Om Narasimhan

Professor Om Narasimhan serves as Professor of Marketing at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), School of Management. Previously, he held the Board of Overseers Chaired Professorship at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, before joining LSE in 2012. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Southern California.

His research centers on entrepreneurship in emerging markets, with specific expertise in innovation, pricing strategy, and distribution channels. Key focus areas include microentrepreneurship in slum economies, women's empowerment through marketing employment, and base-of-pyramid market development. His methodological approach combines rigorous field studies in Southern Asia and Northeast Africa with randomized controlled trials to examine causal relationships in resource-constrained environments.

Narasimhan's publication record features seminal work in top journals including Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, and Journal of Marketing. His research consistently bridges theoretical marketing frameworks with practical implications for economic development, particularly examining how informal institutions like property rights affect business innovation. Recent work demonstrates how sales activities transform both communities and salespeople themselves, while his studies on female migrants reveal consumption's role in social mobility.

Scientific Recognition:

• Two-time SIG Best Paper Award winner (American Marketing Association)
• John D. Little Award Finalist (Marketing Science)
• Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar designation
• Outstanding Researcher of the Year (Carlson School)
• Best Elective MBA Professor of the Year (Carlson School)

Professor Narasimhan leads field research teams across India and Egypt, conducting longitudinal studies on microentrepreneurs in Cairo's slums and rural Indian villages. His current projects investigate inventory financing models for direct sales networks and the socioeconomic impact of marketing employment on women. The research group employs mixed-method approaches combining ethnographic observation with quantitative experimentation, maintaining strong partnerships with local NGOs and microfinance institutions to ensure practical implementation of findings.