University of Pittsburgh

Faculty

Ravi Madhavan

Associate Professor of Business Administration

Office: 236 Mervis Hall
Phone: 412-648-1530
E-mail: rmadhavan@katz.pitt.edu
Homepage: www.pitt.edu/~ram115

Degrees

PhD, University of Pittsburgh (1996)
MBA, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India (1982)
BComm, Calicut University, India (1980)

Courses Recently Taught

Strategic Management (CBA, IEMBA)
Acquisition and Divestment (MBA, IEMBA)
Management of Strategic Alliances (MBA)
Research in Corporate Strategy (PhD)

Interest Group

Strategy, Environment, and Organizations

Profile

Ravi Madhavan is an associate professor of business administration in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. He earned his PhD in strategic management at the University of Pittsburgh in 1996, and joined the Katz faculty in 2001 after serving on the faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign from 1995 to 2001. Prior to his PhD, he spent eight years as a manager in the information technology industry, gaining experience in consulting, executive education, and marketing.

His research seeks to understand the interaction structure of competitive advantage, i.e., how the structure of firm-to-firm interaction networks influences competitive advantage, studying this phenomenon in two core domains: (1) corporate strategy, with an emphasis on strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions; and (2) the dynamics of globalization. Empirical contexts of primary interest have been steel and venture capital, two very dissimilar industries that have both been relatively slow to globalize.

Ravi has published papers in premier journals including Academy of Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, and Journal of Marketing. His dissertation, "Strategic Flexibility in the Global Steel Industry: The Role of Interfirm Linkages," was a finalist in the Dissertation Award Competition of the Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management. He has received Best Paper Awards from the American Marketing Association, as well as from the Eastern Academy of Management and presented papers at professional conferences and workshops both in the United States and internationally. He has also authored or coauthored several cases, reports, teaching notes, and book chapters.

Among the organizations that have supported his research are the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Center for Human Resource Management at the University of Illinois, the Illinois Center for International Business Education and Research, the University Center for International Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and the International Business Center at the University of Pittsburgh.

Recent Publications

“Co-Opetition: Promises and Challenges,” Devi R. Gnyawali, Jinyu He & Ravindranath Madhavan. Forthcoming 2007 in Charles Wankel (Editor), Handbook of 21st Century Management, Sage

“Real Options: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead,” Yong Li, Barclay James, Ravindranath Madhavan, and Joseph Mahoney. Forthcoming June 2007 in Jeffrey J. Reuer & Tony W. Tong (Editors), Advances in Strategic Management: Real Options (Volume 24), Elsevier

"Impact of Co-opetition on Firm Competitive Behavior: An Empirical Examination", Devi R. Gnyawali, Jinyu He and Ravindranath Madhavan (authorship in alphabetical order). Journal of Management, August 2006, Volume 32(4): 507-530

"The Evolution Of Interfirm Networks: Environmental Effects On Patterns Of Network Change", Balaji R. Koka, Ravindranath Madhavan, and John E. Prescott (authorship in alphabetical order). Academy of Management Review, July 2006, Volume 31(3): 721-737

“Pushing the Frontier of LMX Research: The Contribution of Triads,” Evan Offstein, Ravindranath Madhavan, and Devi R. Gnyawali, pp. 95-117 in George B. Graen (Editor), Sharing Network Leadership, LMX Leadership: The Series, Information Age Publishing, Greenwich, CT, 2006

"DiffuNET: Modeling the Impact of Network Structure on the Diffusion of Innovation", Ben Liu, Ravindranath Madhavan, and D. Sudharshan (authorship in alphabetical order). European Journal of Innovation Management, June 2005, Volume 8(2): 240-262

"Two’s Company, Three’s a Crowd?’ Triads in Cooperative-Competitive Networks," Ravindranath Madhavan, Devi R. Gnyawali, and Jinyu He. Academy of Management Journal, December 2004, Volume 47(6): 918-927

"Interconnection Policy Regimes and Global Strategic Alliance Activity in the Telecom Industry," Jai Joon Lee and Ravindranath Madhavan, in Erik Bohlin, Sandy Levin, Nakil Sung, and Chang-Ho Yoon (Editors), Global Economy and Digital Society, Elsevier, 2004

"Network evolution as a multi-level phenomenon," pp. 265-273 in Francis J. Yammarino and Fred Dansereau (Editors), Research in Multi-Level Issues, Elsevier, 2003

"Alliance Network Structure and Competitiveness: Retrospective and Prospectus," Balaji R. Koka, Ravindranath Madhavan, and John E. Prescott, in Michael A. Trick (Editor), Growing the International Firm: Success in Mergers, Acquisitions, Networks and Alliances, pp. 165-174, Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 2002

Select Working Papers

"Interorganizational Embeddedness and The Reach, Richness, and Receptivity of Network Resources," Ranjay Gulati, Dovev Lavie, and Ravindranath Madhavan

"Understanding Global Venture Capital Flows: Transnational Technical Communities as Economic Actors," Ravindranath Madhavan and Akie Iriyama

"The Compatriot Syndication Effect: Exercising Call Options in International Joint Ventures," Akie Iriyama, Ravindranath Madhavan, and John E. Prescott

Select Awards and Honors

NSF Research grant, $181,000, 2003

Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, 2002, 2004

"Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students," University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Fall 1998

Finalist, Dissertation Award Competition, BPS Division, Academy of Management Meetings, 1997

Best Paper Award, Eastern Academy of Management Meetings, 1994

Best Paper Award, American Marketing Association, Winter Educators' Conference, 1994

Select External Service and Assignments

Member of the Editorial Board, Strategic Organization

Member of the editorial board, International Journal of Strategic Change Management