Chair of Business Negotiations & Procurement I –

The Best Teacher Awards of the MBA Program 2022 were presented during the Graduation Ceremony held on 20 January 2023 in Duesseldorf. The graduates of the WHU MBA class of 2022_I honored Lutz Kaufmann with this prestigious award.

"Professor Kaufmann is one of the best Professors WHU has. His teaching methods, motivation, and class structure are second to none", the students stated. 

Katja Woelfl and Lutz Kaufmann received the Best Paper Award - New Directions in the Conflict Management division for their paper “Changing Perspective – Toward a Configurational Perspective on Deception in Business Negotiations from a Target’s Viewpoint,” co-authored with Craig Carter of Arizona State University. The judges nominated the paper both for its overall high quality and its significant new contribution to conflict literature. 

Lutz Kaufmann has been honored with the Outstanding Reviewer Award 2022 from the Operations & Supply Chain Management Division of the Academy of Management. Notably, in 2021, he was also the first ever winner—across AoM divisions—from a continental European institution to win the Distinguished Scholar Award.

Professor Lutz Kaufmann received the Distinguished Scholar Award 2021 of the Academy of Management (AoM). He is the first ever researcher from a continental European institution to receive this world-renowned award.

The award recognizes the lifetime achievements of the winners in various professional categories of management research. Professor Kaufmann received the Distinguished Scholar Award for his research on business negotiations and purchasing management as well as for his support services for young scientists.

Assistant Professor Jiachun Lu received the IPSERA Best Doctoral Dissertation Award 2021 for her work on “An Exploration of the Role of Advice Exchanges in Supply Management”. The dissertation was honored with the doctoral dissertation award because of its theoretical contributions and practical relevance. 

Jiachun’s work was supervised by Professor Lutz Kaufmann. This is the fourth time that this prestigious worldwide award goes to a member of Professor Kaufmann's research team with Jiachun Lu following Barbara Yilmaz (2016), Claudia Wagner (2017), and Jens Esslinger (2019).

Charlotte Both received the In Praxi Outstanding Thesis Award 2020 for her bachelor thesis on "Sustainability’s Unintended Consequences". 

The In Praxi Outstanding Thesis Award is presented annually to recognize bachelor and master theses that examine topics of high relevance and practical impact to both business and society. The winners of the IP Awards each receive €1,000. 

Charlotte’s bachelor thesis was supervised by Professor Lutz Kaufmann.

During the Graduation Ceremonies held on Friday, June 7, 2019, in Duesseldorf, the graduates of the WHU MBA class of 2019 I honored Lutz Kaufmann with the award.

After 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Professor Kaufmann received this prestigious award for the fifth year in a row. 

Dr. Jens Esslinger received the 2019 IPSERA Doctoral Dissertation Award for his work on “Managing Unexpected Events in Joint Buyer–Supplier Projects.” The award committee judged all dissertations written at universities worldwide along the criteria originality, rigor, and scientific and practical impact.

Jens’ work was supervised by Professor Lutz Kaufmann. His research has been published in leading SCM journals, including the Journal of Supply Chain Management and the practitioner-oriented Supply Chain Management Review.

Dr. Jörg R. Rottenburger received the 2019 Research Award of the German Association for Supply Chain Management, Procurement, and Logistics (BME) for his work on deception in business negotiations. The award for the best dissertation is presented annually by the BME since 1988 and comes with a cash prize of €7,000.

Jörg R. Rottenburger wrote his dissertation during his time as a research assistant at the chair of Professor Lutz Kaufmann. His second supervisor was Professor Christian Schlereth.

Dr. Tobias Kosmol won the Doctoral Dissertation Award of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). The 2018 CSCMP DDA was given to Tobias in Nashville, TN, during the 2018 CSCMP conference. The dissertation was titled “Supplier Quality Management in Emerging Markets – The Interplay of Behavior and Cognition”.

It was the third time in ten years that a dissertation from the chair wins this prestigious award in the U.S. This makes WHU the most successful non-US institution in the history of this prestigious competition. The list of previous winners can be found here.

Lutz Kaufmann, Claudia M. Wagner, and Craig R. Carter (Arizona State University) received the Journal of Business Logistics 2018 Best Paper Award for their paper „Reconceptualizing Intuition in Supply Chain Management“.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) presents the Bernard J. La Londe Best Paper Award to the most valuable paper published in the Journal of Business Logistics (JBL) during CSCMP's Annual Conference. The Best Paper Award 2018 was presented during the 2018 CSCMP conference in Nashville, TN.

The Journal of Business Logistics (JBL) is one of the leading journals for empirical supply chain research and as such listed in The SCM Journal List.

During the Graduation Ceremonies held on Friday, June 22, 2018, in Duesseldorf, the graduates of the WHU MBA class of 2018 I honored Lutz Kaufmann with the award.

After 2015, 2016, and 2017, Professor Kaufmann received this prestigious award for the fourth year in a row. 

Tobias Kosmol was honored in the Research Award 2018 of the German Association Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics (BME) final for his dissertation "Supplier Quality Management in Emerging Markets – The Interplay of Behavior and Cognition". The scientific jury noted that Tobias’s research yielded both significant theoretical contributions and valuable practical insights.

Lutz Kaufmann, Jörg Rottenburger, and Craig R. Carter (Arizona State University) received the IPSERA 2017 Best Paper Award for their paper, "It’s Alright, It’s just a Bluff: Why do corporate codes reduce lying, but not bluffing?". The judges nominated the paper both, for its innovativeness and its high quality use of research methodologies.

