About

Sarah Toms is Chief Innovation Officer at IMD where she leads the Learning Innovation and AI strategy. Sarah previously co-founded Wharton Interactive, an initiative at the Wharton School that has scaled globally. A demonstrated thought leader in the educational technology field, she is fueled by a passion to find and develop innovative ways to make every learning environment active, engaging, more meaningful, and learner-centric. Sarah is an AWS Education Champion, and has been on the Executive Committee of Reimagine Education for eight years. She has spent more than 25 years working at the bleeding edge of technology, and was an entrepreneur for over a decade, founding companies that built global CRM, product development, productivity management, and financial systems. In addition, Sarah is co-author of The Customer Centricity Playbook, which was named Best Business Book at the Digital Book Awards 2019.

Assistant Director of the TONOMUS Center for Digital and AI Transformation

Tima is the Assistant Director at the TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation, where she plays a pivotal role in driving the Center’s initiatives and ensuring impactful outcomes. In her current position, Tima is responsible for overseeing a diverse range of projects, managing relationships with key stakeholders, leading the communication strategy, and supervising the operational functions that support the Center’s mission.

Prior to her current position, Tima managed Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP), IMD’s flagship program. She was responsible for overseeing all elements of the program, including its design, execution, and operational management, ensuring a seamless and impactful experience for global business leaders. She joined IMD in 2021.

Researcher and Writer

Tomoko Yokoi (@tokoyokoi) is a researcher and adviser at the TONOMUS Center for Digital and AI Transformation. She is a Forbes Contributor on topics related to digital transformation and innovation, and her insights have been published in numerous outlets such as Quartz and MIT Sloan Management Review.

Yokoi brings unique practitioner insights to her research and advisory services, drawing from her 20 years of experience leading digital transformations and marketing excellence as a senior executive in B2B and B2C industries. Having worked in Fortune 500 companies and fast-growing software ventures, she understands the unique digital challenges faced by both large organizations and digital upstarts needing to scale.

She is the co-author of Hacking Digital: Best Practices to Implement and Accelerate Your Business Transformation, and is currently focused on responsible digital transformation practices.

Jialu Shan is a research fellow at the TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation and the Center for Future Readiness. Her research areas include digital business transformation, business model innovation and new practices, and corporate governance practices. She is particularly interested in the Asian market.

Shan obtained her PhD in economics (management) from the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Lausanne (HEC, Lausanne) in 2012. Before joining IMD she worked as a lecturer at the International Hotel School of César Ritz Colleges in Brig, Switzerland.

She has published works on a variety of topics, including business model innovation and digital innovation in the Asian market.

Selected publications

Academic Journals

Yu, H., Shan, J., Boutalikakis, A., Tempel, L., and Balian, Z. (2022). What makes a company “future ready”? Harvard Business Review online, March 2022

Greeven, M., Yu, H., and Shan, J. (2021). Why Companies Must Embrace Microservices and Modular Thinking, MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall edition.

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2021). What the West can learn from China’s live commerce success, MIT Sloan Management Review, January 2021.

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2020). Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation, but may have made it harder not easier, MIS Quarterly Executive, 19 (3), pp.213-220

Wade, M., Bonnet, D. and Shan, J. (2020). Lifting the lid on disruption fever, Journal of Strategy and Management, 13(4), pp.495-501

Yu, H. and Shan, J. (2020). Where does resilience come from? It’s your progress in digital transformation, especially in times of crisis, The European Business Review

Liu, Z., Shan, J., Delaloye, M., Piguet, J-G. and Glassey-Balet, N. (2020). The role of public trust and media in managing the dissemination of COVID-19-related news in Switzerland, Journalism and Media, 1(1), pp.145-158

Yu, H. and Shan, J. (2019). How some companies beat the competition…for decades and even centuries, The European Business Review

Yu, H. and Shan, J. (2019). The big gap between strategic intent and actual, realized strategy, Journal of Financial Transformation, vol.50, pp.10-12

Liu, Z., Shan, J. Glassey-Balet, N. and Fang, G. (2017). Semantic Social Media Analysis of Chinese Tourists in Switzerland. Information Technology & Tourism, 17(2), 183-202.

Strebel, P., Cordin, M. and Shan, J. (2016). Competitive profits and the annual report: Measuring the sustainable business. Journal of Business Strategy, 37(2), 42-49.

Liu, Z., Shan, J. and Pigneur, Y. (2016). The role of personalized services and control: An empirical evaluation of privacy calculus and technology acceptance model in the mobile context. Journal of Privacy and Security, 12(1-3), 123-144.

Shan, J. (2012). Three essays on governance practices in different environmental contexts: Using inter-discipline approaches at different organizational levels, Doctoral dissertation, University of Lausanne

Burkert, M., Ivens, B. S., and Shan, J. (2012). Governance structures in international buyer-supplier relationships: an empirical test. Industrial Marketing Management, 41 (3), 544-556.

Conferences

Shan, J., Obwegeser, N., Teracino, E. and Wade, M. (2020). A double-edged sword named agility: a critical perspective on organizational responses to environmental disruption. The 28th European Conference on Information Systems, Marrakech, Morocco

Liu, Z., Shan, J. Bonazzi, R. and Pigneur, Y. (2014). Privacy as a trade-off: introducing the notion of privacy calculus for context-aware mobile applications. 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Science, Hawaii

Shan, J. and Dong, M. (2012). Uncertainty judgment on revenue recognition under IFRS: with different earnings incentives. American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, US.

Shan, J. and Dong, M. (2012). Financial determinants and comprehensive income reporting: The case of US commercial banks. 35th European Accounting Association Annual Congress, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Ivens, B. S., and Shan, J. (2008). Governance mechanisms in international business relationships: an empirical test. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Industrial Marketing & Purchasing Group, Uppsala.

Case Studies

Yu, H., Shan, J. (2018). Disrupting the disruptors: How Ovopark breathes new life into the bricks-and-mortar store, IMD-7-2046, IMD Business School, Lausanne.

Wade, M., Fang, Y., Shan, J. and Yang, Y. (2016). Uber takes on China, IMD-7-1807, IMD Business School, Lausanne.

Cantale, S., and Shan, J. (2013). Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype, IMD-1-0337, IMD-1-0337T, IMD Business school, Lausanne.

Szekely, F., Shan, J., and Chaffin, Ed. (2013). IMD high performance leadership, IMD Business school, Lausanne.

Research Fellow

Konstantinos Trantopoulos is a Research Fellow at the TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation and serves as a Senior External Advisor at D ONE, a premier consulting firm specializing in data and AI.

His research and client advisory span topics of strategy, corporate development, innovation, and the impact of digital & AI on organizations. His work has involved collaborating with Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms, and government agencies throughout Europe, the US, and the GCC.

Konstantinos earned his PhD in Management (Strategy) from ETH Zurich, where his research was recognized with the prestigious ETH Medal. He also spent time as a visiting fellow at MIT and the University of California San Diego.

His research contributions are featured in some of the world’s top academic journals, including Management Information Systems Quarterly, California Management Review, Industry and Innovation, and Environmental Science & Technology. His work has also been featured in major media outlets, influencing both scholarly discourse and industry practices.