Fundación Damm Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Academic Area:
Strategy
Teaching / Research Interests
Mailing Information
Duke University: The Fuqua School of Business
100 Fuqua Drive
Durham, NC 27708
Bio
Belenzon is the Fundación Damm Distinguished Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy area at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). His research focuses on the role of businesses in advancing scientific knowledge and technological innovation. Specifically, he explores why American corporations participate in scientific research and why their involvement has been declining over the past four decades. This decline reflects deeper shifts in the global innovation ecosystem, where the traditional role of corporate labs is diminishing, and universities and startups are becoming key drivers of research. These changes have significant implications not only for corporate strategy and economic policy but also for international competitiveness. Globally, as U.S. firms reduce in-house research, they may become more dependent on acquisitions of innovative startups or partnerships with universities, which could alter the dynamics of international competition. Emerging markets with different innovation structures may either exploit this gap by developing more agile research ecosystems or face challenges in catching up with established global leaders. For U.S. firms, these shifts may necessitate a stronger focus on collaboration across borders and the need to source innovations from diverse ecosystems, including emerging markets. For economic policy, the increasing specialization in university and startup-led research presents challenges in commercializing innovations effectively, particularly on a global scale. Nations that can manage this tradeoff between specialization and commercialization will likely gain a competitive advantage. However, the inability to bring cutting-edge research to market efficiently could slow economic growth and weaken the competitive positioning of firms in the global marketplace, especially in sectors where speed and agility are critical.
In separate work, Belenzon investigates the relationship between organizational structure and corporate strategy in both developed and emerging markets. His research highlights how firms in different regions adapt their organizational models to optimize economic outcomes, with varying implications for their global competitive standing. The strategies that work in the U.S. or Europe may not be directly transferable to firms in emerging economies, where innovation systems, regulatory environments, and corporate governance structures differ significantly. His research has been published in top academic journals, such as Management Science, Strategic Management Journal, American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Economic Journal, Research Policy, and Journal of Law and Economics. He received his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science and completed post-doctoral work at the University of Oxford, Nuffield College. He was the 2007 recipient of the Kauffman Foundation post-doctoral fellowship at the NBER. He also holds MA and BA degrees in Economics from Tel Aviv University, Israel. Belenzon has served as an Associate Editor for Management Science since January 2016 and for Strategic Management Journal since July 2016.