2024 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Ivana Naumovska, INSEAD

Ivana Naumovska
INSEAD

“In collaboration with the MBA students, Ivana Naumovska co-founded the Search Fund and ETA Club at INSEAD, contributing to the organization of the inaugural ETA and Search Fund Conference, marking a significant milestone.
“Through this class and her unique teaching style, she inspires dozens of students to consider search funds as a career path. She is probably the professor that has the most impact among the whole INSEAD teaching staff.”

Ivana Naumovska, 38, is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD.

Her research examines the antecedents and consequences of the adoption of new and sometimes counter-normative organizational practices and innovations, in both established firms and startups. By studying the role of the institutional environment, social biases and market learning, she seeks to understand how firms and their stakeholders (i.e., investors, media, competitors, executives, and board members) affect and are affected by these organizational practices. She is an expert on reverse mergers (RMs), Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) and search funds.

Naumovska’s research has been published in leading academic journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Review of Finance, Strategic Management Journal, Strategy Science and Academy of Management Annals. She is the winner of multiple Best and Distinguished Paper Awards from the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Societies.

Her work has been featured in leading business media such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, CNBC, S&P Global, Barron’s, Reuters, and Bloomberg. Naumovska currently serves as an Associate Editor at the Strategic Management Journal.

At INSEAD, she was awarded the Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in Teaching and has won the Best Teaching Award multiple times.

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year? 2015

Education:

• Postdoctoral fellow, Northwestern University
• Ph.D., Management and Finance (cum laude), Erasmus University
• M.Sc., Finance (cum laude), Erasmus University
• B.Sc., Financial Economic (cum laude), Utrecht University
• IB (with distinction), II Gimnazija, Maribor – Slovenia

List of MBA courses you currently teach: Realizing Entrepreneurial Potential, Entrepreneurship through Acquisition

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… My beloved late grandmother often recalled how I declared my intention to become a university professor at the age of five. She told me this ambition emerged the day we visited our neighbors, Prof. Tufan and his family. He was a sociologist who had studied at Sorbonne University. After I met him, I had told her that I would also become a university professor. Eventually, my interest in finance led me to business school.

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? Currently, I am researching how investors form and update their theories about effective and ineffective investment strategies—essentially, how investors learn from their own and others’ experiences of successes and failures.

My most significant discovery would relate to the fragile diffusion trajectories of controversial practices, and the related prediction of the recent burst of the SPAC bubble. I began studying Reverse Mergers (RMs) and Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) during my PhD, long before they became prominent. In recent years, the popularity of SPACs surged—raising over $162 billion in 2021. Based on my dissertation paper on the diffusion of RMs, “Strength and weakness in numbers? Unpacking the role of prevalence in the diffusion of reverse mergers”, I wrote an article for HBR in February 2021 “The SPAC bubble is about to burst.” In this article, I discussed the mechanisms that make SPACs and RMs fragile, and how their increasing popularity can backfire. This was at a time when SPAC diffusion was peaking, and the market was still bullish on them. The HBR article drew considerable media attention and coverage of my research. A few months later, the SPAC bubble indeed burst.

If I weren’t a business school professor… It’s hard to make up my mind, but I think it would be something design-related. Perhaps a fashion designer—I still have a book full of fashion sketches, and I used to design many of my clothes when I had more time. I still do it occasionally.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? My trademark is tough love. 🙂 I meticulously prepare for each class and expect the same from my students. For instance, I carefully read students’ homework before every session, which helps me design the teaching plan. Additionally, I have written numerous case studies and bring the protagonists into the classroom. I also introduce an extensive network of entrepreneurs and investors to the class to enhance student learning and help them advance their careers. Mutual preparation is key to maximizing learning.

One word that describes my first time teaching: Astral. It felt like I had an out of body experience—watching myself teach while teaching.

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: The integration of practice and theory in the classroom is crucial. My interactions and collaborations with practitioners—such as investors, M&A experts, and entrepreneurs (many of whom are INSEAD alumni)—have helped me excel in the classroom and have also inspired and enhanced my research.

Professor I most admire and why: I feel fortunate to be in a profession with so many fantastic role models. My advisors, mentors, and co-authors are individuals I deeply admire and from whom I have learned immensely.

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? INSEAD’s students are remarkably diverse in their backgrounds, and their shared characteristic is a multicultural upbringing. In a world increasingly characterized by division, polarization, and conflict, the symbiotic life in INSEAD’s diverse ecosystem is comforting and brings hope.

What is most challenging? Navigating such a culturally diverse classroom is not the easiest, but the students, my colleagues and I do it jointly, and learn a lot from each other.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Thoughtful.

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Disengaged.

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… Demanding and rewarding.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies?I have too many interests, but let me list a few:

• Painting and sketching (I wish I had more time for it)
• Sport activities I enjoy (windsurfing, horse-riding, yoga, skiing)
• Exploring different cuisines (eating and cooking)
• Watching funny videos on social media (that counts as a hobby, right?)

How will you spend your summer? I love windsurfing, and last summer, I began learning to wing foil. I am very much into water sports, and I usually spend my summers exploring water sports destinations all over the world. This summer, however, I’ll be relaxing on a Mediterranean beach, sipping mocktails or sparkling water, and watching surfers, windsurfers, and wing-foilers having fun. I am expecting.

Favorite place(s) to vacation: The Mediterranean, the Alps and the islands of Southeast Asia.

Favorite book(s):

• The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Kundera)
• Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky)
• Beli Mugri/White Dawns (Racin)

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? My all-time favorite movie is “Before the Rain” by Milcho Manchevski. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1995, the film depicts three love stories intertwined with and affected by an ethnic conflict in Macedonia. It carries an intriguing message, “Time never dies. The circle is not round.” I highly recommend it.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I have a very eclectic music taste and it goes through cycles. I really like alt-J and Leonard Cohen, and I’m also a big fan of Elvis, Whitney Houston, Adele, 2 Cellos, Tose Proeski, Djordje Balasevic, Zero Assoluto… The list is long. Currently, I’m really into Harry Styles; his music is quite uplifting, and he’s simply adorable. I had a fantastic time at his concert in Singapore.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… Students from marginalized groups and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at… thinking and acting beyond the short term. They should focus more on their roles as socio-economic actors that shape the future.

I’m grateful for… all the support and encouragement I have received from my family, friends, colleagues and students.

DON’T MISS: THE ENTIRE 2024 ROSTER OF THE WORLD’S BEST 40-UNDER-40 MBA PROFESSORS