Directors

Prof. Dr. Henner Gimpel holds the Chair of Digital Management and is head of the Digital Business Management course at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hohenheim. He is a member of the Project Group Business & Information Systems Engineering of Fraunhofer FIT, the Research Center Finance & Information Management, and the University of Augsburg. He is the academic director of the Digital Leadership Academy.

The main focus of his work is the analysis and design of digitization. He deals with socio-technical information systems in which people, information and digital technologies interact with each other. The goals here are, on the one hand, the human-centered and economically target-oriented development and use of information systems and, on the other hand, the analysis of individual acceptance and handling of digital technologies in the financial sector, the health sector and the high-tech industry. Professor Gimpel focuses on the following topics:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM), in particular multi-channel customer interaction and integration in business processes, customer satisfaction and customer experience management, sustainability in CRM, social CRM, customer data analysis, data protection and data evaluation.
• Digital Life, especially integration of private and business information systems, digitization of the individual, individual information systems, social media, social computing, social collaboration, digital workplace, technostress and information overload, self-tracking, psychologically healthy handling of digital technologies, e-health and telemedicine.
• Management in the digital age, in particular digital transformation of established companies, process digitization, innovation management, agile innovation and open innovation, e-commerce, e-business, electronic markets, inter-company networking in ecosystems, (big) data analytics and data-based business models, collective intelligence and decision-making.

In his research, Professor Gimpel primarily uses theoretically based quantitative empirical studies (laboratory and field experiments, structured surveys, analysis of secondary data using statistical and data mining methods) and links these with design oriented and conceptional theoretical approaches. Professor Gimpel gained international research experience during two research stays at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York and a research stay at the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations in Montréal. Professor Gimpel and his colleagues are working, at home and abroad, on numerous projects, some of them interdisciplinary, in line with the topics outlined above. Current projects include, for example, the following:

• The Influence of Information and Communication Technologies on the Collective Intelligence of Human Groups, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Hospital 4.0: Lean digitally-supported logistics processes in hospitals, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
• PräDiTec: Prevention for safe and healthy working with digital technologies, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
• Stadtquartier 2050, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)
• InsurTec Hub Munich, as part of the Digital Hub Initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)
• Inline production and quality control in the milling of metallic and CFK products (MAI CC4 ILQ 2020) as part of Campus Carbon 4.0, funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and Technology (StMWi)

Professor Gimpel supports numerous companies in various industries in the development of innovative solutions for individual questions and challenges. Thematically, these practical projects are in the field of information systems, management engineering and digital transformation, often based on the topics outlined above. Professor Gimpel also gained practical experience as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company for five years. He has supported companies primarily in the healthcare, automotive, energy and financial sectors with a focus on information technology, marketing and strategy. Some of the companies Professor Gimpel has worked with in recent years: BMW, Carl Zeiss, Deutsche Bank, Munich Airport, IBM, Microsoft, NORD/LB, PwC, Siemens and the Versicherungskammer Bayern.

Further information on practical cooperations

In his teaching, Professor Gimpel deals with business administration with a focus on sustainable management in the digital age, information systems and digitization. In these areas he offers lectures, exercises, (project) seminars and the supervision of individual research and dissertations for Bachelor and Master students and doctoral candidates. The didactic preparation is based on the theoretical model of the cognitive apprenticeship. In a balanced ratio of instructive and permissive teaching and learning opportunities, students can acquire specialist, methodological and personnel skills. In addition to the courses offered at the University of Augsburg, Professor Gimpel is a lecturer at the Bavarian Elite Academy and the Fraunhofer Academy.

Further information on courses and funding opportunities for students