Michael Leiblein

Professor

Management & Human Resources

Background

Michael Leiblein is a professor with expertise in competitive strategy, organization, and innovation. His research describes the resource allocation & organizational strategies firms can use to improve innovation activity and economic performance.  He has published over two dozen papers in the Financial Times' Top 50 academic outlets, provided over fifty invited seminars at leading international universities, received several international research awards, and been awarded external funding from agencies including the National Science Foundation.

Leiblein's teaching and consulting activities focus on issues relating to competitive strategy and innovation management. His MBA teaching includes courses in competitive strategy, technology strategy, and management consulting. His Ph.D. teaching includes courses on competitive strategy, innovation management, and non-experimental research methods. His executive teaching includes courses on technology strategy and innovation management. His consulting activities include clients in the US and Europe on projects associated with the identification of competitive advantage, evaluation of technical project portfolios, and outsourcing decisions. He has won multiple core MBA teaching awards.

Michael is an active member of the global strategy community. He is a founding co-editor of the Strategic Management Review. In 2019, he was elected to a five-year leadership rotation at the AoM's Strategic Management division (5,800+ members). He currently serves on the editorial and advisory boards of leading journals such as the Strategic Management Journal (since 2004) and Strategy Science (since its founding in 2013). He previously served as a member of the NSF's Science of Organization advisory panel, as co-chair of the Strategy Research Foundation, and on other boards. His service has been recognized with several awards including the Academy of Management Review (AMR) Developmental Reviewer of the Year and other top reviewer awards from the AMR and the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ).

Leiblein currently serves as the founding academic director of the OSU Integrated Business and Engineering program. He previously served as the founding academic director of the OSU Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) and as a co-director of the OSU Food Innovation Center (FIC). At the CIE, he chaired a committee that developed a master's in innovation program that promised to deliver interdisciplinary content to over 100 students a year. He was also part of a small team that developed a highly successful executive certification program and raised several million dollars in funding.

Michael is licensed as a certified engineer in the state of New York and has worked in the private sector for Johnson Controls and Andersen Consulting. In his free time, he enjoys hiking and sightseeing through the American Northeast and Southwest.

Areas of Expertise

  • Competitive Advantage
  • Timing Advantages
  • Market Entry
  • Outsourcing

Education

  • Ph.D., Purdue University, Krannert Graduate School of Management
  • MBA, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • BSEE, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Courses

  • BUSMHR 7461 - Technology and Innovation Strategy

    How technology strategy may lead to creation/persistence of competitive advantage. In contrast to core strategy course, provides series of strategic frameworks for managing high-tech businesses. Prereq: Enrollment in MBA, WPMBA, MLHR, MHRM, SMBA, or MAcc program, or permission of instructor.

  • BUSMHR 2400 - IBE Competitive Analysis Seminar

    Students will develop and apply a series of conceptual models that illustrate interactions between competitive strategy and patterns of technological, market and competitive change. Models will provide means to consider which firms benefit from market change, why existing firms fail to incorporate innovation in a timely manner and the types of markets in which a given firm should invest. Prereq: Admission to the Integrated Business and Engineering major.

  • BUSMHR 3400 - IBE Innovation Management Seminar

    Provides students the opportunity to apply basic competitive analysis theories/tools to analyze "real-world" firms. Prereq: 2400.

  • BUSMHR 8781 - Introduction to Macro Research Methods in Management

    Introduction to research design and methodology as it relates to the study of macro organizational phenomena. Prereq: Enrollment in Fisher College of Business Ph.D program, or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 3 cr hrs.