Ranjay Gulati

Ranjay Gulati

Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration

Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration

Ranjay Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration, the former Unit Head of the Organizational Behavior Unit, and the former Chair of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Organizational Behavior
Entrepreneurial Management
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Ranjay Gulati
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(617) 495-8554
Featured Work Publications Research Summary Teaching Awards & Honors

Recent Publications
Recent Publications

Books
Books

Journal Articles
Journal Articles

Book Chapters
Book Chapters

  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Maxim Sytch. "Markets as Networks: The Dynamics and Implications of Interorganizational Network Structures." In The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Continuously updated edition, edited by Mie Augier and David J. Teece. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. Electronic. (Pre-published, October 2013 and updated in 2014.) View Details
  • Silvestri, Luciana, and Ranjay Gulati. "From Periphery to Core: A Process Model for Embracing Sustainability." In Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective, edited by Rebecca Henderson, Ranjay Gulati, and Michael Tushman. Oxford University Press, 2015. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Sameer Srivastava. "Bringing Agency Back Into Network Research: Constrained Agency and Network Action." In Contemporary Perspectives on Organizational Social Networks. Vol. 40, edited by Dan Brass, Giuseppe Labianca, Ajay Mehra, Daniel S. Halgin, and Stephen P. Borgatti, 73–94. Research in the Sociology of Organizations. Emerald Group Publishing, 2014. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Creating Superior Customer Value in a Connected World." In Business Network Transformation: Strategies to Reconfigure Your Business Relationships for Competitive Advantage, edited by Jeffrey Word. Jossey-Bass, 2009. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, Dania Dialdin, and Lihua Wang. "Organizational Networks." In Blackwell Companion to Organizations, edited by J.A.C. Baum, 281–303. Boston: Blackwell Publishers, 2002. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and James Gillespie. "Alliances and Joint Ventures." In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, edited by Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, 392–397. Elsevier Science, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Ed Zajac. "Reflections on the Study of Strategic Alliances." In Cooperative Strategy, edited by D. Faulkner and M. De Rond, 365–374. Oxford University Press, 2000. View Details
  • Nohria, Nitin, and Ranjay Gulati. "Firms and Their Environments." In Handbook of Economic Sociology, edited by N. Smelser and R. Swedberg, 529–555. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. View Details

Working Papers
Working Papers

  • Gulati, Ranjay, Alicia DeSantola, and Pavel Zhelyazkov. "The Young Venture Lifecycle Revisited: Stage-Contingent Benefits of Technical, Commercial and Process Activities." Working Paper, December 2019. View Details
  • Silvestri, Luciana, Marlo Goetting, and Ranjay Gulati. "Collaborative Structuring: Designer and Worker Agency in Organizational Design." Working Paper, 2013. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials
Cases and Teaching Materials

