VIVA

RASHID SADEGHIAN DEHKORDI

Rashid successfully defended his PhD thesis titled "Smart energy: Challenges of newness - Legitimacy and business models in the emerging electric commercial vehicle ecosystem" on June 25, 2024 at the University of Oulu, Finland.

The examination committee: Taina Eriksson, University of Turku (opponent) and Sami Saarenketo, LUT University.

Supervisory team: Petri Ahokangas (University of Oulu), Natasha Evers (Halmstad University), Seppo Yrjola (NOKIA)

Rashid explores in his thesis how firms seek legitimacy with their business models (BMs) in emerging ecosystems. He adopts BM as a tool for analyzing the business ecosystem and addressing its legitimacy challenges. This approach facilitates understanding of how these BMs shape the broader ecosystem, thereby offering a novel view of legitimacy within the ecosystem. Rashid employs an exploratory qualitative case study method, focusing on the Electric Commercial Vehicle ecosystem in Finland and Sweden. This ecosystem, beng at a critical phase of its evolution, has been a relevant subject to study the challenges of seeking legitimacy in an emerging business context.

Rashid's research contributes to the academic understanding of emerging ecosystems and the role of BMs within them. It emphasizes the critical role of BMs in seeking legitimacy within the emerging ecosystem, highlighting that firms' actions and strategic choices directly shape their legitimacy. He proposes the importance of designing alternative BMs, considering various ecosystem facets and stakeholder groups, to enhance firms’ legitimacy in the ecosystem. In addition, his research demonstrates that the legitimacy of firms within emerging ecosystems is deeply entwined with the mutual acceptance of their business models by other ecosystem actors. It also emphasizes the role of collective actions and collaborative efforts among various ecosystem participants in seeking legitimacy in the emerging ecosystem.

Policy impact

Based on his research, Rashid developed a White Paper on "Electrifying the future of road transport: A proposal for heavy-duty electric trucks" that he submitted to the European Commission 'Fit for Future Platform'.

Rashid received his MSc in Electrical (Power Systems) Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran and BSc in Electrical (Power) Engineering from the Isfahan University of Technology, Iran.

Rashid's PhD was part of the Marie S. Curie H2020 ETN project, LNETN, cordinated by Romeo V. Turcan.

FELIX HONECKER

Felix successfully defended his PhD thesis titled "Innovating for and legitimating fintech: An ethnographic study of European blockchain communities" on April 18, 2024 at the University of Glasgow, UK.

The examination committee: Jan Recker, University of Hamburg (external) and Jan Breitsohl, University of Glasgow (internal).

Supervisory team: Dominic Chalmers (University of Glasgow), Minna Pikkarainen (University of Oulu), Nicola Anderson (FinTech Scotland)

In his thesis, Felix focussed on a central – yet underexplored – mechanism involved in converting technology hype into perceptions of legitimacy: technology evangelism. More specifically, this thesis develops an explanation for how hype inspires individuals and groups to evangelise on behalf of an emerging industry, and through which behaviours and activities these individuals in turn can contribute to a broader perception of legitimacy for the technology by which it is enabled.

It is an ethnogrpahic study in which Felix closely engaged and interacted with community members to find out how hype had influenced their decision to evangelise for the technology. Based on his findings, he proposes a multi-level model of hype-driven technology legitimation that consists of three main sequences: (1) a judgement change phase in which, driven by hype, individual evaluators adjust their personal assessment of a technology, (2) an evangelism phase in which, depending on the motivation for their judgement change, individuals engage in ‘missionary work’ to prompt others to change their judgements too, and (3) a judgement validation phase in which evangelist behaviours produce effects on the macro-level perception of technology legitimacy as expressed by judgement validation institutions.

Policy impact

Based on his research, Felix developed a White Paper on "Inspiring Grassroots Support for the Adoption of Socially Productive Fintech Solutions" that he submitted to the European Commission 'Fit for Future Platform'.

Felix received his MSc in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology from Strathclyde Business School, Scotland and his BA in Business Studies from the Aalen University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Felix also brought into the PhD journey his business and management experience in organisational, market and strategy development.

