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Mi­chael Mol

Professor

Subjects
Management Strategy Outsourcing Social responsibility Multinational company Africa

Primary research areas

Out­sourcing and off­shor­ing
I am in­ter­ested in firm de­cisions to out­source or off­shore activ­it­ies and the con­sequences this has, in­clud­ing for cor­por­ate so­cial respons­ibility.
Man­age­ment in­nov­a­tion
I work on how or­gan­iz­a­tions cre­ate and im­ple­ment new man­age­ment prac­tices (in­clud­ing or­gan­iz­a­tion­al struc­tures, pro­cesses and man­age­ment tech­niques).
Geo­pol­it­ics
My work in­vest­ig­ates how firms can cre­ate strategies to ef­fect­ively handle geo­pol­it­ics, in­clud­ing geo­tech­no­pol­it­ics.
Strategy in Africa
I do work on strategies firms can em­ploy in an Afric­an con­text, in­clud­ing work on in­form­al firms.
In­equal­ity
My re­search ad­dresses the ef­fect of firm level de­cisions on in­equal­ity out­comes.

My re­search provides de­cision-makers with strategies for a VUCA world

My research seeks to help decision-makers better understand a number of strategic challenges currently faced by firms, including such questions as: 

How can organizations create the new management practices they need for today? 

What are the consequences of using outsourcing and offshoring strategies for various outcomes, including corporate social (ir)responsibility? 

What are good ways for firms and policy makers to handle the impact of geopolitical changes? 

What drives decision-makers of informal firms to consider formalization? 

How do decisions by firms affect inequality outcomes faced by individuals? 

My work has significant impact on both academic thinking (for instance around 10,000 citations and receiving recognitions such as the Academy of Management Review best article award) and practice (through a variety of (social) media and uptake of our ideas in practice and around 20,000 learners around the world using our teaching case on Apple annually). I am also deeply engaged in the use of board games as a learning technology. 

Publications

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22 May 2025

Turning the African Continental Free Trade Area Into an International Business Success Story

Lessons From Inside and Outside Africa

Roger Fon

Yamlaksira S. Getachew

Mi­cha­el Mol, Professor

Go to publication

7 April 2025

Apple

Weathering the Geopolitical Storm

Sun Hye Lee

Mi­cha­el Mol, Professor

Go to publication

February 2025

The Impact of Ownership on Global Strategy

Owner Diversity and Non-financial Objective

Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra

Anna Grosman

Mi­cha­el Mol, Professor

Geoffrey Wood
Go to publication

Recent research projects

Off­shore out­sourcing and CSIR

We in­vest­ig­ate in what ways ma­na­geri­al at­ten­tion can re­duce me­dia at­ten­tion to CSIR.

De­cisions to form­al­ize firms

We in­vest­ig­ate how a firm’s fin­an­cial and so­cial per­form­ance re­l­at­ive to its ex­pect­a­tions af­fects form­al­iz­a­tion.

Firms and in­equal­ity

There is sig­ni­fic­ant wage in­equal­ity based on race. We in­vest­ig­ate wheth­er, and in what ways, em­ploy­ing black man­agers af­fects the wage in­equal­ity that black work­ers face in Brazil.

Outside activities

Ex­ec­ut­ive activ­it­ies, , 2019 -

I have a small busi­ness for ex­ec­ut­ive edu­ca­tion and con­sult­ing activ­it­ies un­der­taken in­side and out­side Den­mark