My name is Alexander Benlian and I am a Professor for Information Systems and Electronic Services in the Faculty of Business, Law, and Economics at the Technische Universität Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt). I am also a Professor in the Digital Transformation MBA at Goethe Business School, Frankfurt. I received my PhD at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich and worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company. I am fascinated by paradigm-shifting phenomena emerging in and triggered through digital technologies. I study how digital innovations impact individuals, organizations, and society at large. I also look at how tech startups bring digital offerings to the market. My research has been published in leading academic and practitioner-oriented journals, such as MIS Quarterly, Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, and MIS Quarterly Executive.
I work both with technology start-up companies and large corporations (such as Deutsche Bank, ING, Deutsche Bahn, Lufthansa, SAP, federal and state governments). I am both an experimental and field researcher and use quantitative and qualitative methods in my work. My current interests include:
- platform ecosystems
- digital transformation and business models
- digital/IT entrepreneurship
- human-computer interaction/digital nudging
In my teaching, I cover areas such as Internet-based Business Models, Applied Data Science & AI, Digital Products & Services, Digital Business & Platforms, Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture Management, Agile Project and Performance Management and Research Training.
Academic Career
- Appointment as Chaired Professor for Information Systems and Electronic Services at TU Darmstadt, May 2012.
- Dean of the Department of Business, Law, and Economics at TU Darmstadt, 2018-2020.
- Vice Dean (Academic & Research) of the Department of Business, Law, and Economics at TU Darmstadt, 2017-2018.
- Professor in the Digital Transformation MBA at Goethe Business School, Frankfurt, April 2019.
- Appointment as Senior Editor, European Journal of Information Systems, September 2020.
- Appointment as Associate Editor, Business & Information Systems Engineering (BISE), March 2021.
- Appointment to the Editorial Board of International Journal of Electronic Commerce, September 2013.