Felix's PhD was part of the Marie S. Curie H2020 ETN project, LNETN, cordinated by Romeo V. Turcan.

Demet Schaefler

Demet successfully defended her PhD thesis titled "Exploring Authentic Leadership in organizations: A case of public hospitals in Switzerland" on September 8, 2022 at the University of Gloucestershire, UK.

The examination committee: Dr Kenneth Jørgensen, Professor, Malmo University, Sweden (external) and Dr David Dawson, Reader, University of Gloucestershire, UK (internal).

Supervised by: Romeo V. Turcan

Demet explored how Authentic Leadership manifests within executive boards of Swiss public-sector hospitals. Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology was adopted to dscover major concerns executive board leaders in Swiss public-sector hospitals face and how they resolve them. The research led to the emergence of Power Channeling that is " an authentic process of social impact to form reciprocal collaborations, which maximizes the engagement of executive leaders, toward the achievement of a goal". The emergent substantive theory of Power Channeling reveals new and original knowledge about Authentic Leadership mechanisms and enhances the discourse on Authentic Leadership.

Demet is a CEO at the Pflegeheim Fuhr, Zürich, Schweiz. She worked as a director of a public hospital in Switzerland, and held different leadership positions in the Swiss Leading Private Hospitals Group Hirslanden and, as CEO, in an IT company. She also holds an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma from University of Gloucestershire and BSc in Economic Science from Bern in Switzerland.

Matthias Zach

Matthias successfully defended his PhD thesis titled "Exploring the emergence and shifting of new and radical product concepts in the context of In-vitro Diagnostics industry" on June 10, 2020 at University of Gloucestershire, UK.

The examination committee: Professor Nikolaos Tzokas of Mohammad Bin Salman College of Business & Entrepreneurship, Saudi Arabia (external) and Dr Phillipa Ward of University of Gloucestershire (internal).

Supervised by: Romeo V. Turcan and Carsten Bartsch

Matthias explores how new radical product concepts emerge under uncertainty in the context of the In-vitro Diagnostics (IVD) industry. Specifically, he studies how new product concepts that build on fundamentally new technology are elaborated, defined and modified in an early development stage within a globally operating corporation. In his theory building thesis, Matthias develops a theory of Scoping to explain the emergence of new product concepts under uncertainty. This thesis sheds light on the dynamics of new, radical product development in complex market and corporate environments, contributing to our understanding of constant adaptation processes - concept shifts - during early development phases.

Matthias is an Innovation Manager, working in the medical device industry. In the past years, Matthias held various positions in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. His research interest is Innovation and R&D Management particularly in the context of highly regulated industries. He also holds a Master in European Business from the ESCP Europe Business School and a diploma in pharmaceutical engineering.

Carsten Wehrmann

Carsten successfully defended his DBA thesis titled "Exploring Internationalisation Effects on Firm Performance: Quantitative Empirical Study among German, Swiss and Austrian Listed Companies" on September 12, 2018 at University of Gloucestershire, UK.

The examination committee: Emeritus Professor Hamid Moini of University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (external) and Dr Xiaoling Hu of University of Goucestershire (internal).

Supervised by: Romeo V. Turcan (main) and Elke Pioch (second)

In his thesis, Carsten studied the relationship between internationalization and firm performance. Specifically, he explored the relevance of internationalization in the context of other factors of firm growth as well as additional effects of internationalization in the context of M&A, R&D, intangible assets and capital structure neglected in prior firm growth and internationalization research. His thesis combines several distinct theoretical lenses and is based exclusively on financial data and financial analysis research. Carsten employed advanced methods of financial analysis in combination with advanced statistical analysis methods to explore the effects of internationalization on firm performance.

Carsten is the General Manger International and member of the Executive Board at Tchibo GmbH in Hamburg. Before his assignment at Tchibo, Carsten was working 19 years for Lindt & Sprüngli. During this period, he worked as Vice President Marketing, Country Manager and CEO in 10 different Countries in North America and Europe. Carsten is married and has two teenage daughters.