International Advisory Board

Head of International Advisory Board

Dr. Axel Bialek is Professor for General Management with a particular focus on International Human Resources and Business Development at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS), Germany. He is also Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. Professor Bialek relies on 20 years of experience in medium-sized companies as well as in globally operating corporate groups in the segments of industrial services, logistics and consumer goods. His various management positions comprised building-up and consolidation of enterprises and brands in international markets, organizational and process development, performance management, business development and change management, improvement of sales organizations and processes, integration of business units, re-organization and programme management. Since 2016, he has been contributing his managerial expertise on leadership, performance management and organisational effectiveness to the faculty’s international programmes. Previously, Dr. Bialek was also a visiting lecturer at the Universities of Applied Sciences in Münster and in Bremen.

Dr. Ilan Alon (Ph.D., Kent State University, USA) is Professor of Strategy and International Marketing at the University of Agder. Prior to that he also had research positions in Harvard University, Georgetown University (USA) and University of International Business and Economics (China). Alon is a researcher in the field of international business with a focus on internationalization, modes of entry, political risk, cultural intelligence and emerging markets. Ilan Alon's publications have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Management International Review, International Business Review, Journal of International Marketing, International Marketing Review and others.  His books were published by Palgrave, Routledge, McGraw-Hill among other imprints. In addition to being a professor, Alon is the Head of International Affairs for the School of Business and Law at the University of Agder, and leader of the Emerging Markets research group.  He is also Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Emerging Markets and the European Journal of International Management. Ilan Alon has worked with government bodies, non-profit organizations, multinational companies and international associations on various projects ranging from capacity development at the macro level to international business development at the firm or project level. Clients include USAID, illy, Darden, Disney, and others. Ilan Alon has been a frequent speaker on various international networks including National Public Radio (USA), Voice of America (USA), RTV (Russia), Dagens Næringsliv (Norway).

Dr. Diederich Bakker studied Business Administration, majoring in International Management, and holds a PhD in Marketing. His professional background lies in marketing communications and market research. Dr. Bakker has worked in the USA, Australia, Germany, France and the Netherlands. His personal research interests focus on international business, SMEs, market entry strategies, private label branding and Asian branding strategies. Dr. Bakker teaches marketing at the International Business School, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, where he has worked since 2002. He is an elected leadership member of the European Association for International Education (EAIE) and sits on the Board of Directors of NIBS, the Network of International Business Schools. In 2016, he was appointed Professor of International Business at Hanze UAS.

Stephanie Baumgarten (Ph.D.) is a professor of Entrepreneurship and Corporate Finance at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Germany. In this role, Stephanie supports students and local individuals in defining business concepts, acting on valuable ideas, and launching new businesses. Her research interests include international entrepreneurship, digital business models, and entrepreneurial financial management. Stephanie benefits from a successful career as an entrepreneur and business executive. Before assuming the professorship, Stephanie served as Head of International Business and Director Business Development/M&A at leading German companies where she implemented international growth strategies together with her teams. Stephanie started her professional career in Investment Banking after studying Business Administration in the US and Germany.

Dr. Secil Bayraktar is an Associate Professor of Management at Toulouse Business School, France. She has a Ph.D. in Management, with a particular focus on organizational behavior. Her research interests broadly include cross-cultural management, leadership, organizational change, and organizational climate. She works in internationally recognized projects such as the GLOBE Project and HR Climates Project. Her research has been published in international journals such as Journal of World Business, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of International Management, Organizational Dynamics, Management Decision, and Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. She also works closely with business managers, providing consultancy and executive trainings to numerous companies on innovation, organizational culture, global leadership, cross cultural management, and leading change.

Dr. Prin Boonkanit is a Professional Engineer (PE.) and the member of the Thailand Council of Engineering. He is currently Vice President of Research and Innovation Development and Acting Director of Digital Interdisciplinary and Robotics Institute (DIRI), Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon, Thailand. He holds a Ph.D. degree in major of Industrial Engineering from the King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thailand, and a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Northern Philippines, Republic of the Philippines. His research areas revolve around industrial product design, simulation, automation, decision support system, eco-design, circular economy, and industrial business development strategy. Before becoming a full-time academic, he had worked in the industry for a long time as a professional engineering consultant for many automobile, electrical, and electronics companies. He was also a chief technology officer at a private company for a period.

