Theresa Cho is Professor of Strategic Management and International Business at Graduate School of Business. She has served in several positions including Vice President of International Affairs at Seoul National University, Associate Dean of Student Affairs at the College of Business Administration, Deputy Vice President of International Affairs at Seoul National University, President of Association of Korean Management Scholars, Representative-at-Large for Strategic Management Society, and Vice President of Korean Strategic Management Society. In 2024, she was elected to serve a three-year term as a director for the board of Harvard University Alumni Association.

Before joining SNU in 2007, Professor Cho was Associate Professor (with tenure) at Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey. She received an A.B. (with honors) in Economics from Harvard College, Harvard University, and received her M.Phil. and Ph.D. (with distinction) in Strategic Management from Columbia Business School, Columbia University.

Professor Cho’s current research interests focus on behavioral strategy, with a particular emphasis on the effects of managerial cognition and corporate governance on organizational processes. She has published extensively on several topics including: the role of managerial cognition in strategic response to the financial crisis, the linkage between top management team attributes and the firm’s behavior in the interfirm competition, executives’ attributes and alliance formation of venture startups in high-tech industries, the impact of environmental shift on managerial incentive system, and the effects of competitor dynamics on market and resource heterogeneity.

Professor Cho’s research has been published in several top-tier scholarly journals, including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Research in Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Business Research. Her recent studies have received numerous research awards including the KSG Entrepreneurship Research Award by the Karl Schlecht Foundation, Strategic Management Society Best Paper Prize, and the William Newman Award by the Academy of Management. She was also the recipient of the Thomas H. Mott Award for Teaching Excellence, and General Electric Teaching Fellowship at Rutgers Business School. She currently serves as an associate editor at Journal of Business Research, as well as an editorial board member of Strategic Organization.

Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D7VywY0AAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1&oi=ao

[EDUCATION]

1. Ph.D. Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY With Distinction. Concentration: Strategic Management


2. M.Phil. Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY Department of Management of Organizations


3. A.B. Harvard College, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA With Honors. Concentration: Economics

1. 2013-present Professor of Strategy & International Business, College of Business Administration & Graduate School of Business Seoul National University


2. 2008-2013 Associate Professor of Strategy & International Business, College of Business Administration & Graduate School of Business Seoul National University


3. 2007-2008 Associate Professor (with tenure) in Strategic Management, Rutgers Business School-Newark & New Brunswick, Rutgers University


4. 1999-2006 Assistant Professor in Strategic Management, Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University

1. 2024-present Hyundai Steel, outside director


2. 2023-present KT, outside director


3. 2024-present Harvard Alumni Association Board, Elected Director


4. 2020-2024 Samsung SDS, outside director


5. 2022-2024 Vice President of International Affairs, Seoul National University


6. 2020-2021 Associate Dean of Student Affairs, College of Business Administration, Seoul National University


7. 2020-2021 Chairperson, Campus Asia Program (sponsored by Ministry of Education), Graduate School of Business, Seoul National University


8. 2018-2021 Harvard Alumni Association Director (Appointed) for International Clubs and SIGs, Asia-Pacific Region


9. 2018-2021 Strategic Management Society Representative-at-Large (Elected), Behavioral Strategy Interest Group


10. 2016-2017 Korean Strategic Management Society Vice President


11. 2015-2016 Deputy Vice President of International Affairs, Seoul National University


12. 2015-2016 Director of the China Center, Seoul National University


13. 2013-2015 Associate Dean of International Affairs, College of Business Administration & Graduate School of Business, Seoul National University


14. 2014-2015 Association of Korean Management Scholars President


15. 2013-2015 Seoul National University Business School Associate Dean of International Affairs

1. Elected Director for the Harvard Alumni Association Board (voted by 400,000 alumni of the university)


2. Finalist for the Best Paper Award, Strategy Division, The 2022 Academy of Management Association Annual Conference, “Analyst Coverage and Innovation Strategy: A Cognitive Perspective.


3. KSG Entrepreneurship Research Award, 2019 Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and SMEs, Vienna, Austria.


4. Best Paper Award, 2019 European Academy of Management (EURAM).


5. Finalist / Honorable Mention, 2018 Strategic Management Society Best Paper Prize.


6. Best Paper Award, 2018 Strategic Management Society Cooperative Interest Group.


7. The Best Conference Paper Award (Honorable Mention), 2018 Meeting of the Strategic Management Society.


8. Elected as the Representative-at-Large, Strategic Management Society, Behavioral Strategy Interest Group, 2018-2021.


9. Appointed as the Director of Asia-Pacific Clubs and SIGs, Harvard Alumni Association, 2018-2021.


10. Institute of Management Research Grant, Seoul National University, 2008-2014.


11. The Best Alliance Program Research Award, 2013.


12. Korea Research Foundation Young Faculty Research Award, 2009.


13. Thomas H. Mott Award for Teaching Excellence, Rutgers Business School, 2004.


14. Finalist, The William Newman Award for the Best Paper Based on Dissertation, Academy of Management, 2001.


15. Rutgers Business School Technological Management Research Center Grant, 2003-2004.


16. GE Teaching Fellow, 2000-2001.


17. Rutgers University Research Council Grant, 1999-2006.


18. Rutgers Business School Research Resource Committee Grant, 1999-2006.


19. Recipient of With Distinction honors for the doctoral thesis (awarded to the top 1% of the doctoral candidates), Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY, 1999.