Presentations
Presentations

  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Trust between Individuals and Organizations." Academy of Management Annual Meeting, August 2019. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Dynamics of Young Venture Development." Paper presented at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business Seminar, 2017. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Dynamics of Young Venture Development." Lecture at the New Directions Lectures, Stanford University, Management Science and Engineering Dept., Stanford, CA, 2017. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, Martina Luetkewitte, and Thomas Mellewigt. "Familiar vs. Trusted Partners: Relationship Length and Strength In Interfirm Contract Design." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada, August 2015. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "A New Look at Corporate Parenting: Linking Structure and Cognition in the Multibusiness Firm." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, August 2014. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Pavel Zhelyazkov. "After the Break-Up: The Relational and Reputational Consequences of Withdrawals from VC Syndicates." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, August 2014. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Rethinking the Architecture of Global Corporations." Paper presented at the Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, Madrid, September 2014. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Dynamics of Social Structure: Implications for Collaboration and Innovation." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Lake Buena Vista, FL, August 2013. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "How Compliance and Networks Shape Status." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Lake Buena Vista, FL, August 9–13, 2013. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Going into the Field: How Experiential Methods Complement Case-Based Teaching." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, August 2013. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Unleashing the Marketing Potential of Your Organization." Paper presented at the Marketing Science Institute Conference, Boston, April 2012. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, Franz Wohlgezogen, and Pavel Zhelyazkov. "Willing and Able? Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Antonio, August 2011. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Luciana Silvestri. "Compensatory Fit in Integrated Architectures: The Upside of Structural Ambiguity." Paper presented at the Trans-Atlantic Doctoral Conference, London Business School, London, UK, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Organization to Realize Profitable Growth." Paper presented at the Midwest ACG Capital Connection, Association for Corporate Growth, Chicago, IL, October 19, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Micro-Foundations of Performance in Vertical Relationships." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, August 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Trust Within and Between Firms." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montréal, Canada, August 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Service Supremacy: The New Economic Elixir." Paper presented at the TieCon (The Indus Entrepreneurs Annual Conference), Outer Realm Series, San Francisco, May 14, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Organization to Realize Profitable Growth." , May 13, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Growth Strategies in Turbulent Markets." Confederation of Indian Industry, New Delhi, India, February 11, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Interorganizational Trust." 5th Workshop on Trust Within and Between Organizations, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, Madrid, Spain, January 28–29, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Rise and Fall of Small Worlds." John M. Olin School of Business, May 1, 2009. (Olin School of Business, Washington University, St. Louis.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Network Interdependencies: Relationships Between Venture Capital and Strategic." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, August 7–11, 2009. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Evolution of Collaborative Networks: The Dynamics of Social Structure and Knowledge Diffusion." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, 2009. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Network Evolution and Dynamics." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8–13, 2008. (Co-organizer of PDW at Academy of Management Annual Meeting.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Using M&A as a Context to Study Knowledge Transfer, Learning, and Coordination in Organizations." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8–13, 2008. (Speaker at PDW.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "New Insights into Theories of Entrepreneurship Through New Questions to Ask." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8, 2008–August 13, 2013. (Speaker at PDW.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Where Do Brokers Come From?" Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8–13, 2008. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "'Charting' to Their Full Potential? Exploring Physician's Adoption of Electronic Health Records." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8–13, 2008. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Management of Alliance Portfolios and Their Performance Implications." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2007. (Member of PDW.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Flocking Together: Examining the Role of Homophily in Economic Exchange Relationships." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2007. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Bridging Rigor and Relevance in Management Research." Paper presented at the Sumantra Ghoshal Conference, London Business School, London, May 2007. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Renewal Through Reorganization: The Value of Inconsistencies Between Formal and Informal Organization." Paper presented at the Organization Science Special Issue Conference, Chicago, 2007. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "On the Interface Between Research and Practice: Experiences in Executing Engaged Research." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2006. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Coordinating Centralized Information and Decentralized Decision Making." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2006. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Dependence Asymmetry and Joint Dependence in Interorganizational Relationships." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2006. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Interorganizational Embeddedness and the Reach, Richness, and Receptivity of Network Resources." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, 2005. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Learning from Samples of Millions or More: Overcoming Organizational Barriers to Inferential Learning." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, 2005. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Architecture of Organizational Dualities." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2004. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Multifirm Strategic Alliance Formation: Configural and Geometric Perspectives." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2004. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Duality of Network Capability: Reach Versus Richness." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2004. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Interorganizational Trust." Workshop on Trust Within and Between Organizations, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, Amsterdam, Holland, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Stacking the Deck: The Effects of Upper Echelon Affiliations for Entrepreneurial Firms." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Contingency of Partnering Experience and the Gains From Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Learning in Alliances: New Methodologies, New Directions." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Getting Off to a Good Start: The Effects of Upper Echelon Affiliations on Interorganizational Endorsements and IPO Success." Paper presented at the Brigham Young University-University of Utah Winter Strategy Conference, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The 21st Century Corporation: How Digital Technologies Affect Corporate Transformation and Performance." Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, 2002. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Relational and Market-Based Legitimation of Internet IPOs." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, 2002. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Strategy and Entrepreneurship: What Changes in the Digital Economy? Interorganizational Partnerships in the Digital Economy." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Showcase Symposium, Washington, DC, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Trust in Business-to-Business Relationships: Combining Social and Electronic Networks." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Size of the Pie and Share of the Pie: Implications of Structural Embeddedness for Value Creation and Value Appropriation in Joint Ventures." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Brave New World of Wireless Web." Paper presented at the Netcentricity Conference, University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Effect of IPO Team Ties on Investment Bank Affiliation and IPO Success." Paper presented at the Harvard Conference on Entrepreneurship, Cambridge, MA, 2000. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Obstacles and Issues in Getting the Right Mix Between Bricks and Clicks in the New Economy." Paper presented at the Joint Kellogg-Wharton Conference on E-business, Philadelphia, 2000. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Effect of IPO Team Ties on Investment Bank Affiliation and IPO Success." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Toronto, 2000. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Is the Network an Appropriate Unit of Analysis?" Paper presented at the Brigham Young University-University of Utah Winter Strategy Conference, 2000. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Organizing Vertical Networks: A Design Perspective." Paper presented at the Strategy Research Forum, Boston, MA, 1999. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Networks and Firm Capabilities." Paper presented at the Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, Orlando, 1998. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Dynamic Evolution of Interorganizational Networks." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 1998. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Dark Side of Embeddedness: An Examination of the Influence of Direct and Indirect Board Interlocks and CEO/Board Relationships on Interfirm Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 1998. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Network Location and Learning: The Influence of Network Resources and Firm Capabilities on Alliance Formation." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 1998. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Different Strokes for Different Folks: Towards a Contingent Theory of Network Effects." Paper presented at the INFORMS Annual Meeting, Dallas, October 26–29, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Organizing Vertical Networks: A Design Perspective." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Architecture of Cooperation: Managing Coordination Uncertainty and Interdependence in Strategic Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Where do Interorganizational Networks Come From?" Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Where do Interorganizational Networks Come From?" Paper presented at the Conference on the Management of Durable Relations, Utrecht, Holland, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Trust and Opportunism in Interorganizational Collaboration." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Showcase Symposium, Cincinnati, 1996. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Institutionalization of Total Quality Management: The Emergence of Normative TQM Adoption and the Consequences for Organizational Legitimacy and Performance." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, 1996. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "A Network Structuration Theory of Interorganizational Ties." Conference on Sociology and Strategy, INSEAD, 1996. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Social Structure and Alliance Formation Patterns: A Longitudinal Analysis." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, 1995. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "What Is the Optimum Amount of Organizational Slack? A Study of the Relationship Between Slack and Innovation in Multinational Firms." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver, 1995. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Alliances as Learning Races." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX, 1994. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Transaction Costs and Contractual Choice in Alliances: Implications of Repeated Ties." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 1993. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Dynamics of Alliance Formation: Which Firms Enter into Alliances with Each Other?" Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 1993. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Managing Cooperative Alliances." Paper presented at the Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, London, 1992. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Mutually Assured Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, 1992. View Details
All Publications

