Wendy Smith

Wendy Smith earned her Ph.D. at the Harvard Business School and is currently Professor of Management at the Lerner School of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware. She brings to the team expertise in studying social enterprises, particularly through a lens of paradox theory. In her previous research, she has studied social enterprises around the world. Most notable her recent research explored the in-depth decision making across the first 10 years of Digital Divide Data, an award-winning work integration social enterprise started in Southeast Asia in 1999. This project explored how the senior leaders applied a paradoxical approach to effectively address the ongoing competing demands between their social mission to stop the cycle of poverty through enabling increased work opportunities and their business goals to be an operationally sustainable business. This research led to a publication in Administrative Science Quarterly, one of the top journals in the field of organizational studies, as well as publications in practitioner journals such as the Harvard Business Review and other blog posts. Working with PI Slawinski on SSHRC-funded (partnership development grant) research with Shorefast on Fogo Island NL, Smith has gained expertise in social enterprise research and development in Newfoundland and Labrador. This more recent work includes collaboration on the development of the PLACE model for social enterprise and community development, and on related workshops and publications in other blog posts. Smith has also collaborated with PI Slawinski on unpacking the competitive and cooperative dynamics in industry-wide alliances, by studying the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), an initiative to advance environmental standards among companies in the Alberta Oil Sands. Finally, Smith offers expertise in research, analysis and publication. She has spent the last three years as an associate editor at the Academy of Management Journal, one of the top journals in organization studies, accruing insight on the development of academic publications.