Education

  • PhD Strategy, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
  • MA Applied Economics, University of Michigan
  • EdM Education, Harvard University 
  • BS Electrical Engineering, Cornell University

Research & Teaching Interests

Karim's research focuses on acquisitions and alliances, corporate restructuring and organization design, and innovation through reconfiguration and redeployment of resources and activities. Her teaching is in the areas of corporate and global strategies, innovation strategies for established firms, and competitive strategy.

Industry & Academic Experience

Prior to joining Northeastern University, Karim taught at Boston University's Strategy & Innovation Department for thirteen years. Earlier in her career, she worked as an R&D software engineer with Hewlett-Packard's medical products group.

Services to the Profession

  • Deputy Editor, Organization Science (2020-Present)
  • Associate Editor, Strategic Management Journal (2014-2020)
  • Senior Editor, Journal of Organization Design (2013-2017)
  • Division Chair 2020, Strategic Management Division, Academy of Management (leadership 2016-2021)
  • IG Chair 2016, Competitive Strategy Interest Group, Strategic Management Society (leadership 2014-2016)
  • Board Member, CCC, Consortium on Competitiveness and Cooperation (2016-Present)
  • Conferences Organized: CRS (2017, 2018); ODC (2014); CCC (2013, 2014); BPS Doctoral Consortium (2011, 2012); SRF (2011)

Selected Publications

  • Karim, Samina, Chi-Hyon Lee, and Manuela Hoehn-Weiss (2023 forthcoming). “Task and resource bottlenecks: A holistic examination of task systems through an organization design lens.” Strategic Management Journal.
  • Xiao, Ting, Mona Makhija and Samina Karim (2022). “A knowledge recombination perspective of innovation: Review and new research directions.” Journal of Management 48(6): 1724-1777. (Review Issue)
  • Lee, Chi-Hyon, Manuela Hoehn-Weiss, and Samina Karim (2021). “Competing both ways: How combining Porter's low-cost and focus strategies hurts firm performance.” Strategic Management Journal 42(12): 2218-2244.
  • Girod, Stéphane J.G. and Samina Karim (2017). “Restructure or reconfigure? Designing the reorg that works for you.” Harvard Business Review 95(2): 128-132.
  • Hoehn-Weiss, Manuela, Samina Karim and Chi-Hyon Lee (2017). “Examining alliance portfolios beyond the dyads: The relevance of redundancy and nonuniformity across and between partners.“ Organization Science 28(1): 56-73.
  • Folta, Timothy B., Constance E. Helfat and Samina Karim (2016). “Examining resource redeployment in multi-business firms.” Advances in Strategic Management 35: 1-17.
  • Karim, Samina, Timothy N. Carroll and Chris P. Long (2016). “Delaying change: Examining how industry and managerial turbulence impact structural realignment.” Academy of Management Journal 59(3): 791-817.
  • Karim, Samina and Lawrence Capron (2016). “Reconfiguration: Adding, redeploying, recombining and divesting resources and business units.” Strategic Management Journal 37(13): 54-62.
  • Dobrajska, Magdalena, Stephan Billinger and Samina Karim (2015). “Delegation within hierarchies: How information processing and knowledge characteristics influence the allocation of formal and real decision authority.” Organization Science 26(3): 687-704.
  • Karim, Samina and Aseem Kaul (2015). “Structural recombination and innovation: Unlocking internal knowledge synergy through structural change.” Organization Science 26(2): 439-455.

Selected Presentations

  • University of Texas – Austin (Austin, TX). Nov 2022
  • University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA). Oct 2022.
  • University of Colorado (Boulder, CO). Oct 2022.
  • University of Texas – Austin (Austin, TX). Nov 2019.
  • Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY). Sep 2019.
  • Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Madrid, Spain). May 2019.
  • University of Pennsylvania (Wharton, Philadelphia, PA). May 2019.
  • University of Southern Denmark (Odense, Denmark). Apr 2019.
  • HEC Lausanne & Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland). Mar 2019.
  • HEC Paris (Paris, France). Feb 2019.

Awards & Recognition

  • Favorite Professor, Poets & Quants “The Top MBAs Name Their Favorite Business School Professors” (2015)
  • Best Conference Paper Prize Nominee, Strategic Management Society Annual Conference (2014)
  • Professor of the Year Award (MBA Cohort A), Boston University Questrom School of Business (2013)
  • Faculty Graduate Commencement Speaker, Boston University Questrom School of Business (2013)