Dr. Lourdes Casanova is currently a Senior Lecturer, and the Director of the Emerging Markets Institute at Johnson School of Management, Cornell University. She was formerly at INSEAD, specializing in international business with a focus on emerging markets multinationals. She was awarded in 2014 and 2015 as one of the 50 most influential Iberoamerican intellectuals by Esglobal. She is a Faculty Fellow at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. She has been a Fulbright Scholar with a Master's degree from the University of Southern California and a PhD from the University of Barcelona. She has had visiting professorships at Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley: Judge Business School, University of Cambridge and the Latin American Centre, University of Oxford; University of Zurich, and Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. She was a consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank. Dr. Casanova has taught, and directed executive programs at INSEAD for senior managers including Telefónica, BBVA and Cemex and Brazilian Confederation of Industries. She is a member of the Latin America Global Agenda Council and the Competitiveness in Latin America taskforce of the World Economic Forum, the B20 Task Force on ICT and Innovation in G20 summit, Los Cabos (2012). She is responsible at INSEAD of Goldman Sachs 10,000 women initiative. Dr. Casanova is a board member of Boyce Tompson Institute, start-up Documenta, a founding Board Member of the Societé des Amis du Chateau de Fontainebleau and a member of the Advisory Council of the Tompkins Public Library. She is also a founding board member Emerging Multinationals Research Network and co-founder of the Ithaca Hub of Global Shapers.

Prof. Hugh Dang, Senior Adviser of Ottawa United Learning Academy and co- managing editor of Transnational Corporations Review. Hugh graduated from the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University in Canada and the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in China. Hugh worked as a policy specialist in both the Chinese local and central governments for over ten years. During his visiting studies in the United States, Hugh was involved with China-related policy issues. His working papers and publications in English include Promise, Problems and Prospects: Agri-Biotech Governance in China, India and Japan. China Agricultural Economic Review, Issue 2, 2017.  “China’s Agri-Biotech Policies, Regulations and Institutions (AgBioForum, 2015); “India’s Agri-Biotech Policies, Regulations and Institutions (working paper, 2013); “Chinese Experience: Policy Reforms for Agribusiness Development” (FAO-IAAE Workshop, Beijing 2009); “Assessing the Effect of NAFTA on Canada/US Agricultural Trade” (IDEAS, 2003); and “Development: China’s Access to WTO” (Carleton, 2001). Hugh also jointly edited and/or translated a number of publications, including “Special Issue on FDI China” (CIJ, 2011); ”Special Issue on Elinor Ostrom” (TNCR/OULA, 2010); “The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration” (trans. from Vincent Ostrom, Beijing Poly-Tech University Press, 1998); and Critical Biography of Karl Marx in His Youth”(Hunan Publishing House, 1990). Hugh’s current interests are related to Asia-Pacific policy studies and international agri-biotech policy; globalization and development as well as transnational corporations and investment issues.

Dr. Jérôme Dumetz has extensive experience as a cross-cultural researcher on the Eastern European management practices. He holds a diploma in international trade from ISEA in Paris, a bachelor’s degree with a focus on cross-cultural conflict resolution from Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Gröningen, a master’s degree in Eastern European business from the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics; and a PhD from the Plekhanov University. He used to be a member of the Faculty of Business at the Plekhanov University, and has been the international programs coordinator at the Unicorn College in Prague, Czechia since 2009. He is also an independent cross-cultural management facilitator and consultant. Dr. Dumetz has had many professional positions in various cities globally such as San Francisco, Saint Petersburg, Paris, Moscow, Montréal and Prague. He has organized cross-cultural trainings for major global corporations such as Microsoft, Enel, Total, SuperJet International, Leroy-Merlin, NaDom, Auchan, and Ozon. In addition, he has been delivering cross-cultural managerial coaching sessions for managers at J.P. Morgan, PepsiCo, Danone, Alcoa, Servier, British Petroleum and others. Dr. Jérôme Dumetz has been an invited speaker at events organized by the American Chamber of Commerce, the European Association of Businesses, and the Franco-Russian and Franco-Czech Chambers of Commerce. His articles have appeared in academic publications as well as periodicals such as the Moscow Times, the Moscow News, Passport, and the RBCC Bulletin. He is the co-author of the first textbook in Russian on cross-cultural marketing. He is also the editor and co-author of a cross-cultural management textbook with renowned management specialists such as Fons Trompenaars, Ed Schein, Meredith Belbin, Dean Foster or Stephen Covey. He is fluent in French and English, and has a strong working knowledge of Russian, as well as some Spanish and Czech. He regularly teaches at the Plekhanov Academy and St Petersburg State University (Russia), ESSEC and ESCE (France), FH Steyr (Austria), VŠE and Unicorn College (Czech Republic), Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), Christ University (India), RMUTP (Thailand) or FH Würzburg (Germany).

