Krishna Erramilli
“Over the past 30 years, I have had the privilege of working with youth in Africa, America and Asia. Regardless of race and religion, I discovered that youth everywhere are exactly the same. They are fired up by the belief that they can change the world for the better. There is a universal passion among young people everywhere to make this a better world, a better society and a better planet for themselves and for their children. There is unbounded optimism that tomorrow can be better than today. And there is unlimited energy to turn those dreams into reality. As educators, all we need to do is provide the initial spark.”
Notable Vignette
Early in my career, I was overcome by intense self-doubt concerning my research. It is true my research was being cited heavily by fellow academics, but did it have any relevance to managers? Unsure of the answer, I rarely talked about it in class. Then I taught in a training program for multinational executives, during which I diffidently discussed my research on foreign-market entry strategies. I was amazed at the response from the participants. I discovered that there is a great thirst out there for insights that academic scholars routinely produce, provided they are presented in a language that managers understand. That experience completely changed the way I teach. Now, whether I am teaching current managers or potential managers (my students), I no longer hide my research. I flaunt it!
What excites me about Stuart
Small is beautiful! That was the conclusion I reached after six months at Stuart. It is a small, cozy and close-knit school that thrives on its diminutive scale. In a world dominated by large, functionally driven b-schools, Stuart is a refreshing breath of fresh air. The small faculty size means there are no departments. No departments means programs are taught in fully integrated fashion and research questions are asked and answered in holistic terms. Like the real world! That is what excites me about Stuart.
My Teaching Philosophy
I believe that theoretical rigor needs to be balanced by practical relevance; experiential learning is stronger than passive learning; and student-to-student learning is every bit as important as professor-to-student learning in graduate programs. To this end, I frame all my lectures in terms of every-day problems faced by executives, extensively use simulation games, emphasize team-based learning and challenge my students to learn from each other.
My Teaching/Research Interests
My area of interest and expertise is business and marketing strategy. More specifically, much of my past work has been in the area of foreign-market entry strategy. This area straddles between management and marketing and has traditionally been dominated by theories such as transaction cost analysis resource based view. Recently, I have been broadening my interests into larger issues such as firm competitiveness, particularly in contexts such as emerging markets.
