Associate Professor of Strategy and innovation, Academic Director of the MiM Program
✉ ybhatti@mbsc.edu.sa
✆ +966 12 510 6143
Dr. Yasser Bhatti is a scholar of Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship with a focus on the study of emerging models of innovation and strategies which promote inclusive and sustainable growth. He merges an understanding of innovation concepts, mainly frugal, social and reverse innovations with strategy concepts, mainly cost leadership, business models, and scenario planning. He draws on institutional theory and resource-based view to understand the role that organizations play in the market and in society. For impact of scholarly work, he also works at the intersection of management and health, relying on mixed methods research.
He contributes to and speaks regularly at international forums on innovation. For instance, he provided expert feedback to Pakistan’s new Social Protection Ministry (called Ehsaas); he was invited for knowledge sharing by the Danish Ministry of Science and Technology; offered expert advice to the UK’s Innovation think tank NESTA; and served on the scientific advisory board of the European Commission Project on Frugal Innovation. He was also invited to Google Headquarters in New York City to present to Chief Innovation Officers of healthcare organisations on how to scale frugal innovations. His book ‘Frugal Innovation: Models, Means, Methods’, published by Cambridge University Press, was nominated for best book award at the Academy of Management annual meeting 2020. The book sheds light on how entrepreneurs and firms can pursue competitive strategies by innovating for humanity to improve lives for everyone, everywhere.
Yasser completed his PhD in Innovation and MSc in Entrepreneurship from University of Oxford’s Said Business School. His MSc thesis at Oxford received best dissertation prize. He also has an MSc degree in Computer Science and PG certificate in Management of Technology both from Georgia-Tech with distinction and BSc in Mechanical Engineering with special distinction from the University of Oklahoma. Following five years of practice in the manufacturing industry (Met-Pro Corporation and IBM) and in the multilateral development sector at the United Nations, he pursued a renewed passion for teaching and research in academia to bridge the gap between the academic community and business world. He worked at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, Imperial College London, and Queen Mary University of London. At QMUL he served as Director of the MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Director of Admissions and Recruitment.
He grew up in Jeddah in the 1980s to early 1990s, moved to the United States for his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in the late 1990s, and then to the United Kingdom for his PhD degree in the late 2000s. Going full circle, he is delighted to return to Saudi Arabia after almost three decades and looks forward to making a positive contribution to MBSC and the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.