Ranjay Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration and the former Unit Head of the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. He is an expert on leadership, strategy, and organizational issues in firms. His recent work explores leadership and strategic challenges for building high growth organizations in turbulent markets. Some of his prior work has focused on the enablers and implications of within-firm and inter-firm collaboration. He has looked at both when and how firms should leverage greater connectivity within and across their boundaries to enhance performance.
 
Professor Gulati is the former Chair of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. He has directed several executive education programs on such topics as Building and Leading Customer Centric Organizations, Leadership in Turbulent Markets, Managing Strategic Alliances, and Sustaining Competitive Advantage.  He is also active in custom executive education. He has received a number of awards for his teaching including the Best Professor Award for his teaching in the MBA and executive MBA programs at the Kellogg School where he was on the faculty prior to coming to Harvard.

His most recent book, Principles of Management (Cengage, 2013), is a primer on the fundamentals of management that provides a new overview of the field using contemporary examples and cases. In his book, Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Organization (Harvard Business Press, 2009), which was a finalist for the George Terry Best Book in Management Award, Professor Gulati explores how "resilient" companies—those that prosper both in good times and bad—drive growth and increase profitability by immersing themselves in the lives of their customers. Based on more than a decade of research in a range of industries including manufacturing, retail, professional services, media, information technology, and healthcare, the book uncovers the path to resilience by showing companies how to break down internal barriers that impede action, build bridges across divisions, and create a network of collaborators. His previous book, Managing Network Resources: Alliances, Affiliations, and other Relational Assets (Oxford University Press, 2007), examines the implications of firms’ growing portfolio of inter-firm connections. He demonstrates how firms increasingly are scaling back what they consider to be their core activities, and at the same time expanding their array of offerings to customers by entering into a web of collaborations. He has also co-edited a book on leading sustainable change that looks at how organizations overcome internal barriers to change in embracing sustainability programs and also co-edited two books that focus on the dynamics of competition in emerging technology-intensive industries.
 
