Dr Frank Siedlok

Dr Frank Siedlok

Senior Lecturer in Strategy

Researcher profile

Email
fs70@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Biography

I joined the Department of Management at the University of St Andrews in 2024 as a Senior Lecturer in Strategy. Before my current role, I held positions at Heriot-Watt University, the University of Auckland, the University of Strathclyde, and Durham University.


I hold a PhD in Management from the University of Strathclyde, awarded in 2011, where my research focused on the emergence and dynamics of interdisciplinary research practices and communities. Additionally, I earned an MA in Marketing from Kraków University of Economics and an MA in Management from Durham University.


I am currently on the Editorial Review Boards of the Academy of Management Learning & Education and Entrepreneurship & Regional Development. I regularly review for other journals.


Throughout my career, I have developed, coordinated, and taught courses in strategic innovation management and entrepreneurship (both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels), knowledge in organizations (postgraduate), and strategic management (undergraduate and postgraduate). I employ a diverse range of teaching methods to foster deep engagement with complex concepts, including class discussions, Lego Serious Play, educational games and work with organizations.

Before serendipitously embarking on my academic career, I spent three years in strategic marketing consulting. 

Research areas

My research interest remains broadly focused on collaborative practice in the contexts of innovation, strategy and knowledge dynamics. Drawing on practice theories, including Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and concepts of performativity, I am particularly interested in the nature and dynamics of collaborative practice and performativity in promoting collective action.

Empirically, I undertook projects examining innovation in cooperatives, with a particular focus on the kiwifruit industry. We document the successful implementation of Zespri's competitive strategy but also shed light on the significant role played by cooperatives in addressing grand challenges and in meeting SDGs. Amid the pandemic, we followed how various organizations and authorities strategically managed the crisis. We analysed how the Taiwanese government managed to mobilise the industry to secure the production of the desperately needed facemasks. As a part of a broader analysis of how organizations successfully — or not - redeployed their resources during the pandemic, we also got curious about the different ways organizations engaged in making ventilators.

Before getting into kiwifruit and facemasks, I followed academics at University of Strathclyde, trying to understand how they engage in interdisciplinary research (IDR). I also spend some time tracking down what happened to employees in the North East once the heavy industries collapsed and stumbled to the emerging subsea sector.

My current projects include:

  • examination of producer cooperatives as an alternative organizational form from performativity perspective
  • the role of rural distilleries in shaping local communities through entrepreneurial placemaking processes
  • the role of temporality in Corporate Venturing during COVID-19

My research and teaching activities are closely linked with industry and policymakers.

Selected publications

 

See more publications