Best Dissertation Award

TIMES Best Dissertation Awards

The best thesis award is given out annually at the TIMES Business Meeting to the best doctoral thesis in technology management, product/process innovation, business model innovation, new product development, and entrepreneurship. A call for this award is posted in the TIMES Connect forum in spring of the same year. You must be a TIMES member to be eligible for this award. Please refer to the call in this link for further information on deadlines and criteria of eligibility. Please contact the TIMES Chair Elect if you have any questions.

2023 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Sponsored by UCL School of Management

First Place

Abhishek Deshmane (Advisor: Victor Martínez de Albéniz, IESE) 

Second Place
   
Tobias Lieberum (Advisor: Martin Grunow, TUM)

 

2022 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Sponsored by Lazaridis Institute

First Place

Philippe Blaettchen (Advisors: Sameer Hasija and Andre Calmon, INSEAD) and

Jingxing (Rowena) Gan (Advisor: Gerry Tsoukalas, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton)

Second Place
   
Neda Mirzaeian (Advisor: Soo-Haeng Cho, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper)

2021 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Sponsored by Lazaridis Institute

First Place

Zhaohui (Zoey) Jiang, Towards a Better Design of Online Marketplace
Current Affiliation: PhD Student, CMU, Tepper
PhD Affiliation: University of Michigan, Ross
Dissertation Advisor: Damian Beil

Second Place
   
Brian Rongqing Han, Commercialization of Logistics Infrastructure as an Offline Platform
Current Affiliation: PhD Student, USC
PhD Affiliation: USC
Dissertation Advisor: Leon Zhu

2020 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Sponsored by Lazaridis Institute

First Place

Antoine Feylessoufi, Adoption of innovations: Modelling the interplay of behavioural biases, incentives and network structure
Current Affiliation: PhD Student, Cambridge University Judge Business School
PhD Affiliation: Cambridge University Judge Business School
Dissertation Advisor: Stelios Kavadias and Daniel Ralph

Second Place
   
Joey van Angeren, Creating and Capturing Value from Digital Products: Implications of Business Model Choice and Product Positioning in the Mobile App Market
Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam School of Business and Economics
PhD Affiliation: Eindhoven University of Technology
Dissertation Advisors: Fred Langerak

2019 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Sponsored by Lazaridis Institute


First Place


Daniel Blaseg, Crowdfunding
Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, ESADE Business School
PhD Affiliation: Goethe University
Dissertation Advisor: Bernd Skiera


Second Place
   

Evgeny Kagan, Entrepreneurial operations management
Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Carey Business School
PhD Affiliation: University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business
Dissertation Advisors: Stephen Leider and William Lovej


2018 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Sponsored by Lazaridis Institute


First Place


Tristan L. Botelho, Essays on Knowledge Sharing and an Opt-in Evaluation Process among Investment Professionals
Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Yale University, School of Management
PhD Affiliation: MIT Sloan School of Management
Dissertation Advisor: Ezra Zuckerman


Second Place
   
Cédric Gutierrez Moreno, Three Essays on the Behavioral Foundations of Entrepreneurial Entry
Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Bocconi University
PhD Affiliation: HEC Paris
Dissertation Advisors: Tom Astebro and Mohammed Abdellaoui

 

Third Place

Philipp Cornelius, How to Improve Innovation Success: Customers, Employees, and the Search Process
Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Management
PhD Affiliation: University College London, UCL School of Management
Dissertation Advisor: Bilal Gokpinar

 

Lakshminarayana Nittala, Designing Innovation Contests
Current Affiliation:  Assistant Professor, University of Dayton
PhD Affiliation: University of California San Diego, Rady School of Management
Dissertation Advisor: Vish Krishnan

 

Konstantinos I. Stouras, Incentive Design of On-Demand Marketplaces for Service and Innovation  
Current Affiliation:  Assistant Professor, University College Dublin, Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School
PhD Affiliation: INSEAD
Dissertation Advisors: Serguei Netessine and Karan Girotra



2017 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Sponsored by Lazaridis Institute


First Place

Tugce Martagan,   Stochastic Models to Optimize Biomanufacturing Operations

Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology

PhD Affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dissertation Advisor: Ananth Krishnamurthy


Second Place
   
Tian Heong Chan, Beyond Product Functionality: Essays on the Use of Product Form and After-Sales Services to Create Value

Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor at Emory University

PhD Affiliation: INSEAD

Dissertation Advisors: Jurgen Mihm and Manuel Sosa

 

Runner-ups:
   
Bo Cowgill, Corporate Prediction Markets: Evidence from Google, Ford and Firm X

Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor at Columbia University

PhD Affiliation: UC Berkeley

Dissertation Advisors: John Morgan

Douglas Hannah, Value Creation and Capture in a World of Bottlenecks

Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, University of Texas Austin

PhD Affiliation: Stanford University

Dissertation Advisor: Kathleen Eisenhardt
 

Hyunwoo Park, Digital Platforms and Product Innovativeness: Towards an Understanding of Innovation at the Device Layer   

Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University

PhD Affiliation: Georgia Institute of Technology

Dissertation Advisors: William B. Rouse and Rahul C. Basole

 

