At the Crossroads of Political Fragmentation, AI, and Sustainability
As part of the SMS (Strategic Management Society) Annual Conference, TUM School of Management and HEC Paris are organizing an SMS Extension — a one-day, interactive conference.
The conference aims to bring together speakers from academia and practice to jointly discuss three intertwined transformations: increasing political fragmentation, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the growing imperative of sustainability. At its core is the question of how strategic leaders navigate these tensions: For instance, when AI redistributes decision-making authority, political fragmentation generates contradictory institutional demands, and climate change calls for a transformation in which AI can simultaneously act as catalyst and challenge.
Prof. Dr. Miriam Bird
Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at TUM, Center Director, Global Center for Family Enterprise
Prof. Dr. Georg Wernicke
Associate Professor Dieter Schwarz Foundation, Chair Holder Strategy & Business Policy Department HEC Paris
Academic Keynote Speakers
Academic Keynote Speakers
Welcome Speakers
Prof. Dr. Thomas Zellweger
Professor of Business Administration with a special focus on family businesses at University of St. Gallen
Prof. Dr. Christiane Bode
Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College London
Prof. Witold Henisz, PhD
Vice Dean and Faculty Director at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Ruth V. Aguilera, PhD
Darla and Frederick Brodsky Trustee Professor
in Global Business at the D’Amore-McKim
School of Business at Northeastern University
Timo Gessmann
Bonita Grupp
Olivier Schiller
Jan Mittendorf
Strategic Leadership in a Fragmented World: At the Crossroads of Political Fragmentation, AI & Sustainability
This extension examines how three intertwined transformations are collectively reshaping the landscape for strategic leadership.
Deepening political fragmentation, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and the growing imperative but also increasingly contested nature of sustainability each pose distinct challenges. Yet their interactions amplify complexity in ways that existing strategic frameworks struggle to accommodate.
Political fragmentation is reshaping the governance landscape, with increasing political risk and democratic backsliding even in established democracies. Major financial institutions have withdrawn from climate alliances under political pressure, even as the EU expands mandatory sustainability disclosure requirements. The same corporate commitment may be mandated in one jurisdiction and penalized in another.
AI is rapidly transforming how organizations operate, yet its growing energy demands raise urgent sustainability questions of its own.
The scientific consensus on climate change, meanwhile, points to the need for significant organizational transformation, even as the political legitimacy of sustainability itself is under dispute in some jurisdictions.
Critically, these forces do not unfold in isolation. They compound one another, creating novel strategic challenges around climate change, rising inequality, and the governance of transformative technologies. This demands that strategic leaders develop new frameworks that bridge disciplinary and institutional boundaries. This extension brings together scholars working across these domains to develop integrative perspectives that can inform both theory and practice.
Sustainability
Digital Technologies & AI
Political Fragmentation, AI & Sustainability
Wednesday, October 14
19:00-22:00 Get-together with wine tasting and dinner at Insel Hotel
Thursday, October 15
Morning: Digital Technologies and AI & Sustainability
09:00–09:15 Welcome from Vice President Prof. Ali Sunyaev
and Dean of the TUM School of Management, Prof. Christoph Kaserer
09:15–09:30 Welcome and opening remarks from the conference hosts, Prof. Miriam Bird
and Prof. Georg Wernicke
09:30-10:30 Academic keynote: Prof. Thomas Zellweger
10:30–11:00 Coffee break
11:00–12:00 Academic keynote: Prof. Christiane Bode
12:00–13:00 Conference lunch
Afternoon: Digital Technologies, AI, Sustainability & Political Fragmentation
13:00–14:00 Academic keynote: Prof. Witold Henisz
14:00–15:00 Panel discussion: Digital Technologies, AI,
Sustainability & Political Fragmentation
15:00–15:30 Coffee break
15:30–16:30 Roundtables with academics and practitioners
16:30–17:30 Discussion of roundtables and concluding remarks
19:00-22:00 Conference dinner at Ratskeller
Venue
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FORUM, Bildungscampus 1
74076 Heilbronn
Conference Dates
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Wednesday, Oct 14
Get together with wine tasting and dinner at 19:00 Insel Hotel
Thursday, Oct 15
Conference Day 09:00 - 17:30
Conference Dinner at 19:00 at Ratskeller
Registration
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Registration can be done through the website of the Strategic Management Society
Travel Costs
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We are unable to cover hotel and travel expenses. Participants are kindly asked to arrange and fund their own travel and accommodation
Recommended Hotel
We have reserved a number of rooms at reduced rates of € 113,50 incl. breakfast at Insel Hotel, Heilbronn. Please make your reservation directly at the Insel-Hotel either by email via insel@insel-hotel.de or by phone via +49 7131 6300. To receive the reduced conference rate, please mention the booking code: “Strategic Leadership". Please make your booking until August 31, 2026.
Other hotels nearby are (no special rates available):
Arrival
There are two major international airports available for your arrival:
Stuttgart Airport (STR) – approx. 1 hour away.
Frankfurt Airport (FRA) – approx. 1,5 hour away.
When booking your flight, we recommend that you consider connecting to a train or rental car to ensure a comfortable onward journey to Heilbronn.
For administrative questions please contact the Center Administration of the Global Center for Family Enterprise at workshop.gcfe@mgt.tum.de.
