneurship (Academy of Management Review, 2019)

Navigating the validity tradeoffs of entrepreneurship research experiments: A systematic review and best-practice suggestions (Journal of Business Venturing, 2019)

Recognition

Named on Thinkers50 Radar list of management thinkers to watch in the coming year (2022)

World Open Innovation Conference Best Emerging Scholar Paper Award (2019)

Bavarian Culture Prize for best PhD thesis (2017)

Best Case Study in oikos Case Writing Competition social entrepreneurship track (2016)

Education

Bachelor's degree (Marketing and Communication)

IMK Wiesbaden

MSc (Marketing)

University of Edinburgh

PhD (Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies)

Technische Universität München

Vanina Farber is an award-winning economist and political scientist who specializes in social innovation and the mobilization of private capital for impact investing. Her research focuses on innovative, practical, sustainable, and inclusive market-oriented approaches that have the potential to change the world by eliminating the root causes of social ills. She is particularly interested in social innovation, social entrepreneurship, impact investing, sustainable finance and ESG, and applies a gender lens in all her research projects.

A key element of her work is to explore how the private sector can embed the idea of impact in the investment decision making process, particularly in relation to risk-adjusted return calculations and resource allocation. She seeks to understand the social innovation landscape through a holistic approach that examines both the supply of and demand for social innovation initiatives.

At IMD, she leads the elea Center for Social Innovation which is carrying out important research in this area. Among other topics, the Center is looking at how the private sector can deploy capital at scale for investments in projects with real social impact, and how private, public sector and philanthropic investors can collaborate effectively.

The Center was created by a donation from the family of Peter Wuffli with the aim of inspiring leaders in business, government, and civil society to create social innovation in their respective areas of responsibility.

In 2020, Farber co-authored the book The elea Way: A Learning Journey towards Sustainable Impact, with Peter Wuffli, the Founder and Chairman of the elea Foundation for Ethics and Globalization. The book summarizes insights from the foundation’s 15-year journey and is aimed at entrepreneurs, investors, executives, philanthropists, policymakers, and anyone curious about entrepreneurship and inclusive capitalism. Using real-life examples, it includes suggestions on how to lead impact enterprises in such areas as developing strategies, plans and models, building effective teams and organizations, managing resources, and handling crises.

Farber’s work involves collaboration with a range of financial institutions and corporate clients, and in 2022 she will launch IMD’s Driving Innovative Finance for Impact open program in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Lombard Odier, and the World Economic Forum. She also plays an active part in the Swiss Lab for Sustainable Finance and Gender Lens Initiative for Switzerland research networks, and is an advisory board member at the Impact Finance Forum and an international academic advisory board member at the Católica Porto Business School in Portugal.

She also teaches courses on impact investing in IMD’s MBA and Executive MBA programs and leads the pioneering Discovery Expedition to Peru for EMBA participants, where they perform due diligence on Peruvian social enterprises for Swiss and local impact investors.

Farber was named Outstanding Case Writer in the 2022 Case Centre Awards for her study on pay-as-you-go technology company Angaza. She has also been recognized as winner of the EFMD Case Writing Competition 2022 in two categories: African Business for Angaza, and Responsible Leadership for Nia Impact Capital. She also won the responsible leadership category in the 2019 EFMD Case Writing Competition for her case on Philip Morris International's vision of a smoke-free future.

Prior to joining IMD in 2018, Farber was Professor and Chair of Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Social Inclusion at Universidad del Pacífico, Peru. In January 2022 she was appointed as the fifth Dean of the IMD EMBA program.

