2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Madeleine Rauch, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Madeleine Rauch
Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

“I had the privilege of being taught by Madeleine during our International Business Study Trip to Tokyo. Her perspective as an ethnographer was invaluable as we examined global business challenges using Japan as a lens. Madeleine’s ability to weave cultural insights into business discussions made complex concepts more accessible and deeply engaging. She fostered an environment that encouraged critical thinking, pushing us to explore the intersections of culture, society, and commerce in meaningful ways. Beyond her academic expertise, her enthusiasm and dedication to our learning were inspiring. She went above and beyond to ensure we gained a holistic understanding of international business, making the experience not only educational but transformative. There are valuable lessons I’ve learned from her that I will surely carry with me throughout the rest of my career and my life.” – Allison Dempsey

Madeleine Rauch, 36, is an Associate Professor at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. She is also a Bye-Fellow and Director of Management Studies at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge. At Cambridge Judge Business School, she is a faculty member of the Strategy and International group. Her research focuses on strategizing in extreme contexts, and the strategy process more broadly. 

Her research has been published in Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Management Studies, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Strategic Organization, among others, and has been featured in popular news outlets such as Harvard Business Review, The Stanford Daily, FAZ, the ASA blog and CBS Wire. 

Rauch is on the editorial boards of Organization Science, Organization Studies, Academy of Management Perspectives and Strategic Organization. She is the winner of the Best Paper Award OMT at AoM (twice), Best Paper Award at SMS, and her work has been recognized with the Honor Roll for Responsible Research, among other awards in the past years. 

Previously, Rauch taught and researched at Stanford University and Copenhagen Business School, before joining Cambridge. Prior to academia, she worked as an HR Manager in the automotive industry in Germany and Mexico.

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year?  2024

Education: European University Viadrina, PhD 

List of MBA courses you currently teach: International Business (Elective) and International Business Study Trip (MBA, GEMBA)

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when…  I continued to have more questions than answers, the longer I spent at university. 

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? Currently, I’m working on several multi-year-long projects studying medical professionals and other workers in extreme settings, and how they go about their work in these often also morally challenging settings. One project focuses on how nurses addressed the transgression of their professional moral values during the pandemic amid the sheer impossibility of the situation. Another project focuses on Doctors Without Borders and how medical professionals reframe their trauma to keep on going (joint work with Shaz Ansari). 

One interesting finding from my recently published AMJ study of UN Peacekeepers highlights the role of existential boredom at work (What the heck am I doing here?), even when working toward an important goal, such as peace. I discuss how professionals react and find different ways to cope with such boredom. 

If I weren’t a business school professor… Probably working as a war reporter

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? I care for my students and the topics that I study and teach.

One word that describes my first time teaching: Terrifying

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: Work never stops

Professor I most admire and why: Many! But one that stands out is Woody Powell, an exceptional scholar but even better mentor. 

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? Their constant curiosity

What is most challenging? A-know-it-all attitude

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Engaged and curious

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Disengaged

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… Fair

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Travelling, books, running, spending time with my family, …. 

How will you spend your summer? A trip to Nairobi as part of the MBA International Study Trip, conference travels, and time at Lake Constance.

Favorite place(s) to vacation: Lake Constance, the place where I grew up and most of my family resides

Favorite book(s): A Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? The Butterfly Circus, an independent short film. It is set in the depression-era 1930s, characterized by unemployment and homelessness, everyone concerned for the difficult economic situation. It’s about second chances, finding happiness and beauty even in oppressed situations, and overcoming difficulties. 

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I have a very eclectic music taste.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… Instead of teaching modules in silos, such as economics and strategy, we should focus more on where and how we can create synergies, which in turn will help to identify frictions, challenges, and opportunities. Rather than concentrating solely on narrow problem sets without considering the world’s complexity.

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at… Solving and focusing on the bigger picture, finding solutions and being less stuck in the “We cannot do this” -mentality, including an ‘unhealthy’ obsession with bureaucracy and forms.

I’m grateful for… my family, modern medicine and peace.

DON’T MISS: THE ENTIRE 2025 ROSTER OF THE WORLD’S BEST 40-UNDER-40 MBA PROFESSORS