Professor N. Venkatraman
Boston University School of Management 595 Commonwealth Ave. Room 641A
Boston, MA 02215 Phone: (617)-‐353-‐7117 Email: [email protected]
Academic Experience
David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Management September 1998-‐current Chairman, IS Department, Boston University September 2002-‐2005 Visiting Professor of Management, London Business School Sept. 1999-‐August 2001 Associate Professor of Management, Boston University January 1994 – August 1998 Associate Professor of Management, MIT July 1989-‐ December 1993. Assistant Professor of Management, MIT July 1985 -‐-‐ June 1989 Visiting Assistant Professor, Univ. of Illinois Urbana-‐Champaign January -‐-‐ June 1985 Education
Ph.D. in Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh, PA 1985 MBA, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India 1979 Bachelor of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology 1976 Title of Doctoral Thesis
Strategic Orientation of Business Enterprises: The Construct and Its Measurement (Awarded the 1986 AT Kearney Award for Outstanding Thesis in General Management by the Academy of Management, Business Policy and Planning Division).
Areas of Current Research
Strategies for competing in a network era; information technology strategy, design and management of inter-‐firm relationships (partnerships and alliances) through information technology, globalization through information technology, structural equation models, and second-‐generation network research methods.
Awards and Honors (Highlights)
David J. McGrath Jr. Endowed Chaired Professorship at Boston University (1998-‐present). IBM Faculty Fellow, 2003-‐2005; 2004-‐2005 awarded by the IBM Corporation’s Thomas
Watson Center.
Thomson/ISI recognition as a Highly-‐Cited Business School Professor in the World;
Recognized as Highly cited researcher in strategy by scholars who carried out citation analysis; those articles published in Strategic Management Journal and Journal of Management.
Guest co-‐editor of the “Special Research Forum on Research Methods”, Academy of Management Journal, December 1993
Appointed to the Richard S. Leghorn Career Development Chair, MIT Sloan School of Management 1989-‐-‐1992
Awarded for the 1986 AT Kearney Award for Outstanding Research in General Management (for the Doctoral Dissertation) by the Academy of Management.
Publications in Refereed Academic Journals
“Information technology and Organizational Governance: The IT Governance Cube. (With Tiwana, A. and Konsynski, B.) Journal of Management Information Systems, 2014, 30(3), 7-‐12. “Digital Business Strategy: Toward a Next Generation of Insights” (with Anandhi Bharadwaj,
Omar El Sawy and Paul Pavlou, MIS Quarterly, 2013, 37 (2): 471-‐482.
“Indirect Network Effects Indirect Network Effects and Platform Dominance in the Video Game Industry: A Network Perspective,” (with Arati Srinivasan) IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 2010, Awarded the Best paper Prize.
“Advancing Strategic Management Insights: Why Attention to Methods and Measurement Matters.” Organizational Research Methods, 2008, 11(4), 790-‐794
“Monitoring Platform Emergence: Guidelines from Software Networks,” Communications of the Association for Information Systems (with Bala Iyer and Chi-‐Hyon Lee), December 2006.
“Managing in a Small-‐world Ecosystem: Some Lessons from the Software Sector,” California Management Review, (with Bala Iyer and Chi-‐Hyon Lee), Spring 2006.
“Knowledge Relatedness and the Performance of Multibusiness Firms” (with Huseyin Tanriverdi), Strategic Management Journal, February 2005.
“Preferential Attachment and Network Evolution: A Conceptual Model and Empirical Test in the US Video Game Sector” (with Chi-‐Hyon Lee), Academy of Management Journal, December 2004.
“Governance in Interorganizational Relationships: An Empirical Test of the Role of Intangible Asset Specificity” (with Mani R. Subramani), Academy of Management Journal, February
2003,
“Beyond Sabre: An Empirical Test of Expertise Exploitation in Electronic Channels” (with Ellen Christiaanse), MIS Quarterly, March 2002
“Determinants of Transnational New product Development Capability: Testing the Influence of Transferring and Deploying Overseas Knowledge” (with Mohan Subramaniam), Strategic Management Journal, April 2001
“Five Steps to a dot-‐com strategy: How to find your footing on the Web” Sloan Management Review, 2000 (spring). Reproduced in Strategies for e-‐business Success, Erik Brynjolfsson & Glen Urban (Eds.) Jossey-‐Bass. 2001.
“Testing Measurement Equivalence in Cross-‐National Research: an Empirical Test across U.S. and Japan” (with M. Bensaou and M. Coyne), Strategic Management Journal, 1999
(August).
“Real Strategies for Virtual Organizing,” (with John C. Henderson), Sloan Management Review, Fall 1998.
“IT Agenda 2000: Not Fixing Technical Bugs but Creating Business Value,” European Management Journal, 1998 (October).
“Beyond Outsourcing: Managing Information Technology Resources as a Value Center,” Sloan Management Review, (Spring 1997).
“Interorganizational Relationships and Information Technology: A Conceptual Synthesis and a Research Framework,” (with M. Bensaou), European Journal of Information Systems, 1996, vol. 5, pp. 84-‐91.
“Configurations of Interorganizational Relationships: A Comparison Between US and Japanese Automakers” (with M. Bensaou), Management Science (September 1995). “Relational Governance as an Interorganizational Strategy: An Empirical Test of the Role of
Trust in Economic Exchange (with Akbar Zaheer) Strategic Management Journal (June 1995).
“Responding to Technological Change: From Issue Interpretation to Strategic Choice” (with Ari Ginsberg) Organization Studies, (summer 1995).
“Determinants of Electronic Integration in the Insurance Industry: An Empirical Test,” (with Akbar Zaheer) Management Science (May 1994).
“The Adoption of Corporate Governance Mechanisms: A Test of Competing Diffusion Models,” (with Lawrence Loh and Jeongsuk Koh) Management Science (April 1994). “IT-‐enabled Business Transformation: From Automation to Business Scope Redefinition,”
Sloan Management Review, (winter 1994).
“Toward Innovation and Diversity in Management Research Methods” (with Jean Bartunek and Philip Bobko), Academy of Management Journal, (December 1993).
IBM Systems Journal, 32(1), Spring 1993.
“Diffusion of Information Technology Outsourcing: Influence Sources and Kodak Effect,” (with L. Loh), Information Systems Research, 3(4), December 1992.
“Determinants of Information Technology Outsourcing: A Cross-‐sectional Analysis,” (with L. Loh), Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 8, 1992.
“Investing in New Information Technology: The Role of Competitive Posture and Issue Diagnosis,” (with Ari Ginsberg), Strategic Management Journal, 1992 (Special Issue on Strategy Process Research).
“Beyond Business Process Redesign: Redefining Baxter’s Business Network,” (with J.E. Short), Sloan Management Review, (fall 1992).
“Joint Venture Formations and Stock Market Reactions: An Assessment in the Information Technology Sector,” (with Jeongsuk Koh) Academy of Management Journal, (December 1991).
“The Check’s Not in the Mail: Strategies for Electronic Integration in Tax Return Filing,” (with Ajit Kambil), Sloan Management Review, (winter 1991).
“Electronic Integration and Strategic Advantage: A Quasi-‐experimental Study in the
Insurance Industry,” (with A. Zaheer) Information Systems Research, (December 1990). “The Market Share-‐Profitability Relationship: Testing Temporal Stability Across Business
Cycles,” (with J.E. Prescott), Journal of Management, (December 1990).
“Performance Implications of Strategic Coalignment: A Methodological Perspective” Journal of Management Studies, (March 1990).
“Environment-‐-‐Strategy Coalignment: An Empirical Test of its Performance Implicationsʺ (with J. E. Prescott), Strategic Management Journal, 1990 (January -‐-‐ February). “Strategic Orientation of Business Enterprises: The Construct, Dimensionality, and
Measurement,” Management Science, 1989 (August).
“The Concept of Fit in Strategy Research: Toward Verbal and Statistical Correspondence,” Academy of Management Review, 1989 (July).
“Research on Strategic Groups: Progress and Prognosis,” (with H. Thomas), Journal of Management Studies, 1988 (November).
“Planning System Characteristics and Planning Effectiveness,” (with V. Ramanujam), Strategic Management Journal, 1987 (September-‐October).
“Planning System Success: A Conceptualization and an Operational Model,” (with V. Ramanujam), Management Science, 1987 (June).
“Excellence, Planning and Performance,” (with V. Ramanujam), Interfaces -‐ Special Issue on Strategic Management, 1988.
“Measurement of Business Economic Performance: An Empirical Examination of Method Convergence” (with V. Ramanujam), Journal of Management, (Spring 1987).
“Objective-‐Based Evaluation of Strategic Planning Systems,” (with V. Ramanujam and J.C. Camillus), Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, 1986 (July). “Measurement of Business Performance in Strategy Research: A Comparison of
Approaches,” (with V. Ramanujam), Academy of Management Review, 1986 (October). “Multi-‐Objective Assessment of the Effectiveness of Strategic Planning: A Discriminant
Analysis Approach,” (with V. Ramanujam and J.C. Camillus), Academy of Management Journal, 1986 (September).
“Construct Measurement in Organizational Strategy Research: A Critique and Proposal,” (with J.H. Grant), Academy of Management Review, 1986 (January).
“Research on MIS Planning: Some Guidelines From Strategic Planning Research,” Journal of Management Information Systems, 1985-‐86 (Winter).
“Contingency Perspective of Organizational Strategy: A Critical Review of the Empirical Research,” (with A. Ginsberg), Academy of Management Review, 1985 (July).
“Exploring the Concept of ‘Fit’ in Strategic Management,” (with J.C. Camillus), Academy of Management Review, 1984, (July).
“An Inventory and Critique of Strategy Research Using the PIMS Database,” (with V. Ramanujam), Academy of Management Review, 1984 (January).
Publications in Refereed Conference Proceedings (Recent, Selected)
Investigating the Dynamics of System-‐based competition in the videogame sector (with Arati Srinivasan), Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, 2009 (Finalist in the Best Paper Award, Technology and Innovation Management Division).
The Role of Indirect Network Effects in Explaining Platform Dominance in the Video Game Industry (2002-‐2006): A Network Perspective with Arati Srinivsan, (ed., pp. Paper 23). PA: ICIS 2008 Proceedings.
Publications of Chapters in Edited Volumes
Interconnect to Win: The Joint Effects of Business Strategy and Network Positions on the Performance of Software Firms with Chi-‐Hyon Lee and Bala Iyer in Network Strategy: Advances in Strategic Management 2008 (vol. 25, pp. 391-‐424). UK: JAI Press.
“Product Leadership in a Network Era” Chapter 5 in Business Network Transformation, Jeffrey Word (Ed.) New York: Jossey-‐Bass, 2009.
Venkatraman, N., and J.C. Henderson. Four Vectors of Business Model Innovation: Value Capture in a Network Era (pp. 259-‐280). From Strategy to Execution: Turning Accelerated Global Change into Opportunity. Edited by Daniel Pantaleo and Nirmal Pal, Leipzig, Germany: Springer. 2008.
“Reflecting Knowledge in Strategy Research: Conceptual Issues and Methodological
Challenges,” (with Huseyin Tanriverdi), in Research Methods in Strategy and Management, Vol 1 (Chapter 2), D. Ketchen and D. Berg (Eds). Elsevier, 2004.
“Theorizing the Future of Strategy: Questions for Shaping Strategy Research in the Knowledge Economy” (with Mohan Subramaniam) in Andrew Pettigrew, Howard Thomas and Richard Whittington (Eds.) Handbook of Strategy and Management, Sage Publications, 2002, chapter 20, pages 461-‐474.
“Rectifying yesterday versus creating tomorrow: Leadership challenges in balancing a portfolio of processes,” in Chris Kemerer (Ed.). Information Technology and Industrial Competitiveness: How IT Shapes Competition. Kluwyer Academic Publishers, 1998. “IT-‐induced Business Reconfiguration,” in MS Scott Morton (Ed.). The Corporation of the
1990s: Information Technology and Organizational Transformation, chapter 5, New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, pages 122-‐158.
“Strategic Alignment: A Model for Organizational Transformation Via Information Technology,” (with J.C. Henderson), in T. Kochan and M. Useem (Eds.) Transforming Organizations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
“Strategic Management and Information Technology: Evolutionary Linkages and a Research Framework”, in C.C. Snow (Ed.), Strategy Organization Design, and Human Performance, JAI Press, 1989.
“Organizational Forms: A Synthesis” (with Anant K. Sundaram), Research in Strategic Management and Information Technology, Volume 2, 1999.
“Strategic Management of the Information Systems Function: Changing Roles and Planning Linkages,” (with TS Raghunathan), Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 6, 1990. “Exploring the Relationship between Market Share and Business Profitability,” (with AK
Kohli and JH Grant), Research in Marketing, Volume 10, 1990.
“Modeling the Effectiveness of A Strategic Planning System,” (with V. Ramanujam), Advances in Strategic Management, 1988.
“Trends in Strategic Planning”, (with V. Ramanujam and J.C. Camillus). In Handbook of Strategic Planning and Management, edited by D.I. Cleland and W.R. King, 1986. Teaching Cases
A case on “GM OnStar in 2009: Beyond Airbag Deployment” based on primary field research. Original version: 2004; current version: Fall 2008.
A four-‐part case series on the strategic transformations in the textbook publishing
marketplace to illustrate the potential of information technology to restructure markets and shifts margins; Also used to illustrate the strategic alignment model (Henderson and Venkatraman, 1993) and the IT-‐enabled business transformation model (Venkatraman, 1994; Sloan Management Review).
