Mohanbir Sawhney
McCormick Foundation Chair of Technology
Clinical Professor of Marketing
Director of the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation
Prof. Sawhney is a globally recognized scholar, teacher, consultant and speaker in business innovation, modern marketing, and Artificial Intelligence applications in business.
Prof. Sawhney has written seven management books as well as dozens of influential articles in leading academic journals and managerial publications. His most recent book, The Sentient Enterprise: The Evolution of Business Decision Making, was published in October 2017 and was on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list. He has also written a book of poetry called Love, Longing and Loneliness in 2014. His research has been published in leading journals like California Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Management Science, Marketing Science, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He is a contributor to Forbes and his articles have been published in Fortune, Financial Times, CIO Magazine and TheHill.com.
Prof. Sawhney is a pioneer in online executive education. He has created more than fifteen online Executive Education courses, including Digital Marketing Strategies, Product Strategy, AI Applications for Growth, and the Kellogg Chief Product Officer Program. In five years, from 2019 to 2024, these online courses have enrolled over 24,000 participants from 112 countries, and have generated $75 million in gross revenues. He has also co-authored bestselling simulation games like DigiStrat (2021), CloudStrat (2020) and PhotoWars. He has authored over 30 case studies, including 16 bestsellers and two classics in the Harvard Business School Publishing catalog. In 2021, he was ranked by the Case Center as 23rd in the list of top academic case writers in the world. He has won several awards for his teaching and research, including the 2006 Sidney Levy Award for Teaching Excellence at the Kellogg School, the 2005 runner-up for Best Paper in Journal of Interactive Marketing, the 2001 Accenture Award for the best paper published in California Management Review in 2000 and the Outstanding Professor of the Year at Kellogg in 1998. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta in 2011 and the Global Alumni Recognition Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2021.
Prof. Sawhney advises and speaks to Global 2000 firms and governments worldwide. His speaking and consulting clients include Accenture, Adobe Systems, AT&T, Boeing, Cisco Systems, Commvault, Dell, Entergy, Fidelity Investments, General Mills, Google, Honeywell, Intuit, Jenner & Block, Jones Lang LaSalle, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg Company, Kenvue, KPMG, McDonald's, Meta, Merck, Microsoft, Planview, Raytheon Missile Systems, Roche, SAP, Salesforce, Smartsheet, Sony, Teradata and Vanguard. He serves on the Board of Directors at Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bahwan Cybertek, and QualSights. He also serves on the advisory boards of several technology startups, including Course5 Intelligence, LawGeex, MommyDaddyMe, PomVom, Skills Caravan, Skill Engine, StartupWind, and vMock. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Study for Business Markets (ISBM) at Penn State University and a member of the Advisory Board at Chicago Innovation.
Prof. Sawhney holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta; and a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.
- Business Innovation
- Digital Marketing
- Enterprise Analytics
- Product Management
- Business Innovation
- Technology Marketing
- Marketing in a Digital World
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MA, PhD, 1993, Marketing, University of Pennsylvania
PGDM, 1987, Marketing, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
BT, 1985, Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi -
Associate Dean, Digital Innovation, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2020-present
Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation Clinical Professor of Technology, Center for Research in Technology & Innovation, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern Unviersity, 1999-present
Assistant Professor, Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1993-1999 -
Lifetime Academic Achievement Award, IMT, Ghaziabad, India
Global Visionary Excellence Award, Amity Universities
Global Alumni Recognition Award, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India
23rd in list of bestselling case authors in the world, The Case Centre, 2020-2021
23rd in list of bestselling case authors in the world, The Case Center, 2021
Academic Thought Leadership Award, NASSCOM India, 2016
ISBM Fellow, ISBM, Smeal College of Business, Penn State University
Fellow, Institute for Study of Business Markets, Penn State University, Penn State University
Thinkers50 India - 50 Most Influential Thinkers of Indian Origin, Institute of Competitiveness
Fellow, World Economic Forum, 2002
Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
Named One of the Worlds Best Known Indian-Origin Gurus, Times of India
Accenture Award, California Management Review, 2001
L.G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, Kellogg School of Management, 1998
Leading Product Organizations (MKTGX-924-0)
Leading Product Organizations
TechVenture India (INTLX-918-0)
