J.B.M. Kassarjian

J.B.M. Kassarjian is Professor Emeritus of Strategy and Organization at IMD. He has also held a joint appointment at Babson College as Professor of Management, 1980 - . He has been Chairman of the Management Division at Babson (1981 - 1987).

He has published a book, numerous articles, and a large number of cases in a variety of industrial and geographical settings. More recent writings aimed at a practitioner audience include: ‘It’s the Performance, Stupid’ in Babson Insights, August, 2017; ‘The Elusive Balance: Navigating the Paradoxes of Academic Life’, a chapter in Phronesis in Business School, Information Age Publishing, 2017. 'Jolt your managers out of their comfortable groove - they may learn to lead change', and 'The Paradox of Leading Change', both appeared as IMD Perspectives for Managers.

He has been the recipient of two case-writing awards: his 3-part case series, Sony Europa (A), (B), and (C), (co-authored with K. Kashani), won the 1999 European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case-Writing prize, in the Change Management category. And his case Shaping Spaarbeleg: Real and Unreal won the European Case Clearing House (ECCH)/ Business Week-2000 European Case Award in Policy and General Management.

Professor Kassarjian has also been the recipient of The Kennedy Award for Excellence in Teaching at Babson College, for 2015. He was also awarded the Deans’ prize for Excellence in Teaching in graduate programs at Babson College, for 2013.

Prior to joining IMD and Babson, Professor Kassarjian was on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, where he taught in the Organizational Behavior area, and he was involved in establishing Harvard-related graduate institutes in Iran and the Philippines. He has been engaged in the design and teaching of executive programs at Harvard, IMD, and Babson, as well as private programs in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Professor Kassarjian has served as consultant to private and public organizations in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, in such areas as leading change, strategic restructuring, and senior management team building.

Professor Kassarjian's career reflects an abiding interest in management education at the senior level in diverse cultural settings. His areas of expertise are: Global Competitive Dynamics, Leading Change - Strategic and Organizational, and Senior Management Team Building.

J. B. M. Kassarjian obtained his MBA and DBA at Harvard University, where he also served as Research Associate during his doctoral studies. Prior to attending graduate school, he obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University.