Profile

Rafael A. Corredoira is Reader in International Business at Newcastle University Business School. His research lies at the intersection of international business, innovation strategy, and technological change. He studies how organizations develop innovative capabilities, create technologically significant inventions, and overcome uncertainty through interactions with external actors and institutional environments.

His work examines how social networks, industry associations, governments, and formal and informal institutions influence firms' ability to identify opportunities, solve novel problems, and pursue innovation. Drawing on international and comparative perspectives, he has investigated how firms build innovation capabilities in emerging economies, how breakthrough inventions emerge, and how knowledge and technological opportunities evolve across organizations and industries.

Rafael's research has contributed to three broad areas: innovation and capability development in emerging economies; the organizational and institutional drivers of technologically significant inventions and breakthrough innovation; and knowledge flows through inventor mobility and technological evolution. His work has been published in leading journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, Research Policy, and Harvard Business Review.

His research has received numerous recognitions, including the 2021 Panmure House Prize (UK), the 2007 International Management Division Best Paper Award from the Academy of Management, and funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Rafael received his PhD in Strategy and International Management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Before joining Newcastle University, he held faculty positions in Strategy and International Business at the University of Maryland and The Ohio State University.

Prior to his academic career, Rafael spent a decade in the private sector at Compañía Bão, at the time Uruguay's largest and oldest household-products manufacturer, where he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer. During this period, he led initiatives in technological modernization, organizational restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, and international expansion during the formative years of MERCOSUR. This experience continues to inform his interest in how organizations adapt, innovate, and create long-term value in changing competitive environments.

My goal as a scholar is to conduct rigorous, impactful research that addresses important questions for managers, policymakers, and society. My work lies at the intersection of international business, innovation strategy, and technological change. I am interested in understanding how organizations develop innovative capabilities and create technologies that shape future competitive and societal outcomes.

A central theme of my research is how firms build innovation capabilities by drawing on resources, knowledge, and support from external actors. Much of my work examines how social networks, industry associations, governments, and institutional environments help firms identify opportunities, solve problems, and innovate under conditions of uncertainty. This perspective has led me to study innovation from an international and comparative perspective, with particular attention to emerging economies and the ways formal and informal institutions influence organizational learning and technological development.

More broadly, my research explores the processes through which technological opportunities emerge, evolve, and diffuse across organizations and industries. I have examined how external actors facilitate capability development in emerging markets, how organizational and institutional factors influence the technological significance of inventions, and how inventor mobility shapes the movement of knowledge across firms and technological domains.

My work contributes to three interconnected streams of research:

1. Innovation and capability development in emerging economies, including the role of networks, governments, and other non-market actors in fostering innovation and industrial upgrading (Corredoira & McDermott, 2014; McDermott & Corredoira, 2010; McDermott, Corredoira & Kruse, 2009).
2. The origins and impact of technologically significant inventions, including the organizational, institutional, and strategic factors that shape breakthrough innovation and the creation of new technological opportunities (Corredoira & Banerjee, 2015; Corredoira, Goldfarb & Shi, 2018; Shi, Sampson, Goldfarb & Corredoira, 2025).
3. Knowledge flows and technological evolution, particularly the role of inventor mobility in transferring knowledge across organizational and technological boundaries (Corredoira & Rosenkopf, 2010).

Through this research, I seek to better understand how firms, institutions, and individuals contribute to technological progress and long-term economic development.

Rafael A. Corredoira's Google Scholar

RESEARCH INTERESTS

International Business, Strategy, Economic Development, Knowledge transfer, Innovation, Technology, Evolutionary theory, Entrepreneurship, Social networks.

SELECTED RECOGNITION AND RESEARCH SUPPORT

Research Awards

• 2021 Panmure House Prize
• Academy of Management International Management Division Best Paper Award (2007)

Research Funding

• U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) (2016-2020)
• Additional competitive research funding supporting innovation and technology research

Research Outputs and Resources

• Author of publications in leading journals including Academy of Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, Research Policy, and Harvard Business Review.
• Creator of the USPTO Patent Technological Significance Dataset, a publicly available resource for research on invention quality, technological evolution, and innovation strategy.

