Professor Michel’s major research interests are in marketing strategy, service innovation and pricing.

He has written five books, eight book chapters, and more than twenty newspaper articles on these subjects, as well as many academic articles that have appeared in journals including Harvard Business Review, California Management Review and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He won the Emerald Literati Award 2009 by the Journal of Service Management, the Best Paper Award at the 10th Research Seminar in Services Management 2008 in La Londe and the Best Paper Award in Marketing Strategy at the AMA Winter Educators' Conference in 2005.

Prior to joining IMD, Professor Michel was Associated Professor of Marketing at Thunderbird School of Global Management (USA), where he taught in the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as in customized corporate learning programs for European, Korean and Chinese companies. He introduced various successful teaching innovations and received several awards for excellence in teaching. He is an invited Faculty fellow at the Center for Leadership, Arizona State University (USA). In addition, he is founder and director of a marketing consultancy that provides services to companies including GE (New York), Visa Europe, Credit Suisse, Interbrand Zintzmeyer&Lux, Concordia, Postfinance, Secura, and UBS and he ran his family’s hotel business as chairman of the board.

Professor Michel holds an MBA and a DBA from the University of Zurich, both summa cum laude. He received the 1997 Best Dissertation Award, granted by the Swiss Society for Market and Social Research.