Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez

• Dany Bahar, Natalie Carlson, Exequiel Hernandez (2026), The Impact of Immigrant Talent on Global Product Strategy, Management Science. Abstract

  This paper examines how skilled immigrants hired at headquarters (HQ), an increasingly important source of talent for firms, shape two key aspects of global product strategy: where to offer products and the balance between standardization versus local adaptation of those products. We assemble a unique dataset by linking 204,129 consumer packaged goods launched in 84 countries by 470 U.S.-based firms from Mintel GNPD to USCIS microdata on all H-1B workers hired by those firms. We develop an instrument that isolates random variation in firms’ ability to obtain workers of specific nationalities and use NLP techniques to create a novel adaptation-standardization index at the product level. We find that the arrival of workers from a given country at HQ increases product launches in that country. This effect is weaker when the firm already has a subsidiary in the focal country but stronger when it has prior experience launching products in that country. The adaptation-standardization balance depends on the presence of a subsidiary: immigrants at HQ lead products to become more locally adapted if a subsidiary is not present in their home country, but more globally standardized if a subsidiary is present. Immigrants also tilt products towards local adaptation if the firm lacks prior product launch experience in the focal country. Our study demonstrates how the knowledge brought by immigrant talent at HQ works in tandem with the firm’s governance structure and its market specific capabilities to determine global product strategy.

• Kate Odziemkowska, Emilie Feldman, Exequiel Hernandez (2026), Stakeholder Synergies in Acquisitions, Strategic Management Journal (forthcoming). Abstract

  Research Summary
  Acquisitions can create synergies by combining an acquirer’s and a target’s pre-existing relationships with nonmarket stakeholders. We introduce the “reset effect” as a novel mechanism that occurs when a firm with cooperative stakeholder relationships combines with a firm that has conflictual relationships, prompting the affected stakeholders to re-evaluate their pre-acquisition strategies. We argue that post-acquisition conflict with nonmarket stakeholders will decline when the cooperative and conflictual stakeholders brought together by an acquisition are aligned on one or more of the three elements that characterize stakeholder fields: (1) issues stakeholders care about, (2) relationships between stakeholders, and (3) preferences for how issues should be addressed. We find support for these arguments by studying changes in Fortune 500 firms’ conflict with environmental movement organizations after acquisitions.

  Managerial Summary
  Acquisitions can create synergies by resetting a firm’s relationships with external stakeholders. Studying 25 years of Fortune 500 acquisitions and environmental stakeholder interactions, we find that acquisitions can reduce stakeholder conflict when one firm’s cooperative stakeholder relationships complement the other firm’s conflictual ones. Complementary relationships exist when cooperative and conflictual stakeholders are aligned on issues or have pre-existing relationships with one another. Simply combining conflictual-cooperative stakeholder relationships is not enough, however, and post-acquisition conflict can increase when stakeholder groups are divided over how issues should be addressed. These findings can help managers understand when an acquisition will ease or exacerbate external conflict with stakeholders.

• Friedmann, Jens, Emilie Feldman, Exequiel Hernandez (Working), Using Sequence Analysis in Corporate Strategy: A Methodological Advance.
• Exequiel Hernandez, Prithwiraj Choudhury, Elena Kulchina, Dan Wang, J. Myles Shaver, Mary Zellmer-Bruhn, Tarun Khanna (2025), Why Migration Matters in Organizational Research, Organization Science, 36 (3), pp. 1021-1046. Abstract

  Migration is one of the most significant forces shaping economies and societies, yet it remains largely understudied in organizational research. At the same time, scholars in other fields with long traditions of studying migration tend to overlook the essential role of organizations. This lack of dialogue is striking because organizations are often the central arena in which migrants interact with others and through which they impact society and the economy. We explain how scholars of migration and organizations can benefit each other by exploring two broad issues. First, we consider what an organizational lens can add to the existing migration literature. We argue that organizational heterogeneity plays an essential role in determining the causes and effects of migration. Second, we consider how taking migration seriously can yield theoretical advancements for organizational scholars. We present examples that introduce potentially novel theoretical concepts or that enrich existing theories. Our aim is to broaden the research agenda for scholars interested in migration or organizations and to motivate organizational scholars to engage more deeply with one of the most consequential issues of our time.

