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Jason P. Davis

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise

Biography

Jason Davis is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD. He is an expert on digital transformation and innovation in large enterprises and the strategies of startups in digital platform ecosystems. His research has focused on issues of collaboration and adaptation by 'big tech' computing companies in Silicon Valley and Seattle, fast experimentation by mobile app ventures on the iPhone and Android platforms, and the social media strategies of the Fortune 500 companies using Twitter and Facebook. He applies these insights to large organizations as they seek to create value with new digital technologies and systems like artificial intelligence, automation, platform-marketplaces, blockchain, and super-apps, and to new ventures in his MBA courses on Digital Entrepreneurship and Crypto Entrepreneurship. Jason has focused effort on investigating business model innovations by big tech companies in Asia, having developed teaching cases about how companies such as Go-Jek, Grab, Alibaba, and ByteDance are innovating in the region, and how Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google compete globally. Prior to joining INSEAD, Jason was an Associate Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management in the MIT Sloan School of Management where he taught Technology Strategy. He currently serves as Senior Editor at Organization Science.

Jason earned PhD and MA degrees from Stanford University, where his research was supported by the National Science Foundation. He also earned MS and SB degrees from Caltech and MIT where he did thesis research in computation theory and molecular biology. His research has been published in top academic journals such as the Administrative Science Quarterly, American Economic Review, Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, and Academy of Management Review. Jason has served as editorial board member at Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategic Organization.

He has received multiple research awards including the AOM Academy-Wide Newman Award for Best Paper from a Dissertation (2009), the TIM Division Best Doctoral Dissertation Award (2009), the TIM Division Best Paper Award (2009), the OMT Division Best Paper Award (2008), and the ACAC Competitive Advantage Best Paper Award (2014). Jason also received an Honorable Mention Award for the Granovetter Prize for best article in Economic Sociology from the American Sociological Association (2012). He is also the recipient of the Academy of Management's Technology Innovation Management Emerging Scholar Award (2012). Finally, Jason was selected to receive the ASQ Award for Scholarly Contribution (2015) given to “the most significant paper published in ASQ five years earlier.” His research has also been featured in a variety of popular and industry publications like Harvard Business Review, BBC, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Forbes, Fortune, The Economist Podcast, Wired, Channel News Asia, South China Morning Post, Jakarta Post, Huffington Post, Sloan Management Review, Computer World and Technology Review.

Jason has also consulted, advised, or spoken about his research or conducted executive education at multiple companies including Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Broadcom, ESI, Sun Microsystems, Tesla, Citibank, Bank Indonesia, BCA, Pertamina, Astra, Go-Jek, Axiata, Natixis, Frasers, Prudential, Aviva, CIMB, Jardines, JG Summit, Lenovo, Vale, Tata Consulting Group, Avery Dennison, Public Bank, and various startups. Recently, he is a recipient of the EFMD EiP Gold Award (2020) in executive education and Case Centre Best Case Award in Entrepreneurship (2021). At INSEAD, he serves as Program Director for customized executive education programs about Digital Strategy & Leadership and the Leading Digital Transformation and Innovation open enrolment program on INSEAD’s Asia campus.

Latest posts

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Economics & Finance

How Web3 and AI Will Transform Finance

J. Davis, J. Kasko

Artificial intelligence and crypto are not only reinventing financial products and delivery, but also influencing who gets to participate.

Leadership & Organisations

How Networks Actually Harm Organisations

Jason P. Davis

Digital technologies create digital relationships that limit companies ability to innovate and change.

Entrepreneurship

Crypto 3.0 Will Be More Human

Jason P. Davis

At a recent INSEAD event, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revealed technologies to manage online identities, preserve privacy and ensure the responsible use of AI.
1 comment

Leadership & Organisations

How to Build a C-Suite in Less Than Two Years

B Aubrey, J Davis, T Mannarelli

Indonesian state-owned giant Pertamina had a problem: Its top leaders were all retiring at once. The solution? A new kind of leadership accelerator.

Entrepreneurship

Big Tech’s Global Strategy in the Cloud

Jason P. Davis

Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Alibaba are fighting tooth and nail in the cloud market, using strategies heavily influenced by their respective histories.

Entrepreneurship

The Innovator’s Imitation Dilemma: TikTok and Facebook in Context

J. Davis, V. Aggarwal

Even with a backer like Microsoft, innovators must outrace copycats like Facebook and others who share the spoils of imitation among themselves.

Entrepreneurship

The TikTok Strategy: Using AI Platforms to Take Over the World

A curious combination of prediction technology and human censors enables ByteDance to create a dynamic global video ecosystem.
1 comment

Leadership & Organisations

Three Objectives for Moving Forward With AI

Jason P. Davis

Taking ownership of AI is about more than technological competencies – it’s an overarching organisational challenge.
2 comments

Entrepreneurship

How Alibaba Uses Blockchain to Compete in the Cloud

Jason P. Davis

Foreign companies can use emerging tech to build a reputation as a strategic partner in solving local problems.
1 comment

Entrepreneurship

The Real Story Behind Uber’s Exit from Southeast Asia

Uber, Grab and Go-Jek embody emerging strategies in international platform competition.
3 comments

Entrepreneurship

Digital Lessons from Go-Jek, Indonesia’s Answer to Uber and Grab

What can be learnt from the meteoric rise of Indonesia’s ride-hailing and logistics platform.

Entrepreneurship

How Collective Learning Improves Innovation

Jaemin Lee & Jason Davis

App developers listen to their customers and competitors to learn how to succeed.