Jan W. Rivkin (born c. 1966) is an American academic. He is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Business Administration at the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. He has published research about strategy, competitiveness and

income inequality in the United States Income inequality in the United States is the extent to which income is distributed in differing amounts among the American population. It has fluctuated considerably since measurements began around 1915, moving in an arc between peaks in t ...

Early life

Jan W. Rivkin was born circa 1966. He descends from an old Jewish family present in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

since the 1800s; his parents are donors to the Jewish Studies Center at the College of Charleston. He grew up in

Ellicott City, Maryland Ellicott City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in, and the county seat of, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, its population was 65,834 at the 2010 census, making it the mo ...

. Rivkin was educated at the Centennial High School in Ellicott City. He graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. He earned a master's degree from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

after he was awarded the

Marshall Scholarship The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious sc ...

, and a PhD in Economics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Career

Rivkin previously worked as a consultant for the Monitor Group. He is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He has published research about strategy, competitiveness and

. In 2012, with his colleague

Michael Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of t ...

, Rivkin suggested that American competitiveness could be restored if companies decided to avoid offshoring to save on hidden costs like "lower foreign worker productivity, quality problems, and loss of intellectual property"; invest in teaching employable skills to high school and college students to produce suitable workers; foster innovation by funding relevant university research; offer in-person or online training to their employees; and avoid lobbying for unfair tax breaks which distort the market. In 2015, Rivkin and Porter suggested that the 1% should foster shared prosperity by focusing not on philanthropy and political donations, but finding business-oriented ways to improve the commons (infrastructure, schools and universities, employment skills) at the local level. With his colleagues

Joseph B. Fuller Joseph B. Fuller is an American academic and management consultant. He is the co-founder of the Monitor Group, now known as Monitor Deloitte. He is a professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School, Faculty Co-Director at the Proje ...

and

Karen Mills Karen Gordon Mills (born September 14, 1953) is an American businessperson and former government official who served as the 23rd Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). She was nominated by President-elect Barack Obama on ...

, Rivkin argued that shared prosperity would entail the

collective impact Collective Impact (CI) is the commitment of a group of actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem, using a structured form of collaboration. In 2021, the Collective Impact Forum changed the definition of ...

of leaders in "government, business, education, nonprofits, labor, philanthropy" and other sectors. Being a prolific case writer, Rivkin has also featured among the top 40 case authors consistently, since the list was first published in 2016 by The Case Centre. He ranked 33rd In 2018/19, 29th in 2017/18, 33rd in 2016/17 and 29th in 2015/16.

Personal life

Rivkin is married to Deborah Sharon Kadish, and he has two sons. They reside in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

References

Living people 1960s births People from Ellicott City, Maryland People from Newton, Massachusetts Princeton University alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Harvard University alumni Harvard Business School faculty 20th-century American Jews Business educators Bestselling case authors 21st-century American Jews {{US-business-academic-bio-stub