• Exequiel Hernandez, Jason K. Lee, J. Myles Shaver (2025), Toward an improved causal test of network effects: Does alliance network position enhance firm innovation?, Strategic Management Journal, 46 (4), pp. 863-897. Abstract

  Research Summary
  Assessing whether network position causes firm outcomes is difficult because networks result from firms’ strategic choices. To address this issue, we develop a research design that separates self-driven network change from other-driven change. Because other-driven change suppresses the focal firm’s agency, outcomes resulting from it can be interpreted as causal—under verifiable assumptions. We apply this method to reassess whether alliance network position affects firm innovation. Using data from the biotechnology industry, we find that structural holes (but not closure) increase firm innovation when self-driven network change is involved but not when other-driven change is involved. This raises two possibilities: network effects spuriously capture unobservable firm characteristics or network theories must be updated to account for agency.

  Managerial Summary
  We examine a crucial question for managers making decisions about alliance networks: Does a firm’s position in its alliance network drive innovation, or is it a reflection of the firm’s inherent qualities? Our research explores this question by examining network changes outside a firm’s control. We find that bridging disconnected partners (structural holes) enhances innovation, but only when firms actively create these positions and not when these positions result from others’ actions. Our findings suggest that network position alone does not drive innovation. Acknowledging that network position, per se, is not advantageous provides nuanced insight to better guide managerial decisions.

  Description
  ●  Best Proposal Award, Cooperative Strategies Interest Group, Strategic Management Society (2020) ●  Best Paper Nominee, Strategic Management Society (2020)
• Exequiel Hernandez, Britta Glennon, Francisco Morales, Seth Carnahan (2024), Does Employing Skilled Immigrants Enhance Competitive Performance? Evidence from European Football Clubs, Management Science. Abstract

  We investigate the effect of employing skilled immigrants on the competitive performance of organizations by studying European football (soccer) clubs in Germany, Italy, France, England, and Spain from 1990-2020. Detailed microdata from this setting offers unusual transparency on the migration and hiring of talent and their contribution to collective performance. Further, country-level rules govern how immigrant players are defined and the number of immigrant players that clubs can deploy. Using changes to these rules as the basis for instrumental variables, we find that the number of immigrant players in the club’s starting lineup has a positive local average treatment effect on the club’s performance. We find evidence that immigrant players enhance club performance because they exhibit higher individual talent than natives and because they enable their clubs to deploy a wider variety of on-field strategies and actions. The latter mechanism is novel to the literature.

  Description
  ● Best Paper Award, Strategy Science Conference (2022) ● Finalist, Best Paper, Strategic Management Society (2022) ● Finalist, Strategic Human Capital Best Paper, Strategic Management Society (2022)
• Exequiel Hernandez, The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2024) Abstract

  The go-to book on immigration: fact-based, comprehensive, and nonpartisan.

  Immigration is one of the most controversial topics in the United States—and everywhere else. Pundits, politicians, and the public usually depict immigrants either as villains who pose a threat to our economy, culture, and safety, or as victims—needy outsiders whom we must help, at our own cost if necessary. But the data clearly debunk both narratives. From jobs, investment, and innovation to cultural vitality and national security, more immigration has an overwhelmingly positive impact on everything that makes a society successful.

  In The Truth About Immigration, Wharton professor Zeke Hernandez draws from nearly twenty years of research to answer all the big questions about immigration. He combines moving personal stories with rigorous research to offer an accessible, apolitical, and evidence-based look at how newcomers affect our local communities and our nation. You’ll learn about the overlooked impact of immigrants on investment and job creation; realize how much we take for granted the novel technologies, products, and businesses newcomers create; get the facts straight about perennial concerns like jobs, crime, and undocumented immigrants; and gain new perspectives on misunderstood issues such as the border, taxes, and assimilation.

