Rembrand M. Koning

Rem Koning is an Assistant Professor in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. He studies how entrepreneurs build their firms and how to broaden the benefits of startup growth and innovation. His case writing and academic work have explored how entrepreneurs experiment and learn from one another in numerous contexts, including technology startups, women’s health, firm hiring, entrepreneurship in developing economies, mental health, and scientific innovation.

Professor Koning earned degrees in mathematics and statistics from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he received a Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship. He teaches strategy and entrepreneurship to both executives and MBA students. His work has appeared in Science, the Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, Research Policy, Organization Science, and the American Sociological Review. It has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, STAT News, Nature, Vox, and the New York Times.

Publications

• Dimitriadis, Stefan, and Rembrand Koning. "Social Skills Improve Business Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial with Entrepreneurs in Togo." Management Science (forthcoming). View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Sharique Hasan, and Aaron Chatterji. "Experimentation and Startup Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing." Management Science (forthcoming). View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Sampsa Samila, and John-Paul Ferguson. "Who Do We Invent for? Patents by Women Focus More on Women's Health, but Few Women Get to Invent." Science 372, no. 6548 (June 18, 2021): 1345–1348. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Sampsa Samila, and John-Paul Ferguson. "Inventor Gender and the Direction of Invention." AEA Papers and Proceedings 110 (May 2020): 250–254. View Details
• Hasan, Sharique, and Rembrand Koning. "Designing Social Networks: Joint Tasks and the Formation of Network Ties." Art. 4. Journal of Organization Design 9 (2020). View Details
• Chatterji, Aaron, Solène Delecourt, Sharique Hasan, and Rembrand Koning. "When Does Advice Impact Startup Performance?" Strategic Management Journal 40, no. 3 (March 2019): 331–356. View Details
• Hasan, Sharique, and Rembrand Koning. "Prior Ties and the Limits of Peer Effects on Startup Team Performance." Strategic Management Journal 40, no. 9 (September 2019): 1394–1416. View Details
• Hasan, Sharique, and Rembrand Koning. "Conversations and Idea Generation: Evidence from a Field Experiment." Art. 103811. Research Policy 48, no. 9 (November 2019). View Details
• Ferguson, John-Paul, and Rembrand Koning. "Firm Turnover and the Return of Racial Establishment Segregation." American Sociological Review 83, no. 3 (June 2018): 445–474. View Details
• Hasan, Sharique, John-Paul Ferguson, and Rembrand Koning. "The Lives and Deaths of Jobs: Technical Interdependence and Survival in a Job Structure." Organization Science 26, no. 6 (November–December 2015): 1665–1681. View Details

Working Papers

• Wright, Nataliya Langburd, Rembrand Koning, and Tarun Khanna. "Judging Foreign Startups." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-097, March 2021. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
• Cao, Ruiqing, Rembrand Koning, and Ramana Nanda. "Biased Sampling of Early Users and the Direction of Startup Innovation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-059, November 2020. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Sharique Hasan, and Ines Black. "Hunting for Talent: Firm-driven Labor Market Search in the United States." SSRN Working Paper Series, No. 3576498, September 2021. View Details
• Ferguson, John-Paul, and Rembrand Koning. "Industrial Change, the Boundary of the Firm, and Racial Employment Segregation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-069, December 2019. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, and John-Paul Ferguson. "Does Public Ownership and Accountability Increase Diversity? Evidence from IPOs." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-071, January 2019. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand. "Do Network Dynamics Undermine Idea-based Network Advantages? Experimental Results from an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp." Working Paper, August 2016. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials

• Alcácer, Juan, Rembrand Koning, Annelena Lobb, and Kerry Herman. "VIA Science (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 721-372, April 2021. View Details
• Alcácer, Juan, Rembrand Koning, Annelena Lobb, and Kerry Herman. "VIA Science (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 721-368, December 2020. View Details
• Alcácer, Juan, Rembrand Koning, Annelena Lobb, and Kerry Herman. "VIA Science (A)." Harvard Business School Case 721-367, December 2020. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, and Namrata Arora. "mPharma (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 722-453, March 2022. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand. "Thinx, Inc.—Breaking Barriers in Feminine Care." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 722-452, March 2022. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Paul A. Gompers, and Sarah Gulick. "CashDrop (B1)." Harvard Business School Supplement 221-052, March 2021. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Paul A. Gompers, and Sarah Gulick. "CashDrop (B2)." Harvard Business School Supplement 221-053, March 2021. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Paul A. Gompers, and Sarah Gulick. "CashDrop (A)." Harvard Business School Case 221-051, March 2021. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, John D. Macomber, Pippa Tubman Armerding, and Wale Lawal. "mPharma (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 721-429, January 2021. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, John D. Macomber, Pippa Tubman Armerding, and Wale Lawal. "mPharma (A)." Harvard Business School Case 721-428, January 2021. View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Elie Ofek, and Nicole Tempest Keller. "Thinx, Inc.—Breaking Barriers in Feminine Care (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 721-021, December 2020. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Andy Wu, Nataliya Langburd Wright, and Tarun Khanna. "MassChallenge." Harvard Business School Case 720-469, May 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
• Collis, David J., Andy Wu, and Rembrand Koning. "Walmart Inc. Takes on Amazon.com." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 720-437, February 2020. View Details
• Collis, David, Andy Wu, Rembrand Koning, and Huaiyi CiCi Sun. "Walmart Inc. takes on Amazon.com." Harvard Business School Case 718-481, January 2018. (Revised October 2021.) View Details
• Koning, Rembrand, Elie Ofek, and Nicole Keller. "Thinx, Inc.—Breaking Barriers in Feminine Care." Harvard Business School Case 720-443, March 2020. (Revised November 2020.) View Details
• Koning, Rembrand. "Walmart's Online Challenge: Amazon.com." Harvard Business School Case 719-461, January 2019. View Details
• Cowgill, Bo, and Rembrand Koning. "Matching Markets for Googlers." Harvard Business School Case 718-487, March 2018. (Revised August 2018.) (More about Bo Cowgill.) View Details

Research Summary

Overview

Rembrand Koning is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. His research examines matching and selection frictions in firm growth and strategy, with an aim to help entrepreneurs and executives improve their odds of selecting scalable ideas, promising markets, and high-potential talent.

Additional Information

• Curriculum Vitae

• Twitter

Areas of Interest

• diversity
• entrepreneurship
• experimentation
• innovation
• strategy
Industries
• biotechnology
• high technology
• software
Geographies
• Africa
• India
• United States