Home / The University / Faculties / Faculty of Economics and Business Administration / News / Professor Joachim Schwabach Awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa Honorary Title of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

   

24.04.2019

 

 

At an official ceremony in the Aula magna of the Sofia University Rectorate, Professor Joachim Schwalbach of the Humboldt University in Berlin was awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. The proposal for awarding Prof. Schwalbach with the honorary title of the oldest and most prestigious higher education institution in Bulgaria came from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. The ceremony was opened by Assoc. Prof. Teodor Sedlarski, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, who briefly introduced Prof. Schwalbach.

 

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Joachim Schwalbach is professor Emeritus of International management at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. From 2004-2006 he was Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the Humboldt University. He has been guest-lecturer at a significant number of high ranking universities among which Harvard, Stanford, the universities of New York, Santa Barbara, Toulouse and Virginia. He has also lectured regularly at the Faculty of Management of Peking University, the Sun Yat-sen Business School in Guangzhou and the Economics Faculty of Sofia University where he has been teaching strategic and international management in the master’s programs.

 

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Assoc. Prof. Sedlarski made an overview of the areas in which Prof. Schwalbach has done academic research and whish include corporate sustainability and social responsibility, corporate management, responsible leadership, executive wages, board effectiveness, corporate and CEO reputation management and access to international markets.

 

Prof. Schwalbach “is the editor of a number of academic book series and publications. He has published 11 books, has edited 6 special journal issues and has published more than a 100 articles in leading academic journals. He teaches courses in microeconomic theory, industrial organisation, management economics and foundations of business administration”, added Assoc. Prof. Sedlarski.

 

Prof. Schwalbach has organised and co-organised more than 30 international conferences and seminars. Among them are the international conferences of the Economics Faculty.

 

For his achievements, the prestigious German publication Handelsblatt has ranked Prof. Joachim Schwalbach in the top 5% of the best professors of business administration among 1300 professors in German-speaking countries (Austria, Germany, Switzerland).

 

Assoc. Prof. Sedlarski also noted that, as a lecturer at the Humboldt University, Joachim Schwalbach has initiated an academic exchange program in the sphere of economics and business administration for the teaching staff at the Economics Faculty at Sofia University and the Humboldt University. The program has been financed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

 

In the autumn of 2018 Prof . Schwalbach persuaded the Strategic Management Society to have one of its Conference Extension Workshops - part of the Society’s annual conference which had taken place earlier in 2018 in Paris - hosted by the Economics Faculty of Sofia University. The Society comprises more than 3000 members - academics, business leaders and consultants - from over 8o countries.

 

The Doctor Honoris Causa title was conferred upon Prof. Joachim Schwalbach by Alma Mater’s Rector, Prof. Dr. habil Doctor Anastas Gerdzhikov. Prof. Schwalbach said that he felt greatly honoured for being awarded the title and thanked for the high appreciation of his scientific achievements and his participation in the academic cooperation between Sofia University and the Humboldt University in the sphere of economics and business administration.

 

Prof. Schwalbach gave an academic talk titled Theory versus reality. How can economic theories help to better understand the world? n which he focused on his work in the fields of industrial economics and corporate management. In the part of his talk related to industrial economics he presented results from international comparative research on the topic of the sustainability of corporate profits, market entry and competition. Moving in the next part of his talk to corporate management, he dealt with the question of CEO wages which has been attracting broad academic and media attention.

 

One of the significant conclusions drawn by prof, Schwalbach was that theoretical and empirical studies are interconnected, that organisations are led by human beings and that subsequently we should pay more attention to human behaviour which goes beyond the experience of economists and requires interdisciplinary research. Economists have to show in more detail what economic and social effects their studies have, said prof. Schwalbach. He added that economists should also help private and public companies to identify and communicate the advantages and the shortcomings of their business undertakings on the local and global markets with regard to their economic and social impact in societies.