Rajiv Krishnan Kozhikode
I study how politics, social order, and rituals shape what organizations and entrepreneurs do, mostly in India and the Global South.
I am a Professor at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, with a joint appointment in Management and Organization Studies and International Business. I also serve as Area Coordinator for International Business.
My research sits where organizational theory meets entrepreneurship, institutional analysis, and non-market strategy. Most of my fieldwork is in India: its banks and courts, its newspapers and linguistic movements, its marriage rituals and its conflict zones. I have also studied refugee camps in Tanzania, a start-up accelerator in Silicon Valley, technological catch-up by Chinese firms, and a currency crisis in Ghana that produced a forex illusion.
Before academia I was a sales manager at ICICI Bank. I hold a PhD in Management from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and spent a year at Columbia University as a visiting scholar. I taught at the University of Groningen before joining SFU in 2012.
Research
Three lines of work
Politics, movements, and markets
How political pluralism, hostile public policy, and social movements shape what organizations and entrepreneurs do: bank branch expansion, organizational dormancy, newspaper founding by linguistic movements that win episodic political inclusion, and the role of markets in media and insurgency in Kashmir.
AMJ 2012 · Organization Science 2016 · JMS (in revision)Status, brokerage, and exchange
When high status protects firms and when it exposes them, and how audiences judge brokers and exchange partners: illegal loan recovery by prestigious banks, verdicts against elite lenders in socialist courtrooms, the acquisition sprees of new CEOs, and how firms treat their auditors after bad news.
AMJ 2015 · Strategy Science 2022 · ASR (under review)Rituals and economic life
Interaction rituals in a Silicon Valley accelerator, the economic underlife of refugee camps in Tanzania, and how witnessing marriage rituals shifts gendered investment in Indian families.
ASQ 2021 · ASR 2026Publications
Journal articles
- 2026
Strategic Inversion: How Refugees Reconfigure Dramaturgical Space under Benevolent Oppression
Krishnan, R., A. Newenham-Kahindi, and R. K. Kozhikode
American Sociological Review 91(5): 765–797
- 2022
Stepping into Ill-Fitting Shoes: Local Status Contrasts and Acquisitiveness of New CEOs
Kozhikode, R. K., and R. Krishnan
Strategy Science 7(3): 210–239
- 2021
An Interaction Ritual Theory of Social Resource Exchange: Evidence from a Silicon Valley Accelerator
Krishnan, R., K. S. Cook, R. K. Kozhikode, and O. Schilke
Administrative Science Quarterly 66(3): 659–710
- 2021
Understanding Avoidable Food Loss at the Farm
Soma, T., R. K. Kozhikode, and R. Krishnan
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 170: 1–9
- 2016
Hostile Public Policies and Temporary Organizational Adaptation
Kozhikode, R. K.
Organization Science 27(1): 189–206
- 2015
Status and Corporate Illegality: Illegal Loan Recovery Practices of Commercial Banks in India
Krishnan, R., and R. K. Kozhikode
Academy of Management Journal 58(5): 1287–1312
- 2012
Political Pluralism, Public Policies, and Organizational Choices: Banking Branch Expansion in India, 1948–2003
Kozhikode, R. K., and J. T. Li
Academy of Management Journal 55(2): 339–359AMJ Best Paper finalist
- 2011
Organizational Learning of Emerging Economy Firms: The Case of China’s TCL Group
Li, J. T., and R. K. Kozhikode
Organizational Dynamics 40(3): 214–221
- 2009
Developing New Innovation Models: Shifts in Innovation Landscapes in Emerging Economies and Implications for Global R&D Management
Li, J. T., and R. K. Kozhikode
Journal of International Management 15(3): 328–339
- 2008
Knowledge Management and Innovation Strategy: The Challenge for Latecomers in Emerging Economies
Li, J. T., and R. K. Kozhikode
Asia Pacific Journal of Management 25(3): 429–450
Proceedings and cases
- 2023
An Abductive Mixed-Methods Approach to Studying Generalized Exchange in a Start-Up Accelerator
Krishnan, R., K. S. Cook, R. K. Kozhikode, and O. Schilke
SAGE Research Methods Cases: Business & Management
- 2017
