Urs Peter Mueller
Associate Professor of Practice
Biography
Urs joined SDA Bocconi as an Associate Professor of Practice in the Knowledge group “Strategy & Entrepreneurship” on April 1, 2019.
Before that he worked as a Lecturer at ESMT Berlin (Germany), which he joined in 2005. He has designed, directed and taught in numerous executive education programs for a wide range of customers and served as program director for ESMT Berlin’s flagship open enrollment program “Executive Transition Program” for more than 10 years.
His research activities focus on business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, he is interested in how managers in real life do and/or should take decisions with moral dimensions. His work focusses on aspects such as:
• social, organizational, and individual factors that lead normal people to carry out immoral behavior,
• the role of creativity for good decisions with moral components,
• the role of social interaction (moral consultation) before taking a decision,
• the concept of responsibility in business settings, and
• the ability of organizations to increase CSR within their supply chains.
Urs explores these topics through academic research, publications in managerial or public-interest media and through numerous award-winning and best-selling case studies that are available in Harvard, Ivey and The Case Centre.
During and after his Ph.D., Urs worked for slightly more than three years as a management consultant for A.T. Kearney, serving multiple international clients in several different projects.
Over the years, Urs has gained teaching experience in 5 continents, from bachelor students to top-executives, from groups of two to >100 participants, from keynotes to courses over full semesters.
He is or has been a visiting lecturer at ESMT Berlin (since 2019), Porto Business School (since 2008), ESCP Berlin (since 2016), SEED (Hungary; since 2017), and Berlin School of Economics and Law (2018-2019).
Urs is a passionate case study teacher and author – and became a tutor on how to teach with and how to write case studies for The Case Centre in 2013. He is currently writing a book (plus two workbooks) on case study teaching and writing.
Urs earned a first state exam (equivalent to Masters Degree) in German literature, Philosophy and Art history and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen (Germany).
Recent Publications
- 2024
The Ultimate Case Guide: How to Successfully Teach and Write Case Studies
KUPP, M., U. P. MUELLER - "The Ultimate Case Guide: How to Successfully Teach and Write Case Studies" - 2024, Ubiquity Press - 2023
MEG AG: A Special Organizational Culture
SCHAEFER, U., B. SCHMITZ, U. P. MUELLER - "MEG AG: A Special Organizational Culture" - 2023, The Case Centre, Great Britain - 2022
Corporate social responsibility and perceived fairness of price increases
SIPILÄ, J., S. ALAVI, L. M. EDINGER‐SCHONS, U. P. MUELLER, J. HABEL, "Corporate social responsibility and perceived fairness of price increases", Psychology & Marketing, 2022, vol. 39, no. 7, pp. 1370-1384 - 2021
How Unethical Behavior Creeps into an Organization: Fake Accounts at Wells Fargo
SCHAEFER, U., U. P. MUELLER - "How Unethical Behavior Creeps into an Organization: Fake Accounts at Wells Fargo" - 2021, The Case Centre, Great Britain - 2021
Lea Block at Seuzach AG: Initiating Digital Transformation
MUELLER, U. P., U. SCHAEFER, N. I. GRASSELLI - "Lea Block at Seuzach AG: Initiating Digital Transformation" - 2021, The Case Centre, Great Britain - 2019
Magellan versus Quesada: To Mutiny or Not to Mutiny
MUELLER, U. P. - "Magellan versus Quesada: To Mutiny or Not to Mutiny" - 2019, The Case Centre, Great Britain - 2017
Exerting Pressure or Leveraging Power: The conventional and extended chain of CSR Enforcement in B2B Supply Chains
MUELLER, U. P., J. HABEL, M. STIERL, "Exerting Pressure or Leveraging Power: The conventional and extended chain of CSR Enforcement in B2B Supply Chains", Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Fall 2017, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 331-347 - 2016
Combining Case Teaching and Case Writing Creatively
MUELLER, U. P., M. KUPP, "Combining Case Teaching and Case Writing Creatively" in Case Studies as a Teaching Tool in Management Education., Dominika Latusek (Ed.), IGI Global, pp. 121-140, 2016 - 2016
Vodafone in Egypt: National crises and their implications for multinational corporations
MUELLER, U. P., S. PANDIT, "Vodafone in Egypt: National crises and their implications for multinational corporations" in International management: Managing across borders and cultures, text and cases., Helen Deresky (Ed.), Prentice Hall, 2016 - 2016
The Dirty Dozen: how unethical behaviour creeps into your organisation
MUELLER, U. P., U. SCHAEFER, "The Dirty Dozen: how unethical behaviour creeps into your organisation", The European Business Review, July 2016, pp. 37-41
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Grants & Honors
Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors 2024/25, The Case Centre, 2025
Outstanding Contribution to the Case Method Award, The Case Centre, 2025
Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors 2023/24, The Case Centre, 2024
Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors 2022/23, The Case Centre, 2023
Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors 2020/21, The Case Centre, 2021
Outstanding Case Teacher 2020, The Case Centre, 2020
Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors 2019/20, The Case Centre, 2020
The Case Centre Case Award 2014 in the Case writing competition ‘Hot Topic’: Crisis as Opportunity for “Vodafone in Egypt: National crises and their implications for multi-national corporations”, The Case Centre, 2014
The Case Centre Case Award 2014 in the Category Human Resource Management / Organizational Behaviour for “Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change”, The Case Centre, 2014
ecch Case Award 2013 in the Case writing competition ‘Hot Topic’: The Business of Sports for “Defining the purpose for Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA”, ECCH - European Case Clearing House [Now The Case Centre], 2013
ecch Case Award 2013 in the Category Human Resource Management / Organizational Behaviour for “Do you really think we are so stupid? A letter to the CEO of Deutsche Telekom”, ECCH - European Case Clearing House [Now The Case Centre], 2013
2011 EFMD Case Writing Competition (“Waltraud Ziervogel at Konnopke’s Imbiss”), EFMD European Foundation for Management Development, 2011
ecch Best Selling Case (“Do you really think we are so stupid? A letter to the CEO of Deutsche Telekom”), ECCH - European Case Clearing House [Now The Case Centre], 2011
University of Porto EGP, EMBA Best Discipline Award, Porto Business School, 2010
