Seckler Christoph | ESCP Business School

Christoph Seckler

Full Professor of Entrepreneurial Strategy

Department : Entrepreneurship
Campus : Berlin

Prof. Dr. Christoph Seckler is Full Professor of Entrepreneurship at ESCP Business School (Berlin campus). He holds the Chair of Entrepreneurial Strategy, serves as Academic Director of EMDIEL, ESCP’s Executive Master in Entrepreneurial Leadership, as well as Academic Director of INSPIRE and the Center for Design Science in Entrepreneurship (DS:E). (…)

Christoph’s work aims at enabling leaders to deliberately design the future rather than merely react to it. He advances a design-oriented perspective on entrepreneurship across his research, teaching, and practice collaborations.

In his research, Christoph advances a design science approach to entrepreneurship, shifting scholarship from explaining what is toward designing how entrepreneurship could be shaped. His work has been published in leading international journals, including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Management Studies, and Accounting, Organizations and Society. He also serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Business Venturing Design, a leading international outlet for design science in entrepreneurship.

In his teaching, Christoph shifts the focus of education from analyzing the past to designing contexts in which students and executives develop the capacity to shape the future. Rather than primarily transmitting knowledge, his programs create structured environments for experimentation, iteration, and reflection, enabling participants to grow as entrepreneurial leaders.

In practice, Christoph collaborates with organizations to build cultures that move beyond preserving the status quo toward systematic experimentation, learning, and a constructive approach to errors and mistakes. His work has been featured in international media such as the Financial Times, World Economic Forum, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Harvard Business Manager. He co-published the Error Culture Report for Germany in collaboration with EY Germany.

For more information, please feel free to reach out to him or visit his website.

PUBLICATIONS
AWARDS AND HONORS

Conference Proceedings

2024

SECKLER, C., R. MAUER, J. VOM BROCKE, O. TERZIDIS, B. WEISSENBERGER, S. SCHRAGE, M. HANISCH

The Promise of Design Science as a Research Approach: Presenter Panel and World Espresso Bar

in 84. Wissenschaftliche Jahrestagung des Verbandes, VHB, 2024, Germany

Journal Article

2024

SIELSKI, K., C. SECKLER

Theorizing the Lean Startup Approach: Towards Well-Grounded Design Principles

LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, 2024

Conference Proceedings

2024

SECKLER, C., K. REMKE, J. TRUNK

Trash to Treasure: Design Principles for Developing Cascading and Repurposing Business Models through Systemic Stakeholder Collaboration

in 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii, 2024, United States

Conference Proceedings

2023

SECKLER, C., R. MAUER, J. VOM BROCKE

A Design Science Methodology for Entrepreneurship Research

in The 83rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Academy of Management (AOM), 2023, Boston, MA, United States

Academic Articles

2023

TAAPKEN, N., C. SECKLER, S. FISCHER

Alarmierender Spitzenplatz: Führungskräfte in Finanzunternehmen sprechen kaum über Fehler

DIE BANK - ZEITSCHRIFT FUR BANKPOLITIK UND PRAXIS

Journal Article

2023

TAAPKEN, N., C. SECKLER, S. FISCHER

Alarmierender Spitzenplatz: Führungskräfte in Finanzunternehmen sprechen kaum über Fehler

DIE BANK - ZEITSCHRIFT FUR BANKPOLITIK UND PRAXIS, 2023

Debate; Point of view; Editorial,…

2023

SECKLER, C., G. ROMME

Editorial: Introduction to the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Track

2023, LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

Contribution on blogs and Social Networks

2023

SECKLER, C.

Fehler-Management-Kultur: der Schlüssel zum Erfolg

2023, IDW Life

Studies and Reports commissioned by Companies and Research Agencies

2023

TAAPKEN, N., C. SECKLER, S. FISCHER

Fehlerkultur Report 2023: So steht es um die Fehlerkultur in deutschen Unternehmen

2023

Contribution on blogs and Social Networks

2023

SECKLER, C.

Forschung muss Teil der Lösung sein!

2023, DIE ZEIT

Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2026

2026

Thinkers50

Nomination for Herbert Simon Best Paper Award

2025

DESRIST 2025 conference

Best Program in Entrepreneurship Education in Germany

2023

La French Tech

Best Teacher Award

2021

Master in Strategy and Digital Business, ESCP Business School

“Top 40 Under 40”

2021

Recognized as “Top 40 Under 40” by the German magazine Capital

Capital

Top 10 Upcoming Business Scholars

2021

Capital

Paper nominated as finalist for the “OMT Louis Pondy Best Dissertation Paper Award”

2020

2020 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Nominated for Best Paper Award

2019

G-Forum

Best Paper Award in Management Consulting

2017

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Winner of the “Thomson South-Western Outstanding Research-Based Paper on Management Consulting”

2017

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Nominated for the “Carolyn Dexter Award” for best international paper

2013

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Winner of the “Information Age Publishing Award: Outstanding Doctoral Student Paper on Management Consulting”

2013

Academy of Management

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Conference Proceedings

2024

The Promise of Design Science as a Research Approach: Presenter Panel and World Espresso Bar

Journal Article

2024

Theorizing the Lean Startup Approach: Towards Well-Grounded Design Principles

Conference Proceedings

2024

Trash to Treasure: Design Principles for Developing Cascading and Repurposing Business Models through Systemic Stakeholder Collaboration

Conference Proceedings

2023

A Design Science Methodology for Entrepreneurship Research

Academic Articles

2023

Alarmierender Spitzenplatz: Führungskräfte in Finanzunternehmen sprechen kaum über Fehler

Journal Article

2023

Alarmierender Spitzenplatz: Führungskräfte in Finanzunternehmen sprechen kaum über Fehler

Debate; Point of view; Editorial,…

2023

Editorial: Introduction to the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Track

Contribution on blogs and Social Networks

2023

Fehler-Management-Kultur: der Schlüssel zum Erfolg

Studies and Reports commissioned by Companies and Research Agencies

2023

Fehlerkultur Report 2023: So steht es um die Fehlerkultur in deutschen Unternehmen

Contribution on blogs and Social Networks

2023

Forschung muss Teil der Lösung sein!

Research and expertise

News

LIVE at ESCP Berlin: Entrepreneur Conversations – Innovation & Beyond with Heike Panella

Inside the ESCP Extension School: expanding access to practical, flexible learning

Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2026

2026

Thinkers50

Nomination for Herbert Simon Best Paper Award

2025

DESRIST 2025 conference

Best Program in Entrepreneurship Education in Germany

2023

La French Tech

Best Teacher Award

2021

Master in Strategy and Digital Business, ESCP Business School

“Top 40 Under 40”

2021

Capital

Top 10 Upcoming Business Scholars

2021

Capital

Paper nominated as finalist for the “OMT Louis Pondy Best Dissertation Paper Award”

2020

2020 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Nominated for Best Paper Award

2019

G-Forum

Best Paper Award in Management Consulting

2017

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Winner of the “Thomson South-Western Outstanding Research-Based Paper on Management Consulting”

2017

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Nominated for the “Carolyn Dexter Award” for best international paper

2013

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Winner of the “Information Age Publishing Award: Outstanding Doctoral Student Paper on Management Consulting”

2013

Academy of Management

Research and expertise

News

LIVE at ESCP Berlin: Entrepreneur Conversations – Innovation & Beyond with Heike Panella

Inside the ESCP Extension School: expanding access to practical, flexible learning