Vijay Govindarajan (born 18 November 1949), popularly known as VG, is the Coxe Distinguished Professor (a Dartmouth-wide chair) at
Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business and Marvin Bower Fellow, 2015–16 at
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 ...
. He is a Faculty Partner in th
Silicon Valley Incubator Mach49 He worked as
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
's innovation consultant and professor in residence from 2008 to 2010. He is a
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
and
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
best-selling author and a two-time winner of the McKinsey Award for the best article published in
Harvard Business Review
''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massac ...
. VG was inducted into the Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame in 2019 for his life-long work dedicated to the field of management, strategy, and innovation. VG received Thinkers 50 Distinguished Achievement Awards in two different categories: Breakthrough Idea Award in 2011 and Innovation Award in 2019.
Education
In 1974, Govindarajan received his chartered accountancy degree, where he was awarded the President's gold medal by the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the award is given to the first ranked chartered accountancy student in India.
Govindarajan went on to earn his
M.B.A. from
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 ...
in 1976 where he graduated with distinction. Two years later, he earned his
D.B.A. from Harvard Business School where he was awarded the Robert Bowne Prize For Best Thesis Proposal.
[
]
Career
Govindarajan started his career as a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) is the world's number 1 business school, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The school has been accorded the status of an Institute of National Importance by Ministry of Human Resource ...
where he served as an associate professor from 1978 to 1980. From 1980 to 1985, Govindarajan served as a visiting associate professor at 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 highe ...
and as an associate professor at Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
.[ In 1985, he joined the Tuck School of Business as a professor, where he has taught ever since. During his time at Tuck, Govindarajan has also served as a visiting professor at INSEAD's ]Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissemen ...
campus and the International University of Japan.[
Govindarajan served as ]General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
's first Chief Innovation Consultant and Professor in Residence from 2008 to 2010. While working at General Electric, Govindarajan co-authored a paper entitled "How GE Is Disrupting Itself" with Chris Trimble and GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt. "How GE Is Disrupting Itself," which introduced the idea of reverse innovation.
Scholarly work
Govindarajan is the author of fourteen books and has published articles in academic journals such as the Academy of Management Journal
The ''Academy of Management Journal'' (''AMJ'') a is peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of management. It is published by the Academy of Management and was established in 1958 as the ''Journal of the Academy of Management'', obtai ...
, the Academy of Management Review
The ''Academy of Management Review'' (AMR) is a peer-reviewed academic journal on management. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal's 2021 impact factor is 13.865, ranking it 3rd out of 226 journals in the categories "Manageme ...
and the Strategic Management Journal. In 2010, Govindarajan's article "Stop The Innovation Wars" received the second place prize for that year's McKinsey
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest an ...
Awards. His article "Engineering Reverse Innovations" won the McKinsey Award for the Best Article published in HBR in 2015.
Awards and honors
Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame 2019
Thinkers 50 Innovation Award 2019
Best Article Award, Strategic Management Society, 2017
McKinsey Award for The Best HBR Article, 2015, First Place
Thinkers50 Breakthrough Innovation Award recipient
McKinsey Award 2010, 2nd Place
Top Five Most Respected Executive Coach on Strategy
Outstanding Faculty, ''BusinessWeek'' Guide to the Best B-Schools, 2003, 2001, 1999, 1997, 1995, 1993
Selected publications
*''The Three Box Solution: A Strategy For Leading Innovation'', HBR Press, April 2016
*''Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere'', Harvard Business Review Press, 2012 (with Chris Trimble).
*“Becoming a Better Corporate Citizen: How PepsiCo Moved Toward A Healthier Future” (with Indra K. Nooyi''), Harvard Business Review'', March–April 2020.
*“Engineering Reverse Innovation”, ''Harvard Business Review'', July-Aug 2015 (with Amos Winter)
*“Building a $300 House for The Poor,” ''Harvard Business Review'', March 2011.
*“The CEO’s Role in Business Model Reinvention” ''Harvard Business Review'', January 2011, 89(1- 2), (with Chris Trimble).
*“Reverse Innovation, Emerging Markets, and Global Strategy”, ''Global Strategy Journal,'' 2011, pp. 191–205.
*“Stop the Innovation Wars” ''Harvard Business Review,'' July 2010, 88(7), pp. 76–83 (with Chris Trimble).
*"How GE Is Disrupting Itself," ''Harvard Business Review,'' October 2009, 87(10), pp. 56–65 (with Jeffrey Immelt and Chris Trimble).
References
External links
Personal website
Govindarajan's Blog at the Harvard Business Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Govindarajan, Vijay
Living people
Indian accountants
Harvard University staff
Tuck School of Business faculty
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad faculty
1949 births
Harvard Business School alumni
American academics of Indian descent
Business educators
Indian American
American people of Indian descent
Indian scholars