Prof. dr. F.J. (Fabian) Sting

Fabian Sting
Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Member ERIM
Field: Logistics & Information Systems
Affiliated since 2010

Prof. dr. Fabian Sting is chaired professor of Digital Supply Chain Innovation at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (part-time). As the main affiliation, he holds the chair of Supply Chain Management – Strategy and Innovation at the University of Cologne, Germany (see here). He explores how organizations implement, reinforce, and shape their strategy by innovating their operations and processes. Specific research and teaching topics include:

  • Implementing digital innovation and Industry 4.0
  • Leading change initiatives and collaborative projects
  • Managing employee behavior in agile operations and projects
  • Sparking and integrating front-line employee ideas and innovation.

This research has been published or is forthcoming in leading academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Management Science, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Operations Management as well as in premier practitioner journals such as Harvard Business Review, and MIT Sloan Management Review. For his scholarship, he received prestigious awards, including the Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize by the MIT Sloan Management Review, the Jürgen Hausschildt Award for Innovation Management by the German Association of Business Research (VHB), and the Top Academic Article Award by the Erasmus Institute of Management (ERIM). He teaches courses on undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. For his courses "Operations Management" and "Primaire Processen" Fabian Sting earned multiple teaching awards. Collaborating with the business schools IESE (Spain), INSEAD (France), and WHU (Germany), he serves as Academic Director of the Industrial Excellence Award in Europe (see here). Before joining RSM Fabian Sting was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at INSEAD's Technology and Operations Management Department and visiting scholar at Northwestern University. He holds a Doctorate from WHU and graduate degrees in Management Science (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt) and Applied Mathematics (FU Hagen).

Publications

Article (29)

  • Academic (22)

    • Salvador, F., & Sting, F. (2022). How Your Company Can Encourage Innovation from All Employees. Harvard Business Review (digital). https://hbr.org/2022/09/how-your-company-can-encourage-innovation-from-all-employees

    • Cornelius, P., Gokpinar, B., & Sting, F. (2021). Sparking Manufacturing Innovation: How Temporary Interplant Assignments Increase Employee Idea Values. Management Science, 67(4), 2231-2250. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2020.3673

    • CORNELIUS, PHILIPP. B., GOKPINAR, BILAL., & STING, FABIAN. J. (2021). How temporary assignments boost innovation: When front-line manufacturing employees are exchanged between company sites, they contribute more valuable ideas. MIT Sloan Management Review, 62(3), 9-11. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-temporary-assignments-boost-innovation/

    • Schneider, P., & Sting, F. (2020). Employees’ Perspectives on Digitalization-Induced Change: Exploring Frames of Industry 4.0. Academy of Management Discoveries, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2019.0012

    • Fuchs, C., Sting, F., Schlickel, M., & Alexy, O. (2019). The Ideator’s Bias: How Identity-induced Self-efficacy Drives Overestimation in Employee-driven Process Innovation. Academy of Management Journal, 62(5). https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.0438

    • Sting, F., Stevens, M., & Tarakci, M. (2019). Temporary deembedding buyer-supplier relationships: A Complexity Perspective. Journal of Operations Management, 65(2), 114-135. https://doi.org/10.1002/joom.1008

    • Crama, P., Sting, F., & Wu, Y. (2018). Encouraging Help across Projects. Management Science, 65(3), 955-1453. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2988

    • Chandrasekaran, A., Linderman, K., & Sting, F. (2018). Avoiding epistemological silos and empirical elephants in OM: How to combine empirical and simulation methods? Journal of Operations Management, 63(November), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2018.11.003

    • Sting, F., & Loch, CH. (2016). Implementing Operations Strategy: How Vertical and Horizontal Coordination Interact. Production and Operations Management, 25(7), 1177-1193. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12537

    • Chandrasekaran, A., Linderman, K., Sting, F., & Benner, MJ. (2016). Managing R&D Project Shifts in High-Tech Organizations: A Multi-Method Study. Production and Operations Management, 25(3), 390-416. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12410

    • Mihm, J., Sting, F., & Wang, T. (2015). On the Effectiveness of Patenting Strategies in Innovation Races. Management Science, 61(11), 2662-2684. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.2128

    • Sting, F., Loch, CH., & Stempfhuber, D. (2015). Accelerating Projects by Encouraging Help. MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(3), 1-9. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/accelerating-projects-by-encouraging-help/

    • Kim, YH., Sting, F., & Loch, CH. (2014). Top-Down, Bottom-Up, or Both? Toward an Integrative Perspective on Operations Strategy Formation. Journal of Operations Management, 32(7-8), 462-474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2014.09.005

    • Sting, F., & Huchzermeier, A. (2014). Operational Hedging and Diversification under Correlated Supply and Demand Uncertainty. Production and Operations Management, 23(7), 1212-1226. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12196

    • Loch, CH., Sting, F., Huchzermeier, A., & Decker, C. (2012). Fairness zahlt sich aus. Harvard Business Manager, October(Oktober), 1-8. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/38110

    • Loch, CH., Sting, F., Huchzermeier, A., & Decker, C. (2012). Finding the Profit in Fairness. Harvard Business Review, 90(10), 111-115. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/38069

    • Loch, CH., Sting, F., Stempfhuber, D., & Huchzermeier, A. (2012). Das Prinzip der Roten Karte. Harvard Business Manager, 2011(January), 44-51. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/35007

    • Sting, F., & Huchzermeier, A. (2012). Dual Sourcing – Responsive Hedging Against Correlated Supply and Demand Uncertainty. Naval Research Logistics, 59(1), 69-89. https://doi.org/10.1002/nav.21473

    • Loch, C., & Sting, F. (2010). A seismic shift in the car industry: The management challenge and responsibility. Automotive Industries AI, 190(3).