  Hernandez turns fear into hope by proving that immigrants are essential for economically prosperous and socially vibrant nations.

  Description
  ● Best Current Events & Public Affairs Book of 2024, Porchlight Business Book Awards ● Kirkus Starred Review ● #1 New Release, Immigration & Emigration Studies, Amazon ● Extensive Media Coverage
• Francisco Morales, Seth Carnahan, Exequiel Hernandez (Working), Consistently Mediocre: Modular Collaboration and Organizational Performance. Abstract

  We explore the relationship between modularity in the collaboration patterns among individual employees and the level and variance of organizational performance. Using remarkably fine-grained data from the European club football (soccer) industry between 2010-2019, we measure modularity in the patterns of collaboration within these organizations based on millions of in-game passes involving over 10,000 players in 139 clubs. First, we find that high modularity in collaboration is associated with lower variance in club performance. We document two related mechanisms that appear to lower performance variance: modular collaboration softens the downside of negative exogenous shocks to employees’ productive capacity, but modularity also limits the upside of positive exogenous shocks to employees’ productive capacity. Second, we find that the modularity of employees’ collaboration patterns is associated with a lower average level of club performance. We document a possible mechanism underlying the relationship: rivals seem better able to predict the actions of modular clubs. We conclude that modular collaboration patterns may lock organizations into “consistently mediocre” performance in competitive settings by limiting the upside of positive shocks and by making the organization easier for rivals to anticipate and counteract.

• Exequiel Hernandez, Jaeho Kim, Elena Kulchina (Under Review), “Immigrants and the Assignment of Expatriate Managers: Evidence from South Korean Multinational Companies.
• Exequiel Hernandez (Under Review), Towards a Causal Theory and Test of Network Effects: Structural Holes, Alliance-Network Externalities, and Firm Innovation.
• All Research from Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez »

Current Courses

• MGMT8600 - Immigration And The Global Economy: How Human Movement Affects Firms

  If you think immigration isn’t a business issue, think again. No topic is more controversial and factually misunderstood by the public, pundits, and politicians than the movement of people across borders. But in the realm of business, managers often make a serious mistake when they dismiss the topic as just “social and political context” that doesn’t directly affect the bottom line. Human migration causes the movement of four factors essential to firms: capital, talent, ideas, and consumption. Savvy firms anticipate and respond to the movement of those factors, as well as to the immigration systems created by regulators to govern the flows of those factors. This course will help you be better prepared to deal with immigration issues as a manager, entrepreneur, investor, and citizen by covering the following interrelated themes: ● How does human mobility affect the economy, and why does it matter for firms? ● How can managers design strategies and organizations to benefit from the movement of capital, talent, ideas, and customers created by migration? ● How can entrepreneurs across sending and receiving locations capitalize on the opportunities created by constantly evolving migration dynamics? ● How do immigration systems work, and how do they affect and are affected by firms? These issues are inescapable in our day and age. People are the ultimate resource for firms and economies, on both the supply and demand side. And people will only become increasingly scarce as fertility rates rapidly decline all around the world. The main driver of change in population dynamics, with all its ramifications for firms, will be migration. Therefore, anyone prepared for the future of the global economy must be equipped to understand the core themes of this course. As we take on those themes, we will inevitably get into all the controversial and politicized issues surrounding immigration. There will be plenty of room for debate on both sides of those issues. But we will avoid the hyperbole and hot air that characterizes most of the public debate on immigration by rooting our discussion in hard-nosed empirical evidence. You’ll see that the facts offer surprisingly clear and strong answers to many of the so-called controversies. Besides making you a better business leader, this will equip you to be a more informed and thoughtful citizen.

