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I mean it could also be exceptional competence among key customers. This certainly doesn’t have to be nepotism

Going from PhD, not even PostDoc with zero industry experience, to being Head of Department at SAP without connections is unlikely.

He probably already started working for SAP during his PhD or even his PhD is a project from SAP itself.

I mean postdoc isn't necessarily a good thing, arguably it's a bad thing. You do postdocs while you wait for something better to come up.