Skip to main content
About HEC About HEC
Summer School Summer School
Faculty & Research Faculty & Research
Master’s programs Master’s programs
Bachelor Programs Bachelor Programs
MBA Programs MBA Programs
PhD Program PhD Program
Executive Education Executive Education
HEC Online HEC Online
About HEC
Overview Overview
Who
We Are
Who
We Are
Égalité des chances Égalité des chances
HEC Talents HEC Talents
International International
Sustainability Sustainability
Diversity
& Inclusion
Diversity
& Inclusion
The HEC
Foundation
The HEC
Foundation
Campus life Campus life
Activity Reports Activity Reports
Summer School
Youth Programs Youth Programs
Summer programs Summer programs
Online Programs Online Programs
Faculty & Research
Overview Overview
Faculty Directory Faculty Directory
Departments Departments
Centers Centers
Chairs Chairs
Grants Grants
Knowledge@HEC Knowledge@HEC
Master’s programs
Master in
Management
Master in
Management
Master's
Programs
Master's
Programs
Double Degree
Programs
Double Degree
Programs
Bachelor
Programs
Bachelor
Programs
Summer
Programs
Summer
Programs
Exchange
students
Exchange
students
Student
Life
Student
Life
Our
Difference
Our
Difference
Bachelor Programs
Overview Overview
Course content Course content
Admissions Admissions
Fees and Financing Fees and Financing
MBA Programs
MBA MBA
Executive MBA Executive MBA
TRIUM EMBA TRIUM EMBA
PhD Program
Overview Overview
HEC Difference HEC Difference
Program details Program details
Research areas Research areas
HEC Community HEC Community
Placement Placement
Job Market Job Market
Admissions Admissions
Financing Financing
FAQ FAQ
Executive Education
Home Home
About us About us
Management topics Management topics
Open Programs Open Programs
Custom Programs Custom Programs
Events/News Events/News
Contacts Contacts
HEC Online
Overview Overview
Executive programs Executive programs
MOOCs MOOCs
Summer Programs Summer Programs
Youth programs Youth programs

Denisa MINDRUTA

Associate Professor

Strategy and Business Policy

 Profile picture

Biography

Denisa Mindruta is an Associate Professor of Strategy at HEC Paris. She obtained her PhD in strategic management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research examines how organizations and individuals within organizations create and appropriate value through strategic partnering. A number of her projects have examined the matching process driving partnership formation, both theoretically and empirically. She has explored this phenomenon in a variety of contexts involving contractual relationships between employees, teams, firms, universities, and non-profit organizations. Denisa’s research was published in the Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, and the American Journal of Political Science.

Her work has been recognized with several awards and fellowships, such as the AOM Technology and Innovation Management Division Best Conference Paper Award and the HEC Foundation- Article of the Year Award. Denisa was a finalist for the INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Competition and for the Wiley Blackwell Dissertation Award. She is also a Kauffman Foundation dissertation fellow.

Denisa severs regularly on the editorial review boards of top journals in the field (most recently, at the Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, and the Academy of Management Review). Over the years, she has served in various leadership roles for the research communities of the Strategic Management Society (SMS) and the Academy of Management (AOM). At the SMS, she worked with the Cooperative Strategies Interest Group, the Strategic Human Capital Interest Group and the Competitive Strategies Interest Group. At the AOM she served in the executive committees of the Strategic Management Division (STR) and the Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) division. 

At HEC Paris, she teaches courses in Technology, Innovation Strategy and Entrepreneurship in the PhD, MBA and Executive education programs. 

 

 

Scientific articles

Stars in their Constellations: Great Person or Great Team?

Management Science, 2024, (in coll. with J. BERCOVITZ, V. MARES, M. P. FELDMAN)

Generalist vs. Specialist CEOs and Acquisitions: Two‐sided Matching and the Impact of CEO Characteristics on Firm Outcomes

Strategic Management Journal, June 2021, vol. 42, n° 6, pp 1184-1214, (in coll. with G. Chen, S. Huang, P. Meyer-Doyle)

Estimating Value Creation from Revealed Preferences: Application to Value-Based Strategies

Strategic Management Journal, October 2017, vol. 38, pp 1964-1985, (in coll. with O. CHATAIN)

A Two-sided Matching Approach for Partner Selection and Assessing Complementarities in Partners’ Attributes in Inter-firm Alliances

Strategic Management Journal, January 2016, vol. 37, n° 1, pp 206-231, (in coll. with M. MOEEN, R. AGARWAL)

Value Creation in University - Firm Research Collaborations: A Matching Approach

Strategic Management Journal, June 2013, vol. 34, n° 6, pp 644-665,

Building Consensual Institutions: Networks and the National Estuary Program

American Journal of Political Science, 2003, vol. 47, n° 1, pp 143-158, (in coll. with J. Scholz, M. Schneider, M. Lubell, M. Edwardsen)

Was Huntington Right? Testing Cultural Legacies and the Civilizational Border

International Politics, 2002, vol. 39, n° 2, (in coll. with A. Mungiu-Pippidi)

Proceedings

The Added Value of Women in the Board: Evidence From Two-sided Matching Under Gender Quota Policies

2023 Academy of Management Annual Meeting , 2023 , 2023 , 1 (E. Lizunova)

From unemployed to business owner: Improving the returns from firm creation through experimentation

2021 Academy of Management Annual Meeting , 2021 , 2021 , 1 (E. LIZUNOVA)

Intellectual Property Rights and Market Entry Incentives: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry

2020 Academy of Management Annual Meeting , 2020 , 2020 , 1 (M. HETU, W. G. Mitchell)

Applications and Contributions of Matching Methods to Strategy Research

2018 Academy of Management Meeting , 2018 , 1 (J. E. OXLEY)

Working papers

Stars in their Constellations: Great Person or Great Team?