Professor Gulati is the past-President of the Business Policy and Strategy Division at the Academy of Management and an elected fellow of the Strategic Management Society. He was ranked as one of the top ten most cited scholars in Economics and Business over a decade by ISI-Incite. The Economist, Financial Times, and the Economist Intelligence Unit have listed him as among the top handful of business school scholars whose work is most relevant to management practice. He has been a Harvard MacArthur Fellow and a Sloan Foundation Fellow. His research has been published in leading journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Harvard Business Review, American Journal of Sociology, Strategic Management Journal, Sloan Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, and Organization Science. He has also written for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, strategy+business, and the Financial Times. Professor Gulati sits on the editorial board of several leading journals and was a co-editor of a special issue of the Strategic Management Journal on Alliances and Strategic Networks in 2000 and another special issue on Organizational Architecture that appeared in 2012. He also guest-edited a special issue of the Academy of Management Journal on Relational Pluralism in 2014.

Professor Gulati advises and speaks to corporations large and small around the globe. Some of his representative speaking and consulting clients include: Abbott Laboratories, Aetna, Allergan, American Tower, Bank of America, Bank of China, Baxter, Berkshire Partners, Boston Scientific, Caterpillar, Clifford Chance, Credit Suisse, Ford, Future Brands, GE, General Mills, Henkel, Hitachi, Honda, Hospira, IBM, Levi Strauss, LaFarge, Lockheed Martin, McGraw-Hill, Merck, Metlife, Microsoft, Novartis, Ochsner, Qualcomm, Rockwell Collins, Sanofi Aventis, SAP, Seyfarth Shaw, St Jude, Target, Unilever, and White and Case. He has served on the advisory boards of several companies and has appeared as an expert witness in business litigations.
 
He has been a frequent guest on CNBC as well as a panelist on several of their series on topics that include: the Business of Innovation, Collaboration, and Leadership Vision.  Professor Gulati holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, a Master's Degree in Management from M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management, and two Bachelor's Degrees, in Computer Science and Economics, from Washington State University and St. Stephens College, New Delhi, respectively.  He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Featured Work
The Soul of a Start-Up
There’s an essential, intangible something in start-ups—an energy, a soul. Company founders sense its presence. So do early employees and customers. It inspires people to contribute their talent, money, and enthusiasm and fosters a sense of deep connection and mutual purpose. As long as this spirit persists, engagement is high and start-ups remain agile and innovative, spurring growth. But when it vanishes, ventures can falter, and everyone perceives the loss—something special is gone.
Structure That's Not Stifling
How to give your people essential direction—without shutting them down
Leaders know they need to give people room to be their best, to pursue unconventional ideas, and to make smart decisions in the moment. It’s been said so often that it’s a cliché. But here’s the problem: Executives have trouble resolving the tension between employee empowerment and operational discipline. This challenge is so difficult that it ties companies up in knots. Indeed, it has led to decades’ worth of management experiments, from matrix structures to self-managed teams. None of them has offered a clear answer.
Start-Ups That Last
How to Scale Your Business
Why do so many start-ups that seem to have it all—customers, cash, a promising outlook—run off the rails? Ask a venture capitalist, and you’ll probably hear that they have trouble “scaling.”
Management

Today's managers are confronted with more dynamic challenges and opportunities than every before—through the need to harness technological advances, lead a dispersed and diverse workforce, anticipate and react to constant competitive and geopolitical change on a global scale, and operate in a socially responsible and accountable manner. In response to the changing business landscape, this textbook proposes a shift from traditional Principles of Management textbooks in that it takes a more holistic and integrated approach.

