What has been your career path leading up to your current position?
- I had a somewhat unusual career path compared to many here at BI. I did my M.A. degree in Communication Management at Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism in Los Angeles. After that, I started working in the film industry over there. I worked with international distribution for a few years, within what is called “legal and business affairs”. Thereafter, I went back to Europe and started a production company in the UK. After some time we relocated the company to Switzerland. In this period of my life I worked internationally on several different film projects.
Professor emeritus Rolf Høyer, who at the time was the leader for what was called the Centre for Media Economy, was the one who “invited” me into academia. He knew that I was interested, and helped me get a doctoral scholarship. This made it possible for me to start my degree here at BI. After finishing it, I was offered a part time position. I combined my work at BI with my work within the film industry for several years. It wasn´t before 2019 that I became a full time academic at BI. I guess that makes me a so-called “pracademic”, as my experience stems both from my practical and academic background.
Could you tell us about your research?
- I do several things, mainly within two fields. One of the fields is centered around transaction cost economy, which I use to study creative business, especially the entertainment businesses. As of now, I am doing a collaboration with Professor Harry Arne Solberg from NTNU. We study how rights agreements for Norwegian football have developed throughout the last 20 years. In this area there has been a great increase of value. We look at the agent's role when entering into an agreement, their contribution to the value creation, and how these deals are maintained.
The other field is storytelling, which is of course connected to my background in the film industry. We look at how storytelling is in effect within working life and businesses. Right now I am doing a case study on how the Federal Office for the Environment in Switzerland is using storytelling in their work for biodiversity.