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2023

Estimating Value Creation from Revealed Preferences: Application to Value-Based Strategies

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2016

Institutions and the direction of innovative search: Change and persistence between and within countries

Mimeo , 2014

Capabilities or Institutional Opportunities? An Investigation on How Capitalist Regimes Impact Exploration and Exploitation Strategies

Mimeo , 2024

Scientific articles

Generalist vs. Specialist CEOs and Acquisitions: Two‐sided Matching and the Impact of CEO Characteristics on Firm Outcomes

Strategic Management Journal, June 2021, vol. 42, n° 6, pp 1184-1214, (in coll. with G. Chen, S. Huang, P. Meyer-Doyle)

Estimating Value Creation from Revealed Preferences: Application to Value-Based Strategies

Strategic Management Journal, October 2017, vol. 38, pp 1964-1985, (in coll. with O. CHATAIN)

A Two-sided Matching Approach for Partner Selection and Assessing Complementarities in Partners’ Attributes in Inter-firm Alliances

Strategic Management Journal, January 2016, vol. 37, n° 1, pp 206-231, (in coll. with M. MOEEN, R. AGARWAL)

Value Creation in University - Firm Research Collaborations: A Matching Approach

Strategic Management Journal, June 2013, vol. 34, n° 6, pp 644-665,

Proceedings

The Added Value of Women in the Board: Evidence From Two-sided Matching Under Gender Quota Policies

2023 Academy of Management Annual Meeting , 2023 , 2023 , 1 (E. Lizunova)

From unemployed to business owner: Improving the returns from firm creation through experimentation

2021 Academy of Management Annual Meeting , 2021 , 2021 , 1 (E. LIZUNOVA)

Intellectual Property Rights and Market Entry Incentives: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry

2020 Academy of Management Annual Meeting , 2020 , 2020 , 1 (M. HETU, W. G. Mitchell)

Applications and Contributions of Matching Methods to Strategy Research

2018 Academy of Management Meeting , 2018 , 1 (J. E. OXLEY)

Working papers

Stars in their Constellations: Great Person or Great Team?

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2023

Estimating Value Creation from Revealed Preferences: Application to Value-Based Strategies

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2016

Education

  • Ph.D. in Business Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - USA
  • M.A in Political Science, Stony Brook University - USA
  • B.S. in Sociology, University of Bucharest - Romania
  • B.S. in Mathematics, University of Bucharest - Romania

Academic appointments

Academic Responsibilities at HEC

  • 2018-2019 Department Head, Strategy and Business Policy HEC Paris
  • 2015- Associate Professor, Strategy and Business Policy HEC Paris
  • 2008-2014 Assistant Professor HEC Paris
  • 2008- Member of GREGHEC, the joint research laboratory CNRS-HEC Paris HEC Paris

External Academic Responsibilities

  • 2005-2007 Instructor, Business Policy and Strategy (Undergraduate capstone course) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Scientific Activities

Membership in Academic or Professional Organisation

  • Member, Academy of Management Association (BPS, Entrepreneurship, TIM, OMT Divisions)
  • Member of the Research Committee, BPS Division, Academy of Management
  • Member, Strategic Management Society, EGOS, ISNIE

Editorial activities

  • Member of the Editorial Review Board of the Strategic Management Journal; Reviewer, Organization Science, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Research Policy
  • Reviewer, Academy of Management Meetings, Strategic Management Society Conference, INFORMS/Organization Science dissertation proposal competition
  • Member of the SMJ Editorial Review Board

  • Conference organisation

  • 2010-2012 Research Seminar Series HEC Paris
  • Awards & honors

    • 2023 2023 Best Paper Award of the HEC Foundation for "Generalist versus specialist CEOs and acquisitions: Two-sided matching and the impact of CEO characteristics on firm outcomes" in Strategic Management Journal with Guoli Chen, Sterling Huang, Philipp Meyer-Doyle
    • 2016 2016 Strategic Management Society Special Conference Rome Best Paper Prize for the paper 'Stars and their Constellations: Determining Relative Value-Add in Team-Based Science', Janet Bercovitz, Denisa Mindruta, and Maryann Fedman
    • 2008 Best Paper Proceedings of the 2008 Meeting of the Academy of Management ; Winner of the 2008 Technology and Management Division Best Conference Paper
    • 2008 Best Student Paper Award, Technology and Innovation Management Division, Academy of Management
    • 2005 Ewing Marion Kauffman Dissertation Fellow
    • 2003 Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the Best Paper in 2002, Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago