Improvisation in Business

Mary Crossan

Mary Crossan is an Associate Professor of Business Policy at the Richard Ivey School of Business. Prior to joining the school, Crossan worked for such organizations as Bell Canada, the RCMP, Finance Canada and the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. She earned a BA, MBA, and Ph.D. from The University of Western Ontario.

Crossan holds the Donald K. Jackson Chair in Entrepreneurship and teaches in the undergraduate, MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Programs. Her research on organizational learning, strategy and improvisation has been widely published in such journals as the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, the Journal of Management Studies and Organization Dynamics. She has extended her research to management practice through a collection of over 30 cases, many of which have been published in a book she co-authored entitled Strategic Management: A Casebook. She is also an author of the Strategic Analysis and Action textbook. In a joint venture between the Ivey Business School and the Second City Improvisation Company, she developed a management video entitled "Improvise to Innovate" which extends traditional concepts of strategic management to development tools and techniques for more innovative, flexible and responsive strategic action. Her research, case-writing and consulting have provided broad exposure to companies around the world.

Mary can be reached at mcrossan@ivey.uwo.ca.