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Chris­toph Grimpe

Head of Department

Subjects
Innovation Entrepreneurship Strategy

Primary research areas

In­nov­a­tion strategy
I ex­plore how firms man­age in­nov­a­tion stra­tegic­ally, in­clud­ing open in­nov­a­tion mod­els, links between in­dustry and sci­ence, and ap­proaches to pro­tect­ing and lever­aging in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty.
Stra­tegic hu­man cap­it­al
I study the role of hu­man cap­it­al in firm strategy, ana­lyz­ing how the skills of sci­ent­ists, in­vent­ors, and oth­er ex­perts com­ple­ment or­gan­iz­a­tion­al re­sources to drive value cre­ation.
Stake­hold­er strategy
I in­vest­ig­ate how firms and stake­hold­ers, in­clud­ing ad­vo­cacy groups, can learn from one an­oth­er, in­nov­ate to­geth­er, and tackle grand chal­lenges through stra­tegic col­lab­or­a­tion.
Mer­gers and ac­quis­i­tions
I ex­am­ine how firms use mer­gers and ac­quis­i­tions to build com­pet­it­ive ad­vant­age, fo­cus­ing on the role of know­ledge and tech­no­logy in shap­ing out­comes.

I study how firms, in­di­vidu­als, and part­ner­ships drive in­nov­a­tion and im­pact.

I am a Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Department of Strategy and Innovation at CBS. Prior to joining CBS in 2010, I worked as a Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim (Germany). I hold a PhD from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management – in Vallendar (Germany) and master degrees in management and political sciences. My research has been published in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Strategy Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Research Policy, as well as in Nature Biotechnology. I am affiliated with DRUID - the Danish Research Unit on Industrial Dynamics and with the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW). At CBS, I serve as the study director of the MSc program “Management of Innovation and Business Development”. Moreover, I have been appointed as a council member of the Independent Research Fund Denmark. 

Publications

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December 2025

The Fine Print of Collaboration

How Contractual Provisions Govern IP and Disclosure in Publicly Funded Research

Haakon Thue Lie

Knut Jørgen Egelie

Chri­stoph Grim­pe, Head of Department

Roger Sørheim
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October 2025

Sports as a Context in Strategy and Innovation Research

Promises, Challenges, and Broader Implications

Annamaria Conti

Chri­stoph Grim­pe, Head of Department

Elisa Operti

Jan-Michael Ross
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25 August 2025

Du skal ikke regne med, at kaffen bliver billigere

Chri­stoph Grim­pe, Head of Department

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Outside activities

Uni­ver­sity of Zurich , 2010 -

Ex­ec­ut­ive edu­ca­tion

In­de­pend­ent Re­search Fund Den­mark , 2025 -

Coun­cil mem­ber

ZEW - Leib­n­iz Centre for European Eco­nom­ic Re­search, Man­nheim , 2010 -

Re­search as­so­ci­ate

De­loitte, Copen­ha­gen , 2021 -

Jury mem­ber of the com­pet­i­tion “Den­mark’s Best Man­aged Com­pan­ies”

Pat­ent­Plus, Ber­lin , 2021 -

Mem­ber of the Ad­vis­ory Board