Jerry W. Kim

Associate Professor and Acting Department Vice Chair

Area of expertise

973-353-1647 jerry.kim@business.rutgers.edu Curriculum Vitae

Jerry Kim is an Associate Professor of Management and Global Business and Acting Department Vice Chair at Rutgers Business School. His research examines how status, social networks, and professional expertise shape judgment, collaboration, and competition in organizations and markets.

Much of his work focuses on healthcare and the life sciences, exploring how social relationships and hierarchies influence decisions ranging from patient treatment to drug approval. His research also examines biases in expert judgment and the revolving door between government and industry, with studies spanning baseball umpiring, executive compensation, and regulatory decision-making. His most recent work explores how artificial intelligence interacts with human expertise and social status to shape judgment and decision-making.

His work has appeared in the Academy of Management Journal, American Sociological Review, Management Science, and Organization Science, and has been featured in The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The New York Times.

At Rutgers, Kim teaches innovation management and technology strategy in the MBA program. He received the Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excellence (2025), Dean’s Meritorious Teaching Award (2024), and Professor of the Year by the MBA Class (2018). Before joining Rutgers in 2016, he spent ten years on the faculty of Columbia Business School, where he received the Singhvi Prize for Scholarship in the Classroom (2011) and Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence in the Core (2008).

Kim holds a PhD in Organizational Behavior and a master’s degree in Sociology from Harvard University, and a BA in Economics from Seoul National University. Before entering academia, he worked at Microsoft.

Executive MBA Experience

Innovation Strategy for Senior Executives

Session 1 – DESIGN THINKING: Organizing Creativity and Avoiding Strategic Inertia

Fostering creativity throughout the organization is one of the most critically important jobs of an organizational leader. While our culture and society celebrate the heroic genius of the individual inventor (e.g., Steve Jobs, Elon Musk), research suggests that having the right organizational structures and processes has a far bigger impact on innovative outcomes. In this session, we will examine the team and organizational-level conditions that enable leaders to maximize organizational innovation and creativity. In particular, we will focus on “design thinking” as a methodology that can foster creativity and innovation. A deeper understanding of the core principles behind “design thinking” will further help us understand why organizations and leaders often fail to change despite disruptive threats and environmental changes, and provide a framework for how leaders can overcome strategic inertia.

Session 2 – Building Resilient and Innovative Organizations in Times of Crisis

In times of crisis, innovation may seem like a luxury for many organizations. Yet, crisis situations are exactly when the capability to generate new approaches and solutions are most valuable. Building on the notion that “crisis management is innovation on steroids”, the session will examine what leaders must do to navigate novel threats and highly uncertain environments by leveraging innovation within and across organizations. Using a case study on the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, we will explore the common mistakes leaders make in high-stakes crisis situations, and discuss how leaders can build organizational cultures that prevent large scale errors, and exhibit resilience in the face of challenges.

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Academic degrees

Ph.D., Harvard University, Organizational Behavior and Sociology
A.M., Harvard University, Sociology
B.A., Seoul National University, Economics

Media Mentions

Chicago Tribune, Consumers can tell corporate social responsibility from veiled attempts to pad the bottom line, Jerry Kim

Monday, August 22, 2016

Dissertations Supervised

Name: Kang, Sanghoon
Graduaion Date: 2021/May

Executive Education Programs

Mini-MBA: Team Management Essentials

The transition from individual contributor to team leader is an exciting one, but without training or guidance becoming a successful manager can be stressful and scary. Understanding how to motivate employees, provide feedback and maintain morale rarely comes naturally.

In Class program: $2495.00

Next Class Date

Feb 23 - May 18, 2027

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Mini-MBA: BioPharma Innovation

The Mini-MBA in BioPharma Innovation teaches life sciences experts key business management theory and methodology that will broaden their perspective. This course provides a better understanding of how biopharma companies plan for, and profit from, constant innovation.

In Class program: $4995.00

Online program: $3495.00

Next Class Date

Feb 11 - May 06, 2027

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Student Testimonials

Professor Jerry Kim really was the one that helped me jump-start Innovation at my R&D facility. As the director of Innovation and R&D, I am truly indebted to Prof. Kim---and all this with just one three-hour lecture! Our new re-engineered organizational structure is based primarily on his lecture and it has turned our operation around.