Editorship: Research Monograph
JAI Press Research Annual on Strategic Management and Information Technology edited by N. Venkatraman and John C. Henderson. Volume 1 (1994-‐95), Volume 2 (1998-‐1999)
Chair or Co-‐Chair of Doctoral Thesis Arati Srinivasan
Chi-‐Hyon Lee (now at George Mason University).
Huseyin Tanriverdi (now at University of Texas at Austin).
Mani R. Subramani, (now at Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota). Mohan Subramaniam, (now at Boston College).
Michael Coyne, freelance consultant.
Sal Parise, (now at IBM Institute for Knowledge Management and Babson College). Lawrence Loh, (on-‐leave from National University of Singapore; Provost at Al-‐Ghurair
University in Dubai).
Akbar Zaheer, (now at The Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota Ben Bensaou (now at INSEAD, Fontainbleu, France).
Ellen Christiaanse, presently at Nijenrode University, Netherlands. Ajit Kambil, (now at Accenture).
Jeongsuk Koh, (now at Ilshin Investments at Seoul, Korea).
Professional Activities
Guest Co-‐editor, MIS Quarterly Special Issue on Digital Strategy (2010-‐2011). Associate Editor, Information Systems Research 2004 -‐ 2005
Associate Editor, Management Science 1990 – 1992
Editorial Board, Academy of Management Review 1987 -‐-‐ 1993 Editorial Board, Strategic Management Journal 1990 -‐-‐ 1995 Editorial Board, Organization Science 1991 – 2004.
Editorial Board, Journal of MIS 1991 -‐-‐ Current
Editorial Board, Sloan Management Review 1987 – 1993; 1999-‐current Other Professional Activities
Member of the International Faculty Committee, India School of Business, 1999-‐2001 Member, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council Panel on Social and
Economic Effects of Information Technology, 1997.
Reviewer for National Science Foundation, Transformations to Quality Organizations, 1996 Ad-‐hoc reviewer for Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal,
others—ongoing.
Co-‐editor, Special Research Forum on Methodological Issues in Management Research, Academy of Management Journal (December 1993)
Member, Executive Committee, Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management, 1990-‐1992
Member, Academy of Management Journal Ad-‐hoc Committee for the Best Paper (1990) Faculty Member of the Academy of Management, Business Policy and Strategy Doctoral
Consortium, 1991
Other recognitions and Awards
McKinsey & Company/Strategic Management Society Best Conference Paper Prize— Honorable Mention—for a paper at the 18th Annual International Conference (with Mohan Subramaniam), November 1998.
Recognition by IBM Systems Journal for the 1993 paper on ‘Strategic Alignment’ published as the lead-‐article in the special issue of IBM Systems Journal as one of the ‘turning points’ in our understanding of business impacts of IT.
Principal investigator of a National Science Foundation Grant on Transformations to Quality Organizations, 1995-‐1998 with Professors Lee Sproull and John C. Henderson.
Co-‐recipient of the 1995-‐1996 Society for Information Management Advanced Practices Council (SIM-‐APC) award for the research project: Avoiding the Hollow: The Building Blocks of Virtual Organizing (with John C. Henderson).
Faculty speaker at the commencement ceremonies at MBA Program and the MS/MIS Program, Boston University School Management (1996)–selected separately by the graduating class of the two programs.
Winner of the Second Prize for the paper on “Electronic Channels for Expertise Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Airline-‐-‐Travel Agency Relationships.” (Co-‐authored with Ellen Christiannse), Organizational Communication and Information Systems, Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, 1996.
Winner of the Best Paper Competition, The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, 1991-‐1992 for the paper, Responding to Technological Change: From Issue Interpretation to Strategic Choice” (Co-‐authored with Ari Ginsberg; subsequently published in the Organization Studies, 1995).
Winner of the 1984 Foundation of Administrative Research/Planning Review Award for the “Best Paper in Corporate and Organizational Planning”, (co-‐authored with J.C. Camillus). Two “Honorable Mention” awards received from the Foundation of Administrative Research
for papers on Strategic Planning in 1984-‐85.
Winner of the 1983 Escorts Book Award for the Best Book in Indian Management for the book -‐-‐ Managing Business Enterprises: Strategies, Structures, and Systems (co-‐authored
with SK Bhattacharyya). Personal Details
Date of Birth: June 1, 1954
Married (wife: Professor Meera P. Venkatraman, Professor of Marketing at Suffolk University); and two daughters, Tara (25) and Uma (22)
Home Address: 276 Marlborough Street | 6, Boston, MA 02116 References