Socio-cultural Adaptability and Immigrant Career Progression: The Paradox of Embeddedness
Satish-Kumar, M. S., R. K. Kozhikode, and M. B. Lazarova
Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings
- 2011
Ideological Competition and Organizational Founding: A Study of Newspaper Founding in India, 1951–2008
Kozhikode, R. K., and J. T. Li
Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings
Under review and in revision
- R&R
Episodic Political Inclusion and Indirect Mobilization: Regional Language Movements and Newspaper Founding in India
Kozhikode, R. K., R. Krishnan, and J. Li
Organization ScienceMinor revision
- R&R
(In)dependent Media, Market Forces, and Counterinsurgency
Kozhikode, R. K., and R. Krishnan
Journal of Management Studies, Special Issue on Geopolitical TensionsRevise & resubmit
- Review
Confidant Brokers? An Audience-Centric View of Brokerage
Kozhikode, R. K., L. Yermal, and P. Balasubramanian
American Sociological ReviewUnder review
- Review
Religious Rituals and the Transmission of Gender Beliefs from Society to Market
Krishnan, R., R. K. Kozhikode, and N. Parvathy
American Sociological ReviewUnder review
- R&R
Bridging Metaphors: Successful Metaphorical Alignment for Organizational Change Initiatives
Kamal, A., R. Prasad, R. K. Kozhikode, S. P. Madhavan, and D. Gupta
Organizational DynamicsSecond round
Open to board and advisory roles
Boards & advisory
I advise founders, boards, and institutions on strategy in markets where politics, regulation, and reputation decide outcomes as much as products do. My research on status, public policy, and courts in India informs that work, and so do two decades of teaching global strategy to executives and MBA students on three continents.
I am interested in independent director and advisory board roles with ventures and mid-sized firms operating in or entering India and South Asia, and with Canadian firms expanding across borders.
- Sectors
- Banking, fintech, and financial services; consumer and sustainable products; agri-food; and media and education ventures.
- Stage
- Growth-stage ventures from Series A to pre-IPO, and founder-led or family-owned firms putting formal governance in place.
- Geography
- India, especially Kerala and South India, and Canadian firms entering India and South Asia.
Government and regulatory strategy
Reading political and policy risk, and building relationships with the state that hold up when governments change.
Market entry in India
Federal and state-level institutional variation, regional language markets, and local legitimacy.
Governance and reputation
Board oversight, auditor relationships, and how status can become a liability with courts and regulators.
Early-stage venture building
Accelerator design, founder support networks, and resilience in volatile settings.
| Bumberry | Advisor | Kochi-based maker of reusable cloth diapers for infants and adults, backed by Kerala Angels, The Chennai Angels, and Konglo Ventures. |
|---|---|---|
| Mangrove Forum | Advisor | Start-up advisory. |
| IIM Jammu | Incubation | Helping build the business incubation program of IIMJ-FEISD, with incubation centres in Jammu and Srinagar. |
| SFU Community Corporation | Director, 2014–15 | Member of the Board of Directors. |
| ICICI Bank | 2003–05 | Sales Manager, India. |
Teaching and service
In the classroom and the field
Current courses at SFU
- Global Strategy (MBA)since 2026
- Global Business Environment (MBA)since 2025
- Business Ethics (MBA)since 2024
- Organization Theorysince 2013
- Cross-Cultural Managementsince 2013
Doctoral seminars
- Entrepreneurship, Market Creation, and Socioeconomic Development, SFU2019
- Corporate Political Activity, IIM Bangalore2018
- Non-Market Strategy (Master’s), Groningen2011
Editorial service
- Administrative Science Quarterly, Editorial Board2019–24
- Strategic Management Journal, Editorial Board2016–24
- Management and Organization Review, Senior Editor2019–21
- Journal of Asia Business Studies, Editorial Board2015–19
Selected honors
- Runner-Up Best Paper, India Strategy Conference2023
- Finalist, AMJ Best Paper Award2013
- Food Innovation Award, New Venture (McKinsey & Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs)2011
Contact
Get in touch
Phone
Office
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada