Â鶹AV

Home

Sen Chai

Title: 
Associate Professor, Strategy & Organization; Desautels Faculty Scholar
Sen Chai
Contact Information
Email address: 
sen.chai [at] mcgill.ca
Alternate email address: 
nicoleta.anton [at] mcgill.ca
Address: 

Bronfman Building []
1001 rue Sherbrooke Ouest
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
H3A 1G5

Degree(s): 
  • PhD in Technology and Operations Management, Harvard Business School 
  • MS in Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University 
  • BEng in Electrical Engineering w/ minor in Management, Â鶹AV 
Area(s): 
Strategy & Organization
Teaching areas: 

Innovation, Strategy

Building ID: 
Bronfman
Biography: 

Sen CHAI is an associate professor of Strategy and Organization (with tenure) at Â鶹AV's Desautels Faculty of Management.

Sen's research examines the entire developmental course of creative innovations from idea conception to commercialization, with the goal of helping managers and policymakers better support innovation as well as avoid or manage failures in the hopes of increasing organizations' chances of creating breakthrough ideas. Her current projects include studying the role of anticipation in failure management, both in the context of innovation catastrophes and crowdfunding campaigns. She is also exploring gender dynamics in global teams and academic research teams.

Prior to Â鶹AV, Sen taught at ESSEC Business School in Paris and completed a post-doc at the NBER in Cambridge, MA. Before her doctoral studies, she worked in the San Francisco and Seattle offices of Deloitte Consulting LLP as a consultant helping clients optimize their business processes. She has also passed all three levels of the CFA curriculum.

Sen grew up in Paris, NYC and Montreal, and is also fluent in French and Mandarin. She enjoys traveling during her free time, and so far has visited over seventy countries.

Courses: 
  • MGPO 460 - Managing Innovation
  • MGPO 630 - Managing Strategy & Innovation
Group: 
Faculty
Tenured & Tenure Track
Research areas: 
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Innovation Management
Knowledge Strategy
Technology & Innovation
Selected publications: 
  • Zhou, S., Chai, S. and Freeman, R. (2024). .ÌýResearch Policy, 53(1).
  • Chai, S., Doshi, A. and Silvestri, L. (2022). Organization Science, 33(3), pp. 1068-1093.
  • Mell, J.N., Jang, S. and Chai, S. (2021). Organization Science, 32(3), pp. 731-751.
  • Chai, S. and Menon, A. (2019). Research Policy, 48(3), pp. 733-747.
  • Chai, S. and Freeman, R. (2019). Strategic Management Journal, 40(13), pp. 2138-2164.
  • Chai, S. (2017). Organization Science, 28(3), pp. 411-428.
  • Chai, S. and Shih, W. (2016). Research Policy, 45(1), pp. 148-158.
  • Chai, S. and Shih, W. (2016). MIT Sloan Management Review, 58(2), pp. 57-61.
Back to top