Harish Sujan

photo of Harish Sujan

Harish Sujan

  • Professor
  • Freeman Chair for Doctoral Studies and Research in Business
Office Address
GW 1 - Room 552
Phone

Biography

I. INTERESTS
Sales: Questions relating to Salespeople's performance and wellbeing. Leadership, Motivation and Intelligence.

Consumer Behavior: Questions relating to Consumers' wellbeing. Motivation and Wellbeing.

I evaluate the questions I ask from an understanding of social, motivational and cognitive psychology. Illustrations of theoretical underpinnings are: The Psychology of: Growth Mindsets (Dweck), Loving Kindness Meditation (Fredrickson), Multiple Intelligences (Sternberg), Social Support (Taylor), Flow and Mindfulness (Csikszentmihalyi and Ryan), and Attribution Theory (Weiner).

II. RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Sujan, Harish, Silvio Borrero and David Cranage (2014), "Good Treats: Eating Out not Just for Joy but also for Well-Being," in Innovations in Service Marketing and Management: Strategies for Emerging Economies (ed. Anita Goyal), Chapter 7, Business Science Reference, IGI Global.
Hall, Zachary, Michael Ahearne, and Harish Sujan (2015), "The Importance of Starting Right: The Influence of Accurate Intuition on Performance in Salesperson-Customer Interactions," The Journal of Marketing, 79 (May), 91-109. (WOS Cites=18).
Hall, Zachary, Michael Ahearne, and Harish Sujan (2016), "Can a Book be Judged Accurately only by its Cover?" Keller Center Research Report, 9 (March).
Sujan, Harish, Michael Ahearne and Noel Capon (2018), "The Sales Simulation," Wessex Press, New York.
Sujan, Harish and Mita Sujan (2020), "Consumer and Marketer Intelligence," Chapter 16, Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence, 2nd Edition, Editor: Robert J. Sternberg.

III. AWARDS
Sujan, Harish, "Optimism and Street Smarts: Identifying and Improving Salesperson Intelligence (1999)," Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 19 (No. 3).
Awarded Best Paper of the Year.
Weitz, Barton A., Harish Sujan and Mita Sujan (1986), "Knowledge, Motivation and Adaptive Behavior: A Framework for Improving Selling Effectiveness," Journal of Marketing, 50 (October), 174-191.
Ranked 5th among 10 best papers in sales in the 20th century at American Marketing Association Conference in August 2001.

Courses

  • Sales Management: After highlighting important elements of personal selling, this course teaches how good personal selling can be managed. It connects ideas with implementing them through a sales management simulation game.
  • Marketing Strategy: The class relates with brand management, marketing communication and global marketing. I use a large number of Harvard Cases to illustrate marketing principles in each of these domains.

Research

  • Weitz, Barton A., Harish Sujan and Mita Sujan (1986), "Knowledge, Motivation and Adaptive Behavior: A Framework for Improving Selling Effectiveness," Journal of Marketing, 50 (October), 174-191. (WOS Cites=277)
  • Murray, Noel, Harish Sujan, Edward Hirt and Mita Sujan (1990), "The Effects of Mood on Categorization: A Cognitive Flexibility Hypothesis," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, (September), 411-434. (WOS Cites=170)
  • Sujan, Harish, Barton A. Weitz and Nirmalya Kumar (1994), "Learning Orientation, Working Smart and Effective Selling," Journal of Marketing (July), 39-52. (WOS Cites=277).
  • Wagner, Richard K., Harish Sujan, Mita Sujan, Carol Rashotte and Robert J. Sternberg (1999), "Tacit Knowledge in Sales," in Tacit Knowledge in Professional Practice, editors Robert J. Sternberg and Joseph A. Horvath, 155-183.

Education & Affiliations

  • I. DOCTORAL EDUCATION
  • 1983 University of California at Los Angeles, Marketing
  • (Strategy versus Effort: An Attributional Analysis of Salesperson Motivation)
  • (Co-advisors: Barton A. Weitz and Harold Kassarjian)
  • II. MASTERS' EDUCATION
  • 1975 Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Bombay, Marketing
  • III. UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
  • B. Tech 1971 Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Chemical Engineering
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