  MGMT8600001 ( Syllabus )

• MGMT8710 - Advanced Global Strategy

  This class is designed to develop world class, globally-minded managers. Many of the most important business issues of today are global in nature. Both "macro" phenomena (e.g. nationalism, protectionism, demographic change) and "micro" trends (e.g. competition within and from emerging markets, distributed talent and innovation, digitization and automation) are inherently international issues. They require firms and managers to think, innovate, and organize globally. This class offers a comprehensive set of tools to evaluate opportunities and challenges in global markets, to leverage cross-country differences to enhance innovation and performance, to manage the complexities of a business spread across multiple countries, and to win against foreign rivals. The course will focus on both the formulation and execution of global strategy, with a heavy emphasis on current events and hands on activities. Sample topics include: quantifying opportunities and risks of foreign investments; formulating and executing strategies that balance local responsiveness, global efficiency, and innovation; exploiting differences across countries to enhance innovation while protecting intellectual property; managing organizational structure, culture, and people in multinational organizations; structuring and managing cross-national and cross-cultural teams; developing a global mindset among managers and employees. This course builds on the global management portion of MGMT 611 or MGMT 612, but taking those classes is not a prerequisite for MGMT 871.

  MGMT8710001 ( Syllabus )

  MGMT8710002 ( Syllabus )

• MGMT9999 - Independent Study

  An individual, PhD level course of study with guidance from an instructor, geared to a specific topic that is not part of the school's established curriculum.

  MGMT9999001 ( Syllabus )

Past Courses

• LAW5160 - AI Law Lab

  See Law Course Finder

• MGMT4090 - Huntsman Capstone Study

  The objective of the capstone study is to provide participants with the opportunity to integrate the knowledge gained in various courses Huntsman students take in Wharton and the College in a focused application to a specific project. The project would have sufficient breadth and depth to require participants to draw upon multiple analytical perspectives, theoretical lenses, and stocks of empirical data to collaboratively develop distinctive insights in relation to a given problem. The end product is a paper summarizing the research/application journey of the students, as well as a group presentation highlighting key findings as well as their theoretical and practical implications. Prerequisite: This course is only open to students in the Huntsman Program.

• MGMT6110 - 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.

• MGMT6120 - Managing Emerg Entrprse

  This course is about managing during the early stages of an enterprise, when the firm faces the strategic challenge of being a new entrant in the market and the organizational challenge of needing to scale rapidly. The enterprises of interest in this course have moved past the purely entrepreneurial phase and need to systematically formalize strategies and organizational processes to reach maturity and stability, but they still lack the resources of a mature firm. The class is organized around three distinct but related topics that managers of emerging firms must consider: strategy, human and social capital, and global strategy.

• MGMT6130 - Manag Estab Enterprise

• MGMT8600 - Immigration & Global Economy

  If you think immigration isn’t a business issue, think again. No topic is more controversial and factually misunderstood by the public, pundits, and politicians than the movement of people across borders. But in the realm of business, managers often make a serious mistake when they dismiss the topic as just “social and political context” that doesn’t directly affect the bottom line. Human migration causes the movement of four factors essential to firms: capital, talent, ideas, and consumption. Savvy firms anticipate and respond to the movement of those factors, as well as to the immigration systems created by regulators to govern the flows of those factors. This course will help you be better prepared to deal with immigration issues as a manager, entrepreneur, investor, and citizen by covering the following interrelated themes: ● How does human mobility affect the economy, and why does it matter for firms? ● How can managers design strategies and organizations to benefit from the movement of capital, talent, ideas, and customers created by migration? ● How can entrepreneurs across sending and receiving locations capitalize on the opportunities created by constantly evolving migration dynamics? ● How do immigration systems work, and how do they affect and are affected by firms? These issues are inescapable in our day and age. People are the ultimate resource for firms and economies, on both the supply and demand side. And people will only become increasingly scarce as fertility rates rapidly decline all around the world. The main driver of change in population dynamics, with all its ramifications for firms, will be migration. Therefore, anyone prepared for the future of the global economy must be equipped to understand the core themes of this course. As we take on those themes, we will inevitably get into all the controversial and politicized issues surrounding immigration. There will be plenty of room for debate on both sides of those issues. But we will avoid the hyperbole and hot air that characterizes most of the public debate on immigration by rooting our discussion in hard-nosed empirical evidence. You’ll see that the facts offer surprisingly clear and strong answers to many of the so-called controversies. Besides making you a better business leader, this will equip you to be a more informed and thoughtful citizen.