The Best Paper Award 2017 was presented to Lutz Kaufmann during the 26th of the annual IPSERA conferences. IPSERA, the International Purchasing and Supply Education and Research Association, is a worldwide multi-disciplinary network of academics and practitioners dedicated to the development of knowledge concerning Purchasing and Supply Management.

Jörg Rottenburger received the Highly Commended Dissertation Award 2017 by IPSERA. His research, entitled "Differentiating Deception: New Insights into Bluffing, Lying, and Paltering in Business Negotiations", provided surprising and highly relevant new insights into deceptive behavior in buyer-supplier negotiations. The dissertation was recognized for its outstanding practical and scholarly contributions.

In 2017, the graduates of the MBA programs at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management once again bestowed the Best Teacher Award, a recognition presented to particularly dedicated professors for their commitment to teaching excellence. The graduates of the Full-Time MBA Class of 2017 honored Lutz Kaufmann with the award. 

The participants of the courses specifically praised Professor Kaufmann’s dedication to work and approachable nature. “A great mentor”, they stated.

After 2015 and 2016, Lutz Kaufmann won the prize for the third time in a row. 

Emerald and EFMD have honored Claudia Wagner with a Highly Commended Award for her dissertation “Intuition in Supplier Selection – An Emotional Perspective of Team Decision Making”. 

Claudia Wagner’s work was supervised by professor Lutz Kaufmann. It was for the eight time that a dissertation from this research team wins an award in this research competition. This makes WHU the most successful institution in the history of this prestigious EFMD/Emerald competition.

Dr. Claudia M. Wagner received the IPSERA Best Doctoral Dissertation Award 2016 for her work on “Intuition in supplier selection – An emotional perspective of team decision making”. The award was given to Claudia M. Wagner during the 26th of the annual IPSERA conferences held from April 9 - April 12, 2017, in Budapest/Hungary.

The award committee, which consisted of professors from the United States, Finland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, judged all dissertations written at universities worldwide along the criteria of originality, rigor, and scientific and practical impact.

As a PhD candidate in the SCM Group, Claudia’s work was supervised by WHU-professor Lutz Kaufmann.

Lutz Kaufmann received the Best Teacher Award of the Part-Time MBA class of 2016. The students of his courses “Strategic Sourcing” and “International Module China” honored the practical approaches, the liveliness of the lectures, and Professor Kaufmann’s unique teaching style. "Very practical real-life cases”, “Great teaching style”, “Excellent organization of the International Module China. Mix of SOE, private companies, German companies was perfect to get an overall picture”, the participants of the courses stated. 

Lutz Kaufmann received the Best Teacher Award for his courses “Strategic Sourcing" and "Negotiations" in WHU’s Full-Time MBA program. The students perceived both courses to be interactive, fun, and extremely engaging. "There is never a boring moment in Professor Kaufmann's classes", the participants stated.  

Dr. Barbara Yilmaz received the CSCMP 2016 Doctoral Dissertation Award for her work titled “Implementing environmental supply chain management initiatives: A social network perspective.” The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) is the pre-eminent association for individuals involved in supply chain management with over 9,000 members worldwide. Barbara was honored for her work at the 2016 CSCMP Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. She is the 43rd recipient of this prestigious award since 1973.

Lutz Kaufmann and Jörg Rottenburger received the Best Paper Award – New Directions of the 76th Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, USA, for their paper, “The Big Bluff Theory: A reconceptualization of business bluffing”. The judges nominated the paper both for its overall high quality and its innovative use of research methodologies.

Lutz Kaufmann and Tobias Kosmol received the Best Conference Reviewer Award of the Academy of International Business (AIB) 2016 Annual Meeting. The award recognized the “outstanding contribution to the AIB Annual Conference”, which took place on June 27 - 30 in New Orleans, USA.

Dr. Gavin Meschnig received the Research Award 2016 of the German Association Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics (BME) for his dissertation "Decision-making in cross-functional teams - A behavioral perspective on supplier selection decisions". In his research, Dr. Meschnig identified various levers to improve cross-functional decision-making in the supplier selection process and as a result to select superior performing suppliers. The scientific jury pointed out that Gavin’s research yielded both, significant theoretical contributions and practically useful insights.

The award for the best dissertation is presented by the BME since 1988 and comes with a cash award of €7,000.

During the 25th annual IPSERA conference, Dr. Barbara Wichmann received the IPSERA Best Doctoral Dissertation Award 2015 for her work titled “Implementing environmental supply chain management initiatives: A social network perspective.”

The IPSERA award committee consisted of professors from the United States, Finland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. For the award of 2015, the committee evaluated and chose from among dissertations that were written at universities in North America, Asia, and Europe. According to Professor van Raaij, two of the dissertations that were ranked among the top three by all members of the award committee were from WHU. These dissertations were written by Barbara Wichmann and Gavin Meschnig, both of whom, as PhD candidates in the SCM Group, were supervised by professor Lutz Kaufmann.

Dr. Gavin Meschnig won the 2015 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards (ODRA) in the supply chain management category for his dissertation "Decision-making in cross-functional teams - A behavioral perspective on supplier selection decisions".  In his research, Dr. Meschnig identified various levers to improve cross-functional decision-making in the supplier selection process and as a result to select superior performing suppliers. 

The judges picked dissertations which demonstrated significance/implications for theory and practice, originality and innovation, appropriateness and application of the methodology and the quality of the data/research. The Award comes with a cash prize of 1,500 Euros.