I am an applied economist, with an undergraduate education from Presidency College [now Presidency University] Calcutta, and masters and doctoral degrees in Economics from the University of Southern California. Since graduation from USC in 1994, I have worked both within and outside of academics in Bulgaria, Germany, India and the United Kingdom.
Currently, I have a Chair in Finance at the Management School at the University of Sheffield. I am also a Research Fellow at IZA – Institute of Labor Economics, and a Fellow of the Global Labor Organization. I wear some other hats at the University of Sheffield. I am an elected member of the university’s Senate and am a member of the Council Finance Committee. I am also stepping into the role of the Head of the Accounting & Financial Management subject group within the management school.
I wear (have worn) some other hats as well, for example, as a member of the University of Sheffield’s representation at the Trade and Sustainable Development Domestic Advisory Group (TSD DAG) that works with the Department of Business and Trade, and as a member of ESRC‘s peer review college. In the past, I was part of the REF2021 Sub-panel 17 (Business & Management Studies). Until recently, I was also a member of the Senate’s Research & Innovation Committee, and the Research Development Director of the Finance area within the management school. I am also a member of the Editorial Review Boards of Journal of World Business and International Journal of Emerging Markets, and am on the Editorial Board of British Journal of Management. In the past, I was on the Editorial Review Board of Journal of International Business Studies.
Over the years, my research interest has shifted from drivers of firm performance to factors that influence firms’ strategic decisions and the institutional contexts in which firms operate. My ongoing research is focused largely on ownership-organizational forms such as family firms and business groups that dominate the corporate landscape in emerging market economies, corporate governance, and multinational firms. Over time, I have also developed a keen interest in the political economy of policy making, and the wider issue of governance, and these will dominate my research work in the foreseeable futures. As such, my research is empirical in nature, and, unsurprisingly perhaps, India has featured prominently in it as a context of analysis.
The empirical/evidence-based nature of my research has led to project work for organizations such as the (erstwhile) UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, NESTA and UK Trade & Investment. I was also associated with the ESRC-funded Enterprise Research Centre and, in the past, have done some work with/for organizations such as the Conference Board and the World Bank. A fair proportion of my research output has been underpinned by financial support from funding agencies such as the UK Department for International Development, ESRC, the British Academy and the UK-India Education and Research Initiative.
And aside from academic writing, I enjoy engaging with a wider audience through publications such as The Conversation, blogs and byte-size interviews on BBC’s Bengali Service.
Enough said! The details are for you to find out in this web site.