Dr. Charlotte Ren is Robert A. Fox Leadership International Faculty Director and Professor of Practice in Strategy and Innovation at Partnership for Innovation, Cross-Sector Collaboration, Leadership, and Organization, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania. She’s also Senior Fellow at Wharton’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management, University of Pennsylvania. Previously she was on faculty at Purdue University (Assistant Professor of Strategic Management, 2005-2012), University of Pennsylvania (Visiting Assistant Professor of Strategic Management, 2013-2016), and Temple University (Associate Professor of Strategic Management, 2016-2021). Charlotte has a PhD in Management and an M.A. in Economics from UCLA, a bachelor’s degree in International Politics and a minor degree in Law from Peking University (China).

Charlotte’s research interests focus on two areas: [1] competitive strategy, and [2] innovation and entrepreneurship. In the area of competitive strategy, she explores how firms compete on non-price dimensions such as product variety, geographic location, and service. For example, her research demonstrates that when retail stores offer “price match guarantees” that prevent them from turning to price reductions to attract consumers, they instead choose to compete or coordinate on product variety depending on whether their rivals are co-located. In the area of innovation and entrepreneurship, Charlotte investigates how firms adjust their innovation strategies and manage corporate entrepreneurial processes to enhance technological capabilities and overall performance. Her research spans several industries, including general retail, consumer electronics retail, aircraft manufacturing, hard disk drives, machine tools, computer workstations, movies, and charter schools.

Charlotte’s research has been published in the field’s leading academic journals, including Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, Journal of Management, and Journal of Business Ethics. Her paper, “The Rise and Fall of Entrepreneurial Opportunities inside Organizations: A Process Model for Corporate Entrepreneurship,” received the 2008 IDEA Award (Research Promise) from the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management (AOM). She currently serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Strategic Management Journal and has acted as an ad hoc reviewer for journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Management Studies, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Organization Science, and Strategic Entrepreneurial Journal. She has also served as a Representative-at-Large for two leading academic communities: the Entrepreneurship Division of AOM (2018-2021) and the Competitive Strategy Interest Group of the Strategic Management Society (2020-2022).

Charlotte has taught courses at the undergraduate, MBA, MPA, and Ph.D. levels on strategy, innovation management, entrepreneurship, and cross-sector collaboration. She received the 2017 Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award from the AOM’s Entrepreneurship Division and the 2019 Faculty of the Year Award (full-time MBA program) from Fox School of Business, Temple University.

A social entrepreneur herself, Charlotte designed, launched, and served as the founding faculty director (2013-2016) of Penn Restorative Entrepreneurship Program (PREP). Supported by Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice, PREP is an innovative initiative geared towards helping formerly incarcerated individuals to become socially responsible entrepreneurs.

When Charlotte is not teaching or conducting research, she enjoys jogging, traveling, cooking, and re-reading pre-modern Chinese literature and the novels of Eileen Chang.

Research Areas

Competitive Strategy, Innovation Management, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Organizational Learning