Sen Chai

Biography

Sen's research examines the entire developmental course of creative innovations from idea conception to commercialization, with the goal of helping managers and policymakers better support innovation and increase organizations' chances of creating commercially successful ideas. Her current projects focus on understanding why breakthoughs are missed, the process by which researchers or teams of researchers in firms and universities conceive of commercially successful ideas, and the effect of twitter as well as the role of physical and virtual temporary colocation as vehicles for collaboration. In the context of innovation policy, she is studying innovative performance and productivity effects of academic-industry collaboration grants in Denmark, as well as understanding which managerial and structural factors of these funding schemes make them more effective.

Prior to Harvard, Sen worked in the San Francisco and Seattle offices of Deloitte Consulting LLP as a consultant helping clients optimize their business processes. She received a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from McGill University and a M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. She has also passed all three levels of the CFA curriculum.

Sen grew up in Shanghai, Paris, New York City and Montreal, and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and French. She enjoys traveling and learning about new cultures during her free time.

Diplomas

• 2013 : DBA in Technology and Operations Management (Harvard Business School, United States of America)
• 2006 : MS in Management Science and Engineering (Stanford University, United States of America)
• 2005 : BEng in Electrical Engineering (Magna Cum Laude), Minor in Management (McGill University, Canada)

Certificates

• 2011 : Passed all 3 levels of CFA ® curriculum (CFA Institute, United States of America)

Career Full-time academic appointments

• 2018 - Present : Associate Professor (ESSEC Business School, France)
• 2015 - 2018 : Assistant Professor (ESSEC Business School, France)

Other Academic Appointments

• 2013 - 2015 : Wertheim Post - Doctoral Fellow ; Advisor: Richard Freeman (Harvard University, United States of America)
• 2012 : Visiting Scholar at the Coleman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership (University of California, United States of America)

Professional appointments

• 2006 - 2008 : Consultant (Deloitte Consulting LLP, United States of America)

Awards

• 2019 : Outstanding Conference Paper ( Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research)
• 2018 : ESSEC Foundation Research Award (ESSEC Foundation)
• 2017 : Honorable Mention, Best Conference Paper Award, for the article: Framing Catastrophic Failure as a Learning Opportunity: Lessons From Virgin Galactic and SpaceX (SILVESTRI L., DOSHI A., CHAI S.), 2017 Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting.
• 2017 : Nominated for Best Conference Paper Proceedings for the article Framing Catastrophic Failure as a Learning Opportunity: Lessons From Virgin Galactic and SpaceX (SILVESTRI L., DOSHI A., CHAI S.), 2017 Academy of Management Annual Meeting.
• 2014 : Finalist, INFORMS/Technology Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Section Best Dissertation Competition
• 2014 : Nominated, REER Conference Kauffman Foundation Best Student Paper
• 2004 : McKinsey & Company Case Competition Award
• 2004 : National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Student Research Award
• 2003 : Canadian Institutes of Health Research Award