Jesper Strandgaard Pedersen

Jesper Strandgaard Pedersen is a Professor at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) in the Department of Organization, serving as co-director of the Imagine .. Creative Industries Research Centre. He previously chaired SCANCOR (Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research) hosted at Stanford and Harvard Universities, establishing his prominence in global organizational studies.

His research centers on organizational and institutional change dynamics, examining institutional action, industry emergence, field structuring, and organizational identity construction. Key studies investigate cultural transformation in high-tech firms, mergers in knowledge-intensive industries, diffusion of managerial practices, and creative enterprise organization in film and culinary sectors. Recent work focuses on culinary movements as innovation drivers, analyzing how gastronomic traditions are strategically constructed and institutionalized.

Publication analysis reveals consistent emphasis on creative industries (particularly culinary and film), sustainability intersections, and institutional entrepreneurship. His work demonstrates evolving focus from organizational identity in knowledge firms toward sustainability-driven innovation in food systems, with increasing European collaborations. Methodologically, he bridges qualitative case studies with institutional theory frameworks.

Professor Strandgaard supervises PhD students and teaches advanced courses including Research Methodology in Organization and Management Analyses and Institutional Organizational Analysis across MSc, HD, and BSc programs. His external engagement includes executive education with CBS Executive Fonden in 2024.

He leads the Imagine .. Creative Industries Research Centre, which investigates creative sector dynamics, and maintains influence through SCANCOR networks despite stepping down as chairman. His research directly informs European creative industry policy debates through frequent media contributions and international conference leadership.