Govindarajan and D'Aveni Named to List of Top Management Thinkers

Tuck School of Business professors Vijay Govindarajan and Richard D’Aveni have been named to the 2007 Thinkers 50, a biennial ranking of the world’s most influential living management thinkers.

Sponsored by Suntop Media in association with Skillsoft, the Thinkers 50 is the first-ever global ranking of business gurus. The guide, published in The London Times and The Times of India, serves as a barometer for which thinkers and ideas are in their prime. Among this year’s top thinkers are Indian-born management expert CK Prahalad (1), Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson (9), and Apple CEO Steve Jobs (29).

Govindarajan, the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at Tuck and director of Tuck’s Center for Global Leadership, moved up eight spots on the list to 23. Praised as a “powerful and passionate communicator,” Govindarajan will soon take a one-year leave of absence from Tuck to serve as chief innovation consultant and professor in residence at General Electric. Even with the appointment, Govindarajan will continue to teach his popular Implementing Strategy elective in Tuck’s M.B.A. program.

D’Aveni is professor of strategic management at Tuck and “a champion of dynamic strategy over static analysis,” according to the ranking’s authors. He is credited with creating a new paradigm in the strategy field based on the use of temporary advantages rather than defensive barriers to entry. D’Aveni placed 46 in his first appearance on the list.

In addition, Sydney Finkelstein, Steven Roth Professor of Management at Tuck and author of Breakout Strategy and Why Smart Executives Fail, was named as “one to watch.”

Contenders for the Thinkers 50 ranking are culled from a short list of 100 names chosen by visitors to the Thinkers 50 and Times Online Web sites. Each contender is then assessed against 10 criteria ranging from the originality and practicality of their ideas to their so-called “guru factor.” More than 3,500 votes were cast in the 2007 Thinkers 50 poll.

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