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STR Division - Assistant Program Chair Candidates

  • 1.  STR Division - Assistant Program Chair Candidates

    Posted 04-12-2021 17:31

    Martin Ganco is an Associate Professor in the Management and Human Resources department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include strategic human capital, entrepreneurship, innovation, and complexity theory. His work has been published in a wide variety of leading journals including Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, and Management Science. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of Strategic Management Journal and serves on editorial review boards of Organization Science, Academy of Management Review and Academy of Management Discoveries. He is an active member of both the Academy of Management and Strategic Management Society and has extensive experience from serving in multiple leadership roles in these organizations. In 2017, he was the Chair of the Entrepreneurship and Strategy Interest Group of the Strategic Management Society. He also served on the Executive Committee of the Academy of Management STR Division (2013-2016), Awards Committee of the Academy of Management TIM Division (2013) and Research Committee of the Academy of Management STR Division (2011). He earned his PhD in Business Administration from the University of Illinois.

    Vision Statement

    I am honored to be nominated for Assistant Program Chair of the STR division of the Academy of Management. STR has been my home for almost fifteen years, and in that time, I have been active in many roles, including serving on the executive and research committees, and in organizing symposia, panels, professional development workshops and doctoral consortia. STR is an incredible community. We care deeply about research and teaching related to Strategy while we are also diverse in terms of theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and backgrounds. If elected, I will strive to foster the values of diversity, inclusion, and mutual respect. I will continue the efforts to expand our reach globally and support and initiate activities strengthening our connections to other divisions of the AOM. In many ways, last year was very challenging. Every challenge has a silver lining and STR introduced new initiatives such as the STRonger Together and the new YouTube channel. These activities helped us to be connected and engaged with the community throughout the year. I will seek ways to retain these activities and capitalize on the learning achieved by operating virtually. Because STR plays a critical role in career development of young scholars, I will promote activities that connect doctoral students, junior faculty, and senior faculty through interactive sessions, mentoring and development workshops. My vision is for the STR division to be a thriving platform where we interact, learn from each other, and find ways to solve problems that matter.


     


    Deepak Somaya is a Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and the Stephen and Christy King Faculty Fellow in the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. His research focuses primarily on how companies derive competitive advantages from their knowledge assets, notably technology assets (intellectual property), human capital, and relational capital. His dissertation on patent strategy received the Best Dissertation Award from the TIM Division of the Academy of Management, and his research papers have received a number of other (AOM and SMS) conference awards. Deepak has also advised several doctoral students, two of whom were finalists for AOM best dissertation awards (STR and TIM Divisions, respectively). Over the years, Deepak has served in many capacities in the Academy of Management-as a mentor/panelist in several doctoral and junior faculty consortia, as a STRonger Together senior mentor for junior faculty, as a panelist/organizer of numerous PDWs and Symposia, and in reviewer and discussant roles. In the STR/BPS Division, he has served on the Research Committee, the Executive Committee, as the EC's liaison to the Division's Global Representatives, and as liaison to Special Conferences. Deepak serves on the editorial boards of several field journals, including the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management, Strategic Management Journal and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He is a former management consultant, and teaches courses in strategic management, technology strategy, and on business problem formulation and solving (for budding consultants).

    Vision Statement

    We live in times of momentous change.  The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated new digital technologies, and our Division has already adopted many initiatives-from STRonger Together programs to virtual conferences-to embrace and leverage these technologies. At the same time, we are seeing societal upheaval around issues of inequality, inclusion and discrimination, and our field and division are not isolated from these changes.  These momentous times call for a bold vision for the STR Division, one that builds on what we have done well-connecting and building an academic community and developing the next generation of strategy scholars-and simultaneously seizes opportunities presented by digital technologies and addresses issues of diversity and inclusion. If elected, these are the areas that I intend to focus on and lead. As the STR Executive Committee's liaison to the Global Representatives and liaison to AOM special conferences around the world, I have already seen how impactful our efforts to include and support scholars from around the world can be. Similarly, I believe our Division should continue to play a key role in developing junior scholars and doctoral students, both in general, and in supporting and encouraging emerging scholars from diverse backgrounds. And, our Division's broader mission to "encourage and support the development and dissemination of knowledge" remains as relevant as ever. In all of this, I see great opportunities for building on our use of digital technologies in connecting our global community of scholars, and enhancing our interactions in unprecedented impactful ways.



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    Paolo Aversa
    Associate Professor of Strategy
    Cass Business School, City, University of London

    STR Communications Director and Officer
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