Lalit Johri

Dr Lalit Johri is a Senior Fellow in International Business and the Director of the Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. His areas of expertise include strategy and leadership in international businesses, alliances including public private partnerships, public policy and institutional reforms and emerging markets.

Lalit’s recent research focuses on building and sustaining sources of competitiveness in industries including agro and processed food, automotive, aerospace and defence, apparel, financial services, insurance, and education in the context of emerging markets. His work examines the impact of social, political, economic and technological shifts, strategy choices, leadership and strategy execution practices on organisation performance. 

Lalit has extensive expertise in emerging markets, consulting with leading businesses and Governments in these markets that wish to engage with the west, and assisting western business leaders in developing strategies for tapping into these markets. As an advisor to the Royal Thai Government’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, he conducted extensive field research in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Thailand and designed the international strategy for increasing market share of Thai agricultural and processed food products. The research focused on policy reforms and adopting strategies for enhancing competitiveness of the end-to-end agro-industry value chain. The practical implications of the research were used to train officials, producers and exporters in seminars conducted in United Kingdom and Thailand.

He recently completed a research, training and consulting project for the Government of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Public Education. He developed and implemented specialised training programs for policy-makers and senior education administrators based on research he conducted on public education system reforms in South Korea, Singapore, Finland, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. His recent work also includes training and development projects for global organisations including MAN Germany, Veolia Environment, Ansell,  EADS (Airbus), Unido, Telephone Organisation of Thailand, Aspen France, ADB and ILO, SAGIA, BIPA, EFMD and Stephenson Harwood.  

Lalit was invited to join Saïd Business School in 2006 to reshape and expand the Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme (OAMLP) to address the new dynamics presented by the contemporary challenges of leading organisations. Prior to joining the faculty at the School, Lalit served as a Professor of International Business at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) School of Management in Thailand, where he was a founding director of the School’s Executive MBA programme. He was also a tenured Professor at the University of Delhi in India.

In addition to his work at the School, Lalit has played important roles in the creation and development of business schools in China, Spain, Vietnam, Thailand, India and UK. Currently he is member of the International Advisory Council of the Board of Governors for Indian Institute of Management Rohtak and is a member of the Validation Panel for Open University Validation Services in the UK. He has also served on the International Board of EADA Barcelona and as Chairman of the AIT’s Reforms Committee in Thailand.

He has taught at leading business schools and academies in Europe and Asia including London Business School, China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, SDA Bocconi in Milan, ESCP-EAP Graduate School of Management in Paris, EADS Corporate Academy in France and Germany, FHS Hochschule fur Technik, Wirtschaft und Soziale Arbeit in St Gallen, Switzerland and Asia Research Centre and Copenhagen Business School. He has supervised thirteen doctoral students.

Lalit is a member of the International Editorial Board for the International Journal of Emerging Markets and is a member of the Academy of Management. He has also served as Vice President (Australasia) of the Production and Operations Society, the Director and a member of the International Board of Building Partnerships for Development and a member of the Editorial Board of POMS Chronicle. 

Lalit earned a BSc and MSc in Physics, an MBA in Marketing and Finance and a PhD in Business Policy and Strategic Management from the University of Delhi in India. He also holds an International Teachers Programme diploma in management research and teaching from Manchester Business School, a diploma in management consulting from APO, Tokyo and completed the Japan Programme on business and industry at IIST in Fujinomiya. He also attended the Aspen Seminar on leadership, values and the good society and considers this one of the critical influences on his professional values and practices. He was awarded the Aspen Scholar of the Year in 1998 by the Aspen Institute, Washington, USA, for his outstanding professional accomplishments and public contributions. He is also the recipient of multiple fellowships from organisations in the United States, Europe, Japan and India.

Areas of expertise include:

• Strategies of international firms in emerging markets
• Negotiating and managing alliances and public-private partnerships
• Leadership challenges in emerging markets
• Institutional development and public education reforms