Soumyo Das

Early stage innovations often show promising and groundbreaking results, but in a narrow domain and under controlled environments. The global media and thought-leaders, often found lurking in the suited spaces of consulting firms, often hype such untested innovations as the next big thing, and as the absolutely important tool firms need to adopt to remain relevant in the competitive ecosystem and not transcend into obsolescence. And riding of the hype, there are public expectations and demands for firms to adopt such innovations in the wake of everyone else adopting it!

Soumyo is interested in studying how and why leaders respond to such hypes, and how they make strategic choices to adopt the new socially constructed notions of “being relevant” in competitive environments. Often such managerial choices can be absolutely divergent to the existing efficient institutional logics, and the implementation of such strategies can lead to new forms of hitherto unobserved problems – as his prior research in the field of critical IS & ICT4D has reflected. He seeks to explore why managers make such strategic choices, which conflicts with accepted organizational logics, and wonders if there is something unspoken of at play here, behind taking such decisions. For socially accepted notions of rationality does not seem to explain such behavior!

Soumyo, initially trained in the applied sciences, holds a Research Master’s degree from IIIT Bangalore. He is a strong advocate of fusing things – academic disciplines, research methods, cultures, music, food, but not in a way which leads to innovations such as pineapples on pizza.