Prof. Prof. h.c. Dr. Richard C. Geibel, Head of E-Commerce Institute
Richard C. Geibel is the Managing Director of the scientific E-Commerce Institute.
He holds a professorship in Business Administration and Scientific Work at the “IU International University” in Germany. He works in the area of “Dual Studies” at the Cologne location of IU, which is the largest university in Germany with over 130,000 students from over 180 countries and more than 250 study programs. His research focuses on digital transformation, social commerce and digital entrepreneurship.
In addition to his regular academic career as a professor at IU, he was awarded the academic title “Professor Honoris Causa (Prof. h.c.)” by the East European University, Tbilisi, Georgia for outstanding academic achievements and special services to the university.
Previously to IU, he worked for more than 10 years as a professor of business administration, in particular corporate management and entrepreneurship. He designed, founded and accredited the German-language Master’s program “Digitales Management” and the English-language international Master’s program “Digital Management” at Hochschule Fresenius in 2015. He has managed and taught these courses in both full-time and part-time Master’s programs. In addition, he was responsible for 10 bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in the field of online studies at the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences as Academic Director, with more than 20 professors and over 50 external lecturers.
He was awarded the academic title of “Guest Professor” by the “Changchun University of Finance and Economics” in Changchun, China.
As an alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass., USA, he regularly collaborates with researchers at the “Alfred P. Sloan School of Management“.
He completed his doctorate (Dr. rer. pol.) at the University of Cologne and previously studied computer sciences at RWTH Aachen University, graduating with a degree in computer science (Diplom-Informatiker).
He also serves for many years as a judge at the Regional Court of Cologne, Germany, at the 1st and 8th Chambers for Commercial Matters, where he handles and decides disputes between companies as a commercial judge.
In addition, he is active on the board of the association of Rhineland digital companies “Web de Cologne”.
He is also a member of the advisory board of Industrie Cub Düsseldorf.
For more than five years, he has been organizing the International Scientific Practical Conference (ISPC) series in close collaboration with selected partner universities. This annual international conference will be held in Cologne in 2024 at the IU’s premises in the beautiful Gerling Quarter. Over 130 authors from four continents and 11 countries presented their research findings and scientific projects in more than 75 lectures in seven parallel sessions. The 5th ISPC 2025 will take place on September 25 and 26, 2025, at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, USA, as a hybrid event.
If you are interested in a collaboration, student projects, advice or theses in e-commerce, e-business or related topics, please feel free to contact us by email here. You can reach Dr. Richard Geibel by phone at +49 221 40 626 52 or +49 171 145 3333.
You can find more information about Dr. Richard Geibel at the following links:
List of publications Richard Geibel:
New released in November 2024 Proceedings of ISPC 2023:
The conference proceedings contain the following five articles by Richard C. Geibel together with co-authors, each linked to “Springer Nature Link”:
Frings, V., Geibel, R.C. (2024).
Social Commerce Revolutionizes Electronic Commerce. In: Geibel, R.C., Machavariani, S. (eds) Digital Management to Shape the Future. ISPC 2023. pp 97-111. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66517-2_8
Alikhah, M., Baumann, J., Geibel, R.C., Schlicht, C. (2024).
Digitalization of the German Legal System from the Perspective of a District Court. In: Geibel, R.C., Machavariani, S. (eds) Digital Management to Shape the Future. ISPC 2023. pp 113-125. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66517-2_9
Arnold, U., Geibel, R.C. (2024).
The Digital Future of Healthcare. In: Geibel, R.C., Machavariani, S. (eds) Digital Management to Shape the Future. ISPC 2023. pp 143-153. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66517-2_11
Scheidt, M.v., Hering, V., Holle, A., Arnold, U., Geibel, R.C. (2024).
Cloud and Technology Services as Enablers of Digitalization in the Healthcare Sector. In: Geibel, R.C., Machavariani, S. (eds) Digital Management to Shape the Future. ISPC 2023. pp 143-153. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66517-2_12
Plätke, O., Geibel, R.C. (2024).
The Use of Artificial Intelligence for Idea Generation in the Innovation Process. In: Geibel, R.C., Machavariani, S. (eds) Digital Management to Shape the Future. ISPC 2023. pp 181-198. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66517-2_14
The Proceedings of ISPC 2024 were published in May 2025:
Project topics of the E-Commerce Institute
Projects of the E-Commerce Institute take place regularly in the context of university cooperation. Student teams help companies to solve demanding problems in online marketing and e-commerce, but professional consulting is also part of the project catalogue:
- Shop and e-commerce systems in mobile commerce
- Conversion Optimization
- SEO and SEA strategies
- Implementation of WebAnalytics
- Market entry strategies in e-commerce
- Company valuation in e-commerce
- Strategies in Multichannel Retail
- Implementation of Same-Day-Delivery
- Online Marketing Agency Audit
- Digitisation of educational companies
- Content Marketing, especially in the DIY & financial sector
- Returns Management
- Data protection for videoconferencing systems in the health sector
- Comparison of merchandise management and processing systems in e-commerce