Sharon Matusik

Sharon F. Matusik is an American business strategy scholar and academic administrator. She is the dean of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

Her research focuses on strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, and how firm knowledge assets and innovation capabilities contribute to competitive advantage.

Education Matusik graduated with honors from Colby College in 1986, earning a Bachelor of Arts with majors in economics and English. In 1998, she received a Doctor of Philosophy in business administration with a concentration on strategic management from the University of Washington.

Career Matusik began her academic career in 1998 as an assistant professor at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business. In 2004, she moved to the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder. During her tenure at CU Boulder, she served as academic research director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. In 2016, Matusik was named senior associate dean for Faculty and Research, and was appointed interim dean (January, 2017) and dean (May, 2017) at the Leeds School of Business of the University of Colorado Boulder.

In August 2022, Matusik was appointed Edward J. Frey Dean of Business and the Stephen M. Ross Professor of Business at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

Research

Matusik and Hill examined the role of "contingent workers" in knowledge flows that affect competitive advantage of a firm – temporary employees, independent contractors; workers at outsourcing firms, contract workers on-site at a firm, consultants, etc. Reliance on contingent workers can stimulate information flows inside a firm by causing firms to codify of tacit knowledge inside the firm, but also puts the firm at risk of having its special expertise appropriated. Matusik has also studied entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as the role of “offensive” and “defensive” patents in the pricing of initial public offerings, the role played by venture capitalists in the success or failure of startup firms.

Selected publications