Recent Publications
Books
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Maxim Sytch. "Markets as Networks: The Dynamics and Implications of Interorganizational Network Structures." In The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Continuously updated edition, edited by Mie Augier and David J. Teece. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. Electronic. (Pre-published, October 2013 and updated in 2014.) View Details
  • Silvestri, Luciana, and Ranjay Gulati. "From Periphery to Core: A Process Model for Embracing Sustainability." In Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective, edited by Rebecca Henderson, Ranjay Gulati, and Michael Tushman. Oxford University Press, 2015. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Sameer Srivastava. "Bringing Agency Back Into Network Research: Constrained Agency and Network Action." In Contemporary Perspectives on Organizational Social Networks. Vol. 40, edited by Dan Brass, Giuseppe Labianca, Ajay Mehra, Daniel S. Halgin, and Stephen P. Borgatti, 73–94. Research in the Sociology of Organizations. Emerald Group Publishing, 2014. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Creating Superior Customer Value in a Connected World." In Business Network Transformation: Strategies to Reconfigure Your Business Relationships for Competitive Advantage, edited by Jeffrey Word. Jossey-Bass, 2009. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, Dania Dialdin, and Lihua Wang. "Organizational Networks." In Blackwell Companion to Organizations, edited by J.A.C. Baum, 281–303. Boston: Blackwell Publishers, 2002. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and James Gillespie. "Alliances and Joint Ventures." In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, edited by Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, 392–397. Elsevier Science, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Ed Zajac. "Reflections on the Study of Strategic Alliances." In Cooperative Strategy, edited by D. Faulkner and M. De Rond, 365–374. Oxford University Press, 2000. View Details
  • Nohria, Nitin, and Ranjay Gulati. "Firms and Their Environments." In Handbook of Economic Sociology, edited by N. Smelser and R. Swedberg, 529–555. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. View Details
Working Papers
  • Gulati, Ranjay, Alicia DeSantola, and Pavel Zhelyazkov. "The Young Venture Lifecycle Revisited: Stage-Contingent Benefits of Technical, Commercial and Process Activities." Working Paper, December 2019. View Details
  • Silvestri, Luciana, Marlo Goetting, and Ranjay Gulati. "Collaborative Structuring: Designer and Worker Agency in Organizational Design." Working Paper, 2013. View Details
Cases and Teaching Materials
Presentations
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Trust between Individuals and Organizations." Academy of Management Annual Meeting, August 2019. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Dynamics of Young Venture Development." Paper presented at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business Seminar, 2017. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Dynamics of Young Venture Development." Lecture at the New Directions Lectures, Stanford University, Management Science and Engineering Dept., Stanford, CA, 2017. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, Martina Luetkewitte, and Thomas Mellewigt. "Familiar vs. Trusted Partners: Relationship Length and Strength In Interfirm Contract Design." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada, August 2015. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "A New Look at Corporate Parenting: Linking Structure and Cognition in the Multibusiness Firm." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, August 2014. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Pavel Zhelyazkov. "After the Break-Up: The Relational and Reputational Consequences of Withdrawals from VC Syndicates." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, August 2014. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Rethinking the Architecture of Global Corporations." Paper presented at the Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, Madrid, September 2014. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Dynamics of Social Structure: Implications for Collaboration and Innovation." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Lake Buena Vista, FL, August 2013. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "How Compliance and Networks Shape Status." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Lake Buena Vista, FL, August 9–13, 2013. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Going into the Field: How Experiential Methods Complement Case-Based Teaching." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, August 2013. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Unleashing the Marketing Potential of Your Organization." Paper presented at the Marketing Science Institute Conference, Boston, April 2012. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, Franz Wohlgezogen, and Pavel Zhelyazkov. "Willing and Able? Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Antonio, August 2011. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay, and Luciana Silvestri. "Compensatory Fit in Integrated Architectures: The Upside of Structural Ambiguity." Paper presented at the Trans-Atlantic Doctoral Conference, London Business School, London, UK, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Organization to Realize Profitable Growth." Paper presented at the Midwest ACG Capital Connection, Association for Corporate Growth, Chicago, IL, October 19, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Micro-Foundations of Performance in Vertical Relationships." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, August 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Trust Within and Between Firms." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montréal, Canada, August 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Service Supremacy: The New Economic Elixir." Paper presented at the TieCon (The Indus Entrepreneurs Annual Conference), Outer Realm Series, San Francisco, May 14, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Organization to Realize Profitable Growth." , May 13, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Growth Strategies in Turbulent Markets." Confederation of Indian Industry, New Delhi, India, February 11, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Interorganizational Trust." 