Claudine Gartenberg
- Assistant Professor of Management
Contact Information
- Primary Email:
cgart@wharton.upenn.edu - Office Phone:
(215) 898-7755
- office Address:
2035 SH-DH
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Research Interests: corporate strategy; organizational strategy; firm scope; motivation; corporate governance; compensation and pay inequality; corporate purpose
Links: CV, @cmgartenberg, Inaugural Corporate Strategy and Innovation Conference
Overview
Claudine Gartenberg is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her work is focused on incorporating realistic models of human behavior, such as self-interest and social comparison, into research on firm strategy. She has conducted studies on the role of incentives and corporate scope of US mortgage lenders preceding the 2007-2008 housing crisis, the role of workplace culture in influencing the digitization of work within the trucking industry, and the role of social comparison and corporate scope in affecting pay inequality over the past three decades, among others.
Her work has been published in top academic journals, including Management Science, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal, where she currently sits on the editorial board.
Professor Gartenberg received a B.A. with honors in Physics from Harvard College, and a D.B.A. and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a Baker Scholar and received the Wyss Award for best doctoral research. She joins Wharton from the faculty of NYU Stern School. Prior to joining academia, Professor Gartenberg was an account manager at a business consulting firm, working with clients such as PG&E, Chevron, Hallmark Cards, Wells Fargo and Bank of America.
Research
Claudine Gartenberg and Shun Yiu (Working), Corporate Purpose and Acquisitions.
Abstract: This study analyzes the relationship between acquisitions—a centerpiece of corporate strategy—and employees’ sense of purpose. Using data from more than 1.5 million employees, we find that purpose is substantially weaker in companies following recent acquisitions. This association is driven by unique acquisitions and those with opaque disclosed rationales. We explore the performance implications of this relationship. We first isolate the component of purpose directly attributable to the deal, and then relate this component to subsequent performance. We find that deals associated with stronger purpose outperform, and those with weaker purpose do not. Together, our evidence suggests a possible tension between strategic and motivational determinants of acquisition success: while firms benefit strategically from uniqueness, it may also erode the sense of purpose within firms.
Claudine Gartenberg and Julie Wulf (2020), Competition and Pay Inequality Within and Between Firms, Management Science.
Claudine Gartenberg, Steve Blader, Andrea Prat (2019), The Contingent Effect of Management Practices, Review of Economic Studies.
Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim (2019), 181 Top CEOs Have Realized Companies Need a Purpose Beyond Profit, Harvard Business Review Online.
Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim (2019), Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance, Organization Science, 30 (1), pp. 1-18.
Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim (Under Revision), Corporate Purpose in Public and Private Firms.
Claudine Gartenberg and Todd Zenger (Working), The Firm as a Subsociety.
Claudine Gartenberg (Working), Purpose-driven firms and sustainability.
Claudine Gartenberg, Emilie Feldman, Julie Wulf (2018), Pay Inequality and Corporate Divestitures, Strategic Management Journal, 39 (11), pp. 2829-2858.
Claudine Gartenberg and Julie Wulf (2017), Pay Harmony: Social Comparison and Performance Compensation in Multi-Business Firms, Organization Science, 28 (1), pp. 39-55.
Teaching
Past Courses
MGMT611 - 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.
MGMT782 - STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION
Much more is known about strategy formulation than its implementation, yet valid, sensible strategies often fail because of problems on the implementation side. This course provides you with tools to turn good strategy into successful reality. It covers the choices, structure, and conditions that enable the successful attainment of strategic objectives. Students learn from rigorous academic research on successful implementation, as well as a series of seasoned business leaders who will visit to share their own experience from the front lines.
MGMT891 - ADVANCED STUDY-SMGT
Awards and Honors
- Wharton Teaching Excellence Award, 2020
- Ralph Gomory Best Industry Studies Award, Runner Up, 2018
- SMS Best Paper Award Nomination (voluntarily opted out once paper was accepted for publication), 2018
- Wyss Award for Excellence in Doctoral Research, Harvard Business School (one of 4 recipients across all departments), 2010
- Financial Management Association, Best Paper Awards Semifinalist, “Did fair valuation depress equity values during the 2008 financial crisis?” with George Serafeim., 2010
- Harvard University, Derek Bok Center Teaching Award, (rated 5.0 / 5.0 by students versus division average of 4.0 / 5.0)., 2008
- Harvard Business School, Baker Scholar (top 5% of class)., 2006
In the News
- Corporate Purpose and Acquisitions, Columbia Law School Blog - 05/24/2021
- How Corporate Purpose Affects Firms, Promarket - 02/17/2021
- Corporate Ownership Matters to Corporate Purpose and Performance, Forbes - 02/16/2021
- Can Purpose Deliver Better Corporate Governance?, IESE-ECGI Conference - 10/30/2020
- The Next Move: Rethinking Fair Pay, Aspen Institute - 10/29/2020
- 181 Top CEOs Have Realized Companies Need a Purpose Beyond Profit, Harvard Business Review - 08/20/2019
- Professor Claudine Gartenberg’s joint research on corporate purpose is highlighted, The Australian - 06/16/2017
- Make every employee a chief purpose officer, Forbes - 04/24/2017
- Competition not always such a healthy thing in the workplace, The Irish Times - 04/18/2017
- It’s Good to Be a Big Corporation Again, Bloomberg - 10/28/2016
- Drive your company’s ‘purpose’ to boost business, HRD Austraria - 10/25/2016
- The Link between Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance, The PNR Paper - 09/23/2016
- People Literally Don’t Understand What’s In Their Credit Card Agreement, BuzzFeed News - 09/13/2016
- When Workplace Competition Causes Negative Results, WorkingCapital Review - 09/30/2015
- Why Employee Ranking Can Backfire, New York Times - 07/11/2015
- Data-Driven Tools Not a Productivity Panacea, CFO.com - 06/04/2015
- When Data Dooms Your Company, Ozy - 06/01/2015
- When data dooms your company, USA Today - 06/01/2015
- Data Can Make for Cutthroat Coworkers, The Atlantic - 05/07/2015
- Is your employer effective at measuring performance?, MPR News - 04/21/2015
- The big risk of letting employees know where they rank versus their peers, Government Executive - 04/20/2015
- Millions of bees swarm highway; Incentives to pursue trade careers; Ranking employees can be risky, Fleet Owner - 04/20/2015
- When Workplace Competitions Backfire, The Wall Street Journal - 04/14/2015
- Disclosures Are Found to Change Financial Behavior, New York Times - 02/22/2012
Knowledge @ Wharton
- How Pay Inequality Affects the Bottom Line, Knowledge @ Wharton - 10/17/2017
Activity
Latest Research
All ResearchIn the News
How Pay Inequality Affects the Bottom LinePay inequality is a persistent problem that is getting more exposure than ever before. Recent Wharton research examines how inequality affects individual workers and entire companies.
Knowledge @ Wharton - 10/17/2017