2016 TIMES Best Dissertation Award


First Place

Ersin Korpeoglu, University College London
Dissertation Title: Innovation and Crowdsourcing Contests
Dissertation completed in in May 2015 at Carnegie Mellon University
Dissertation Advisors: Professors Laurence Ales and Soo-Haeng Cho

Second Place

Frank Nagle, University of Southern California
Dissertation Title: The Digital Commons: Tragedy or Opportunity? The Effect of Crowdsourced Digital Goods on Innovation and Economic Growth
Dissertation completed in May 2015, Harvard Business School
Dissertation Advisors: Professors Shane Greenstein, Marco Iansiti, Carliss Baldwin, Karim Lakhani and Feng Zhu

Runner-ups

Daniel Armanios, Carnegie Mellon University
Dissertation Title: What is the Role of the State in Entrepreneurship and Venture Performance?
Dissertation completed in August 2015 at Stanford University
Dissertation Advisors: Professors Kathleen Eisenhardt and Charles Eesley

Haibo Liu, University of California Riverside
Dissertation Title: Essays on Extreme Performance
Dissertation completed in 2015 at INSEAD
Dissertation Advisors: Professors Gabriel Szulanski, Manuel Sosa, Jurgen Mihm, and Guoli Chen

Joost Rietveld, Erasmus University
Dissertation Title: Value Creation from Complements in Platform Markets:
Studies on the Video Game Industry
Dissertation completed in March 2015 at Cass Business School
Dissertation Advisor: Professors Stefan Haefliger, Melissa Schilling, JP Eggers


2015 TIMES Best Dissertation Award

First Place

Alessio Cozzolino, University College Dublin
Dissertation Title: Three Essays on Technological Changes and Competitive Advantage: Evidence from the Newspaper Industry
Dissertation completed in March 2015 at Bocconi University
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Gianmario Verona

Second Place

Russell Funk, University of Minnesota
Dissertation Title: Essays on Collaboration, Innovation, and Network Change in Organizations
Dissertation completed in August 2014 at the University of Michigan
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Jason Owen-Smi

Runner-ups:

Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, New York University
Dissertation Title: Shifting Loci of Innovation: A Study of Knowledge Boundaries, Identity and Innovation at NASA
Dissertation completed in June 2014 Harvard Business School
Dissertation Advisors: Professors Michael Tushman, Karim Lakhani and Michel Anteby

Catherine Magelssen, London Business School
Dissertation Title: Property Rights Theory and Ownership of Firm-Specific Advantages: The Implications of Contracting and Licensing within the Multinational Firm
Dissertation completed in July 2014 Rutgers Business School
Dissertation Advisors: Professors Susan Feinberg, Fariborz Damanpour, Michelle Gittelman, and Tom Prusa

2014 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:
Ryan Rafaelli, Harvard Business School
Dissertation Title: Identity and Institutional Change in a Mature Field: The Re-emergence of the Swiss Watch-making Industry, 1970-2008
Dissertation completed in June 2013 at Boston College
Dissertation Advisors: Professors Mary Ann Glynn, Michael Tushman, and Mary Tripsas

TIMES Best Dissertation Award Runner-up:
Andrew G. Earle, University of New Hampshire
Dissertation Title:  Explore with Strangers, Exploit with Friends: Organizational Ambidexterity and Networks in Successful Technology Commercialization
Dissertation completed in June 2013 at the University of Oregon
Dissertation Advisors: Michael Russo, Alan Meyer and Andrew Nelson

TIMES Best Dissertation Award Finalists:
Jennifer Bailey, Babson College
Dissertation Title: Synchronizing Exploration and Exploitation: Knowledge Creation Challenges in Innovation
Dissertation completed in November 2013 at the Georgia Institute of Technology
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Cheryl Gaimon

Sen Chai, Harvard University
Dissertation Title: Essays on the Emergence and Diffusion of Breakthroughs
Dissertation completed in May 2013 at Harvard Business School
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Lee Fleming

2013 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:
Ayfer Ali, Universidad Carlos III in Madrid.
Dissertation Title: From Idea to Product – Translating Knowledge between the Lab and the Clinic
Dissertation Completed in January 2012 at Harvard University
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Robert Huckman

TIMES Best Dissertation Award Runner-up:
Phillip C. Anderson, University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign
Dissertation Title: Complementary Capabilibies in Dynamic Environments: The Evolution of Professional Services in Information Technology Product Firms
Dissertation Completed in March 2012 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Michael A. Cusumano

2012 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Zhijian Cui, Instituto de Empresa (IE) 

Dissertation title: "Management of Collaborations and Conflicts in New Product Development."
Dissertation completed in June 2011 at INSEAD.
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Christoph Loch 

TIMES Best Dissertation Award Runner-up:

Vivek Tandon, National University of Singapore

Dissertation title: "Make hay while the sun shines or be more loyal than the king? The impact of external labor markets on the technological search process within firms."
Dissertation completed in June 2011 at University of Michigan.
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Gautam Ahuja

2011 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Claudio Wolter, Carnegie Mellon University 
Dissertation title: "Technological Competences and Firm Boundaries: An Empirical and Conceptual Investigation of Diversification, Vertical Integration and Profitability."
Dissertation completed in May 2010 at Carnegie Mellon University.

