Toby E. Stuart

Toby E. Stuart is Visiting Professor at the Harvard Business School. He was the Helzel Chair in Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation; Faculty Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program; the Associate Dean for External Affairs; and Faculty Director of the Institute for Business Innovation at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. He has served as: The Charles Edward Wilson Professor at Harvard Business School; The Samberg Professor and Faculty Director of the Lang Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia University’s Business School; and the Fred Steingraber-A.T. Kearney Professor of Leadership & Strategy at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He received his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He holds an A.B., summa cum laude, in economics from Carleton College.          

At Harvard Business School and Columbia Business Schools, Stuart was course head for the masters-level required courses in Entrepreneurship and Strategy Formulation, respectively. He has taught MBA and executive education courses in corporate strategy, M&A, innovation and technology strategy, leadership, venture capital and private equity, and entrepreneurship. He has co-directed Harvard Business School’s Creating Corporate-Level Advantage Strategy Program for senior executives; he launched the Executive Program in Corporate Strategy at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business; and he leads the Program on Competitive Strategy and Innovation at Haas. He has advised senior executives at dozens of companies around the world.

Currently, Stuart is a member of the board of directors (audit committee) at HNTB Holdings, the largest, private transportation engineering firm in the United States. He is a cofounder and a director (chair, audit committee) of Flock Freight, a venture capital-backed company disrupting the logistics industry. He also serves on the board of FLYRLabs, an AI-based revenue optimization company for the airline industry. Previously, Stuart served as a Venture Partner at Avid Park Venture.

Professor Stuart is the recipient of the 2007 Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship, which is granted every second year to recognize one individual’s contributions to entrepreneurship research. He has received the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence at Columbia Business School; the Award for Teaching Excellence at Cornell University’s NY-Tech campus; and is a multiple-recipient of the Cheit Award for Teaching Excellence at Berkeley-Haas. He has won the Administrative Science Quarterly’s Scholarly Contribution (best paper) award, and many other recognitions for scholarly contributions. He served as a Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Center for Corporate Reputation. Much of Professor Stuart’s research has examined social networks, particularly their role in entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategy. He currently serves as a Department Editor at Management Science, among other present and past editorial roles.

Journal Articles

• Stuart, Toby E., and Soojin Yim. "Board Interlocks and the Propensity to Be Targeted in Private Equity Transactions." Journal of Financial Economics 97, no. 1 (July 2010): 174–189. View Details
• Sorenson, Olav, and Toby E. Stuart. "Bringing the Context Back In: Settings and the Search for Syndicate Partners in Venture Capital Investment Networks." Administrative Science Quarterly 53, no. 2 (June 2008). View Details
• Sorenson, Olav, and Toby E. Stuart. "Entrepreneurship: Field of Dreams?" Academy of Management Annals 2 (2008). View Details
• Stuart, Toby E., and Olav Sorenson. "Strategic Networks and Entrepreneurial Ventures." Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 1, nos. 3-4 (December 2007): 211–227. View Details
• Robinson, David, and Toby E. Stuart. "Financial Contracting in Biotech Strategic Alliances." Journal of Law & Economics 50, no. 3 (August 2007): 559–596. View Details
• Bothner, Matthew, Jeong-han Kang, and Toby E. Stuart. "Competitive Crowding and Risk Taking in a Tournament: Evidence from NASCAR Racing." Administrative Science Quarterly 52, no. 2 (June 2007): 208–247. View Details
• Robinson, David, and Toby E. Stuart. "Network Effects in the Governance of Strategic Alliances." Journal of Law, Economics & Organization 23, no. 1 (April 2007): 242–273. View Details
• Ding, Waverly, Fiona Murray, and Toby E. Stuart. "Gender Difference in Patenting in the Academic Life Science." Science 313, no. 5787 (August 4, 2006): 665–667. View Details
• Bothner, Matthew, Toby E. Stuart, and Harrison White. "Status Differentiation and Social Cohesion." Journal of Mathematical Sociology 28 (2004): 261–295. View Details
• Stuart, Toby E., and Olav Sorenson. "Liquidity Events and the Geographic Distribution of Organizational Foundings." Administrative Science Quarterly 48, no. 2 (June 2003): 175–201. View Details
• Stuart, Toby E., and Olav Sorenson. "The Geography of Opportunity: Spatial Heterogeneity in Founding Rates and the Performance of Biotechnology Rirms." Research Policy 32, no. 2 (February 2003): 229–253. View Details
• Sorenson, Olav, and Toby E. Stuart. "Syndication Networks and the Spatial Distribution of Venture Capital Investments." American Journal of Sociology 106, no. 5 (March 2001): 1546–1586. View Details
• Shane, Scott, and Toby E. Stuart. "Organizational Endowments and the Performance of University Start-ups." Management Science 48, no. 1 (January 2002): 154–170. (

  Winner of Greiff Research Impact Award presented by Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies​

  .) View Details
• Stuart, Toby E. "Interorganizational Alliances and the Performance of Firms: A Study of Growth and Innovation Rates in a High-technology Industry." Strategic Management Journal 21, no. 8 (August 2000): 791–811. View Details
• Barnett, William, James Baron, and Toby E. Stuart. "Avenues of Attainment: Occupational Demography and Organizational Careers in the California Civil Service." American Journal of Sociology 106, no. 1 (July 2000): 88–144. View Details
• Sorensen, Jesper, and Toby E. Stuart. "Aging, Obsolescence, and Organizational Innovation." Administrative Science Quarterly 45, no. 1 (March 2000): 81–112. (