Dr. Jorge F. S. Gomes is a Professor at the Lisbon School of Economics and Management (ISEG), the University of Lisbon where he teaches HRM, OB, Leadership, and Strategic Management. He is also the Director of the International Program of Doctor of Business Administration Studies, and of the Fast-Track Executive Programme. Previously, he conducted research and/or taught at ICESI (Colombia, 2015), ISCTE/IUL (Portugal, 2008-2010), the University of Canterbury (New Zealand, 2010 and 2019), ISPA (Portugal, 2001-2008), and the University of Twente (the Netherland, 2001-2003). He is a full member of Advance/ISEG, and has published more than 100 scientific papers and books, both national and international as an active researcher in the HRM area. He has been invited speaker in several universities in Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Russia, amongst others. He also works as a consultant and professional trainer in the HRM and OB areas. He received his BSc in Social and Organisational Psychology, from ISPA, Lisbon; MSc in Statistics and Information Systems Management, from ISEGI-Lisbon Nova University, and PhD in Business Administration from the Manchester Business School, Manchester.

Dr. Alfredo Jiménez is a Professor at KEDGE Business School in Bordeaux, France. He has a Master degree in Business Economics Research and a PhD in Business Management. Previously he was Associate Professor at the University of Burgos in Spain. His research interests are focused on the process and determinants of success in the internationalization strategy of firms. His current lines of research include the impact of institutional variables, political risk, cultural and psychic distance and corruption on foreign direct investments and entrepreneurship. He is also working on a research line devoted to virtual team and multi-cultural team management and dynamics. He has published several papers in international journals.

As Head of Corporate Development of Fränkische Industrial Pipes, a German Mittelstand’s company and hidden champion in the automotive industry, he is primarily responsible for internationalization projects in a greenfield as well as an M&A-context. Dr. Martin Kaspar has completed his PhD at Durham University on the role of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPA); he is a regular speaker/panelist at UNCTAD, ILO, AIM, national IPAs and Chamber of Commerce events, as well as the WEF E15 project group on FDI. He has recently been invited to the Commentary Group on Investment Facilitation (convened by die, ITC and WEF) and had attended several Ditchley meetings. He has a bi-monthly column in fdi Intelligence (an FDI related magazine of the FT group) and is a regular contributor to Investment Monitor (New Statesman Group), IAP-UNIDO and other publications. Being active at the intersection of operational international business and foreign direct investment as well as academia he is also a regular speaker in a university setting (Durham, George Washington, THWS, York) as well as in giving lectures series on political economy, business plans and FDI.

Prof. Dr. Manfred Kiesel is Professor for International Management at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS). As former Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, and later as Vice President (from 2005 to 2011) for Internationalisation and Postgraduate Education at THWS, he built up various international programs. He has published on Strategic Management and International Project Management. As a guest lecturer, he has been teaching in i.a. Finland, Taiwan, India, Thailand, USA, Jordan and Russia. Before moving to academia Professor Kiesel was in charge of sales controlling for Mercedes Benz Austria and Switzerland and later for marketing planning of the German Mercedes Benz Organisation.

Dr. Rattanavalee Maisak holds a BBA in Marketing; an MSc and, a doctoral degree (DIT) both in Information Technology. She is currently Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon, Thailand. She is also Head of the Knowledge Management Department. She has taught web programming, JAVA application, and management information systems. Her research interests focus on web accessibility, the Internet of Things (IoT), and business analytics. Her latest research is funded by the Thai government. The project involves the IoT and STEM education in higher education.

