As part of the compulsory third semester course, Innovation Management II, lecturer Dr. rer. nat. Frank J. Maile invited guest speaker Mr. Mark Gutjahr (Head of Design, BASF Coatings GmbH) who spoke about how he and his global team manage innovation within the organisation. With over 20 years of experience in colour design under his belt, Mr. Gutjahr’s insights into real world work methods and other crucial inputs to produce results complements the design process that our MBA students had learned as class theory.
Guided by several principal basics, the design team at BASF’s Coatings Division provides pivotal colour consultancy to its automotive clients. Their strength in innovation management is derived through all stakeholders: from a global design approach to enable close collaboration with customers, to positioning design as an internal and integral hub within the organisation. The diverse (another factor driving organizational innovation) global design team are cross-functional, engaging with a multitude of business units on a day-to-day basis to deliver further value to its customers.
Mr. Gutjahr and his design team conduct their own independent colour trend research, equipped with their own techniques, they’re able to meet the need for speed in assessing trends in the automotive industry. At the forefront of current trends is the digitisation of colour, where they have recognized the opportunities (improved cost and overall stakeholder experience) and challenges (complexity of translation from physical to digital) that comes with the process. The sharing session was interspersed with interesting questions from our students which Mr. Gutjahr expertly handled and answered with an open mind. The impression, in general, is that our guest speaker is an individual who not only thinks about innovation but daringly applies it.
Our students enjoyed the presentation immensely and would like to sincerely thank Mr. Gutjahr for the fantastic presentation! Our gratitude as well to Dr. Maile for making this opportunity possible, on top of the arduous task of teaching such a dynamic and exciting course.

Text and photo: Michelle Ahras, Class of 2023