Cognition & Strategic Mental Models
How managers' cognitive representations of competitive landscapes shape strategic decisions, and what happens when those mental models diverge from reality.
For two decades I've studied cognition in strategy, competitive dynamics, and how organizations navigate uncertainty. That work asks how mental models shape strategic choice, how assumptions harden into institutions, and what happens when those foundations shift.
Peer-reviewed work in Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Management Science, Strategy Science, and Research Policy, including the inaugural Strategy Science Best Paper Award and the Academy of Management STR Division's Sumantra Ghoshal Research and Practice Award, alongside a current program on AI in education.
How managers' cognitive representations of competitive landscapes shape strategic decisions, and what happens when those mental models diverge from reality.
How firms anticipate competitive moves and navigate uncertainty, and why prediction falters when the underlying premises change.
How the structure of relationships between firms evolves, how those networks shape innovation, and the strategic implications of corporate actions.
How education professionals engage with AI, and why cognitive and institutional boundaries affect its use in inclusive education. A current research program with Roberta Besozzi.
Strategy Science (INFORMS), 2022
The inaugural award, chosen from every paper the journal had published up to that point.
Strategy (STR) Division, Academy of Management, 2022
The STR Division's award for work that advances research while deriving important implications for practice.
Harvard Business School, 2012
Recognizing exceptional doctoral dissertation research.
Full citation record on Google Scholar.
This work on cognition in strategy (how mental models shape competitive choice, how assumptions layer into institutions) now grounds a larger question I'm chasing. What happens to those foundations when AI shifts the premises beneath them?