Selected publications

Defining and conceptualizing impact investing: Attractive nuisance or catalyst? (Journal of Business Ethics, 2022 forthcoming)

Gender and entrepreneurial propensity: Risk-taking and prosocial preferences in labour market entry decisions (Social Enterprise Journal, 2021)

The elea Way: A Learning Journey Toward Sustainable Impact (Routledge, 2020)

Will Covid-19 pave the way for more business responsibility? Evidence from Switzerland (Enterprise for Society Center, 2020)

In Alain Gibb's footsteps: Evaluating alternative approaches to sustainable enterprise education (International Journal of Management Education, 2016)

Recognition

Winner of the Case Centre Outstanding Case Writer Competition (2022)

Global Business School Network Going Beyond Award finalist (2021)

Winner of EFMD Case Writing Competition Awards (2019 and 2022)

Education

Bachelor's degree (Political Science)

University of Buenos Aires

MA (Economics)

University of Memphis

Benoît Leleux is recognized as a leading specialist in entrepreneurship, venture capital, private equity, and corporate venturing, particularly in emerging markets, and is the winner of numerous case writing awards in categories relating to these topics.

His recent research and case writing activities have focused on sustainability as a source of entrepreneurial opportunities, and how entrepreneurs incorporate values into their projects for greater impact, as well as novel forms of financing for early and late-stage opportunities, from search funds to affinity financing, and innovative business models for corporate venturing such as open accelerators, venture clienting and corporate VC partnering.

He is the author of Winning Sustainability Strategies: Finding Purpose, Driving Innovation and Executing Change, published in 2019, which serves as the conceptual framework for a five-week IMD online course, Winning Sustainability Strategies (WSS), which he directs. The program targets general managers and executives in charge of sustainability efforts, equipping them with the tools required to analyze their firms’ sustainability footprint, investigate their materiality matrix, design an impactful transformation gameplan, and follow it through with proper metrics and communication strategy. The program highlights how to build solid business cases for sustainability strategies as a prerequisite to gain traction and ultimately achieve impact. He is also Co-Director of the Foundations for Business Leadership (FBL) program.

Leleux has published several other books, including Private Equity 4.0: Reinventing Value Creation, Investing Private Capital in Emerging and Frontier Market SMEs[AD1] , Nurturing Science-Based Startups: An International Case Perspective, From Microfinance to Small Business Finance and A European Casebook on Entrepreneurship and New Ventures.

In addition, he is a world-leading case writer and has consistently been ranked among The Case Centre’s best-selling case authors in the world. He has authored more than 30 award-winning cases at the crossroads of entrepreneurship, venture financing, emerging markets, and family business, most recently “Lionheart Farms (Philippines) and the tree of life”, winner of the 2022 HEC Montreal CSR Challenge Case Writing Competition, “Brown-Forman: Nothing better in the market”, which won the 2021 EFMD Case Writing Award in the Family Business category, and “EcoAlf: Because there is no planet B”, winner of the prestigious 2020 John Molson MBA International Case Writing Competition.

He is also actively involved in numerous startups and venture capital and private equity funds as a board member, advisor or in other capacities.

Leleux has been at IMD since 1999, serving as Director of the MBA program from 2006 to 2008 and Director of Research and Development from 2004 to 2008. He was previously Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at INSEAD and Zubillaga Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Prior to his academic career, he was the head of corporate venturing for a leading agribusiness conglomerate in Southeast Asia.

Selected publications

Lionheart Farms (Philippines) and the tree of life (IMD, 2022)

Brown-Forman: Nothing better in the market (IMD, 2021)

Ecoalf: Because there is no planet B (IMD, 2020)

Winning Sustainability Strategies: Finding Purpose, Driving Innovation and Executing Change (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)

Private Equity 4.0: Reinventing Value Creation (John Wiley & Sons, 2015)

Investing Private Capital in Emerging and Frontier Market SMEs (IFC, 2009)

Nurturing Science-Based Startups: An International Case Perspective (Springer Verlag, 2008)

From Microfinance to Small Business Finance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

A European Casebook on Entrepreneurship and New Ventures (Prentice Hall, 1996).

Recognition

Winner of HEC Montreal CSR Challenge Case Writing Competition (2022)

Winner of EFMD Case Writing Competition Award (2021)

Named on Case Centre list of best-selling case authors (2015/16 to 2020/21)

John Molson MBA International Case Writing Competition winner (2020)

Education

MSc (Agricultural Engineering)

Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

MEd (Natural Sciences)

Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

MBA (International Management)

Virginia Tech

PhD (Corporate Finance and Venture Capital)

INSEAD

Mark Greeven draws on a decade of experience in research, teaching and consulting in China to explore how to organize innovation in a turbulent world. He was named on the prestigious Thinkers50 Radar list of 30 Next Generation Business Thinkers in 2017.