TIMES Best Dissertation Award Runner-up:

Jianxi Luo, Assistant Professor of Engineering Product Development at Singapore University of Technology & Design
Dissertation title: "Hierarchy in Industry Architecture:Transaction Strategy under Technological Constraints."
Dissertation completed in May 2010 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

2010 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Anant Mishra, University of Minnesota 
Dissertation title: "Essays on Global Sourcing of Technology Projects."
Dissertation completed in August 2009 at University of Minnesota.

TIMES Best Dissertation Award Runner-up:

Bradley R. Staats, Harvard Business School
Dissertation title: "Microfoundations of Organizational Capabilities: Empirical Evidence from Indian Software Services."
Dissertation completed in June 2009 at Harvard Business School.

2009 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Brian Fifarek, Engineering Supervisor, Cutler-Hammer Industrial Controls Division, Eaton Corporation, at Milwaukee, WI 
Dissertation title: "Globalization, Offshoring, and the Location of Innovation: A Case Study of Rare Earth Technology,"
Dissertation completed at Carnegie Melon University.

TIMES Best Dissertation Award Runner-up:

Philipp Tuertscher, Researcher, E&I Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria
Dissertation title: "The Emergence of Architecture in Modular Systems: Coordination Across Boundaries at Atlas, CERN."
Dissertation completed at University of St. Gallen.

2008 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Andrew Nelson, Lundquist School of Business, University of Oregon
Dissertation title: "Institutional Convergence and the Diffusion of University Versus Firm-Origin Technologies,"
Dissertation completed in June 2007 at the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University.

TIMES Best Dissertation Runner-up

Vareska van de Vrande, Ecole Polytechnic Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Dissertation title: "Not Invented here: Managing Corporate Innovation in a New Era,"
Dissertation completed in November 2007 at the the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

2007 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Lourdes Sosa, London Business School, United Kingdom
Dissertation title: "Decoupling Market Incumbency from Organizational Experience: A Study of Biotechnology's Impact on the Market for Anti-Cancer Drugs,"
Dissertation completed in June 2006 at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

TIMES Best Dissertation Runner-up:

Kenneth Huang, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University
Dissertation title: "Innovation in the Life Sciences: the Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on Scientific Knowledge Diffusion, Accumulation and Utilization,"
Dissertation completed in Technology, Management and Policy in August 2006, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Pictures of INFORMS TMS, Seattle 2007

2006 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Claudia N. González Brambila, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
Dissertation title: "Exploring Academic Scientific Productivity for the Design of Public Policies,"
Dissertation completed in December 2005 at Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Engineering and Public Policy

TIMES Best Dissertation Runner-up:

Giovanni Valentini, ISEA - Bocconi University, Italy
Dissertation title: "Dynamic Competitive Advantage through Innovation: M&A, Cooperation, Contracting and Technological Performance," 
Dissertation completed in September 2005 at IESE Business School, Barcelona

Pictures of INFORMS TMS, Pittsburgh 2006

2005 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Dovev Lavie, University of Texas - Austin 
Dissertation title: "The Interconnected Firm: Evolution, Strategy, and Performance," 
Dissertation completed in June 2004 at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

TIMES Best Dissertation Runner-ups:

Oana Branzei, York University 
Dissertation title: "Product Innovation in Heterogeneous R&D Networks: Pathways to Exploration and Exploitation,"
Dissertation completed in December 2004 at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

Marc Junkunc, University of Miami 
Dissertation title: "Toward a Greater Economic Understanding of Entrepreneurial Activity: Examining the Nature and Importance of Specialized Knowledge"
Dissertation completed in April 2004 at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, University of California - Los Angeles

2004 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Corinne Post, Lubin School of Business, PACE University, 
Dissertation title: "Allocating Favorable Work Contexts in Industrial R&D: The Role of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Family Characteristics, and Organizational Setting."

Pictures of INFORMS TMS, Denver 2004

2003 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

Arvids A. Ziedonis, University of California at Berkeley, 
Dissertation title: "The Commercialization of University Technology: Implications for Firm Strategy and Public Policy."

TIMES Best Dissertation Runner-ups:

Charles M. Weber, Sloan School of Management at MIT 
Dissertation title: "Rapid Learning in High Velocity Environments."

Robert Lowe, University of California at Berkeley 
Dissertation title: "Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: The Commercialization of University Research by Inventor-Founded Firms."

James M. Morgan, University of Michigan 
Dissertation title: "A Systems Approach to a Lean Product Development Process."

Pictures of INFORMS TMS, Atlanta 2003

2002 TIMES Best Dissertation Award Winner:

C. Annique Un, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dissertation title: "Organizational Capabilities, Knowledge, and Innovation: Strategies for Developing the Capability to Mobilize and Create Knowledge for Innovation."

TIMES Best Dissertation Runner-up:

Riitta Katila, Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin, 
Dissertation title: "In Search of Innovation: Search Determinants of New Product Introductions."