Prof. Sanjay Dhir
PROFESSOR
(Fellow, IIM Lucknow)
Sanjay Dhir
Professor of Strategic Management and Area Chair
Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi
Fellow (PhD), Indian Institute of Management Lucknow
Sanjay Dhir is a strategy researcher working on how organisations build, deploy and renew capability when the conditions strategy theory assumes, such as stable institutions, reliable information and genuine managerial discretion, are absent. His research develops strategic thinking, organisational ambidexterity, strategic innovation and inter-partner dynamics in alliances and joint ventures. It has also advanced interpretive structural modelling and its total interpretive extension as instruments for strategic problems defined by interdependence rather than isolation.
A second stream of his research extends these constructs beyond the firm to public systems, where organisational capability determines not only performance but the distribution of access. This work establishes quality, equity and inclusiveness as strategic outcomes in their own right, and is grounded in sustained empirical study of underserved populations, including tribal communities, the elderly and communities in remote geographies, with particular attention to gender-based disparities in access. Across both streams, his research spans digital transformation, healthcare systems, artificial intelligence governance and public procurement.
He has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and authored seven books. His teaching cases are published by the Richard Ivey School of Business and distributed globally through Harvard Business Publishing. He presents regularly at the leading conferences in the field, including the Academy of Management, the Strategic Management Society, the Academy of International Business and the Southern Management Association.
He was ranked among the Top 1% of researchers globally in Business and Management in 2026, named to the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List in 2025 and 2026, and listed among Research.com’s Best Business and Management Scientists for 2026. He has received the Best Reviewer and Associate Editor awards from an ABDC A-category journal.
Prof. Dhir has led over 35 sponsored research and consulting projects for the Government of India, international development organisations and industry, serving as Principal Investigator. He was Institutional Management Partner for India’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Other principal engagements include the Impact Assessment Study of the Government e-Marketplace for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry; evaluations of the pre-matric, post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarship schemes and of the Waqf property development schemes for the Ministry of Minority Affairs; a SPARC study on the impact of artificial intelligence on productivity, employability and business models in healthcare for the Ministry of Education; work with PATH on digital interventions and public private partnerships in oxygen management during COVID-19; a study with the University of Queensland on bridging the urban and rural healthcare gap through telemedicine and social enterprise; and research with Population Services International on urban network dynamics and access to social entitlements. Further partners include the Clinton Foundation, B Medical Systems, Empower School of Health, AICTE, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals.
He served as a technical expert on the development of the Aarogya Setu application with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. During the COVID-19 pandemic he served both as IIT Delhi’s nominated expert to the Delhi High Court committee on oxygen infrastructure and on the Government of NCT of Delhi’s state-level committee on oxygen infrastructure. He was a member of the National Technical Advisory Group (NTAG) for oxygen infrastructure and was a committee member of the Government of India’s Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan.
He received IIT Delhi’s Teaching Excellence Award and the Mrs. Veena Arora Early Career Research Excellence Award, and was named InsideIIM Professor of the Year in 2020 and 2021.
At IIT Delhi he is a member of the Senate and of the Institute Ranking Committee. He is Programme Coordinator for the doctoral programme at the Department of Management Studies, having previously served as Programme Coordinator for the MBA programme for six years. Before academia, he worked in research and development at Mahindra & Mahindra.