Bharat N. Anand

Biography

Bharat N. Anand is the Richard R. West Dean of NYU Stern and Professor of Business Administration. He began his tenure as Dean on August 1, 2025. He joined NYU Stern from Harvard University, where he was the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning and the Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and served on the faculty for 27 years.

Dean Anand is an expert in digital strategy, media and entertainment strategy, corporate strategy, and organizational change. His work on competition in content industries has focused on two central challenges that firms increasingly face: getting noticed and getting paid. He created Harvard Business School’s first executive program on digital strategies for media companies. He has written over 60 articles and case studies, and his scholarly work has received various awards and been profiled in a range of media outlets. His work on digital transformation has influenced startups and established companies worldwide, and he has advised organizations across the globe.

His book The Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change has received acclaim for its perspective on strategy and digital transformation. It was named as one of Fast Company’s top 10 business books of 2016 and Bloomberg’s “Best Books of 2017”, and by Walmart’s CEO as his favorite book of the year.

In 2014, Dean Anand helped create and launch Harvard Business School Online, serving as its first faculty chair and Senior Associate Dean. HBS Online’s virtual classroom has been described by Fortune as the “Classroom of the Future.” In his role as Vice Provost, Dean Anand led Harvard’s efforts to formulate, communicate, and implement strategic priorities for teaching and learning across the University. He was part of Harvard’s central leadership team that oversaw the University’s transition to remote teaching during the pandemic; he helped create Axim, the nonprofit created by Harvard and MIT to expand educational access; he chaired the University working group on Enabling Difficult Conversations to support a culture of dialogue on Harvard’s residential campus; and he chaired Harvard’s Generative AI Working Group for Teaching and Learning, which explored the most effective and responsible use of AI across the University’s classrooms. He also oversaw the launch of Harvard’s new Learning Experience Platform (LXP), a groundbreaking modular online learning system supporting both digital and residential learning.

Dean Anand is a renowned teacher and a two-time winner of the “best teacher award” at Harvard Business School. He is a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Greenhill Award for outstanding contributions to Harvard Business School.

He received his B.A. in economics magna cum laude from Harvard College, and his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.

Research Interests

• Digital strategy
• Corporate strategy
• Media and entertainment strategy
• Digital marketing
• AI and strategy
• Organizational change
• The future of education

Courses Taught

• Corporate Strategy
• Digital Strategy
• Entrepreneurship
• Microeconomics for Managers
• Public Finance
• Strategy

Academic Background

Ph.D., Economics
Princeton University

B.A., Economics magna cum laude
Harvard College

Awards & Appointments

Robert F. Greenhill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Harvard Business School		2022
Axiom Business Book Award for Best Book in Business Theory (Silver)		2018
The Case Centre Award, Outstanding Case in Marketing		2016
Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching, Harvard Business School		2015
Robert F. Greenhill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Harvard Business School		2014
Dick Wittink Prize for Best Paper Published in Quantitative Marketing and Economics, Honorable Mention (for “Noisy Communication”)		2007
Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence, Harvard Business School		2007
Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence, Harvard Business School		2006
Junior Fellow, Princeton Society of Fellows		1992
John M. Olin Fellowship, Princeton University		1991
Harvard College Scholarship for Academic Distinction, Harvard University		1985

Selected Publications

Anand, Bharat, and Andy Wu
The Generative AI Playbook for Organizations
Harvard Business Review (forthcoming).

Anand, Bharat, and David J. Collis
Why Multibusiness Strategies Fail and How to Make Them Succeed
Harvard Business Review 102, no. 5 (September–October 2024): pp. 138–149.

Anand, Bharat, and David J. Collis
The Virtues and Limitations of Dynamic Capabilities
Strategic Management Review 2, no. 1 (2021): pp. 47–78.

Berry, Steven T., Ahmed Khwaja, Vineet Kumar, Andres Musalem, Kenneth C. Wilbur, Greg Allenby, Bharat Anand, Pradeep K. Chintagunta, W. Michael Hanemann, Przemyslaw Jeziorski, and Angelo Mele
Structural Models of Complementary Choices
(pdf) Marketing Letters 25, no. 3 (September 2014): pp. 245–256.

Anand, Bharat, and Ron Shachar
Advertising, the Matchmaker
(pdf) RAND Journal of Economics 42, no. 2 (Summer 2011): pp. 205–245. (Lead Article).

Anand, Bharat, and Ron Shachar
Targeted Advertising as a Signal
(pdf) Quantitative Marketing and Economics 7, no. 3 (September 2009): pp. 237–266. (Lead Article).

Anand, Bharat, and Ron Shachar
(Noisy) Communication
Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 5: 3 (September 2007), pp. 211-237. (Lead Article). Dick Wittink Prize for Best Paper Published in QME, Honorable Mention.

Anand, Bharat, and Alexander Galetovic
Relationships, Competition, and the Structure of Investment Banking Markets
Journal of Industrial Economics, 54:2 (June 2006), pp. 151-199. (Lead Article).

Anand, Bharat and Ron Shachar
Brands as Beacons: A New Source of Loyalty to Multiproduct Firms
Journal of Marketing Research, (May 2004). (Lead Article).

Anand, Bharat, and Tarun Khanna
The Structure of Licensing Contracts
Journal of Industrial Economics, 48:1 (March 2000), pp. 103-135.

Anand, Bharat, and Tarun Khanna
Do Firms Learn to Create Value? The Case of Alliances
Strategic Management Journal, 21:3 (March 2000), pp. 295-315. (Reprinted in Strategic Alliances, Gary Reuer, ed., Strategic Alliances: Theory and Evidence, Oxford).