Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez

Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez
  • Max and Bernice Garchik Family Presidential Associate Professor

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    2014 SH-DH
    3620 Locust Walk
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: immigration, global strategy, corporate strategy, innovation

Links: CV, Personal Website

Overview

Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez is the Max and Bernice Garchik Family Presidential Associate Professor. He publishes pioneering research in two broad areas. In the first, he explores how immigration affects the investment choices, growth, and performance of firms. In the second, he studies how firms design corporate strategies through alliances, acquisitions, and divestitures to enhance their innovation and performance. Zeke’s papers have been published in leading academic journals such as Management Science, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Academy of Management Journal. 

A renowned expert on the topic of immigration, Zeke is the author of The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers. Providing clarity on one of the most important but misunderstood topics of our time, the book has received glowing coverage in outlets such as The Economist, Freakonomics Radio, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Forbes, Barron’s, Bloomberg, and more.

Zeke has won emerging scholar awards from the three major academic associations in his field: the Strategic Management Society, the Strategic Management Division of the Academy of Management and the International Management Division of the Academy of Management. In addition to these career recognitions, he’s received multiple awards for individual research papers.

Zeke is a sought after speaker and one of the highest rated teachers at Wharton. He consistently wins teaching excellence awards and has been recognized by Poets & Quants as a Best 40 Under 40 professor in the world. He trains MBA students and corporate executives on issues related to global strategy, corporate strategy, and global talent management. He also speaks to audiences from all walks of life on immigration, demographic change, and economic growth.

Continue Reading

Research

  • Exequiel Hernandez, jens friedmann, Emilie Feldman, Putting Strategy Back into Corporate Strategy: Sequences of Alliances, Acquisitions, and Divestitures.

  • Exequiel Hernandez, Francisco Morales, Seth Carnahan, Consistently Mediocre: Modular Collaboration and Organizational Performance.

  • Exequiel Hernandez, Jaeho Kim, Elena Kulchina, “Immigrants and the Assignment of Expatriate Managers: Evidence from South Korean Multinational Companies.

  • Exequiel Hernandez, Britta Glennon, Francisco Morales, Seth Carnahan, The Unique Blend: Immigrant Talent Combinations and their Impact on Organizational Performance.

  • Exequiel Hernandez, Natalie Carlson, Dany Bahar, Global Palette: The Impact of Immigrant Talent on Multinational Product Strategy.

  • Exequiel Hernandez (Under Review), Towards a Causal Theory and Test of Network Effects: Structural Holes, Alliance-Network Externalities, and Firm Innovation.

  • Exequiel Hernandez, Britta Glennon, Francisco Morales, Seth Carnahan (2024), Does Employing Skilled Immigrants Enhance Competitive Performance? Evidence from European Football Clubs, Management Science.

    Abstract: We investigate the effect of employing skilled immigrants on the competitive performance of organizations by studying European football (soccer) clubs in Germany, Italy, France, England, and Spain from 1990-2020. Detailed microdata from this setting offers unusual transparency on the migration and hiring of talent and their contribution to collective performance. Further, country-level rules govern how immigrant players are defined and the number of immigrant players that clubs can deploy. Using changes to these rules as the basis for instrumental variables, we find that the number of immigrant players in the club’s starting lineup has a positive local average treatment effect on the club’s performance. We find evidence that immigrant players enhance club performance because they exhibit higher individual talent than natives and because they enable their clubs to deploy a wider variety of on-field strategies and actions. The latter mechanism is novel to the literature.

  • Emilie Feldman and Exequiel Hernandez (2022), Synergy in Mergers and Acquisitions: Typology, Lifecycles, and Value, Academy of Management Review, 47 (4), pp. 549-578.

    Abstract: Value in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) derives from the synergistic combination of an acquirer and a target. We advance the existing conceptualization of synergies in three ways. First, we develop a theoretically-motivated, parsimonious typology of five distinct sources of synergy based on two underlying dimensions: the level of analysis at which valuable activities occur and the orientation by which those activities are governed. The typology uncovers three novel synergy sources (relational, network, and non-market) arising from acquisition-induced changes in firms’ external cooperative environments, and classifies two other well-known synergies (internal and market power). Second, we introduce the concept of synergy lifecycles to explore how the timing of initial realization and the duration of gains vary across the five synergies, based on differences in the post-merger integration required and in the control the acquirer has over the assets and activities combined by the merger. Third, we consider how the synergy types interact, yielding co-synergies when they complement each other and dis-synergies when they substitute for one other. This enables us to expand the traditional conceptualization of the total value created by M&A as the sum of each of the synergy types, their co-synergies, and their dis-synergies.

