Transformation Towards Sustainability A Novel Interdisciplinary Framework from RWTH Aachen University

The global environmental crisis, technological developments, the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing economic and political globalization are just a few of the developments that are massively increasing the pressure for transformation on regions, companies and society as a whole. In addition, the digital age is accelerating transformation processes that are already underway. This contributed book addresses these developments and presents a new framework for transformation research and practice that has been developed and already validated by researchers of the RWTH Aachen University. The RWTH way includes inter- and transdisciplinary approaches from many disciplines, looking at technological and societal change from different perspectives. A distinction is made between analysis, i.e., research on transformation processes, impact, i.e., transformational research, and change in research itself, i.e. research transformation. The book not only creates a new understanding of transformation research, but also provides actionable impulses for scholars and practitioners in many fields.

 

This is an open access book.

I. Aachen Model for Transformation Research.- II. Transformation Research.- III. Transformational Research.- IV. Research Transformation.

Peter Letmathe works in the fields of sustainability accounting, innovation and value chain controlling, societal transformation processes and business modeling. He studied business administration at University of Bielefeld where he graduated as Diplom-Kaufmann. He received his PhD (Environmental Cost Accounting) from University GH Essen and completed his postdoctoral stage with his habilitation on “Flexible Standardization” at Ruhr-University Bochum. Between 1993 and 2001, he worked under supervision of Prof. Dr. Marion Steven at both universities – Essen and Bochum – as research assistant in the fields of management accounting, operations management, and corporate environmental management. After completing his habilitation, he was appointed Professor of Environmental and Technology Management at University of Bayreuth. Between 2002 and 2011 he held the chair of Value Chain Management with special focus on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises at University of Siegen where he founded theSMI (Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Institute Siegen) in 2003, which he headed until September 2011. Since October 2011 he leads the Chair of Management Accounting (Lehrstuhl für Controlling) at RWTH Aachen University and was dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics from 2018 - 2021. Since 1999, he has held multiple visiting professorship at University of Colorado at Boulder and Clemson University. His practical experience includes more than two years of work in the furniture industry as well as more than 80 often interdisciplinary research projects with industry and other research institutions mainly in the fields of operations management, strategic management, management accounting, and process optimization. His interdisciplinary research comprises the mobility sector, the energy transformation, the digitization of industry and information and communication technologies. Peter Letmathe has published his research in several top journals such as the Journal of Operations Management, the European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR), OR Spectrum, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Cleaner Production, Contemporary Accounting Research, OMEGA, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Transportations Research: Part D, Business Strategy and the Environment, and the International Journal of Operations and Production Management.