Safal Batra is a faculty member of strategic management and entrepreneurship at IIM Kashipur since March 2015. He completed his masters from IIM Calcutta and doctorate from IIM Ahmedabad. His dissertation, exploring innovation in small businesses, was conferred the IFCI best thesis award at IIM Ahmedabad. His current research interests include entrepreneurial personality and cognition, performance of small businesses, and the determinants of entrepreneurial success. His research work has been published in some of the best journals of entrepreneurship and management including International Small Business Journal and Small Business Economics. He has been a visiting Fellow at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology in 2018 and completed faculty development programs in the prestigious Harvard Business School and Wharton School of Business. He has designed and delivered many MDPs on Strategic Leadership and Management for corporates like Bharat Electronics, National Academy of Defence Production, NTPC, Indian Oil, ONGC etc. He is also the Managing Director of the "Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development" - the entrepreneurship incubation centre at IIM Kashipur.

Small Business Management, Entrepreneurial Cognition and Emotions, Entrepreneurship at the grassroots

• Batra, S., Gupta, V. K., Kumar, V., & Pierce, C. A. (2023). Effects of founder gender and workplace romance status on recruits’ evaluations of early-stage ventures. Journal of Small Business Management.
• Chaudhary, S., Karwasara, A., Gupta, V. K., Marino, L., & Batra, S. (2023). CEO Humility, Corporate Entrepreneurship, and the Moderating Influence of Discretionary Forces in the Task Environment. Group & Organization Management.
• Batra, S., Gupta, V. K., Sharma, S., & Yadav, R. (2022). Seeds of demand-side legitimacy: when do existing companies procure from B2B startups?. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 37(12), 2432-2441.
• Javadian, G., Gupta, A., Foo, M. D., Batra, S., & Gupta, V. K. (2022). Taking the Pulse: State of the (He) art of Entrepreneurial Emotion Research. Group & Organization Management, 47(2), 255-299.
• Batra, S. (2021). Case Analysis II: AGR Challenge for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. Vision, 25(2), 258-260.
• Gupta, A., Batra, S., & Gupta, V. K. (2020). Gender, culture, and implicit theories about entrepreneurs: A cross-national investigation. Small Business Economics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00434-9
• Batra, S., & Yadav, R. (2019). Case Analysis-II: A Puff of Smoke, a Hole in the Pocket, Fissure in the Lungs and Profit in Millions. Vision, 23(3), 320-321.
• Batra, S., Sharma, S., Dixit, M. R., & Vohra, N. (2018). Does strategic planning determine innovation in organizations? A study of Indian SME sector. Australian Journal of Management, 43(3), 493-513.
• Chaudhary, S., & Batra, S. (2018). Absorptive capacity and small family firm performance: Exploring the mediation processes. Journal of Knowledge Management. 22(6), 1201-1216.
• Chaudhary, S., & Batra, S. (2018). Proposing a sequential operationalization of absorptive capacity. Measuring Business Excellence, 22(1), 64-74.
• Batra, S., & Sharma, S. (2017). Stronger may not be better: organizational identity strength and performance of Indian SME s. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 55(2), 234-254.
• Batra, S. (2017). How do new ventures attract and retain talented employees? The case of Shaadisaga. Human Resource Management International Digest, 25(2), 1-3.
• Batra, S. (2017). Controlling volatility but not growth: Firms’ strategic orientations. Strategic Direction, 33(3), 5-7.
• Gupta, V. K., & Batra, S. (2016). Entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance in Indian SMEs: Universal and contingency perspectives. International Small Business Journal, 34(5), 660-682.
• Batra, S., & Vohra, N. (2016). Exploring the linkages of cognitive style and individual innovativeness. Management Research Review, 39(7), 768-785.
• Batra, S. (2016). Do new ventures benefit from strategic change or persistence? A behavioral perspective. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 29(2), 310-319.
• Batra, S., Sharma, S., Dixit, M., & Vohra, N. (2016). Measuring the effectiveness of strategic planning: Proposing a second order operationalization. Measuring Business Excellence. 20(3), 15-25.
• Batra, S., Sharma, S., Dixit, M. R., Vohra, N., & Gupta, V. K. (2015). Performance implications of industry appropriability for manufacturing SMEs: The role of technology orientation. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 26(5), 660-677.
• Batra, S., Sharma, S., Dixit, M. R., & Vohra, N. (2015). Strategic orientations and innovation in resource-constrained SMEs of an emerging economy. The Journal of Entrepreneurship, 24(1), 17-36.
• Batra, S. (2015). Fighting for innovation: Exploring the role of conflicts in enabling team innovation. Strategic Direction, 32(1), 11-12.
• Batra, S., & Pollitt, D. (2014). Building a culture of creativity at Moving Pixels Company: Informality, openness and respect support hard-working employees. Human Resource Management International Digest, 22(6), 24-26.
• Sonal, G., Chaudhary, S., & Batra, S. B. A New Approach for Efficient Clustering Using CECM Algorithm in WSN.
• Batra, S. (2104). Fostering Learning and Creative Thinking in Small Businesses. Biz and Bytes, 1(5).

• Evaluation of 13 FPOs of Uttarakhand – NABARD
• Evaluation of 05 Watersheds of Uttarakhand – NABARD
• Creating a strategic plan for start-up ecosystem development in J&K – International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Projects

• Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare RKVY RAFTAAR Project In-charge at IIM Kashipur

Awards

• Paper titled “The seeds of legitimacy: Why some new ventures are more desirable than others” presented at the Southwest Academy of Management awarded the McGrawHill Distinguished Paper Award.
• Awarded IFCI Best Thesis Award at IIM Ahmedabad.
• Awarded scholarship to attend Academy of Management 2013 BPS Global Representatives Workshop. August, 9, 2013, Orlando.
• Awarded SAMS/JMS sponsorship to attend ‘Journal of Management Studies doctoral workshop’. Cambridge, March 2014.
• Awarded full sponsorship to attend ‘Annual Global Conference of Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovations’, IIT Kanpur, December 9, 2012.
• Awarded conference scholarship to attend Strategic Management Society's special conference, Singapore, June 7, 2012.

• Managing Director – IIM Kashipur FIED (The incubation centre of IIM Kashipur)
• Chairperson – Entrepreneurship Cell
• President – Institute Innovation Council

1. Entrepreneurial Organizations and Society
2. Strategic Management

https://www.youtube.com/@prof.safalbatra5218