5th Workshop on Trust Within and Between Organizations, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, Madrid, Spain, January 28–29, 2010. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Rise and Fall of Small Worlds." John M. Olin School of Business, May 1, 2009. (Olin School of Business, Washington University, St. Louis.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Network Interdependencies: Relationships Between Venture Capital and Strategic." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, August 7–11, 2009. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Evolution of Collaborative Networks: The Dynamics of Social Structure and Knowledge Diffusion." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, 2009. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Network Evolution and Dynamics." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8–13, 2008. (Co-organizer of PDW at Academy of Management Annual Meeting.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Using M&A as a Context to Study Knowledge Transfer, Learning, and Coordination in Organizations." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8–13, 2008. (Speaker at PDW.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "New Insights into Theories of Entrepreneurship Through New Questions to Ask." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8, 2008–August 13, 2013. (Speaker at PDW.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Where Do Brokers Come From?" Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8–13, 2008. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "'Charting' to Their Full Potential? Exploring Physician's Adoption of Electronic Health Records." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, August 8–13, 2008. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Management of Alliance Portfolios and Their Performance Implications." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2007. (Member of PDW.) View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Flocking Together: Examining the Role of Homophily in Economic Exchange Relationships." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2007. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Bridging Rigor and Relevance in Management Research." Paper presented at the Sumantra Ghoshal Conference, London Business School, London, May 2007. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Renewal Through Reorganization: The Value of Inconsistencies Between Formal and Informal Organization." Paper presented at the Organization Science Special Issue Conference, Chicago, 2007. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "On the Interface Between Research and Practice: Experiences in Executing Engaged Research." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2006. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Coordinating Centralized Information and Decentralized Decision Making." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2006. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Dependence Asymmetry and Joint Dependence in Interorganizational Relationships." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2006. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Interorganizational Embeddedness and the Reach, Richness, and Receptivity of Network Resources." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, 2005. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Learning from Samples of Millions or More: Overcoming Organizational Barriers to Inferential Learning." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, 2005. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Architecture of Organizational Dualities." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2004. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Multifirm Strategic Alliance Formation: Configural and Geometric Perspectives." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2004. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Duality of Network Capability: Reach Versus Richness." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2004. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Interorganizational Trust." Workshop on Trust Within and Between Organizations, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, Amsterdam, Holland, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Stacking the Deck: The Effects of Upper Echelon Affiliations for Entrepreneurial Firms." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Contingency of Partnering Experience and the Gains From Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Learning in Alliances: New Methodologies, New Directions." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Getting Off to a Good Start: The Effects of Upper Echelon Affiliations on Interorganizational Endorsements and IPO Success." Paper presented at the Brigham Young University-University of Utah Winter Strategy Conference, 2003. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The 21st Century Corporation: How Digital Technologies Affect Corporate Transformation and Performance." Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, 2002. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Relational and Market-Based Legitimation of Internet IPOs." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, 2002. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Strategy and Entrepreneurship: What Changes in the Digital Economy? Interorganizational Partnerships in the Digital Economy." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Showcase Symposium, Washington, DC, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Trust in Business-to-Business Relationships: Combining Social and Electronic Networks." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Size of the Pie and Share of the Pie: Implications of Structural Embeddedness for Value Creation and Value Appropriation in Joint Ventures." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Brave New World of Wireless Web." Paper presented at the Netcentricity Conference, University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business, 2001. