Bhaskar Chakravorti

Bhaskar Chakravorti
Bhaskar Chakravorti at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China 2012
Born	November 4, 1959  India
Residence	Brookline, MA
Citizenship	United States
Fields	Strategy, Innovation, International Business
Institutions	The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Alma mater	St. Stephen's College, Delhi (A.B.) Delhi School of Economics (M.A.) University of Rochester (Ph.D.)
Thesis	Information, incentives and rational expectations (1987)
Spouse	Gita Rao
Children	2

Bhaskar Chakravorti is an economics scholar and consultant. Since 2011 he is the Senior Associate Dean for International Business & Finance at The Fletcher School, Tufts University,^[1][2][3] and the Executive Director of Fletcher’s Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC).^[2] He teaches innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management.^[3][4]

He previously worked as a consultant and partner at McKinsey & Company, and was a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Harvard Business School, and Harvard University Center for the Environment.

Education

Chakravorti pursued education in economics first as an undergraduate at Delhi’s St. Stephen’s College, and then as a masters student at the Delhi School of Economics.^[5] He then went on to attain a PhD from the University of Rochester,^[5] completing his thesis Information, incentives and rational expectations in 1987.^[6]

Chakravorti also participated in TAS (Tata Administrative Services), a program by the Tata Group described as a "talent pipeline of leaders".^[5][7]

Career

Corporate

Chakravorti worked as a partner consultant and corporate researcher at McKinsey & Company,^[5] and at the Monitor Group.^[8] His areas of focus included Innovation and Global Forces practices, and Knowledge Services.^[5] He also conducted game theory research at Bellcore, the telecommunication research and development company created as part of the break-up of AT&T.^[5]

Academic

Chakravorti has been involved with several academic institutions, having been an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a speaker at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship,^[9] and a faculty member at Harvard Business School and Harvard University Center for the Environment, where he taught innovation and entrepreneurship.^[5]

Later on he joined The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, teaching innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management.^[3][4] He was also appointed Senior Associate Dean for International Business & Finance at the Fletcher School.^{[1][2][3][10]}

In 2011 he founded the Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC), to serve as the umbrella department to host the school's international business education and research.^{[11][12][13][14]} It incorporated the school's Master in International Business,^[2][15] and the Council on Emerging Market Enterprises, a research think-tank.^[16][17][18]

Chakravorti defined the purpose of IBGC as "creating cross-linkages between business and the broader contextual factors that affect business and vice versa", adding that subjects could include "geography, history, cross-border issues, security questions, diplomacy and cultural issues."^[15] He argued that Fletcher School's unique approach to business lies in that "there is a lot of overlap of business decisions with the public policy arena and issues like international trade, peace and conflict, humanitarian issues, inclusive growth issues. These are not the kind of topics that business schools normally talk about".^[19]

He also serves on the Global Agenda Council on the Economics of Innovation for the World Economic Forum.^[5][20]

Personal life

Chakravorti is married to Gita Rao. They live in Brookline, Massachusetts, and have two children.^[5]

Select publications

Book

• The Slow Pace of Fast Change: Bringing Innovations to Market in a Connected World (Harvard Business School Press, 2003)

Articles

• Finding Competitive Advantage in Adversity (Harvard Business Review, November 2010)
• From Oxfam to Exxon, UNICEF to Unilever, CARE to Carrefour: What Lessons Can Development Aid Organizations Pass On to International Businesses about Succeeding in Emerging Markets? (Yale Journal of International Affairs, 2012)
• The End of the World Wide Web? (CNN, 2013)
• Cash Is a Wasteful System, but Hard to Replace (The New York Times, 2013)
• How Business Schools Create Irresponsible Leaders (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 2014)
• The Hidden Costs of Cash (Harvard Business Review, 2014)
• Where the Digital Economy Is Moving the Fastest (Harvard Business Review, 2015)
• The Way to Estonia: How to Reach Digital Nirvana (Foreign Affairs, 2015)
• The Unintended Consequences of Inclusive Business (Forbes, 2015)
• Business Growth for Good: Why Context Matters (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2015)
• Europe’s Other Crisis: A Digital Recession (Harvard Business Review, 2015)
• The problem with the endless discussion of disruptive innovation (The Washington Post, 2015)
• Transcending Boundaries through Contextual Intelligence: Why Business Schools Need to Catch Up with Reality (The Huffington Post, 2016)
• The Countries That Would Profit Most from a Cashless World (Harvard Business Review, 2016)
• Sustainable business and sustainable development: two sides of the same coin (The Guardian, 2016)
• The cost of cash in the United States, (co-authored with Ben Mazzotta) (Institute for Business in the Global Context, 2013)^[21]

References

1. Tanikawanov, Miki (November 19, 2012). "Executive Education, but Not for Business". The New York Times. Archived from the original on Nov 28, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
2. Bradshaw, Della (November 19, 2012). "Breaking down the boundaries of business and law; Commercial law has traditionally been about setting up companies rather than making business decisions, something that schools are looking to change, writes Della Bradshaw". Financial Times. London, England. p. 3 (Section: FT Report - Innovative Law Schools). Archived from the original on 2013-02-02. Retrieved Mar 6, 2014.
3. Perlroth, Nicole; Goel, Vindu (December 5, 2013). "Internet Firms Step Up Efforts to Stop Spying". The New York Times. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
4. Guerrero, Antonio (May 2011). "Pause For Thought". Global Finance. 25 (5): 46–48.
5. "Dr. Bhaskar Chakravorti". Medford, Massachusetts: The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Archived from the original on December 26, 2013. Retrieved Jan 20, 2014.
6. Chakravorti, Bhaskar (1987). Information, incentives and rational expectations (Thesis). OCLC 18487325.
7. "TAS Legacy". India: Tata Group. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
8. "Don't laugh at gilded butterflies". The Economist. London. April 22, 2004. Archived from the original on Mar 25, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
9. "Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship" (PDF). Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 7, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
10. Hill, Andrew (April 23, 2012). "Citizenship matters but adaptability is key". Financial Times. Retrieved Feb 1, 2014.
11. "About (IBGC)". Medford, Massachusetts: The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Archived from the original on 2013-12-23. Retrieved Feb 1, 2014.
12. "Master of International Business". Medford, Massachusetts: The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Archived from the original on 2014-01-23. Retrieved Feb 1, 2014.
13. Chakravorti, Bhaskar (Jan 27, 2012). "Teaching Global Business". Wall Street Journal (Online) (Interview). Interview with Melissa Korn. Retrieved Feb 1, 2014.
14. Hoare, Stephen (April 18, 2011). "Overseas learning entices those bitten by the travel bug; Many young Emiratis are combining study with their yearning to sample life overseas, says Stephen Hoare". The Times. London. p. 12,13.
15. Tanikawa, Miki (Nov 19, 2012). "Executive courses turn to niche areas: Working professionals return to classrooms with more than business aims" (PDF). International Herald Tribune. Paris. p. 14. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved Jan 21, 2014.
16. Anderson, Linda (March 26, 2007). "Degree for a complex world FLETCHER SCHOOL: The Master in International Business combines academic with practical, says Linda Anderson". Financial Times. p. 12. Retrieved Jan 20, 2014.
17. Namrata Singh & Shubham Mukherjee TNN (September 27, 2011). "'Developing mkts are crucibles of identifying opportunity in adversity'". Times of India. Mumbai.
18. Cooper, Jay (March 17, 2008). "Sovereign wealth fund hires no cinch; Potential treasure trove of business awaits, but getting to it won't be a walk in the park". Pensions and Investments. p. 6. Retrieved Jan 21, 2014.
19. Schiller, Ben (Jan 17, 2011). "The inexorable rise of the MBA politicians: Politics attracts plenty of management graduates but opinions are divided on their effectiveness in office, writes Ben Schiller". Financial Times. p. 12. Retrieved Feb 1, 2014.
20. "World Economic Forum: Bhaskar Chakravorti". Cologny, Switzerland: World Economic Forum. 2016. Archived from the original on June 22, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
21. "Leaving dead presidents in peace - Abolishing notes and coins would bring huge economic benefits". The Economist. London. Sep 20, 2014. Archived from the original on Apr 9, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2016.