Edward Zajac
James F. Bere Professor of Management & Organizations
Ed Zajac joined the faculty of the Kellogg School of Management after completing his Ph.D. in organization and strategy at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. At Kellogg, he received the James F. Bere Chair and the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Cologne and a visiting scholar at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Free University of Berlin, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Zurich. He is an elected Fellow of both the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society, and the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Free University of Berlin.
Professor Zajac's research, teaching, and consulting focuses on strategy, alliances, and corporate governance. His award-winning research has been published widely in major academic journals, such as the Strategic Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, American Sociological Review, Psychological Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been recognized in the Institute of Scientific Information's yearly list of "most highly cited researchers" worldwide (representing less than one-half of one percent of all published researchers), and his work has garnered over 36,000 citations over his Kellogg career. He has also received the following career awards from the Academy of Management: The Distinguished Scholar Award (Organization and Management Theory Division), the Outstanding Educator Award (Strategic Management Division), the Distinguished Service Award (Strategic Management Division), and the Outstanding Scholar Award (Western Academy of Management). He also served for many years as Co-Editor of the Strategic Management Journal.
Professor Zajac has developed a number of courses at Kellogg in his areas of expertise: Creating and Managing Strategic Alliances addresses the design and management of joint ventures, licensing agreements, consortia, and other structures for cooperation. Advanced Strategic Management examines how organizations can better adapt to changing environments by holistically addressing both strategy formulation and implementation challenges. Corporate Governance analyzes the interdependent roles of the CEO, board of directors, shareholders and other stakeholders in the modern corporation, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Professor Zajac is also active in executive education and consulting in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America in the areas of strategy formulation and implementation, strategic alliances, and corporate governance. He has worked with organizations such as Abbott, Arvest, AstraZeneca, Baxter, Blue Cross/Blue Shield (the Association, HCSC, and the Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, North Carolina, and North Dakota plans), Brady, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Brunswick, Cargill, Caterpillar, Cigna, Commonwealth Edison, ConocoPhillips, Cooper Tire & Rubber, Copersucar, R.R. Donnelly, Edwards Lifesciences, FTI Ringtail, General Mills, W.W. Grainger, Harnischfeger, Hearst, Healthways, Hollister, Hu-Friedy, IBM, Idealease, the Institute for Corporate Directors (Canada), Johnson & Johnson, Land O'Lakes, Libbey, Eli Lilly, MARKEM, Merck, Monsanto, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Premier, Procter & Gamble, Public Service Company of New Mexico, O'Melveny & Myers, Rockwell Automation, Rockwell Collins, RSM, Sanofi-Aventis, Savoy Brands Internacional, Schering-Plough, Siemens, Topco, Toyota, Zurich Insurance, and numerous U.S. governmental agencies and professional associations (particularly in health care). He has served as an expert witness in corporate governance matters, and is currently a board member at Scot Forge (an ESOP company), having also formerly served as board chair at Pioneer Surgical Technology, and as a board member at PeopleFlo Manufacturing, Roberts Industries, and The Wetlands Initiative.
- Strategic management issues
- particularly the integration of economic and behavioral perspectives on: (1) strategic alliances
- (2) corporate governance
- and (3) organizational adaptation to environmental change.
- Strategic alliances
- corporate governance
- strategy formulation
- strategy implementation.