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Effect of IPO Team Ties on Investment Bank Affiliation and IPO Success." Paper presented at the Harvard Conference on Entrepreneurship, Cambridge, MA, 2000. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Obstacles and Issues in Getting the Right Mix Between Bricks and Clicks in the New Economy." Paper presented at the Joint Kellogg-Wharton Conference on E-business, Philadelphia, 2000. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Effect of IPO Team Ties on Investment Bank Affiliation and IPO Success." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Toronto, 2000. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Is the Network an Appropriate Unit of Analysis?" Paper presented at the Brigham Young University-University of Utah Winter Strategy Conference, 2000. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Organizing Vertical Networks: A Design Perspective." Paper presented at the Strategy Research Forum, Boston, MA, 1999. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Networks and Firm Capabilities." Paper presented at the Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, Orlando, 1998. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Dynamic Evolution of Interorganizational Networks." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 1998. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Dark Side of Embeddedness: An Examination of the Influence of Direct and Indirect Board Interlocks and CEO/Board Relationships on Interfirm Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 1998. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Network Location and Learning: The Influence of Network Resources and Firm Capabilities on Alliance Formation." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 1998. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Different Strokes for Different Folks: Towards a Contingent Theory of Network Effects." Paper presented at the INFORMS Annual Meeting, Dallas, October 26–29, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Organizing Vertical Networks: A Design Perspective." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Architecture of Cooperation: Managing Coordination Uncertainty and Interdependence in Strategic Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Where do Interorganizational Networks Come From?" Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Where do Interorganizational Networks Come From?" Paper presented at the Conference on the Management of Durable Relations, Utrecht, Holland, 1997. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Trust and Opportunism in Interorganizational Collaboration." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Showcase Symposium, Cincinnati, 1996. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Institutionalization of Total Quality Management: The Emergence of Normative TQM Adoption and the Consequences for Organizational Legitimacy and Performance." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, 1996. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "A Network Structuration Theory of Interorganizational Ties." Conference on Sociology and Strategy, INSEAD, 1996. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Social Structure and Alliance Formation Patterns: A Longitudinal Analysis." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, 1995. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "What Is the Optimum Amount of Organizational Slack? A Study of the Relationship Between Slack and Innovation in Multinational Firms." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver, 1995. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Alliances as Learning Races." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX, 1994. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Transaction Costs and Contractual Choice in Alliances: Implications of Repeated Ties." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 1993. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "The Dynamics of Alliance Formation: Which Firms Enter into Alliances with Each Other?" Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 1993. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Managing Cooperative Alliances." Paper presented at the Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, London, 1992. View Details
  • Gulati, Ranjay. "Mutually Assured Alliances." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, 1992. View Details
Research Summary
Research Summary
My research has focused on interorganizational relationships, with an emphasis on interfirm strategic alliances, which include voluntary exchange or co-development of products, technologies, or services between firms.  I examine the factors that influence the critical decisions firms face -- the number of alliances they enter, their choice of partners, and the governance structure they use to formalize alliances. I also consider social and behavioral influences on the performance of such alliances.  In each of these areas, I extend the dyadic focus on individual relationships by considering the implications of the interorganizational networks in which firms are located. In some recent research, I have extended this relational perspective to the study of intra-firm collaboration and looked at how firms develop closely integrated business systems to adapt to changing market imperatives. A description of some of ongoing research projects follows:
Dynamics of Network Formation
An ongoing research project with my doctoral students extends my previous line of inquiry by examining some of the evolutionary dynamics of small-world networks. Diverging from recent research that has analyzed static small worlds, we have adopted a dynamic view of the development and ultimate dissolution of such networks. We also consider the micro-level behavioral dynamics underlying the development of these pervasive social systems; some of these dynamics result in the formation of local ties, which agglomerate into tightly linked clusters, while others generate bridging ties between those clusters.
Governance of Interorganizational Exchange
