Rate My Professor David Oliver

David Oliver served as Associate Professor and Head of the Discipline of Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney Business School, leading its expansion from two to twelve faculty members with an emphasis on innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and Indigenous success. He earned his PhD from the University of Lausanne. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at HEC Montreal and a Research Fellow at the Imagination Lab Foundation in Switzerland, where he researched and refined the 'serious play' strategy-making technique. His research at Sydney focused on how organizations draw on their identities to develop better innovation and strategy processes. In 2024, Oliver joined Monash Business School as Professor of Strategic Management and Head of the Department of Management.

Oliver specializes in the links between identity and strategy processes and practices, investigating how individual and collective identities impact coherence, innovation, and stakeholder engagement in organizational strategy work, including in start-ups and social mission-driven firms. He has published 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, eight book chapters, and one book in top outlets. Key publications include Kouamé, Hafsi, Oliver, & Langley, 'Creating and sustaining stakeholder emotional resonance with organizational identity in social mission-driven organizations' (Academy of Management Journal, 2022); Ajay, Vough, & Oliver, 'So, what do you do? Exploring identity claiming by entrepreneurs' (Academy of Management Discoveries, 2024); Sédès, Miedtank, & Oliver, 'Suddenly I felt like a migrant: identity and mobility threats facing European self-initiated expatriates in the United Kingdom under Brexit' (Academy of Management Discoveries, 2023); Oliver et al., 'The interplay of product and process in skunkworks identity work: An inductive case study' (Strategic Management Journal, 2019); and Oliver, 'Identity work as a strategic practice' (Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice, 3rd ed., 2025). An award-winning teacher of strategic management in MBA, Executive MBA, postgraduate, and executive education programs, he serves on the Editorial Board of European Management Journal and regularly presents, mentors, and convenes at international conferences. His scholarship has advanced knowledge of identity's role in strategic innovation and organizational practices.