The Atlas-AFMI Thesis Prize 2021 awarded to Christoph Czychon

Evènement | May 7, 2021

 

The Atlas-AFMI association has recognized the best doctoral work in international management. Dr. Christoph Czychon has received the 2021 Prize for his thesis “Regional and Global Multinationals: An Examination of Theory and Empirical Evidence from European MNEs”, defended in 2020 and carried out under a joint PhD program with Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg (Germany) and iaelyon School of Management, under the supervision of Profs. Johann Engelhard and Ulrike Mayrhofer.

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The Thesis Prize of ATLAS-AFMI has been awarded for the second consecutive time to a doctoral student of the Magellan iaelyon Research Center.


The origins of a Franco-German doctorate

The first time that Christoph Czychon came to iaelyon, was to teach a seminar during the iaelyon International Week 2015. This was just the beginning of a bigger story, because Prof. Ulrike Mayrhofer would then quickly be inviting him to be a visiting researcher at the Magellan iaelyon Research Center so that he could carry out his work on European multinational companies. The collaboration developed and transformed into a joint PhD program between the University of Bamberg in Germany and the University Jean Moulin, with a shared supervision led by Prof. Mayrhofer on the French side.

“It’s a particularly favorable context for preparing a doctorate in international management,” says Prof. Mayrhofer. “Christoph was able to take advantage of an assistant researcher contract at the University of Bamberg and be a visiting researcher several times at the Magellan iaelyon Research Center. He became a doctor in management sciences from the two universities.”
 

A thesis on global and regional multinational companies

As Dr. Czychon says: "The topic can be placed at the intersection of international economics, international business and international management and it originates in the regional vs. global research as performed by Alan M. Rugman and Alain Verbeke and others. Based on empirical data, I assessed the "globality" of CAC40- and DAX30-listed firms throughout the 2005-2015 period.
Based on my results I challenged existing paradigms and dominant empirical narratives.
In comparison, the MNEs I analyzed, including firms such as LVMH, Kering, AirFrance-KLM, EDF, Orange, BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen (to name a few), substantially interregionalized during the period of analysis. In 2005, an approx. 85% stake of the firms was home region-oriented, meaning that their sales in Europe accounted for more than 50
percent. In 2015, only approx. 48% of the firms have the majority of their sales in the home region. The firms have thus become much more balanced in their interregional setup, which is due to gradual increases in internationality but also big steps, such as based on M&A activities.
I had the chance to present my research at AIB in Dubai as well as EIBA in Milano. The monography will be published in the SpringerGabler MIR-Edition next month."

 
The path of Christoph Czychon
Dr. Czychon received his bachelor’s degree from SRH Hochschule Heidelberg before pursuing a Master in Business Administration, with a focus on finance, controlling and accounting from the University of Bamberg.

"In connection with my studies, I spent a significant amount of time abroad, for example in San Diego, South Africa, Taiwan and, of course, Lyon,” says Dr. Czychon. “Based on my research stays, I am very happy that I was given the opportunity to work with the doctoral students from the Magellan Research Center. More specifically, I am especially thankful to Stefano Valdemarin, Anastasia Khalapsina, Tristan Salvadori and Amadou Lo.”

Since September 2018 Dr. Czychon works for the Consulting Digital Finance branch of KPMG in Germany, where his work is now focused on financial as well as ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) and sustainability analytics and reporting.

We would like to extend our congratulations to Dr. Czychon and to Professors Ulrike Mayrhofer and Johann Engelhard.

The thesis abstract "Regional and Global Multinationals: An Examination of Theory and Empirical Evidence from European MNEs"

 

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