MAJID MAJZOUBI
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ABOUT

111 Ian MacDonald Blvd, North York, ON M3J 1P3
Majzoubi@schulich.yorku.ca
Hello. I am an Assistant Professor in Strategic Management at Schulich School of Business - York University. Welcome to my Personal and Academic profile.

ABOUT ME

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I am an Assistant Professor of Strategic Management at York University’s Schulich School of Business, where I teach core strategy courses across the BBA, MBA, and executive programs and have twice received the Seymour Schulich Teaching Excellence Award. My research sits at the intersection of firms’ strategic decisions and the social judgments that determine whether those choices translate into legitimacy, resources, and performance. Through a series of quantitative studies, I unpack how firms balance similarity and distinctiveness when positioning against exemplars and close rivals, how shifts in identity claims and CEO promises reshape analyst and investor perceptions, and how heterogeneous audiences—from security analysts to stakeholders—condition the pay-offs of positioning, framing, and other forms of corporate communication. My research has been published in Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal and presented in various conferences including The Academy of Management Annual conferences and Strategic Management Society’s conferences.

I received my doctorate in Strategy from the University of Washington, MBA from the University of North Carolina, and Bachelors in Computer Science from Tehran Polytechnic.

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RESEARCH

RESEARCH PORTFOLIO

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Theoretical areas of interest: Strategic Positioning and Optimal Distinctiveness, Organization Theory, Institutional Theory, Evaluations and Rankings

Methodical areas of interest: Quantitative Econometrics, Machine Learning Modeling, Textual Analysis and Topic Modeling

PUBLISHED

Majzoubi, M., Zhao, E., Durand, R., (2025) The Art of Optimal Distinctiveness: Balancing Novelty and Familiarity, California Management Review Insights

Majzoubi, M., Zhao, E., Zuzul, T., Fisher, G., (2025) Optimal Distinctiveness in Dual Benchmark Settings, Organization Science

Majzoubi, M., Zhao, E., (2023) Going beyond optimal distinctiveness: Strategic positioning for gaining an audience composition premium, Strategic Management Journal

UNDER REVIEW

Majzoubi, M., Murray, A., Mayew, W., [Title redacted] (Invited for Minor Revision at Strategic Management Journal)

Majzoubi, M., Kotha, S., Boroumand, M., [Title redacted] (Invited for 1st R&R at Organization Studies)

Boroumand, M., Majzoubi, M., [Title redacted] (Under Review at Strategic Management Journal)

Goudarzi, K., Majzoubi, M., [Title redacted] (Under Review at Strategic Management Journal)

WORKING PAPERS

Kim, J., Majzoubi, M., Strategic Framing of Organizational Change and Stakeholder Evaluations

Boroumand, M., Majzoubi, M., Answering the Critics: Audience Heterogeneity and Responses to Negative Evaluations

Gupta, A., West, N., Majzoubi, M., How CEO Sociopolitical Activism Affects Organizational Political Ideology

Kim, J., Majzoubi, M., Building Common Ground: The Impact of TMT Turnover on the Utilization of Experiential Knowledge from Past Acquisitions

WORK IN PROGRESS

Lee, H., Majzoubi, M., Distinctiveness in Embedded Networks of Complementors and Platforms (Under theoretical development)

Harrison, D., Gupta, A., Majzoubi, M., TMT political ideology heterogeneity and corporate misconduct (Data collection and analysis phase completed)

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TEACHING

TEACHING POSITIONS
  • 2025

    SGMT 6000: Strategic Management

    Schulich School of Business

    Average Instructor Evaluation: 6.5/7
  • 2022-2025

    SGMT 3000: Strategic Management

    Schulich School of Business

    Average Instructor Evaluation: 6.6/7 Seymour Schulich Teaching Excellence Award
  • 2018, 2019, 2021

    MGMT 430: Strategic Management (capstone course)

    University of Washington - Foster School of Business

    Instructor, Evaluation: 4.8/5.0 Excellence in Teaching Award
  • 2018

    FGBUS 250: Foundations of Global business

    University of Washington - Foster School of Business

    Co-instructor, Evaluation: 4.7/5.0
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CONTACT

Let's get in touch. Message me here.