• MGMT8710 - Adv Global Strategy

  This class is designed to develop world class, globally-minded managers. Many of the most important business issues of today are global in nature. Both "macro" phenomena (e.g. nationalism, protectionism, demographic change) and "micro" trends (e.g. competition within and from emerging markets, distributed talent and innovation, digitization and automation) are inherently international issues. They require firms and managers to think, innovate, and organize globally. This class offers a comprehensive set of tools to evaluate opportunities and challenges in global markets, to leverage cross-country differences to enhance innovation and performance, to manage the complexities of a business spread across multiple countries, and to win against foreign rivals. The course will focus on both the formulation and execution of global strategy, with a heavy emphasis on current events and hands on activities. Sample topics include: quantifying opportunities and risks of foreign investments; formulating and executing strategies that balance local responsiveness, global efficiency, and innovation; exploiting differences across countries to enhance innovation while protecting intellectual property; managing organizational structure, culture, and people in multinational organizations; structuring and managing cross-national and cross-cultural teams; developing a global mindset among managers and employees. This course builds on the global management portion of MGMT 611 or MGMT 612, but taking those classes is not a prerequisite for MGMT 871.

• MGMT8950 - Global Business Week

  Please see EMBA office for details.

• MGMT9350 - Netwrk Theory & Applicat

  This course explores network models and their applications to organizational phenomena. By examining the structure of relations among actors, network approaches seek to explain variations in beliefs, behaviors, and outcomes. The beauty of network analysis is its underlying mathematical nature - network ideas and measures, in some cases, apply equally well at micro and macro levels of analysis. Therefore, we read and discuss articles both at the micro level (where the network actors are individuals within organizations) and at the macro level (where the network actors are organizations within larger communities) that utilize antecedents or consequences of network constructs such as small worlds, cohesion, structural equivalence, centrality, and autonomy. We begin by examining the classic problem of contagion of information and behaviors across networks, and follow by considering the various underlying models of network structure that might underlie contagion and other processes The next two sessions address a variety of mechanisms by which an actor's position in a network affects its behavior or performance. Then, the following two sessions address antecedents of network ties via the topics of network evolution and network activation. We close with a "grab bag" session of articles chosen to match class interests.

• MGMT9550 - Foundations Mult Mgmt.

  The goal of the course is to provide you with a foundation in some of the major research areas that underpin the study of Multinational Management. International Business (and the study of MNCs) is an interdisciplinary field. As such, our survey of the seminal articles in the field will span a number of different theoretical and empirical approaches (i.e., economic, managerial, organizational and institutional). Much of our seminar discussions will focus on identifying and developing interesting research questions raised by this interdisciplinary literature, which offers many opportunities for systematic empirical study.

• MGMT9950 - Dissertation

  Dissertation

• MGMT9999 - Independent Study

  An individual, PhD level course of study with guidance from an instructor, geared to a specific topic that is not part of the school's established curriculum.

• WH2970 - Wh Industry Exploration

  WIEP features short-term courses that focus on various industries and feature visits to businesses, lectures, extracurricular activities, and networking opportunities with alumni. Students must apply online: https://undergrad-inside.wharton.upenn.edu/wiep/

• Wharton Teaching Excellence Award, 2020
• Best 40 Under 40 Professor, Poets & Quants, 2019
• Emerging Scholar Award, Strategic Management Society, 2018
• Core Teaching Award, "Goes Above and Beyond the Call of Duty," 2018 MBA Program, Wharton, 2018
• Glueck Best Paper Award (overall best paper), BPS Division, 2017 Academy of Management Conference, 2017
• Emerging Scholar Award, Business Policy and Strategy Division, Academy of Management, 2017
• Teaching Commitment and Curricular Innovation Award, 2017 MBA Program, Wharton, 2017
• Emerging Scholar Award, International Management Division, Academy of Management, 2016 Description

  The IM Division Florida International University College of Business Emerging Scholar Award is given to a junior scholar, who has shown exemplary scholarship in international management research. The criteria for thisaward is demonstrated academic excellence in international management. Successful candidates for this award are within 5-8 years from the completion of doctoral degree, who have shown a strong record of publication and professional activity.

