We are excited to have won Marc as the contributor of this book’s foreword. Marc is Associate Dean of International Programs and Partnerships, Department Chair, and Professor for International Business at Darla Moore School of Business. U.S. News & World Report has ranked Darla Moore School of Business 1st for its Undergraduate International Business Degree consecutively for 24 years and among top 3 for its International MBA programme for 33 consecutive years. Marc won his PhD. in Management from Rotterdam School of Management. Furthermore, Marc is a former colleague who taught in the Strategy and International Management programme at the University of St. Gallen between 2015 and 2017.

In his foreword to our book, Marc describes a very personal connection with the book’s subject: from setting up and succeeding with his own student research project to progressing from the experience; from maturing and growing as a researcher to becoming a mindful and empowering supervisor himself. Reading his text enabled us to see another reality of research: fields may have their “seminal papers”, but possibly even more importantly: people have them, too. Both kinds of seminal papers generate an impulse – one for a whole community of people, the other first and foremost for a single person. While writing “the seminal” for one’s field may seem more impressive, writing “the seminal” for one’s own significant phase of advancement is the necessary precursor for a community even to emerge. Enabling more smart and driven people to achieve “their seminal paper”, the capability to mature their own ideas to fruition in their final academic project, is our common mission.