I am an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo.

My research interests relate to understanding corporate innovation, entrepreneurship, and resilience in large established firms.

I graduated with a PhD from Purdue University’s Institute for Innovation Science, where I worked with industry partners to better understand the tension between managing risk and growth of large complex enterprises.

My dissertation was awarded a grant by The National Science Foundation.

Read my latest co-authored artcile on Scaling Up Transformational Innovations published in the Nov-Dec 2024 issue of the Harvard Business Review

Research Areas

  • Enterprise Resilience
  • Innovation Strategy
  • Corporate Entrepreneurship
  • Innovation Scale-up

Interests

  • Artificial Intelligence in Complex Organzations
  • Early-stage Venture Capital
  • Teaching Entrepreneurship

Education

  • PhD, 2021

    Purdue University, USA

  • MS in Civil Engineering, 2016

    Purdue University, USA

  • BE in Civil Engineering, 2012

    Manipal University, India

  • High School, 2008

    Essar International, India

Doctoral Committee

Recent News

All news»

  • November 2025: Am delighted to be invited to join to the Entrepreneurship (ENT) Division’s Teaching Committee at the Academy of Management (AOM).

  • November 2025: Paper co-authored with John M. York and Stern Neill titled “Learning Loops and Dynamic Capabilities in Startups Facing Systemic Shocks” got accepted for presentation at the 2026 CEEC Entrepreneurship Research and Pedagogy Conference!

  • June 2025: Working with Cal Poly undergraduate students on a Summer Research Project is fun.. Smart kids!

  • June 2025: Presented new research at the Industry Studies Association annual meet at MIT

  • May 2025: Joined the Editorial Board of Research-Technology Management.

Recent & Upcoming Talks

Defining a typology of exploratory innovations in large-incumbent firms

A research seminar talk delivered to faculty and students at Stevens Business School on defining a typology of explorations in large incumbent firms.

A Comprehensive Typology of Complex SC Risk Networks using a Data Driven Approach

A talk on comprehensive supply chain risks and resiliency.

Recent Publications

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Scaling Up Transformational Innovations

For large companies operating in mature sectors—such as Procter & Gamble in consumer goods, Apple in consumer electronics, and Adobe in cloud software—driving growth is a perennial challenge. Growth through acquisition is always an option, but many companies quickly find that the costs outweigh the benefits.

Building megaproject resilience with stakeholders: The roles of citizenship behavior and critical transition mechanisms

Unexpected events test megaproject resilience; Stakeholders are assets that can be utilized to impart project resilience; Research on the contribution of stakeholder behaviors to megaproject resilience is scarce; Studies indicate that stakeholders’ citizenship behaviors can aid megaproject resilience; Citizenship behaviors affect project resilience only when there is adequate momentum

Recent Posts

Simple Rules for Innovation Strategy

How a specific set of questions helps contrast disruptive, modular, and enabling innovations

My first experience teaching first-year undergrads

Teaching someone can teach you more.

Enterprises are Complex Systems

The complex adaptive systems view of enterprises provides a new view for building enterprise resilience.

Purpose-Context: A framework to systematize the front-end for repeatable Innovation

Automated tools augment structured thinking in the divergent-convergent thought process towards Innovation Science. Innovation, a ubiquitous term in today’s world, so frequently uttered that it raises caution before use, lest one be accused of being labeled a buzz word presser.

A Typology of Enterprise Risks

Enterprises are subject to several risks. This typology helps understand them more clearly.

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