About Me

Only your course has meaning. Going somewhere matters, not getting somewhere; because you get nowhere apart from death.– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Since 2002 I am doing sustainability research for a living. My research focuses on sustainability science, degrowth, sustainable business models, organizational change and open innovation, industrial ecology, civil society involvement, social systems theory and studies on the next society.

After finishing my studies in Management and Economics, earning myself a University degree (Diplom-Kaufmann) at the Universität Stuttgart in Germany, I started a doctoral project at my alma mater in the field of regional sustainability. Further post-doctoral positions included the Graduate School for advanced Manufacturing Engineering (GSaME) in Stuttgart and the European Center for Sustainability Research (ECS) at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Between 2009 and 2011 my main focus was on project work within civil society organisations at Dialogik gGmbH with Ortwin Renn. During that time I was also a guest lecturer at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

From 2014 to 2018 I was Professor for Critical Management & Sustainable Development at Karlshochschule International University in Karlsruhe. Currently I am Professor for International Management & Sustainability at the International School of Management (ISM) in Stuttgart. According to AACSB standards, I am classified as a scholarly academic at ISM.

I collaborate with the Institute of Ecological Economy Research in Berlin (IÖW – Institut für Ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung), the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam (IASS), and Zukunftsinstitut in Frankfurt and Wien. I am also available as a speaker on Sustainability, the digital economy, and globalization issues.

Regarding my editorial experience, I am a member of the editorial boards for the International Journal of Systems and Society as well as for Organization & Environment. As a co-editor I was responsible for special issues on ‘The Technology of Innovation’ in the International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, on ‘Sustainability of Innovation, Innovation of Sustainability’ in the World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, as well as on ‘Autopoiesis, Systems Thinking and Systemic Practice: The Contribution of Francisco Varela’ in Systems Research and Behavioral Science. I also co-edited a monograph on ‘Civil Society for Sustainability’ with Europäischer Hochschulverlag. Currently I co-edit a special issue for Organization (SAGE) on Theoretical Perspectives on Organizations and Organizing in a Post-Growth Era with a deadline in May 2019.

Outside of academia, I am a member of the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) and since 2004 hold a mandate in the Stuttgart Regional Assembly. Since 2019 I was elected as the chairman of the supervisory board of Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart (Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation). As a part of civil society, I am an honorary director of the elobau foundation, dedicated to promote and support initiatives within sustainability, education and inclusion/immigration.

Short bio (English) André Reichel is Professor for International Management and Sustainability at the International School of Management (ISM), Germany. He has a university degree in management and a doctoral degree in economics and social sciences from Universität Stuttgart, Germany. Before his tenure at ISM he was Professor for Critical Management & Sustainable Development at Karlshochschule International University, Research Fellow at Zeppelin University and Guest Lecturer at the Environmental Change Institute at University of Oxford. Additionally he serves as honorary director of elobau foundation in Leutkirch, Germany and chairman of the supervisory board of Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart (Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation). His research focuses on sustainability and digital business, notions of postgrowth and degrowth from a business and civil society perspective, as well as building a new management theory based on the ‘Laws of Form’ by George Spencer Brown.

Short bio (Deutsch) André Reichel ist Professor für International Management & Sustainability an der International School of Management (ISM). Er ist Diplom-Kaufmann und hat an der Universität Stuttgart in Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften promoviert. Vor seiner Tätigkeit an der ISM war er Professor an der Karlshochschule International University, Research Fellow an der Zeppelin Universität und Gastdozent am Environmental Change Institute der University of Oxford. Er ist zudem ehrenamtlicher Vorstand der elobau-Stiftung in Leutkirch im Allgäu und Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender der Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart (WRS GmbH). Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen im Bereich einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, den betriebswirtschaftlichen Implikationen einer Postwachstumsökonomie, der Verschmelzung von Nachhaltigkeit und Digitalisierung sowie einer systemtheoretischen Betrachtung gesellschaftlicher Transformationsprozesse.

Portrait photo