  • Kate Odziemkowska, Exequiel Hernandez, Emilie Feldman (Working), Stakeholder Synergies in Mergers and Acquisitions.

  • Exequiel Hernandez and Anoop Menon (2019), Corporate Strategy and Network Change, Academy of Management Review.

    Abstract: Networks change when either the ties or the nodes are modified. Research on interfirm networks has conceptualized network change as driven almost exclusively by modifications in ties (additions and deletions). Yet firms frequently engage in actions that modify the ownership and existence of nodes: acquisitions ‘collapse’ nodes, divestitures ‘split’ nodes, industry entries ‘create’ nodes, and industry exits ‘remove’ nodes. The literatures on corporate strategy and organizational networks have mostly overlooked the implications of node-modifying actions for network change. We explore those implications in three ways. First, we systematically analyze and compare the network-changing properties of the six node- and tie-changing actions. Second, we link the strategic objectives that boundedly rational firms pursue through each corporate action to changes in their ego network positions (openness, closure, and status). Third, we consider how these ego-network changes set off ripple effects that create externalities for the networks of the focal firm’s immediate partners and that produce unintended structural effects at the global network level. The result is a much more expansive understanding of the mechanisms driving structural change in interfirm networks.

    Description: Conditionally Accepted at Academy of Management Review.

Teaching

Current Courses (Fall 2024)

  • MGMT6120 - Managing Emerg Entrprse

    This course is about managing during the early stages of an enterprise, when the firm faces the strategic challenge of being a new entrant in the market and the organizational challenge of needing to scale rapidly. The enterprises of interest in this course have moved past the purely entrepreneurial phase and need to systematically formalize strategies and organizational processes to reach maturity and stability, but they still lack the resources of a mature firm. The class is organized around three distinct but related topics that managers of emerging firms must consider: strategy, human and social capital, and global strategy.

    MGMT6120001 ( Syllabus )

    MGMT6120002 ( Syllabus )

    MGMT6120003 ( Syllabus )

  • MGMT8710 - Adv Global Strategy

    This class is designed to develop world class, globally-minded managers. Many of the most important business issues of today are global in nature. Both "macro" phenomena (e.g. nationalism, protectionism, demographic change) and "micro" trends (e.g. competition within and from emerging markets, distributed talent and innovation, digitization and automation) are inherently international issues. They require firms and managers to think, innovate, and organize globally. This class offers a comprehensive set of tools to evaluate opportunities and challenges in global markets, to leverage cross-country differences to enhance innovation and performance, to manage the complexities of a business spread across multiple countries, and to win against foreign rivals. The course will focus on both the formulation and execution of global strategy, with a heavy emphasis on current events and hands on activities. Sample topics include: quantifying opportunities and risks of foreign investments; formulating and executing strategies that balance local responsiveness, global efficiency, and innovation; exploiting differences across countries to enhance innovation while protecting intellectual property; managing organizational structure, culture, and people in multinational organizations; structuring and managing cross-national and cross-cultural teams; developing a global mindset among managers and employees. This course builds on the global management portion of MGMT 611 or MGMT 612, but taking those classes is not a prerequisite for MGMT 871.

    MGMT8710002 ( Syllabus )

All Courses

  • MGMT4090 - Huntsman Capstone Study

    The objective of the capstone study is to provide participants with the opportunity to integrate the knowledge gained in various courses Huntsman students take in Wharton and the College in a focused application to a specific project. The project would have sufficient breadth and depth to require participants to draw upon multiple analytical perspectives, theoretical lenses, and stocks of empirical data to collaboratively develop distinctive insights in relation to a given problem. The end product is a paper summarizing the research/application journey of the students, as well as a group presentation highlighting key findings as well as their theoretical and practical implications. Prerequisite: This course is only open to students in the Huntsman Program.

  • MGMT6110 - Managing Est Enterprise

    This course is about managing large enterprises that face the strategic challenge of being the incumbent in the market and the organizational challenge of needing to balance the forces of inertia and change. The firms of interest in this course tend to operate in a wide range of markets and segments, frequently on a global basis, and need to constantly deploy their resources to fend off challenges from new entrants and technologies that threaten their established positions. The class is organized around three distinct but related topics that managers of established firms must consider: strategy, human and social capital, and global strategy.