20. Member, Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, 1999-present


21. Columbia University Doctoral Fellowship, 1991-1995.


22. Harvard College Scholarship, 1987-1990.


23. Dean’s List, Harvard College, 1987-1990.


24. First Place, The Korea Times Literary Competition, Non-Fiction Division (in Korean), 1990.


25. Rotary Scholarship, 1986.

[SELECTED PUBLICATIONS]

1. Hanisch, M., Koenig, A., Haussler, C., Graf-Vlachy, L. and Cho, T. S. “Kindred spirits: Cognitive frame similarity and good faith provisions in strategic alliance contracts." Forthcoming at Strategic Management Journal.


2. Mack, D., Cho. T.S. and Yi, A.C. 2024. “Attentional engagement and strategic responses to discontinuous environmental change: Evidence from the U.S. banking industry," Strategic Organization, 22:49-90.


3. Ahn,S. and Cho. T.S. 2022. “The effects of analyst coverage on innovation strategy: A cognitive perspective,” The Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings.


4. Ahn, S., Cho, C.K. and Cho, T.S. 2021. “Performance feedback and organizational learning: The role of regulatory focus,” Management Decision, 59:616-637.


5. Cho, C. K., Cho, T. S., and Lee, J. 2018. “Managerial attributes, consumer proximity, and corporate environmental performance,” Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.


6. Cho, C. K. and Cho, T. S. 2018. “On averting disappointment: Remedying the impact of shifting expectations,” Frontiers in Psychology.


7. Hanisch, M., Koenig, A., Haussler, C., Graf-Vlachy, L. & Cho, T. S. 2018. “The Influence of cognitive frame similarity on contingency planning in strategic alliances,” The Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings.


8. Chung, D., Kang, J. and Cho, T. S. 2018. “TMT knowledge specificity, organization search scope and innovation performance,” International Journal of Technology Management, 78: 208-233.


9. Choi, J. N., Sung, S. Y., & Cho, T. S. 2014. “Creative contribution of individuals in groups: Effects of goal orientation and participative safety,” Social Behavior and Personality, 41.


10. Mack, D. and Cho, T. S. 2011. “SK Telecom R11; Going for the global leadership,” Asian Case Research Journal, 15:2.


11. Ahn, K. J., Chae, H. W., Song, J. Y. and Cho, T. S. 2009. “The effects of founder-CEO attributes on alliance formation of venture startups: The social network perspective,” Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings.


12. Cho, T. S. and Shen, W. 2007. “Exploring the linkage between environmental shift and changes in executive compensation: The role of executive turnover,” Strategic Management Journal, 28:747-754.


13. Cho, T. S. and Hambrick, D. 2006. “Attention patterns as mediators between top management team characteristics and strategic change: The case of airline deregulation,” Organization Science, 17:453-469.


14. Cho, T. S. 2006. “The effects of executive turnover on top management team's environmental scanning behavior after an environmental change,” Journal of Business Research, 59:1142-1150.


15. Shen, W. and Cho, T. S. 2005. “Exploring involuntary executive turnover through a managerial discretion framework,” Academy of Management Review, 30:843-862.


16. Hambrick, D.C., Finkelstein, S., Cho, T.S., and Jackson, E. M. 2005. “Isomorphism in reverse: Institutional theory as an explanation for recent increases in intraindustry heterogenity and managerial discretion,” Research in Organizational Behavior (Issue 26). Staw, B. and Kramer, R. M. (Ed). Berkeley: Elsevier.


17. Cho, T. S. 2001. “The Effects of top executive team composition, pay structure and attention on strategic change: A case of airline deregulation,” Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings (nominated for the William Newman Best Paper Award Based on Dissertation).


18. Hambrick, D. C., Cho, T. S., and Chen, M. J. 1996. “Top management team heterogeneity and competitive behaviors of the firm," Administrative Science Quarterly, 41: 659-684. Reprinted in Corporate Governance in the New Global Economy, 2004. Keasey, K., Thompson, S. and Wright, M. (Ed.). Surrey, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.


19. Cho, T. S., Hambrick, D. C. and Chen, M. J. 1994. "The effects of top management characteristics on competitive behaviors of firms," Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings.

1. Choi, W.S., Ahn, S. H. & Cho, T.S. 2021. “Interfirm rivalry in action: An exploratory study of multiplex theaters in Korea,” Korea Business Review, 25: 27-55.


2. Cho, T. S. 2013. “No longer a singular market: An exploratory study of divergent preferences of Chinese consumers as revealed through online forums for automobiles,” International Business Journal. Vol. 24(2).


3. Cho, T. S. 2011. “Environmental scanning behavior of the top managers: A regulatory focus model,” Seoul Journal of Business. Vol. 17(2): 151-166.


4. Cho, T. S. 2011.”Exploring the effects of macrocultural forces on institutional isomorphism,” Journal of Strategic Management. 14 (2): 77-92.


5. Cho, T. S. 2009. “Managerial attention and organizational adaptation following an environmental shift,” Korean Management Review.


6. Ahn, K.J., Chae, H., Song, J. and Cho, T. S. 2009. “The effects of founder-CEO attributes on alliance formation of venture start-ups: A social network perspective,” Korean Business Review, 38 (6): 1545-1572.