    • Sting, F., & Huchzermeier, A. (2010). Ensuring Responsive Capacity: How to Contract with Backup Suppliers. European Journal of Operational Research, 207(2), 725-735. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2010.05.044

    • Loch, CH., Sting, F., Bauer, N., & Mauermann, H. (2010). How BMW Is Defusing the Demographic Time Bomb. Harvard Business Review, 88(3), 99-102. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/20802

    • Loch, CH., Sting, F., Bauer, N., & Mauermann, H. (2010). Keine Angst vor der alternden Belegschaft. Harvard Business Manager, 2010(April), 68-74.

  • Popular (1)

    • Loch, CH., & Sting, F. (2010). Think tank: just the job to help the older hands stay in work. Unknown.

  • Professional (6)

    • Sting, F., Fuchs, C., Schlickel, M., & Alexy, O. (2019). How to Overcome the Bias We Have Toward Our Own Ideas. Harvard Business Review, hbr.org(online). http://hdl.handle.net/1765/116472

    • Schneider, P., & Sting, F. (2019). Die Sicht der Mitarbeiter. Harvard Business Manager, 2019(April). http://hdl.handle.net/1765/121657

    • Sting, F. (2016). Shift happens: how to manage changing projects. RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge, 25(1), 17-19. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/80182

    • Sting, F. (2015). Encouraging help speeds up product development projects. RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge, 21(1), 16-17. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/77987

    • Sting, F., & Huchzermeier, A. (2012). Hedge Risks Appropriately With Backup Suppliers. Inside Supply Management. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/119852

    • Loch, CH., & Sting, F. (2009). A Seismic Shift in the Car Industry: The Management Challenge and Responsibility. Unknown, 70.

Chapter (1)

  • Academic (1)

    • Sting, F., Braun, M., & Huchzermeier, A. (2010). Simulationsstudie: Exogene Risiken in der Beschaffung - Zusammenspiel von Diversifikation und Flexibilitat. In Supply Management Research: Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse 2009 (pp. 147-171). Gabler. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8349-8833-1_6

Conference proceeding (2)

  • Academic (1)

    • Kuhn, H., & Sting, F. (2005). Bestimmung von Losgrößen, Transportzyklen und Sicherheitsbeständen in mehrstufigen Wertschopfungsketten. In Operations Research Proceedings 2005 Springer-Verlag.

  • Professional (1)

    • Sting, F. (2009). Flexible Sourcing—Operational Hedging, Diversification and Contracting under Supply and Demand Uncertainty. In BVL 26. Deutscher Logistik-Kongress Berlin DVV Media Group.

Report (1)

  • Academic (1)

    • Huchzermeier, A., Hoehn, M., & Sting, F. (2007). Impact Study of RFID Adoption in Manufacturer-Retailer Supply Chains: Results from a European Industry Survey. Excerpt of the EU-Project SMART.

PhD Tracks (2)

Dynamic Decision Making under Supply Chain Competition
  • Role: Member Doctoral Committee
  • PhD Candidate: Xishu Li
  • Time frame: 2013 - 2019
: Challenges of Early Stage Entrepreneurs: The Roles of Vision Communication and Team Membership Change
  • Role: Member Doctoral Committee
  • PhD Candidate: Timo van Balen
  • Time frame: 2014 - 2019

Events (7)

2021
May
10
The effect of routine communication within and across teams of knowledge workers: A field experiment in the kitchen industry
Research Seminar
As: Speaker
2012
February
24
Economic Lot-sizing with Remanufacturing: Complexity and Efficient Formulations
Research Seminar
As: Coordinator
2012
February
21
Towards a Theory of Service Improvisation Competence: Empirical Evidence from the Hospitality Industry
Research Seminar
As: Coordinator
2012
February
08
The Impact of Category Captainship on the Breadth and Appeal of Retail Assortment
Research Seminar
As: Coordinator
2012
January
31
Optimal Policies for Recovering the Value of Consumer Returns
Research Seminar
As: Coordinator
2012
January
16
Real-Time Delay Prediction in Customer Service Systems
Research Seminar
As: Coordinator
2010
January
19
How Top-Down and Bottom-Up Strategy Processes are Combined in Manufacturing Organizations
Research Seminar
As: Speaker

Award (1)

  • ERIM Top Article Junior Award (2016)

Address

Visiting address

Office: Mandeville Building T09-43
Burgemeester Oudlaan 50
3062 PA Rotterdam

Postal address

Postbus 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

Latest publication

Article

Salvador, F., & Sting, F. (2022). How Your Company Can Encourage Innovation from All Employees. Harvard Business Review (digital). https://hbr.org/2022/09/how-your-company-can-encourage-innovation-from-all-employees