  • MGMT6120 - Managing Emerg Entrprse

    This course is about managing during the early stages of an enterprise, when the firm faces the strategic challenge of being a new entrant in the market and the organizational challenge of needing to scale rapidly. The enterprises of interest in this course have moved past the purely entrepreneurial phase and need to systematically formalize strategies and organizational processes to reach maturity and stability, but they still lack the resources of a mature firm. The class is organized around three distinct but related topics that managers of emerging firms must consider: strategy, human and social capital, and global strategy.

  • MGMT6130 - Manag Estab Enterprise

  • MGMT8710 - Adv Global Strategy

    This class is designed to develop world class, globally-minded managers. Many of the most important business issues of today are global in nature. Both "macro" phenomena (e.g. nationalism, protectionism, demographic change) and "micro" trends (e.g. competition within and from emerging markets, distributed talent and innovation, digitization and automation) are inherently international issues. They require firms and managers to think, innovate, and organize globally. This class offers a comprehensive set of tools to evaluate opportunities and challenges in global markets, to leverage cross-country differences to enhance innovation and performance, to manage the complexities of a business spread across multiple countries, and to win against foreign rivals. The course will focus on both the formulation and execution of global strategy, with a heavy emphasis on current events and hands on activities. Sample topics include: quantifying opportunities and risks of foreign investments; formulating and executing strategies that balance local responsiveness, global efficiency, and innovation; exploiting differences across countries to enhance innovation while protecting intellectual property; managing organizational structure, culture, and people in multinational organizations; structuring and managing cross-national and cross-cultural teams; developing a global mindset among managers and employees. This course builds on the global management portion of MGMT 611 or MGMT 612, but taking those classes is not a prerequisite for MGMT 871.

  • MGMT9350 - Netwrk Theory & Applicat

    This course explores network models and their applications to organizational phenomena. By examining the structure of relations among actors, network approaches seek to explain variations in beliefs, behaviors, and outcomes. The beauty of network analysis is its underlying mathematical nature - network ideas and measures, in some cases, apply equally well at micro and macro levels of analysis. Therefore, we read and discuss articles both at the micro level (where the network actors are individuals within organizations) and at the macro level (where the network actors are organizations within larger communities) that utilize antecedents or consequences of network constructs such as small worlds, cohesion, structural equivalence, centrality, and autonomy. We begin by examining the classic problem of contagion of information and behaviors across networks, and follow by considering the various underlying models of network structure that might underlie contagion and other processes The next two sessions address a variety of mechanisms by which an actor's position in a network affects its behavior or performance. Then, the following two sessions address antecedents of network ties via the topics of network evolution and network activation. We close with a "grab bag" session of articles chosen to match class interests.

  • MGMT9550 - Foundations Mult Mgmt.

    The goal of the course is to provide you with a foundation in some of the major research areas that underpin the study of Multinational Management. International Business (and the study of MNCs) is an interdisciplinary field. As such, our survey of the seminal articles in the field will span a number of different theoretical and empirical approaches (i.e., economic, managerial, organizational and institutional). Much of our seminar discussions will focus on identifying and developing interesting research questions raised by this interdisciplinary literature, which offers many opportunities for systematic empirical study.

  • WH2970 - Wh Industry Exploration

    WIEP features short-term courses that focus on various industries and feature visits to businesses, lectures, extracurricular activities, and networking opportunities with alumni. Students must apply online: https://undergrad-inside.wharton.upenn.edu/wiep/

Awards and Honors

In the News

Knowledge at Wharton

Wharton Stories

Activity

Latest Research

Exequiel Hernandez, jens friedmann, Emilie Feldman, Putting Strategy Back into Corporate Strategy: Sequences of Alliances, Acquisitions, and Divestitures.
All Research

In the News

The Truth About Immigration | Zeke Hernandez

Professor Zeke Hernandez challenges misconceptions about immigration in his new book.…Read More

Knowledge at Wharton - 6/18/2024
All News

Wharton Magazine

Must-Read Wharton Authors
Wharton Magazine - 04/19/2024

Wharton Stories

Colorful building with ornate details, featuring the blue and white national flag of Argentina on top, surrounded by green trees and a blue sky with clouds.My Global Business Week Experience: Argentina

Each year, second-year students in the Wharton MBA Program for Executives embark on Global Business Week, a week-long course taught by Wharton faculty. Students from all three cohorts choose from several destinations, meaning each course enrolls a mix of Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Global cohort students. Glory Durham, WG’24, is…

Wharton Stories - 05/30/2024
All Stories