Satish Nambisan, the Nancy and Joseph Keithley Professor of Technology Management and professor of design and innovation, has been named to the list of Highly Cited Researchers for cross-field impact by Clarivate.
This distinction places Nambisan among an elite group of researchers, who are being recognized for publishing multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in the Web of Science in the last decade (2011-21). This year, fewer than 7,000, or about 0.1%, of the world's researchers, in 21 research fields and across multiple fields, have earned this distinction.
Nambisan’s research interests focus on how digital technologies shape innovation, entrepreneurship and global business. His research has been published in a wide range of academic and practitioner outlets including Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies and Academy of Management Review.
Since joining Weatherhead School of Management in 2017, his teaching interests have focused on innovation management, new product development and business ecosystems.
From his current research projects to his teaching interests, get to know more about Nambisan.
Clarivate has congratulated you on being a part of the world’s most influential researchers. How does it feel to receive this recognition from Clarivate?
It is quite humbling and gratifying. As scholars, we pursue research because we are curious and want to know more about a new phenomenon or a topic that is less well understood. If our research gets highly cited, it indicates that others have found our work useful and that in itself is extremely gratifying. In my case, the recognition is categorized as “cross-field,” which indicates that my work has been found to be impactful across multiple fields or disciplines. This is doubly rewarding for me and I greatly appreciate this recognition.
Which of your research work has been highly cited and contributed to this recognition?
A few of my highly cited publications have focused on digital entrepreneurship and contributed to opening a new area of inquiry in the entrepreneurship field—on how digital technologies redefine the nature and form of entrepreneurship. This is an emerging area of research that I am quite interested in. My other highly cited work has been in the broad area of innovation. For example, some of my highly cited papers are on digital innovation. I also have a few publications on service innovation and on innovation ecosystems that have been highly cited across different disciplines.
What are you currently working on?
I recently authored a new book on digital globalization, which came out last Spring from MIT Press. I am continuing my work on that topic with a few of my colleagues.
Beyond that, I have also recently started working with another colleague on issues related to addressing the societal grand challenges (such as climate change)—specifically, on innovative ways to organize for addressing large-scale problems that cross national borders and yet require collaboration and coordination between global agencies and local communities. This is an exciting area of research for me.
What courses are you teaching this semester?
This fall semester, I am teaching a course on business ecosystems to students in our DBA program. In this course, we focus on how an ecosystem perspective can help organizations better manage in complex and highly dynamic business environments.
What has been your greatest challenge and greatest reward so far with teaching?
At Case Western Reserve, I teach courses to different types of students with varied backgrounds and career goals—and that has been my greatest challenge as well as my greatest reward.
I teach a Product Development course to students in our Engineering Management program. These are recent engineering graduates with limited or no work experience. I also teach a course on innovation to our executive MBA students. They are mid-career professionals interested in upskilling and enhancing their career trajectories. As I mentioned, I also teach students in our executive doctoral (DBA) program. These are also professionals with considerable work experience—but they are interested in becoming practitioner scholars, so there is more research focus. In addition, I am also the director of the resident PhD program in my department and I teach our doctoral students too.
Teaching such a diverse set of students is quite challenging as I have to keep in mind their level of work experience and career aspirations, but it is also very rewarding as I am able to contribute to their advancement in quite different ways.
What do you love most about Case Western Reserve University?
I joined the university about six years back and I have found this place to be quite open and welcoming. I especially value the high intellectual rigor of our students and faculty as well as the strong culture of interdisciplinary research.
Anything else you'd like to add about your ongoing work or initiatives at Weatherhead?
Yes, I am currently working on developing a new online MBA program on product management. Product management is an important area for talent acquisition for most companies, especially tech companies. So, I am quite excited about our new initiative in this area. It also aligns quite well with my teaching interests in product development, product strategy and innovation. We hope to launch this new program soon.