What Trader Joe’s Tells Us About Strategy
Chicago Booth’s Ram Shivakumar explains how the grocery chain has thrived, and what it says about business strategy in a highly competitive market.
What Trader Joe’s Tells Us About StrategyAcademic Areas Strategy and Leadership Faculty and Research
At Booth, a key component of our mission is to educate current and future leaders.
The strategy and leadership faculty at Chicago Booth are producing groundbreaking research that they incorporate into the Booth classroom—from the use of strategy to predict business failure or success to the application of behavioral science theory to leadership, strategy, creativity, and innovation.
In addition to conducting their research and teaching the next generation of leaders, our faculty are active in making an impact in their communities—from providing their insights to the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic to serving on Illinois governor JB Pritzker’s Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding.
Faculty in this area are sought after by global media outlets, including Bloomberg, and they win top awards, such as Crain’s Chicago Business’s 40 Under 40.
Strategy and Leadership Faculty
At Booth, you’ll find that a number of strategy and leadership courses provide students with an experiential approach to learning.
The Leadership Studio is an innovative and first-of-its-kind course that uses fieldwork and leadership coaching to help students learn, practice, and unleash leadership agility throughout their careers. Interpersonal Dynamics takes an experiential-learning approach to help students build interpersonal communication skills, learn how they are perceived by others, and use emotions as an information channel. Leadership Practicum offers students three invaluable inputs toward helping them develop: the fundamentals of leading, guidance toward building a personal development strategy, and coaching to accelerate development.
Discover more about our strategy and leadership faculty, including the classes they teach, below.
Featured Research in Chicago Booth Review
Discover some of the latest research from our strategy and leadership professors.
The Valedictorian’s Fallacy
A rigorous regime of training and testing provides inadequate preparation for professional advancement.
The Valedictorian’s Fallacy
Don’t Avoid Workplace Conflict
Chicago Booth’s Lisa Stefanac says that clashes between colleagues contain valuable information.
Don’t Avoid Workplace Conflict
Awards and Honors
“These research partnerships represent our best chance to create new knowledge that helps social service providers and advances academics.”
Christina Hachikian, speaking to Crain’s Chicago Business. Professor Hachikian was named to the publication’s 40 Under 40 list for her work to reinvent what it means to do business in Chicago through financial impact and community leadership.
Learn More about Professor Hachikian
Awards and Honors
Research with Impact
“Once the pandemic is behind us, we’ll have to choose what to return to and what to keep from our remote way of working. I think Zoom and its ilk will continue to have an important place for those situations where teams are geographically dispersed or there’s some urgent decision that needs to be made. But the type of work that delivers innovation—creative work—will still best be done in person.”
Harry L. Davis, writing about why he believes there will be more innovation post-COVID-19.
Research with ImpactOur MBA Concentrations in This Area
Strategic Management
Build the skills you need to create and implement key strategies—and shape the structure and functioning of your firm.
Strategic Management
Choose Your Path to Success
Tell us about yourself, and we will show you the value of a Booth education.
Strategy and Leadership Faculty in the News
Could assembling Google Chromebooks come back to bite us?
December 8, 2025 | Profit
“Whenever a country promises to buy a product in order to secure a substantial investment, they become the company’s essential customer in that country,” Chicago Booth’s John Paul Rollert says of Google’s plans to build a plant in Pakistan.
How a polka-dotted pumpkin became the world’s most coveted art installation
October 26, 2025 | Washington Post
“If you can show an artist that has this kind of universal appeal for all ages without a controversy and still has real artistic chops and real depth, it’s kind of a win-win,” says Chicago Booth’s Mary Ittelson of sculptor Yayoi Kusama.
Partnering across the University of Chicago and Beyond
Our strategy and leadership faculty members are active in and outside of Booth.
Harry L. Davis and Robert H. Gertner serve as trustees of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, and Christina Hachikian serves on Illinois governor JB Pritzker’s Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding.
Apply to Faculty Positions
Learn more about applying to our open faculty positions and joining the world-renowned faculty at Booth.
Apply to Faculty Positions
Learn About Our Research Workshops
Our research workshops provide a forum for faculty, PhD students, and invited guests to present, discuss, and debate new research.
Learn About Our Research WorkshopsResearch Spotlight
Discover some of the latest working papers and published papers from our strategy and leadership faculty.
“The Cutoff Structure of Top Trading Cycles in School Choice”
Jacob Leshno, with coauthor Irene Lo (Stanford University)
“Direct and Indirect Bargaining Costs and the Scope of the Firm”
Marc Knez, with coauthor Duncan Simester (MIT Sloan School of Management)
“One Path Does Not Fit All: A Career Path Approach to the Study of Professional Women Entrepreneurs”
Ronald S. Burt, with coauthor Jennifer Merluzzi (George Washington University School of Business)
Research Centers in This Area
Research centers across Booth and the University of Chicago are hubs for innovation and world-changing research. The centers provide our faculty with research support, and our faculty members lend their expertise to the centers, enriching the student experience and the broader academic community at Booth.
Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership
The Davis Center for Leadership supports students and alumni as they develop their leadership identities and skills.
Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership
Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation
As Booth’s social impact hub, the Rustandy Center offers hands-on learning opportunities, supports innovative courses, and pursues research—all with the goal of developing people and practices with the potential to solve the world’s biggest problems.
Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation