Özlem Bedre-Defolie

What pricing strategies do companies use? What mechanisms exist? How do they function in competition among numerous companies? And what influence do different factors ultimately have on consumer prices? These are questions that Özlem Bedre-Defolie deals with every day. The economist is an assistant professor at ESMT European School of Management and Technology, a private business school in the Berlin district of Mitte.

Putting Theories to the Test

Bedre-Defolie has been teaching and performing research at ESMT since January 2010. She focuses primarily on the field of industrial economy and competition and regulation policy based on game theory models. “At the ESMT, our exchange on these themes is very practice-oriented,” notes Özlem Bedre-Defolie. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the ESMT has its own in-house consulting company for the field of competition and regulation policy: ESMT Competition Analysis. “This allows me to constantly improve my work and repeatedly compare my ideas with reality.”

Ideal Conditions for Collaboration

The ESMT’s strategic location is just one of its many advantages: “This is the city to be in,” says Özlem Bedre-Defolie about her adopted home of Berlin. As she notes, the large number of research institutes, major corporations and federal ministries – all of which are located close to each other – make it easier than in other cities to cooperate and collaborate on projects. “There is no excuse not to work together,” argues Bedre-Defolie. Yet another important factor is the capital city’s high quality of living: “Berlin is a very active city. There are so many young people living here, and so many people with widely different backgrounds. Berlin is also a very green city,” notes the scientist, who moved from Paris to Berlin.

A Doctorate in France

Özlem Bedre-Defolie is a Turkish-born scientist who initially studied economics and mathematics at the Boğazici University in Istanbul. She then went on to do her Master’s in economic theory and econometrics at the Toulouse School of Economics in France, where she also received her doctorate. This was followed by positions as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France. As a visiting scientist, Bedre-Defolie worked at the Norwegian Central Bank in Oslo and at the University of Rochester in New York.

At the ESMT, which was founded in 2002 by 25 multinational companies, Özlem Bedre-Defolie has now set herself an ambitious goal:  “I’m very eager to work on further expanding the ESMT and making it even more well-known. This is a long-term goal, but the first years after the founding of a university-level school are very important.” Bedre-Defolie also wants to move forward with her own research and enter into cooperative collaborations with, among others, the founding companies of the ESMT and as many other scientists as possible. Berlin is no doubt the perfect place for her to achieve her ambitious goals.