  Winner of Administrative Science Quarterly Award for Scholarly Contribution Given annually for the most significant paper in the field of organization studies published in ASQ five years earlier​

  .) View Details
• Stuart, Toby E. "A Structural Perspective on Organizational innovation." Industrial and Corporate Change 8, no. 4 (December 1999): 745–775. View Details
• Stuart, Toby E., Ha Hoang, and Ralph Hybels. "Interorganizational Endorsements and the Performance of Entrepreneurial Ventures." Administrative Science Quarterly 44, no. 2 (June 1999): 315–349. View Details
• Stuart, Toby E. "Producer Network Positions and Propensities to Collaborate: An Investigation of Strategic Alliance Formations in a High-technology Industry." Administrative Science Quarterly 43, no. 3 (September 1998): 668–698. View Details
• Podolny, Joel, and Toby E. Stuart. "A Role-based Ecology of Technological Change." American Journal of Sociology 100, no. 5 (March 1995): 1224–1260. View Details

Working Papers

• Kleinbaum, Adam M., Toby E. Stuart, and Michael L. Tushman. "Discretion Within the Constraints of Opportunity: Gender Homophily and Structure in a Formal Organization." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-050, December 2011. View Details
• Kleinbaum, Adam M., Toby E. Stuart, and Michael L. Tushman. "Communication (and Coordination?) in a Modern, Complex Organization." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-004, July 2008. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials

• Applegate, Lynda M., Toby E. Stuart, and James Weber. "Tennant Company: Innovating Within and Beyond the Core." Harvard Business School Case 810-139, June 2010. (Revised August 2011.) View Details
• Stuart, Toby, and James Weber. "Sirtris Pharmaceuticals: Living Healthier, Longer (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 813-029, October 2012. View Details
• Collis, David, Toby Stuart, and Troy Smith. "Cadbury Schweppes: Capturing Confectionery (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 708-455, March 2008. (Revised July 2011.) View Details
• Stuart, Toby, and James Weber. "GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration? (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 813-028, October 2012. View Details
• Collis, David, Toby Stuart, and Troy Smith. "Cadbury Schweppes: Capturing Confectionery (D)." Harvard Business School Supplement 708-491, March 2008. (Revised July 2011.) View Details
• Eisenmann, Thomas R., Toby E. Stuart, and David Kiron. "The Huffington Post." Harvard Business School Case 810-086, March 2010. (Revised October 2010.) View Details
• Eisenmann, Thomas R., Toby E. Stuart, Bhaskar Chakravorti, Vincent Marie Dessain, Simon Harrow, and Elena Corsi. "Orange: Read&Go." Harvard Business School Case 809-122, February 2009. (Revised May 2010.) View Details
• Eisenmann, Thomas R., Toby E. Stuart, and Lauren Barley. "Talent Agencies." Harvard Business School Case 810-104, April 2010. View Details
• Stuart, Toby E., G. Felda Hardymon, James L. Heskett, and Ann Leamon. "Manchester Bidwell Corporation: the Replication Question." Harvard Business School Case 810-097, April 2010. View Details
• Stuart, Toby E., Lynda M. Applegate, and James Weber. "Tennant Company." Harvard Business School Case 810-040, February 2010. (Revised January 2014.) View Details
• Collis, David, Toby Stuart, and Troy Smith. "Cadbury Schweppes: Capturing Confectionery (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 708-454, March 2008. (Revised January 2023.) View Details
• Nanda, Ramana, and Toby E. Stuart. "KiOR: Catalyzing Clean Energy." Harvard Business School Case 809-092, March 2009. (Revised July 2009.) View Details
• Stuart, Toby E., and James Weber. "GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration?" Harvard Business School Case 809-026, April 2009. View Details
• Chakravorti, Bhaskar, Toby E. Stuart, and James Weber. "Incept LLC and Confluent Surgical (A)." Harvard Business School Case 809-062, March 2009. View Details
• Collis, David, Toby Stuart, and Troy Smith. "Cadbury Schweppes: Capturing Confectionery (A)." Harvard Business School Case 708-453, March 2008. (Revised March 2022.) View Details

Awards & Honors

Toby E. Stuart was inducted into the Sociological Research Association in 2009.

Toby E. Stuart was the winner of the 2008 Greiff Research Impact Award for his paper with Scott Shane, "Organizational Endowments and the Performance of University Start-ups," Management Science 48, no. 1 (2001): 154-170.

Toby E. Stuart won the 2007 Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship. The medal is given every two years to one scholar under the age of 40 whose body of research has made a significant contribution to the field of entrepreneurship.

Winner of the Administrative Science Quarterly Award for Scholarly Contributions for "Aging, Obsolescence, and Organizational Innovation" (with Jesper Sorensen, March 2000).

Areas of Interest

• corporate strategy
• entrepreneurship
Additional Topics
• alliances
• competitive advantage
• competitive strategy
• corporate entrepreneurship
• corporate venturing
• innovation
• life sciences
• networks
• strategy formulation
• venture capital