Robert D. Austin
ROBERT D. AUSTIN is dean of the faculty of business administration. Before joining UNB, professor Austin held the chair in Management of Innovation and Creativity at Copenhagen Business School, where he also served as Associate Dean for MBA programs and as CEO of the CBS-SIMI Executive Foundation (which delivers non-degree executive education). Before that he was an Associate Professor of Technology and Operations Management at the Harvard Business School. He’s been a practicing manager at Ford Motor Company, and served as chief operations executive for new business incubated by a major tech company.
His research interests are in innovation, information technology management, and performance management. His publications have appeared in top journals such as Harvard Business Review, Information Systems Research, Management Science, MIT Sloan Management Review, Organization Science, and the Wall Street Journal. He is also an author of more than 50 published cases, several books, and two online simulation/tutorial products.
Selected Publications:
Books
With Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O’Donnell, Harder Than I Thought: Adventures of a 21st Century CEO Leader, Harvard Business Review Press, forthcoming.
With Lee Devin, The Soul of Design: The Surprising Power of Plot to Enhance Product and Service Experiences, Stanford University Press, 2012.
With Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O’Donnell, The Adventures of an IT Leader, Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2009.
With Lynda M. Applegate and Deborah Soule, Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases, 8th Edition, New York: Irwin/McGraw Hill, 2009.
With Lee Devin, Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work, Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003 (Honored with the 2005 Elliott Hayes Award by the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas).
Articles
With Lee Devin and Erin Sullivan, “Accidental Innovation: Supporting Valuable Unpredictability in Creative Process,” forthcoming in Organization Science.
With Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O’Donnell, “The Technology Manager’s Journey: An Extended Narrative Approach to Educating Technical Leaders,” Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 9, no. 3, September 2009, pp. 337-355.
With Lee Devin, “Weighing the Benefits and Costs of Flexibility in Making Software: Toward a Contingency Theory of the Determinants of Development Process Design,” Information Systems Research, Vol. 20, no. 3, September 2009, pp. 462-477.
With Jonathan D. Wareham and Xavier Busquets, “Creative, Convergent, and Social: Prospects for Mobile Computing,” Journal of Information Technology, Volume 24, Issue 2, 2009.
“Aesthetic Coherence and the Hunt for Big Margins,” Harvard Business Review, January 2008, pp. 19-20.
With Richard L. Nolan, “Bridging the Gap Between Stewards and Creators,” MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 48, No. 2, Winter 2007, pp. 29-36 (Winner of the Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize).
Cases and Course Materials
With Karim Lakhani, and Yumi Yi, “Data.gov,” Harvard Business School Case, 610-075, 2010.
“Project Management Simulation: Scope, Resources, Schedule,” On-Line Simulation, Harvard Business School Publishing, September 2009.
With Jeremy Short, “iPremier (A): Denial of Service Attack (Graphic Novel Version), Harvard Business School Case, 609-092, 2009.
With Shannon O’Donnell, “Moods of Norway,” Harvard Business School Case, 609-106, 2009.
With Carl Størmer, “Miles Davis: Kind of Blue,” Harvard Business School Case 609-050, 2008.
With Jonathan Wareham and Xavier Busquet, “Specialisterne: Sense & Details,” Harvard Business School Case 608-109, 2008.
With Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O’Donnell, “The Boeing Company: Moonshine Shop,” Harvard Business School Case 607-130, 2007.
With Shannon O’Donnell, “Paul Robertson and the Medici String Quartet,” Harvard Business School Case 607-083, 2007.
With Silje Kamille Friis and Erin E. Sullivan, “Design: More Than a Cool Chair,” Industry Note, Harvard Business School Case 607-026, 2006.
With Daniela Beyersdorfer, “Bang & Olufsen: Design Driven Innovation,” Harvard Business School Case 607-016, 2006.
Contact Information
Dean
Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
Office Phone: (506) 452-6304
Office Location: 250 Singer Hall
