Thorsten Blecker is a full professor at the Hamburg University of Technology, Department for Business Logistics and General Management (5-11). He holds a master’s degree in business administration
(with honors) and a PhD (summa cum laude) from the University of Duisburg, Germany. He finished
his habilitation thesis in September, 2004, at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Blecker is guesteditor of a special issue of IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management on “Mass Customization
Manufacturing Systems” (forthcoming by 2007), co-editor and author of several books, for example,
“Production/Operations Management in Virtual Organizations”, “Enterprise without Boundaries”,
“Competitive Strategies”, “Web-Based Manufacturing” and “Information and Management Systems
for Product Customization”. His main research interests include business logistics and supply chain
management, production/operations management, industrial information systems, Internet-based
production systems, mass customization manufacturing systems, strategic management, and virtual
organizations.