I study how organization design choices respond to interdependencies that arise from the competitive context in which firms and their units are embedded, interdependencies that, like those arising from internal task structure, create information processing and coordination demands that firms must manage through design.

Sengul, M. & Workiewicz, M. Comanaging in multisubsidiary firms: The role of complementary and substitutive interdependencies. Organization Science, Forthcoming .*

Obloj, T. & Sengul, M. 2025. Ownership as a bundle of rights: Antecedents of the wedge between control and cash flow rights within firms. Strategy Science, 10(2): 109-127 .*

Sengul, M. 2019. Organization design as a competitive choice: An application to the study of innovation. Journal of Organization Design, 8: 22.

Sengul, M., Almeida Costa, A., & Gimeno, J. 2019. The allocation of capital within firms. Academy of Management Annals, 13(1): 43-83.

Sengul, M. 2018. Organization design and competitive strategy: An application to the case of divisionalization. Advances in Strategic Management, 40: 207-228.

An earlier version received: Booz.Allen & Hamilton / SMS Annual Conference Best PhD Paper Prize

Sengul, M. & Dimitriadis, S. 2015. Multimarket competition. Journal of Organization Design, 4(3): 18-30. †

Sengul, M. & Gimeno, J. 2013. Constrained delegation: Limiting subsidiaries' decision rights and resources in firms that compete across multiple industries. Administrative Science Quarterly, 58(3): 420-471.

Dissertation paper

Sengul, M., Gimeno, J., & Dial, J. 2012. Strategic delegation: A review, theoretical integration, and research agenda. Journal of Management, 38(1): 375-414.

An earlier version received: Honorable Mention, McKinsey / SMS Annual Conference Best Paper Prize

Rangan, S. & Sengul, M. 2009. The influence of macro structure in the international realm: IGO interconnectedness, export dependence, and immigration links in the foreign market performance of transnational firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54(2): 229-267.

Dissertation paper; An earlier version was nominated for: Carolyn Dexter Best International Paper Award

Rangan, S. & Sengul, M. 2009. Information technology and transnational integration: Theory & evidence on the evolution of modern multinational enterprise. Journal of International Business Studies, 40 (9, JIBS40/AIB50 Anniversary Issue: Innovations in International Business Theory): 1496-1514.

Dissertation paper; Winner of Emerald Citation of Excellence Award for one of the top 50 management articles published in 2009 in the field of business and management

Sengul, M. 2008. Essays on Delegation and Control in Multi-Unit Firms. Doctoral Dissertation, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.

Wiley-Blackwell Outstanding Dissertation Award in Business Policy and Strategy, Finalist

Departing from the rich body of cognition research in strategy and management, the emphasis of my work is not on how aspects of organization design affect cognitive processes, but on how behavioral patterns and cognitive biases (and their anticipation) affect firms’ design choices.

Sengul, M. & Yu, T. 2024. A socio-cognitive explanation of organizational grouping decisions: Multidivisional firms and the formation of their divisions. Journal of Management, 50(5): 1772-1796.*

Guo, W., Sengul, M., & Yu, T. 2021. The impact of executive verbal communication on the convergence of investors' opinions. Academy of Management Journal, 64(6): 1763-1792.* †

Guo, W., Sengul, M., & Yu, T. 2020. Rivals' negative earnings surprises, language signals, and firms' competitive actions. Academy of Management Journal, 63(3): 637-659.* †

Sengul, M. & Obloj, T. 2017. Better safe than sorry: Subsidiary performance feedback and internal governance in multiunit firms. Journal of Management, 43(8): 2526-2554.

Obloj, T. & Sengul, M. 2012. Incentive life-cycles: Learning and the division of value in firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 57(2): 305-347.*

AOM HR Division's Scholarly Achievement Award, Finalist

Yu, T., Sengul, M., & Lester, R.H. 2008. Misery loves company: The spread of negative impacts resulting from an organizational crisis. Academy of Management Review, 33(2): 452-472.

I study how organization design choices help organizations navigate tradeoffs that arise from the pursuit of multiple and often conflicting objectives, a challenge common to all organizations but particularly acute in those that simultaneously pursue financial and social goals.

Battilana, J., Obloj, T., Pache, A.-C., & Sengul, M. 2022. Beyond shareholder value maximization: Accounting for financial/social tradeoffs in dual-purpose companies. Academy of Management Review, 47(2): 237-258.*

Sengul, M. 2021. The promise and limits of social franchises as hybrid organizations. Journal of Organization Design, 10(3-4): 115-117.

Obloj, T. & Sengul, M. 2020. What do multiple objectives really mean for performance? Empirical evidence from the French manufacturing sector. Strategic Management Journal, 41(13): 2518-2547.*

Battilana, J., Pache, A.-C., Sengul, M., & Kimsey, M. 2019. The dual-purpose playbook: What it takes to do well and do good at the same time. Harvard Business Review, 97(2): 124-133.

Reprinted in “HBR’s 10 Must Reads 2020: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review,” pp. 121-136, Harvard Business Review Press (October 2019); forthcoming in "HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leading with Purpose" (2025)

Battilana, J., Sengul, M., Pache, A.-C., & Model, J. 2015. Harnessing productive tensions in hybrid organizations: The case of work integration social enterprises. Academy of Management Journal, 58(6): 1658-1685.

Battilana, J. & Sengul, M. 2006. Interorganizational cooperation between not-for-profit organizations: A relational analysis. In O. Kyriakidou & M. Ozbilgin (Eds.), Relational Perspectives in Organizational Studies: A Research Companion: 197-220. Edward Elgar.* †

Battilana, J., Gilmartin, M., Sengul, M., Pache, A.-C., & Alexander, J. 2010. Leadership competences for implementing planned organizational change. Leadership Quarterly, 21(3): 422-438. †

Battilana, J., Anteby, M., & Sengul, M. 2010. The circulation of ideas across academic communities: When locals re-import exported ideas. Organization Studies, 31(6): 695-713. †

Adoption of identification methods in strategy & management, 1980-2015 [2017, Data snippet]