Greeven has collaborated with innovative Chinese companies (such as Ping An, Alibaba, Pinduoduo, Haier) and entrepreneurial multinationals (including Bayer, Evonik, Johnson & Johnson, Daimler, Nestlé, Richemont, Swiss Re) to explore novel ways of organizing, accelerating corporate innovation, enabling digital business transformation and designing business ecosystems to thrive on uncertainty. He is a fluent Chinese speaker.

He is the author of three books in this field.

His 2018 work Business Ecosystems in China: Alibaba and Competing Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi and LeEco, which has a cover endorsement by renowned venture capital investor Tim Draper, explores the application of a business ecosystem approach in the Chinese context, and offers insights and practical lessons on leading, creating and disrupting markets for corporate executives and professionals in global business.

This was followed in 2019 by Pioneers, Hidden Champions, Change Makers and Underdogs: Lessons from China’s Innovators, which provides an insider’s view of China’s under-the-radar, globally competitive innovators. The book has a cover testimonial from Henry Chesbrough, Adjunct Professor at University of California, Berkeley.

Most recently, his 2021 book The Future of Global Retail decodes China’s retail revolution to help global retail and innovation executives understand its implications for the rest of the world. The publication, co-authored with Winter Nie, Yunfei Fang and James Wang, has a cover endorsement from Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Executive Chair, the LEGO Brand Group.

At IMD, he is Director of the new Digital Ecosystem program that is being launched in partnership with Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. As Dean of IMD China, he is also responsible for the school’s activities and outreach in the country. Greeven is a founding member of the Business Ecosystem Alliance, a research associate at China’s National Institute for Innovation Management, the Center for China and Globalization and the Center for Global R&D and Innovation.

Findings from his research have been featured in international academic journals, such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, European Management Journal and Asia-Pacific Journal of Management, as well as in global media such as Forbes, the Financial Times, Wired, CNN, Bloomberg, Fast Company, Dialogue, LSE Business Review, The Business Times, Le Temps, Nikkei Asian Review, The Telegraph, South China Morning Post and China Daily.

Before joining IMD in 2019, he held faculty positions at Zhejiang University in China and the Rotterdam School of Management in The Netherlands.

Selected publications

The Future of Global Retail (Routledge, 2021)

Why some retailers are thriving amid disruption (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2020)

How autonomy creates resilience in the face of crisis (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2020)

In a crisis, ecosystem businesses have a competitive advantage (Harvard Business Review, 2020)

Pioneers, Hidden Champions, Change Makers and Underdogs: Lessons from China’s Innovators (MIT Press, 2019)

Understanding China’s next wave of innovation (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2019)

Business Ecosystems in China: Alibaba and Competing Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi and LeEco (Routledge, 2018)

Recognition

Case Centre Outstanding Case Teacher Award nominee (2018)

Named on Thinkers50 Radar list of management thinkers to watch in the coming year (2017)

Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China Personality of the Year (2017)

Education

MSc (Business Administration - International Strategic Management)

Erasmus University Rotterdam

PhD (Innovation Management)

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Leif Sjöblom is Professor of Financial Management at IMD.

His areas of special interest are:

• The restructuring of the telecommunications industry
• Performance measurement and shareholder value creation
• Micro-entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa

Prior to joining IMD, Professor Sjöblom worked in marketing, production and in the telecommunications industry. His teaching experience includes a range of courses for the telecommunications industry as well as general management courses in performance management and financial analysis. Since joining IMD he has directed the Program for Executive Development (PED) and the Building on Talent (BOT) program. He is also actively working with African entrepreneurs and universities to develop their capabilities.

Leif Sjöblom has a PhD in business and MS in statistics from Stanford University, a MBA from Helsinki School of Economics and a BSc in electrical engineering. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Fulbright fellow.