Papadakis Vasilios

Dr. Vassilis Papadakis holds a BSc and an MBA from the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) and a PhD from the London Business School. He is currently a Professor of the Department of Business Administration at the AUEB (having served as chairman of the department from Sept 2008-Feb 2013).

From Sept. 2020-Aug.2024 he has served as the Vice Rector of International Cooperation and Growth. During his tenure, AUEB initiated a number of high-profile collaborations with leading US Universities (e.g. William and Mary, Indiana University, Drexel University, Michigan State etc), at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition, AUEB has initiated its first dual degrees at the postgraduate level with European and US Universities (e.g. Pavia University Italy, Stevens University USA, EDHEC France). Furthermore, the senate of AUEB approved the first ever undergraduate Bachelor’s program in International Business and Technology, targeting international students. During his tenure particular emphasis was given to strengthen the already successful Erasmus program, exceeding for the first time the number of 500 European students visiting AUEB during the academic year 2024-25. Finally, during the academic year 2023-2024, AUEB has initiated its first ever study abroad program hosting the undergraduate students of Kelley School of Business, Indiana University for a semester long study.

Dr Papadakis’s main research interests are in the area of Business Strategy, Strategic Decision Making, Mergers and Acquisitions and Managing Strategic Changes. He has published in several international journals including: Strategic Management Journal, Organisation Science, British Journal of Management, Strategic Organization, Strategic Change, Journal of Strategy and Management, International Studies of Management and Organisation, Business Strategy Review, European Management Journal, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, Management Decision and others. His papers have also been presented at various conferences including: the American Academy of Management, the Strategic Management Society, the British Academy of Management, the European Foundation of Management Development, European Academy of Management (Euram), European International Business Academy (EIBA), Hellenic Operations Research Society, the Greek Management Association etc.

His research has received two noted Best Paper nominations from the US Academy of Management, in 1996 and 2003. Another paper examining the effectiveness of Mission Statements (with C. Markides) has been selected among 250 papers and published in the annual volume edited by the Strategic Management Society. Also three other papers (two of them co-authored with I. Thanos and C. Miller and a third with S. Vourloumis) have been nominated for the best paper award of the Strategic Management Society Conference (years 2010, 2012 and 2017).

He is the co-editor (with. Patrick Barwise) of an international book on ‘Strategic Decisions’ (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998). He is also the editor of five other books related to: a) Business Strategy, b) Special Topics on Business Strategy, c) Mergers and Acquisitions, d) Selected Cases on Business Strategy and e) State Controlled Enterprises in Greece. His most recent book participation includes a textbook on entrepreneurship translated in Greek (Spinelli, S., R.J. Adams and V. Papadakis, New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship in the 21^stCentrury, Utopia Publishing, 2015.

He has been member of the Senate of AUEB (Sept. 2008-Feb. 2013 and Sept. 2020-Aug.2024), scientific coordinator of the specialization in Telecom Businesses of the master’s in business administration (sept. 2006-Aug. 2013), member of organizing committees of international conferences. Today, he is the director of the Executive MBA of AUEB, the first and more prestigious Executive MBA in Greece and scientific coordinator of the program in Management and Entrepreneurship for Pharmacists at AUEB.

He mainly teaches courses on Business and Corporate Strategy, the Management of Strategic Changes and Strategic Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In recognition of his performance as an academic teacher he has been awarded ‘Teaching Excellency Awards’ by the following postgraduate programs at AUEB:  a) Executive MBA b) International MBA (ex Postgraduate Program in Decision Sciences) c) MSc in Marketing and Communication with new Technologies, d) MBA part-time, and e) MBA (Full-Time).

He has acted as a reviewer for international academic journals, including Academy of Management Review, Management Science, Journal of Management Studies, British Journal of Management, Academy of Management Perspectives, Human Relations, Organization Studies, Long Range Planning, International Journal of Management Reviews and Journal of Change Management, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. He is a member of the American and the British Academy of Management as well as the strategic Management Society.

Dr Papadakis has participated in various consulting projects in Greek and Multinational companies, both at a national and international level. He has also taught a number of executive training courses on Strategy, Strategic Innovation and the Management of Strategic Change in various companies including: Vodafone, Roche, Alpha Bank, Eurobank, Apivita, Kri-Kri Dairy Company, Germanos Group of Companies, Praktiker, Abbott Laboratories, SAP Hellas, Gilead Sciences, Public Power Corporation etc.