Department of Strategic Management & Public Policy
The Department of Strategic Management and Public Policy (SMPP) brings together professors who bridge the issues of vital importance to business today, including competitive corporate strategy, corporate responsibility, business ethics, strategic environmental management, social networks and social capital, and the relationships between business and politics and between business and society, sustainability, and labor market equality and diversity.
Reflecting the vision, mission and goals of the GW School of Business, SMPP works to cultivate ethical, diverse, and inclusive leaders who make a positive impact on the environment, on society, and on governance through our teaching and research. We also take advantage of our Washington, D.C. location to engage with stakeholders in the wider business and policy communities.
Our department includes 15 full-time faculty and several well-experienced adjunct faculty, who together bring a wealth and depth of experience in the business, not-for-profit and public policy arenas. Faculty engage in scholarly research which is published in leading academic journals as well as important practitioner journals to connect their research to the individuals who apply this work in real-world private and public sector settings. Faculty currently serve in senior editorial positions at Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, Journal of Business Ethics, and Organization Theory.
SMPP offers three core courses in GWSB’s undergraduate degree programs: Markets and Politics, Business Ethics and the Legal Environment, and Strategy Formulation and Implementation. We offer two core courses on Strategic Management and on Business Ethics and Public Policy in the various GWSB graduate programs. The department also offers graduate elective seminars, including Strategic Environmental Management, Corporate Governance, Social Capital, and Impact Investing.
In addition to our core course offerings, SMPP offers two academic programs: a BBA with a concentration in Business Economics and Public Policy, and a Ph.D. in Business with a Management and Strategy Area of Focus.
What's New in SMPP
- Read the Latest News
Prof. Joel Gehman and his coauthor Michael Lounsbury (at the University of Alberta) published "Concise Introduction to Organization Theory" (Edward Elgar), an overview of organization theory that clarifies how to cultivate a robust scholarly identity in a field rich with diverse research traditions. Providing a summary of rationalist, pragmatic and co-constitutive theories, they highlight how scholars can meaningfully contribute to the academic conversation and maximize the practical relevance of their work.
Prof. Vikram Bhargava was named an International Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Centre for Corporate Reputation at the Saïd Business School. Fellows are leading scholars across a range of disciplines related to research into social evaluations who support the center's activities and provide advice and expertise to help further the work of the center.
Prof. Jorge Walter and his coauthor Prof. Markus Kreutzer (at European Business School) just published their new book titled "Reconceptualizing Organizational Control — Managing in the Age of Hybrid Workplaces, Artificial Intelligence, and the Gig Economy" at Cambridge University Press. This book integrates new and evolving trends in technology, organizations, and society into a reconceptualization of organizational control — i.e., aligning workers' capabilities, activities, and performance with organizational goals and aspirations — for twenty-first-century organizations.
Prof. Emeritus Howard Beales recently provided expert testimony to congress. His testimony appeared before the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, on Federal Trade Commission Practices: A Discussion on Past Versus Present. The testimony was based on the paper Prof. Beales wrote with Tim Muris on change eras at the FTC, contrasting current FTC leader Lina Khan with prior major changes in 1970 and 1980. Prof. Beales also published a related opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed into law a bill entitled "Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act" (SB976). Drafts of the bill cited a Business Ethics Quarterly article by Vikram Bhargava, assistant professor of strategic management and public policy, entitled "Ethics of the Attention Economy: The Problem of Social Media Addiction" (coauthored with M. Velasquez).
SMPP Speaker Series
- Spring 2025
- Image
Philip L. Cochran, Thomas W. Binford Chair of Corporate Citizenship and Professor of Management, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
Topic: TBAImage
David Hess, Everett E Berg Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Business Law, Stephen M Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Topic: TBAImage
Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez, Max and Bernice Garchik Family Presidential Associate Professor (of Management), Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Topic: TBA - Fall 2024
- Image
Paula Jarzabkowski, Professor of Strategic Management at University of Queensland, Australia and City, University of London, UK
Scholar in Residence Session with SMPP & MGT PhD studentsImage
Matthew Grimes, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Futures at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
“Values Homophily in Action: Co-Founder Authentication Processes During Team Formation”Image
Aloysius Marcus Kahindi, Canada Research Chair in International Sustainable Development, and Professor, at the Gustavson Business School, University of Victoria in Canada
“The Organization as Anthropologist: Grand Challenges and NGOs in East African Slums” - Spring 2024
-
Raj Choudhury, Lumry Family Associate Professor, Harvard Business School
“Loss of Peers and Individual Worker Performance: Evidence From H-1B Visa Denials”
Ryan Raffaelli, Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
“Organizational emplacement as a response to digital threat: The novel resurgence of independent bookstores”
Erin Reid, Professor of Human Resources & Management, DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University
“Earning inherent dignity? How a living wage gentrifies work roles”
Justin W. Webb, Belk Distinguished Professor of Business Innovation, Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
“How informal entrepreneurs organize market governance: The emergence and evolution of organizing rules”
Tyler Wry, Associate Professor of Management, Wharton
“Getting into the set: The effects of impact investing in global microfinance”
Contact Us
The George Washington University School of Business
Department of Strategic Management and Public Policy
2201 G Street NW, Funger Hall, Ste. 615
Washington, D.C. 20052
Phone: (202) 994-6677
Fax: (202) 994-8113
Staff Contact:
Rochelle Rediang
Senior Academic Department Administrator
email: [email protected]
phone: 202-994-6677
The Institute for Corporate Responsibility (ICR)
Professor John Forrer, Director