Current Research Projects

• Technological significance and the evolution of technological opportunities
• Institutions, capability development, and innovation in emerging economies
• Knowledge mobility and technological evolution
• Problem-based theories of strategic management and economic development

Rafael has taught Strategic Management and International Business at undergraduate, master's, PhD, and executive education levels in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Prior to joining Newcastle University, he taught at the University of Maryland and The Ohio State University, delivering courses that combined rigorous academic foundations with practical managerial applications.

At Newcastle University Business School, Rafael leads BUS3054 Strategy, Organisations & Society and supervises research dissertations in the International Business Management master's programme. His teaching aims to help students understand how firms create competitive advantage, navigate complex institutional environments, and address the strategic and societal challenges facing organizations in a rapidly changing world.

A strong advocate of experiential learning and international collaboration, Rafael developed and taught an innovative cross-border consulting course supported by the U.S. Department of Education and the Embassy of Uruguay in Washington, D.C. The course brought together students from the University of Maryland and partner institutions in Chile, Tunisia, and Uruguay to work in multinational teams on real business challenges faced by local companies. Through this experience, students developed analytical, managerial, and cross-cultural skills while gaining first-hand exposure to the realities of international business.

Rafael's teaching approach emphasizes active learning, critical thinking, and problem solving. By integrating contemporary business challenges, real-world cases, and insights from research, he encourages students to connect theory with practice and to develop the global perspective required of today's managers and leaders.

In addition to his teaching activities, Rafael has supervised doctoral dissertations and master's theses and welcomes opportunities to collaborate with doctoral students and researchers whose interests align with innovation, strategy, international business, and technological change.

• Articles

  • Shi Y, Sampson RC, Goldfarb BD, Corredoira RA. The Changing Nature of Firm Innovation: Short-termism & Influential Innovation in US Firms. Management Science 2025, Epub ahead of print.
  • Corredoira, RA, McDermott, GA. Does size still matter? How micro firms and SMEs vary in network learning. Industry and Innovation 2020, 27(8), 920-952.
  • Corredoira, RA, Goldfarb, BD, Shi, Y. Federal funding and the rate and direction of inventive activity. Research Policy 2024, 47(9), 1777-1800. In Preparation.
  • Corredoira, RA, Banerjee, PM. Measuring Patent’s Influence on Technological Evolution: A Study of Knowledge Spanning and Subsequent Inventive Activity. Research Policy 2015, 44(2), 508-521.
  • Corredoira, RA, McDermott, GA. Adaptation, bridging and firm upgrading: How non-market institutions and MNCs facilitate knowledge recombination in emerging markets. Journal of International Business Studies 2014, 45(6), 699-722. In Preparation.
  • Corredoira, RA, Rosenkopf, L. Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot? The Reverse Transfer of Knowledge through Mobility Ties. 2010.
  • McDermott, GA, Corredoira, RA, Kruse, G. Public-Private Institutions as Catalysts of Upgrading in Emerging Market Societies. Academy of Management Journal 2009, 52(6), 1270-1296.
  • McDermott, GA, Corredoira, RA. Network Composition, Collaborative Ties, and Upgrading in Emerging Market Firms: Lessons from the Argentine Autoparts Sector. Journal of International Business Studies 2024, 41, 308-329.
  • Rosenkopf, L, Corredoira, RA. What You Can Gain When You Lose Good People. Harvard Business Review 2008, 86(4), 24-28.

• Book Chapter

  • McDermott, GA, Corredoira, RA. Recombining to Compete: Public-Private Institutions, Shifting Networks, and the Remaking of the Argentine Wine Sector. In: Giuliani, E; Morrison, A; Rabellotti, R, ed. Innovation and catching up: The changing geography of wine production. Cheltenham,UK: Edward Elgar, 2011. In Preparation.

• Research Dataset/Database

  • Corredoira RA, Goldfarb BD. Measures Associated to USPTO Patent Technological Significance. 2025. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 163.71 MB.

• Working Papers

  • Corredoira, RA. What Problems Does the Theory Solve? An Applied Meta-Theory for Strategic Management. SSRN 2026, 1-35.
  • Corredoira RA. Toward A Problem-Based Theory of Economic Development: A Manifesto-Monograph Working Paper. SSRN 2026, 1-48.