• Temple/AIB Best Paper Award, Academy of International Business, 2016 Description

  Awarded during the 2016 Academy of International Business meeting to the best conference paper, for "Immigrants and Firm Performance: Effects on Foreign Subsidiaries vs. Foreign Entrepreneurial Firms" (with Elena Kulchina).

• Runner Up, Best Paper Award, Strategic Management Society, 2015
• Finalist, Outstanding Faculty Member, Freshman Class of 2016, Washington University in St. Louis (University wide recognition), 2013
• Finalist, Outstanding Dissertation Research Award, BPS Division, Academy of Management, 2012 Description

  2012 Academy of Management Meetings

• Finalist, Outstanding Faculty Member, Freshman Class of 2015, Washington University in St. Louis (University wide recognition), 2012
• Best PhD Student Paper, Strategic Management Society, 2009
• Best Paper with Practical Implications, Strategic Management Society, 2009
• Finalist, Best Conference Paper, Strategic Management Society, 2009
• Excellence in Teaching Award, Carlson School of Management, 2009

• Effects of immigrants on cross-border investment, Scientific Sense Podcast - 07/18/2020
• When immigrants come to the U.S., investments often follow, Marketplace - 06/30/2020
• Why Uber is competing against companies it owns minority stakes in, Yahoo! Finance - 04/15/2019
• Lessons about the power of being a 'headquarters economy', Star Tribune - 03/10/2019
• With Uber in the pits, Lyft gains ground in ride-hailing fight, Travel Weekly - 10/29/2017
• How a Country the Size of North Carolina Became a Global Startup Hub, Inc - 03/13/2017 Description

  Second only to Silicon Valley, the Swedish capital has produced the most billion-dollar companies, per capita. It’s also the No. 2 city for fast-growing companies, according to the 2017 Inc. 5000 Europe.

• The "culture advantage" and how to build a rock star team with no budget - 01/30/2017
• How Stockholm Became a Unicorn Factory, Knowledge@Wharton - 11/09/2015
• Can Cloning Businesses Work? Ask Rocket Internet, Knowledge@Wharton - 10/12/2015
• Can Cloning Businesses Work? Ask Rocket Internet, Knowledge@Wharton - 10/12/2015
• The First Step to Successful Innovation? Choosing the Right Partners, Knowledge@Wharton - 07/23/2015
• Common Bonds: How Immigrants Can Influence a Firm’s Foreign Expansion, Knowledge@Wharton - 05/27/2014
• Where will China’s firms establish subsidiaries? Where there are Chinese, Organizational Musings - 04/01/2014
• How Government Incentives Are Boosting Latin American Films, Knowledge@Wharton - 10/01/2013
• The stock market generally hates acquisitions, but there is an exception to the rule, Forbes - 12/17/2010
• Yes, You Can Succeed in Academia and Still Have a Personal Life, Harvard Business Publishing Education - 01/01/1970

Knowledge @ Wharton

• The FDNY’s Transformation After 9/11, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/11/2026
• How the NFL Is Winning a New Generation of Fans, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/10/2026
• The Business of Shared Scooters, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/09/2026
• Is This NFL Season More Wide Open Than It Appears?, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/09/2026
• Greenhushing: When Firms Do More Than They Say, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/08/2026
• AI Is Producing More Software. Why Isn’t It Being Used?, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/08/2026
• The Hidden Financial Risks of the AI Boom, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/04/2026
• When Teammates Become Competitors, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/02/2026
• What Analytics Reveal About College Football’s Top Teams, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/02/2026
• The Hidden Rules of Workplace Opportunity, Knowledge @ Wharton - 09/01/2026