Stafford Beer Medal

This award is named in memory of Stafford Beer, a world leader in the development of systems ideas, especially management cybernetics, and President of The OR Society 1970-71.

The Stafford Beer Medal is awarded in recognition of the most outstanding contribution to the philosophy, theory or practice of Information Systems published in the European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) within the relevant year.

Stafford Beer

Citation for Stafford Beer Medal 2022

Andre Hanelt, Sebastian Firk, Bjoern Hilebrant; Lutz M. Kolbe

Digital M&A, digital innovation, and firm performance: an empirical investigation

The paper investigates the impact of mergers and acquisitions of digital companies and their capabilities by Industrial Age companies. Using a sample domain of companies operating in the automotive manufacturing sector, the study took an extremely rigorous approach to data acquisition and in-depth statistical analysis to establish the links between digital company acquisitions and the consequential impact on innovation, product development and business performance for Industrial Age companies. The judges considered this work an exemplary application of scientific methods deployed by Information Systems investigators and are delighted to recognize this through the award of the Stafford Beer medal.

European Journal of Information Systems 30 (1), 3-26.

www.doi/full/10.1080/0960085X.2020.1747365

From left to right: Andre Hanelt, Sebastian Firk, Bjoern Hilebrant; Lutz M. Kolbe