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PhD, 1986, Organization and Strategy, University of Pennsylvania
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Professor, Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1995-present
James F. Bere Distinguished Professor of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1993-present
Professor, Sociology (by Courtesy), Weinberg College of Arts of Sciences, Northwestern University, 1995-present
Professor, Health Enterprise Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1995-present
Associate Professor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1991-1995
Assistant Professor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1986-1991 -
Responsible Research Award, Academy of Management (OMT Division)
Outstanding Educator Award, Academy of Management (Strategic Management Division), Career
Distinguished Service Award, Academy of Management (Strategic Management Division), Career
Distinguished Scholar Award, Academy of Management (Organization and Management Theory Division), Career
Best Paper Award, German Academic Association of Business Research, 2021
Distinguished Educator Award, Academy of Management, Strategic Management Division, Career
Distinguished Service Award, Academy of Management, Strategic Management Division, Career
Best Paper Award, International Corporate Governance Society, 2016
Best Published Paper Award, Oxford University Center for Corporate Reputation, 2014
Outstanding Scholar Award, Western Academy of Management, Career
Distinguished Scholar Award, Academy of Management, Organization and Management Theory Division, Career
Honorary Doctorate from the School of Business and Economics, Free University of Berlin, Career
Recognized as one of the "most highly cited researchers" worldwide in the Institute of Scientific Information's yearly list of highly cited researchers, Institute of Scientific Information, 2012
Organizations in Their Environments (MORS-525-2)
Analysis of organizations as open systems in relation to social, cultural, political and economic environments. The course covers classical, canonical and contemporary approaches in management research and organizational sociology, as well as selective research in other disciplines.
Chief Diversity Officer Summit
Discuss the latest academic research, practitioner insights and best practices in the area of diversity and inclusion with a select group of cross-sector peers.
Chief Marketing Officer Program
Master the insights needed to navigate significant challenges faced by CMOs today, by engaging in meaningful discussions with Kellogg's top faculty and industry executives. This program is specifically designed to increase the odds of success for enterprise marketing leaders.
Corporate Governance
Effective board members bring to the table skills and capabilities that differ distinctly from those of management and other corporate leaders. This corporate governance program paves the way to mastering the skills required to govern successfully.
Creating and Managing Strategic Alliances
If you’re attracted by the promises of strategic alliances — faster growth, greater leverage, lower risk — you also need to know the pitfalls. Learn how to build value-adding relationships and when to make, buy or ally.
Driving Organic Growth through Innovation
This outcomes-oriented program teaches a proven process for achieving market-driven business growth through a well-designed innovation strategy. Take home practical solutions you can deploy immediately to ignite sustainable, profitable growth in your company.
Family Enterprise Boards
Family businesses are uniquely complex enterprises. This program empowers current and future directors of family-owned businesses to navigate the challenges posed by those organizations while learning to design, engage and lead boards that leverage their companies’ strategic advantages.
Kellogg Corporate Governance Conference
Exclusive, by-invitation-only annual conference that brings together more than 200 corporate directors and CEOs to discuss critical issues in corporate governance.
Leading and Sustaining a Culture of Innovation
Successful innovation management requires highly trained leaders who can ignite the creative spirit and create a culture of innovation. In this program, you will develop the skills and tools you need to instill an innovation mindset within your organization and inspire your people to higher levels of creativity.
Merger Week
Our M&A experts will show you how to evaluate mergers and acquisitions from all angles — from strategy and financing to alliances and integration — and then use an M&A process that generates the greatest value from any restructuring deal.
The PHYSICIAN CEO™ Program
The PHYSICIAN CEO™ Series
Women's Director Development Program
Discover the keys to unlocking boardroom doors in this first-ever director development program for women seeking a role in governance. Develop the skills required to contribute meaningfully and come away with practical tools for landing a seat at the table.
;Corporate Governance (MORSX-913-5)
formerly MGMTX-913-A
Creating & Managing Strategic Alliances (MORSX-454-0)
"In a world characterized by global competition, increased technological change, and intensified resource constraints, firms are increasingly using cooperative relationships with other organizations as an essential tool for achieving their overall strategic objectives. However, both large and small corporations are finding that successful ""strategic alliances"" are often difficult to achieve. Creating and Managing Strategic Alliances (CMSA) examines the theory and practice of creating and managing different types of strategic alliances, such as joint ventures, licensing agreements, buyer-supplier partnerships, and consortia. This course will enable the student to better understand the costs and benefits of strategic alliances (and why such alliances may be preferred over other strategies such as internal development or mergers and acquisitions). In addition, the course covers how to design alliances, and how to avoid the many potential problems and complications in managing these relationships. The course also provides a framework for managing the complex but increasingly common situation in which organizations are involved in multiple alliances. CMSA should prove useful for students interested in understanding the role of strategic alliances in contemporary strategic management."