In a series of papers, I examine the antecedents and consequences of governance choices in exchange relations. Using data from the automotive industry, a coauthor and I have examined the dynamics associated with the social and contractual structure of sourcing relationships in this context. We develop a theory about (1) when and how pre-existing trust-the level of trust established prior to the current exchange-complements governance in directly enhancing exchange performance regardless of the governance structure used and (2) when and how pre-existing trust leads to the substitution of one governance mode for another, which may in turn shape exchange performance indirectly. In another co-authored study I am investigating the extent to which firms exchange information among their internal units versus with their external suppliers of components. Our findings confirm my prior field observations that in many instances the extent of information exchanged is actually lower among internal units than between the firm and its external suppliers. However, we also find that this reduced level of information exchange does not have a significant effect on the performance of the relationship.  We develop a theory to explain these findings. In a separate, conceptual paper my coauthor and I reexamine the traditional assumption of make and buy as mutually exclusive choices. We present an integrated theory of plural sourcing, wherein firms use multiple governance modes simultaneously to procure the same input.
Network Resources and the Performance of Interorganizational Exchange
My recent book (Managing Network Resources, Oxford University Press) introduced the idea of "network resources," valuable assets that accrue to a firm not from within its boundaries but from its ties to key external constituents including but not limited to partners, suppliers, and customers. As a follow up to this work, my coauthors and I are using a large-scale multi-respondent survey dataset to examine directly the performance of individual alliances from each partner's standpoint and consider how each partners' network resources, among other factors, may influence performance levels.  By simultaneously assessing the performance of alliances from each partner's vantage point and the role of network resources and other key factors in shaping ultimate success, this study present a unique window into interorganizational activity.
Customer-Centricity as a Vehicle for Organic Growth
This body of work examines the mechanics of how firms grow profitably in commoditizing markets. Underlying the "customer-centricity" that many firms embrace today is a factor that will determine their success with this effort: enabling collaboration across their internal silos and, increasingly, with external partners. While internal integration has been an enduring theme in organizational research, in this context the nature of integration is driven not by production concerns but by external market and customer demands. The integration challenge is significant, as these drivers are not always predictable and consistent. To integrate internally, a firm must align its product-, technology-, function- or geography-based business units and operations to generate customer-focused offerings in a systemic and flexible way, without completely obliterating these silos, which are often crucial to innovation and/or house deep product and marketing expertise. Along with internal integration, firms are also seeking external partners who provide key inputs or complementary outputs that enable them to simultaneously "shrink their core" by doing less themselves and "expand their periphery" by offering a broader, integrated assortment of products and services. This poses new integration challenges as firms must find ways to improve customer-focused collaboration with external partners.  The belief is that this internal and external integration will allow the company to fully leverage the specialization and competencies of individual organizations-within and outside of the firm-to deliver greater value to customers and better bottom lines to themselves. Based on a study of nine prominent companies that are dismantling and transcending silos to become more customer-focused, I present the key enablers that shape their success, the pitfalls they face, and a model of how this journey typically unfolds.
The Architecture of the Integrated Organization
In this research I explore how organizations balance pressures for efficiency with the need to be responsive at the same time. Operating in turbulent global markets it is increasingly important for firms to embrace both global efficiency and also local responsiveness. A key imperative for them is to configure their organizational boundaries to be more porous so they can connect externally but also to be more inteconnected internally. I am researching both the structural and behavioral changes organizations must make to tackle these increasingly difficult market conditions.
Teaching
Leading Growth through Customer Centricity - India
Challenged by growing competition, dwindling resources, and rising customer demands, forward-thinking companies are centering their business model on the customer rather than the commodity. But attaining true customer centricity requires a fundamental shift in thinking across the enterprise and a reorientation of the value proposition.
Related Link: program description
Awards & Honors
Named a Birla Fellow in 2012.
Won the 2012 Sumantra Ghoshal Award for Rigour and Relevance in the Study of Management from London Business School.
Elected a fellow of the Strategic Management Society in 2009.
Won the 1996 Best Paper Award from the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management for "Customization or Conformity? An Institutional and Network Perspective on the Content and Consequences of TQM Adoption" with James Westphal and Steve Shortell (Administrative Science Quarterly, June 1997).
Won the 2007–2008 Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA Program Best Professor Award.
Named a Harvard MacArthur Fellow for 1992–1993.
Finalist for the 2019 Strategic Management Society (SMS) Annual Conference Best Paper Award for “Cognitive Framing and Capability Development at the Federal Bureau of Investigation” with Tiona Zuzul, Ryan Raffaelli, and Jan Rivkin.
Winner of the 2019 Strategic Management Society (SMS) Annual Conference Best Research Methods Paper Award for “Cognitive Framing and Capability Development at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” with Tiona Zuzul, Ryan Raffaelli, and Jan Rivkin.
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