Keyvan Vakili

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University of Toronto
Rotman School of Management
105 St. George Street
Toronto, ON M5S 3E6, Canada

Tel: (647) 708-4960
Fax: (416) 946-7811
keyvan.vakili08@rotman.utoronto.ca

Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

Ph.D. Candidate in Strategic Management, expected 2013

Dissertation Topic: Competitive effects of intellectual property rights and supporting institutions

Sharif University of Technology, Iran

Master of Business Admisnitration, 2008

B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, 2006

Interaction between Competition and Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Origin and Evolution of Technologies and Industries, Knowledge Spillovers

2011: Distinguished Robert J. Litschert Best Doctoral Student Paper Award, BPS division of the Academy of Management

2011: NBER Entrepreneurship Research Boot Camp, Student Fellow, NBER/Kauffman Foundation

2008-present: Doctoral Fellowship, Rotman School of Management

2008-present: Graduate Student Endowment Award, University of Toronto

2012: NSF Grant for PhD Student's Research-Development Workshop, Atlanta Competitive Advantage Conference (ACAC) 2012

2011: Doctoral Workshop Sponsorship Award, Strategic Management Society

2012: Doctoral Workshop Sponsorship Award, Smith Entrepreneurship Research Conference

2011-2012: SGS Conference Grant, University of Toronto

2001-2008: Full Scholarship, Sharif University of Technology

In my dissertation, I explore the competitive effects of IP rights and their supporting institutions. In the first essay, I look at the competitive effects of modern patent pools on the performance and strategies of firms outside the pool. In the second essay, I explore the effects of patents produced by academics in universities on the performance of firms in technological and geographical proximity of the patented inventions. In the last essay, I study the interplay between the incentives for firms to engage in patent proliferation strategies to protect their inventions and disincentives associated with potential infringement costs in fragmented technological fields. The three essays together can provide further insight into the competitive effects of new ideas and inventions, particularly in the form of patented inventions, and their supporting institutions.

Competitive Effects of Modern Patent Pools: Effect of the MPEG-2 Pool on the Outsiders' Performance (Job Market paper, being revised for journal submission to Management Science)

Presented at the CCC 2012

Accepted for presentation at the ACAC 2012 (Atlanta), DRUID 2012 (Copenhagen), AOM 2012 (Boston)

Competitive Effects of Academic Patents (work in progress, with Anita McGahan and Brian Silverman)

Strategic Patenting and the Tragedy of Anticommons: A Closer Look at Firms' Patenting Behavior (being revised for journal submission)

Distinguished Robert J. Litschert Best Doctoral Student Paper Award, BPS division of the Academy of Management, 2011

Presented at the AOM 2011 (San Antonio), SMS 2011 (Miami)

In this project, we look at the formation and development of nanotechnology industry in its nascent phase from a temporal and spatial perspective. In this study, we propose a new methodology 'topic modeling' to evaluate the emergence and interpretation of new technologies and use this approach to examine trends in the field of nanotechnology. The study is based on a comprehensive dataset of all nanotube-related patents supplemented with extensive information about the companies and inventors to whom the patents are granted. Using the text analysis of patent abstracts we investigate how different technological themes have evolved and diffused over time, space, and across technological boundaries. The results of the study can contribute significantly to our understanding of the origin of industries and their evolution over time.

Breakthrough Innovations: Using Topic Modeling to Distinguish the Cognitive from the Economic (R&R at Management Science, with Sarah Kaplan)

Accepted for the the Best Paper Proceedings of the Academy of Management Conference 2012 (Boston)

Nominated for the Best Paper Award at the DRUID Conference 2012 (Copenhagen)

Selected for the Plenary session at the DRUID Conference 2012 (Copenhagen)

Presented at the SMS 2011 (Miami), Wharton Technology Conference 2011 (Philadelphia), EGOS Colloquium 2011 (Gothenburg), West Coast Research Symposium 2011 (Seattle)

The Role of Academic Patenting in Shaping Firms' Technological Direction in a Nascent Field (work in progress, with Sarah Kaplan)

Accepted for presentation at the SMS 2012 (Prague)

In this project, we look at the role of emerginc economies such as China, South Korea, and Brazil in the development and progress of the field of Regenerative Medicine. In particular, we are investigating whether there has been a competitive or cooperative relationship between developed and emerging economies in the knowledge production stage. Furthermore, we look at how patterns of knowledge diffusion differs depending on the source of knowledge and how changes in the economic and political institutions affect these patterns. Moreover, we are interested in understanding how the differences in these patterns affect the patterns of commercialization and use further down the track.

Competition or Cooperation? The Role of Emerging Economies in the Development of the Field of Regenerative Medicine (preparing for journal submission to Science, with Anita McGahan, Will Mitchell, Rahim Rezaee, and Abdallah Daar)

How Do Policies Change the Course of Knowledge Production? The Case of Regenerative Medicine (preparing for journal submission to Science, with Anita McGahan, Will Mitchell, Rahim Rezaee, and Abdallah Daar)

Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

2012: Research Assistant for Anita McGahan

2009-2010: Research Assistant for Sarah Kaplan, The Origin and Evolution of Nanotech Industries

2011-2012: Teaching Assistant for Matt Grennan, Entrepreneurship (Commerce Program)

2011-2012: Teaching Assistant for Anne Fleischer, Strategic Management (Commerce Program)

Sharif University of Technology, Iran

2008: Co-Instructor, System Dynamics for Business Policy (MBA Elective)

2008: Teaching Assistant for Alinaghi Mashayekhi, Advanced Strategic Management (MBA Elective)

2005-2007: Teaching Assistant for Alinaghi Mashayekhi, System Dynamics for Business Policy (MBA Elective)

Academy of Management Conference (AOM, 2010, 2011), Strategic Management Society Conference (SMS, 2011), NBER Entrepreneurship Research Bootcamp (2011), Smith Entrepreneurship Research Conference (2012), Consortium for Competitiveness and Cooperation (CCC, 2012)

Ad hoc reviewer for Management Science, Member of the Academy of Management, Member of the Strategic Management Society, Member of DRUID

Anita McGahan
Associate Dean of Research
Director of the PhD Program
Professor and Rotman Chair in Management
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Anita.McGahan@rotman.utoronto.ca

Ajay Agrawal
Associate Professor of Strategic Management
Peter Munk Professor of Entrepreneurship
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Ajay.Agrawal@rotman.utoronto.ca

Sarah Kaplan
Associate Professor of Strategic Management
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Ajay.Agrawal@rotman.utoronto.ca

Brian Silverman
J.R.S. Prichard and Ann Wilson Chair in Management
Professor of Strategic Management
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Silverman@rotman.utoronto.ca