"Tech Venture India (2 credits) is an experiential learning course focusing on technology trends and entrepreneurship in emerging markets. The course begins with a three-day intensive classroom experience in Evanston consisting of lectures and guest sessions on key technology domains like Cloud Computing, Mobile Technologies, Analytics and Machine Learning. This is followed by a week-long field study trip and a research project to provide students with the concepts as well as real-world experience with technologies that are shaping emerging markets like India as well as entrepreneurial opportunities in technology markets. The field trip will include visits to multinational technology companies, Indian technology companies, technology startup companies and government officials. This course is of special significance for Executive MBA students who may be contemplating a mid-career move into entrepreneurial ventures as it will provide a first-hand look at some of the most exciting startup ventures and opportunities in India and beyond. Student teams will be asked to choose a research topic of their choice related to technology trends in emerging markets, and they will be required to produce a publishable-quality white paper on their project. Course Objectives: Provide students with a deep understanding of key technology trends and their impact on global business. Expose students to emerging markets as “laboratories and back-offices for the world†as sources of technology innovation and talent for developed markets. Expose students to first-hand experience with technology companies in emerging markets– from large multinationals to early-stage startups. Compel students to develop expertise in a specialized domain and provide them with the experience and skills of writing a publishing quality research paper. Enhance the presence of Kellogg in India through interactions with alumni, key technology business leaders and influencers. "
Leading Product Organizations (MKTG-924-5)
This course is available only for students in the Evening & Weekend Programs
Field Study (MKTG-498-5)
Field Study
Technology Marketing (MKTG-468-0)
This course provides students with conceptual frameworks and analytical tools for marketing decision making in high-growth and turbulent technology businesses. It is a strategic marketing course for students seeking product management or strategic marketing jobs with large technology companies, technology startup firms or B2B industrial companies. The course is cross-functional, decision-focused and strategic in its orientation. Topics include marketing in a digital world, gaining customer insights, demand forecasting and strategic planning in technology markets, automated behavioral marketing, managing agile product development, platform strategy, designing customer solutions and digital brand storytelling. Student assignments include developing quantitative spreadsheet-based forecasting models and playing an interactive strategy simulation called CloudStrat, specifically developed for the course. The simulation game teaches students about strategic decision making in dynamic technology markets as they navigate a software company's transition from legacy premise-based software to software as a service (SaaS). Industries covered in the course include software, online services, medical equipment and hardware. All case studies in the course have been developed at Kellogg specifically for the course.
Product Management for Technology Companies: An Entrepreneurial Perspective (MKTG-458-0)
Product Management for Technology Companies provides the conceptual frameworks, tools and hands-on experience to become successful product managers in technology companies. With a holistic and entrepreneurial perspective of product management, the course provides an end-to-end view of all major aspects of product management and product marketing. Topics include product opportunity analysis, product discovery, business model design, agile product development, go-to-market strategy, whole offer design, ecosystem management, product planning and managing products as an ongoing business. This comprehensive approach prepares students for various product-focused roles, including product management, product marketing, product planning and business development. The case studies and assignments in the course are all developed at Kellogg and designed specifically for the course. Assignments include a wireframing assignment, a SaaS economics quantitative assignment and a product roadmapping assignment. The case studies and course content reflect a balance between product management in large technology companies versus smaller technology startup companies.
Global Initiatives in Mgmt GIM (INTL-473-20)
Spring Session
Global Initiatives in Management (GIM) (INTL-473-0)
All FT GIM classes will hold a final, mandatory class session. Please refer to each class's syllabi for the date and time.
Global Initiatives in Management (GIM) is an international experiential learning course designed to provide students with an introduction to the unique business opportunities, management practices and market dynamics of a specific region or global industry. The course combines in-class lectures, reading discussions and case studies during the winter quarter with ten days of international field research over spring break. Immersed in the culture and language of their host countries, students will have the opportunity to meet with local business and government leaders, conduct interviews and collect data for their group research projects, and experience some of the unique social and cultural facets of the region. Final presentations and written research reports are due in spring quarter after completion of the overseas portion of the class. Each class section is taught by a faculty member with deep knowledge of the region or industry and supported by an advisor from the Kellogg staff who assists students in planning the field experience. Students are financially responsible for their travel costs, and financial aid is available to those who qualify.