Prof. Dr. Simon Möhringer is professor for Industrial Engineering with a particular focus on International Technical Sales Management, Innovation Engineering and Energy Management at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Mosbach, Campus Bad Mergentheim (DHBW), Germany. He is also academic head of the International Office for the technological fields of study.
Professor Möhringer relies on many years of international industrial experience, finally as managing director of a medium-sized enterprise in mechanical and plant engineering.
Since 2002, he has been course director for Industrial Engineering first at Campus Mosbach and later at Campus Bad Mergentheim and is active in fostering the international exchange programs.

Dr. Turgut Özkan is Rector of Dogus University in Istanbul, Turkey. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Uludag University and PhD from Istanbul University. He earlier worked at Haliç, and Beykent Universities by also having various administrative positions in the capacity of head of department, director of institute of social sciences as well as member of various national and international institutions, committees, and editorial boards. He earned his associate professorship in 2008 and professorship in 2013 in finance and financial economics. Before becoming a full-time academic, he had worked in industry for a long time as an auditor, internal audit manager, and chairman of audit committees at private banks and insurance companies, and also financial and administrative affairs group manager and assistant general manager in a leasing company. He has widely published and been regularly consulted by the media on finance, business and related areas.

Dr. Saginova is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Logistics at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. She is author of over 100 research papers and books on marketing, entrepreneurship and education management. She is also a certified tutor of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, member of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC) and the Russian Marketing Guild. Professor Saginova teaches courses in Cross-cultural Marketing, Entrepreneurship and International Business in Russia, USA, Germany, Finland and other countries. She has participated in several international research projects, among which “Hidden champions in CEE and Turkey”.

Dr. Wimboh Santoso is the Chairman of the Indonesia Financial Services Authority. He started his career as a banking supervisor at Bank Indonesia. He worked as Director of Banking Research and Regulation at Bank Indonesia between 2010 and 2012. Later, he was appointed as Head of Bank Indonesia Representative in New York, before joining the International Monetary Fund to take an executive director’s seat there. Since 2015, Professor Santoso has been the President Commissioner at PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk, and in 2016, he also became Director of the Indonesian Banking Development Institute. Professor Santoso was a member of Bank Indonesia delegation for a G20 meeting in 2010, and in the same year he also represented the Central Bank at the Financial Stability Board and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Then in 2014, he co-chaired the Asean Banking Integration Framework. He has also been teaching at leading universities in Indonesia for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. His publications include Effective Financial System Stability Framework (2007), the Impact of Global Liquidity on Financial Landscapes and Risk in the ASEAN-5 Countries (2007), Risk Profile of Households and the Impact on Financial Stability (2009) among many others. Professor Santoso has an MBA from the University of Illinois (1993), and a PhD in Financial Economics from Loughborough University (1999).

Dr.Gumporn Supasettaysa is a Director of International affairs and German-Thai accreditation (Akkreditierung) program manager at Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon(RMUTP), Thailand.
His education background is from Université Paris-Dauphine - PSL, Paris, France, in the Marketing and International business fields. His research focuses on Service marketing, Healthcare service quality, and the Medical tourism industry.
He regularly consults various healthcare institutes on different patient personalities that affect patient satisfaction and Future intention.
Since 2008, he has taught at various levels from the undergraduate level to executives in several universities in Europe, North America, and Asia.
He was a 2010 ASEM-DUO fellow in Germany and was a Fulbright scholar in 2012-2013. He also served as a secretary of the Fulbright Thailand association.

Dr. Wlamir Xavier is Professor of International Business & Finance at Biola University. His research focuses on the business group phenomenon in emerging countries and non-marketing strategies. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Paris Dauphine, the Wharton School, and the Copenhagen Business School. Wlamir's academic work has been recognized on several occasions including the "Emerald Publishing Award for Best Paper on Emerging Markets" in the European International Business Academy Conference – EIBA/2012 and “Best Thematic Paper Award" in the AIB-SE/2012. His research has been published in outlets such as the Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Emerging Markets, Corporate Governance, and EIBAzine.