Biography
Sebastian D. Becker is the holder of the Nexans chair for “Orchestrating sustainable business transformation”. He earned his Ph.D. from WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar, Germany) in 2011 and his M.Sc. (Diplom-Kaufmann) in business administration from EBS Business School (Oestrich-Winkel, Germany). He is an alumnus of the International Teachers Program (ITP).
Before joining the HEC Paris faculty, Sebastian was a post-doc at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management. He was a visiting scholar at University of Innsbruck (Innsbruck, Austria), NHH (Bergen, Norway), Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), and HEC Paris (Paris, France).
Sebastian's research examines the diffusion, change, and implementation of accounting and control techniques in private and public sector organizations. He has a particular interest in budgeting and forecasting, is an expert on Beyond Budgeting and co-authored the "Viable Map workbook" which includes a method to diagnose and design management models. He also studies management techniques in startups, incubators and entrepreneurial ecosystems. His research has been published or is forthcoming in Contemporary Accounting Research, European Accounting Review, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Financial Accountability and Management, and Journal of Business Economics.
Sebastian teaches Management Accounting and Control as well as Business Performance Management topics in the MBA, Executive MBA, MSc and Ph.D. programs.
In addition, he built a new online course on scaling startups called "Managing the performance of a growing enterprise" with Coursera in HEC's Online Master for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He also teaches a course on business modelling and Lean Startup techniques and acts as co-site lead and moderator for the "Creative Destruction Lab"-DeepTech Accelerator program (Climate, Space, AI focus).
Sebastian has designed and delivered seminars for executives of large international corporations from Europe, the Middle East and China that are active in the airline, automotive, banking, energy, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, packaging, telecommunications, as well as the public sector and non-profits. In addition, he gives talks on his research topics and business trends at events organized by consulting or law firms.
By BNP Paribas, he was awarded the Pierre Vernimmen Best Teacher Award. For an 'EduScrum' project he won the Prix Roux de Bézieux most innovative initiative in teaching award of the HEC Foundation. For his teaching in HEC's MBA, Sebastian won the "Most innovative teacher" award. By Poets & Quants he was named as one of the "40 Most Outstanding B-School Profs Under 40 in the world".
Scientific articles
Contemporary Accounting Research, Spring 2023, vol. 40, n° 1, pp 624-667, (in coll. with C. ENDENICH)
Contemporary Accounting Research, Winter 2020, vol. 37, n° 4, pp 2224-2256, (in coll. with M. MESSNER, U. SCHÄFFER)
Contemporary Accounting Research, Winter 2016, vol. 33, n° 4, pp 1489–1517, (in coll. with M. MAHLENDORF, U. SCHÄFFER, M. THATEN)
Comptabilité Contrôle Audit, April 2015, vol. 1, n° 21, pp 105-137, (in coll. with A. WALD, C. GESSNER, R. GLEICH)
European Accounting Review, february, 3 2014, vol. 23, n° 4, pp 593-623,
Critical Perspectives on Accounting, July 2014, vol. 25, n° 4-5, pp 324-338, (in coll. with T. Jagalla, P. SKÆRBÆK)
Journal of Business Economics, November 2012, vol. 82, n° 11, pp 1157-1191, (in coll. with E. Perrey, U. Schäffer)
Financial Accountability & Management, december, 2 2011, vol. 27, n° 2, pp 134-165, (in coll. with T. Jagalla, J. Weber)
Chapters in edited books
Les Grands Auteurs En Contrôle De Gestion, Samuel Sponem, Anne Pezet, EMS Editions, 281-297
Governance Of Ventures, Michael Hilb, Haupt Verlag, B , 49-56
The Role Of The Management Accountant: Local Variations And Global Influences, Lukas Goretzki and Erik Strauss, Routledge, London, 292-304
Managing In Dynamic Business Environments: Between Control And Autonomy, K. Kaarbøe, P. N. Gooderham, H. Nørreklit (Eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing, 141-162
Controlling Und Jürgen Weber: Eine Festschrift Zum 60. Geburtstag, Alumni Hrsg., 11-13
Working papers
Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2022
Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2015
Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2014
Mimeo , 2010
Scientific articles
Contemporary Accounting Research, Spring 2023, vol. 40, n° 1, pp 624-667, (in coll. with C. ENDENICH)
Contemporary Accounting Research, Winter 2020, vol. 37, n° 4, pp 2224-2256, (in coll. with M. MESSNER, U. SCHÄFFER)
Contemporary Accounting Research, Winter 2016, vol. 33, n° 4, pp 1489–1517, (in coll. with M. MAHLENDORF, U. SCHÄFFER, M. THATEN)
Comptabilité Contrôle Audit, April 2015, vol. 1, n° 21, pp 105-137, (in coll. with A. WALD, C. GESSNER, R. GLEICH)
Chapters in edited books
Les Grands Auteurs En Contrôle De Gestion, Samuel Sponem, Anne Pezet, EMS Editions, 281-297
Governance Of Ventures, Michael Hilb, Haupt Verlag, B , 49-56
The Role Of The Management Accountant: Local Variations And Global Influences, Lukas Goretzki and Erik Strauss, Routledge, London, 292-304
Managing In Dynamic Business Environments: Between Control And Autonomy, K. Kaarbøe, P. N. Gooderham, H. Nørreklit (Eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing, 141-162
Working papers
Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2022
Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2015
Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2014
Mimeo , 2010
Education
Academic appointments
Academic Responsibilities at HEC
- 2020-2022 Department Head, Accounting and Management Control HEC Paris
- 2016- Associate Professor, Accounting and Management Control HEC Paris
- 2011-2016 Assistant Professor, Accounting and Management Control HEC Paris
- 2011- Member of GREGHEC, the joint research laboratory CNRS-HEC Paris HEC Paris
External Academic Responsibilities
- 2018-2019 Visiting professor University of Innsbruck
- 2011-2011 Post-doc WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management
- 2011-2011 Visiting researcher NHH
- 2010-2010 Visiting Ph.D. student Bocconi University
- 2009-2009 Visiting Ph.D. student HEC Paris
Scientific Activities
Membership in Academic or Professional Organisation
- Member of the Management Committee - European Accounting Association (EAA)
- European Accounting Association (EAA)
- Beyond Budgeting Research Program at NHH (Bergen)
- Association Francophone de Comptabilite (AFC)
- Verband der Hochschullehrer fur Betriebswirtschaft e.V. (German Academic Association for Business Research - VHB)
Editorial activities
Conference organisation
Awards & honors
- 2021 2020 "Prix Roux de Bezieux" 'most innovative initiative in teaching'-award of the HEC Foundation for his project EduScrum Using (and thereby also teaching) Agile methods in pedagogy
- 2019 BNP Paribas Pierre Vernimmen Teaching Award
- 2018 Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management (QRAM) Literati Award for Outstanding Reviewer
- 2017 BNP Paribas Pierre Vernimmen 2017 Teaching Award Runner-Up
- 2016 PoetsQuant's Top "World's 40 Best B-School Profs Under the Age of 40"
- 2010 Hanns Seidel Foundation Scholarship for visiting research
- 2009 "Hanns Seidel Foundation" Scholarship