Page 29 - VIA Broschüre

MADELEINE

RAUCH

Nearly six years ago, I first set foot on the unnecessary detours, and a lot of headaches
Heilbronn campus to meet my cohort and that turned out to be integral parts of the DISSERTATION TOPIC
the professors and administrators who ran learning process, perhaps best described as Heuristics and strategic
the program. It seems a lifetime ago. As I “push and get pushed,” a philosophy I decision-making: An empirical
investigation from different
reflect on my four years in the DCR program, believe both of my supervisors ascribed to. theoretical perspectives
three topics come to mind: academic free-
dom, friendship, and a question I still struggle From Professor Martin Eisend, one of many PERIOD OF STAY
to answer, What are dynamic capabilities? valuable pieces of advice has stuck with me: 04/2014 – 09/2017
“See the walls of this university as a starting CURRENT POSITION
An early memory is of a methods class on point.” He was enforcing the idea that aca- Assistant Professor of Strategy
qualitative research taught by Professor demic discourse takes place internationally, and Innovation at Copenhagen
Jochen Koch – who later on became my across universities, across continents – Business School (CBS) |
Visiting Scholar
supervisor. The course not only challenged often at conferences and workshops and at Stanford University
my understanding of the world in terms in conversation. Another aspect that can’t
of “how I see the world” but also raised be stressed often enough is the financial
questions of belonging and anxiety about resources available to us as PhD students,
whether I was made of the right material enabling many of us to travel to numerous
to master a PhD, live up to the expectations conferences and workshops. This wouldn’t
set by the program, or even remotely have been possible without the generous
understand this “non-trivial machine” support by the foundation, or as some
that we had been discussing on too warm fondly say, “Uncle Dieter.”
an afternoon in Frankfurt (Oder) for hours.
Now that the first cohorts have successfully
While I soon learned that each supervisor “left the wings of their supervisors” and
had their own philosophy of leadership, one found their independence, both in academia
aspect I valued in particular about having and professional life, I’m grateful for
Jochen and Theo as my co-advisors is what everything – supportive faculty, colleagues
I would describe as “academic freedom,” who became close friends and co-authors,
that is the liberty to pursue and discuss and all the space to ask questions, even
knowledge and research without restrictions seemingly trivial ones. I’m eager to see how
and interference. Of course, this also meant the DCR program will reinforce its network
occasionally running up against walls, in the years to come.
27