Michael Mazzeo
Dean of Olin Business School and Professor of Economics
Michael Mazzeo
Mike Mazzeo became dean of WashU Olin Business School on September 1, 2023. He joined the Olin faculty as a professor of economics after a 25-year career as a researcher, scholar and educator at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he was a professor of strategy and a faculty associate at the university’s Institute for Policy Research. Mazzeo has had a distinguished and prolific career as a researcher, and his work—focused on empirical industrial organization—has been cited thousands of times.
Students have recognized Mazzeo with teaching awards numerous times for his work as a strategy instructor in Kellogg’s MBA and executive MBA programs. He served as faculty director for Kellogg’s evening and weekend MBA programs and its Master of Science in management studies program. He was the school’s senior associate dean for curriculum and teaching from 2017 through 2020.
As a scholar, Mazzeo has developed new statistical methodologies for examining the relationship between product differentiation and market competition, with insights spanning the airline, banking, healthcare, hospitality, retail and telecommunications industries and applications for both business strategy and antitrust analysis. He serves on the editorial board of the Review of Industrial Organization and is coauthor of Roadside MBA: Back Road Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives and Small Business Owners.
That 2014 book, a collaboration with fellow business professors from Stanford and the University of Utah, was based on visits with more than 250 small- and medium-size businesses over a dozen years. Covering more than 30 states and 12 countries, the team shared stories illustrating the important concepts taught in leading MBA programs.
Area of Expertise
Economics
Education
Ph D 1998, Stanford University
Awards/Honors
- Kellogg School of Management Teaching Awards, Stanford University , 2021
- Emmy Award Nominee , National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, San Francisco/Northern California Chapter , 2015
- “Key to the City” of Dothan, Alabama, State of Alabama, 2014
- Samsung Patent Prize, Stanford University, 2011
- Dick Wittink Prize, Stanford University, 2010
- Searle-Kaufmann Fellow in Law, