Devi R. Gnyawali

Academic Area(s)

Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship, Technology Management

Biography

Dr. Devi R. Gnyawali is the Department Head and R. B. Pamplin Professor of Management in the Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech. He also serves as a member of the International Advisory Board at the Umea School of Business and Economics in Sweden. He got his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Gnyawali’s research seeks to understand how firms learn, innovate, and create competitive advantages through competition, cooperation, and co-opetition (simultaneous pursuit of competition and cooperation). His current research focuses on two core areas: (a) Why and how firms engage in co-opetition and what are the implications of co-opetition? And (b) How firms acquire external resources possessed by their alliance partners, how they develop internal resources such as technology and shared knowledge, and how they leverage external and internal resources to become better competitors, to innovate, and to create competitive advantages? His research has been published in premier journals, including Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Research Policy, British Journal of Management, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

Dr. Gnyawali recently completed his term as the Associate Editor of Journal of Management, which is one of the top journals in management. He also served for ten years on the Editorial Board of another premier journal Academy of Management Review. He has organized international conferences and delivered keynote speeches at such conferences, serves as a reviewer for several premier journals and national/international conferences, and has received awards for Best Paper and Best Reviewer.

Dr. Gnyawali’s primary areas of teaching are strategic management, management of technology and innovation, entrepreneurship, and international management. He has taught to undergraduate, MBA, PMBA, EMBA, and Ph.D. students and has received awards for teaching excellence. He has taken several groups of students to Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and China) for many years and recently took students to Cuba for study abroad. Dr. Gnyawali has many years of international experience and has traveled extensively. He has managed business consulting service organizations, and served as a consultant for government and non-government organizations in several countries including Germany, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malawi, and Nepal. He has helped several organizations to plan and implement entrepreneurship development programs and trained trainers and entrepreneurs worldwide. He has also trained and consulted on various aspects of strategic management.

Research and Teaching Interests

Innovation, interplay of competition and cooperation or co-opetition, strategic alliances and networks, organizational knowledge and capabilities, managerial cognition, competition dynamics

Recent Publications

• Rai, R., Gnyawali, D.R., & Bhatt, H. 2023. Walking the Tightrope: Coopetition Capability Construct and its Role in Value Creation. Journal of Management, 49, 7: 2354-2386.
• Ryan-Charleton, T. and Gnyawali, D.R. In-Press. ‘Value Creation Tension in Coopetition: Virtuous Cycles and Vicious Cycles. Strategic Management Review.
• Ryan Charleton, T. Gnyawali, D.R., & Oliveria, N. 2022. “Strategic Alliance Outcomes: Consolidation and New Directions.” Academy of Management Annals, 16:2: 719-758.
• Raza-Ullah, T., Bengtsson, M., & Gnyawali, DR. (2020). The nature, consequences, and management of emotions in interfirm paradoxical relationships—A conceptual framework. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 36 (4): 101-127.
• Czakon, W. Srivastava, M.K., Le Roy, F. Gnyawali, D.R. 2020. Coopetition Strategies: Critical Issues and Research Directions. Long Range Planning, volume 53 (1) hal-02517434.
• Gnyawali, D. R., & Ryan Charleton, T. 2018. Nuances in the Interplay of Competition and Cooperation: Towards a Theory of Coopetition. Journal of Management, 44: 2511-2535
• Song, Y., Gnyawali, D. R., Srivastava, M. K., & Asgari, E. 2018. In Search of Precision in Absorptive Capacity Research: A Synthesis of the Literature and Consolidation of Findings. Journal of Management, 44(6), 2343-2374.

Education

• Ph.D. in Strategic Management, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh
• MS in Business Administration and Management, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 1983
• BS in Commerce, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 1979

Positions Held

• 12/16 - Current: Head, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech
• 8/11 - Current: R. B. Pamplin Professor of Management, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech
• 6/10 - 8/16: Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech
• 6/10 – 8/11: Professor, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech
• 6/03 – 6/10: Associate Professor with Tenure, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech
• 8/97 - 6/03: Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech
• 1/97 - 5/97: Visiting Instructor, College of Business and Commerce, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
• 6/96 - 6/97: Assistant Director, Institute for Industrial Competitiveness, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Partial List of External Professional Services

• Associate Editor, Journal of Management (July 2014 – 2018)
• Member of the Editorial Board, Academy of Management Review (2009-2017)
• Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Management (2008-2014)
• Conference Co-Organizer and Organizer of the Doctoral Workshop, 2016 Rome Special Conference of the Strategic Management Society on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Competition.
• Reviewer for Best Papers/ Research Awards: Strategic Management Research Foundation, Strategic Management Society Conference, Academy of Management Review
• Co-Organizer, Conference on Coopetition Strategy, Umea, Sweden (2014)
• Organizer, Mid-Atlantic Strategy Colloquium (2013)

Selected Honors and Awards

• Member of the International Advisory Board, Umea School of Business and Economics, Umea University, Umea, Sweden (2013-current)
• Keynote speaker, Global Space Innovation Conference of the International Astronautical Federation, Munich, Germany (2015)
• Invited Speaker, Conference on Co-Opetition Strategy, Sweden (2014)
• Keynote speaker, Conference on Co-Opetition Strategy, Poland (2012)
• Erasmus Mundus Visiting Scholar, Umea University, Sweden (2011)
• Keynote speaker, Conference on Co-Opetition Strategy, France (2010)
• Research Download Award, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech (2012)
• Faculty Research Excellence Award, Department of Management, Virginia Tech (2011, 2007, 2004)
• Excellence in International Programs, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech (2013, 2012, 2008)
• Outstanding Faculty in Doctoral Education Award Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech (2011)
• Pamplin Excellence in Teaching Award and Warren Holtzman Outstanding Educator Award Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech (2010, 2004)