Maria Goranova

Maria Goranova (Bulgarian: Мария Горанова) is professor of management at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She conducts research on shareholder empowerment and activism, corporate governance, and corporate strategy. She serves as editor of Corporate Governance: An International Review, and on the editorial board of Journal of Management, and is a member of the Academy of Management, International Association for Business and Society, and Strategic Management Society. Her research has been published in a number of leading journals including Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Academy of Management Annals, Organization Science, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Business Research, and Academy of Management Proceedings. She is also recipient of Distinguished Papers and Best Reviewer Awards from the Academy of Management.

Early life and education Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, Maria Goranova studied at Sofia University. She finished her MBA in 1998 after receiving Tempus award by the European Union to study in France at the Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille. She received a doctorate in business administration from Syracuse University in 2007.

Professional career Maria Goranova conducts research at the intersection of corporate governance, shareholder empowerment, and strategy, examining the implications of corporate governance for strategic issues such as mergers and acquisitions and corporate diversification. She is also studying shareholder activism and executive compensation issues. Prior to joining academia she worked for FPBank, TMF Services, and as chief accountant for SIAD BG, Praxair. She joined University of Wisconsin Milwaukee faculty in 2007 and became an associate professor in 2013.

Publications Zajac, E., & Goranova M., 2024. Goranova M., Ren Y., Sagarra M., Singh S., Clark C. 2024. } Eds. Simsek Z., Heavey C., & Fox, B., Edward Elgar Publishing Chuah K., DesJardine M., Goranova M., Henisz W. 2024. Castañer X., Goranova M., Hermes N., Kavadis N., Zattoni A. 2022. Goranova M., Ryan L.V. 2022. Koehn D., Goranova M. 2018. Goranova M., Abouk R., Nystrom P., Soofi E. 2017. Corporate governance antecedents to shareholder activism: A zero-inflated process Hou W., Priem R., Goranova M. 2017. Does One Size Fit All? Investigating Pay–Future Performance Relationships Over the "Seasons" of CEO Tenure. Goranova M., & Ryan L. (Eds.) 2015. Shareholder Empowerment: A New Era in Corporate Governance. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Goranova M., Dharwadkar R., Brandes P. 2008. Owners on Both Sides of the Deal: Mergers and Acquisitions and Overlapping Institutional Ownership, Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, 2008