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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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March 2026

Connecting Creativity and Innovation Research

Building Bridges to Cross Divides

Bernard A. Nijstad

Goran Calic

Pedro de Faria

Chri­stoph Grim­pe, Head of Department

Olli-Pekka Kauppila
Go to publication

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
Go to publication

17 November 2025

Gender Wage Discrimination and the Attractiveness of Foreign MNC Subsidiaries as Employers for Women

Wol­f­gang Sof­ka, Professor

Chri­stoph Grim­pe, Head of Department

Ul­rich Kai­ser, Professor

Go to publication

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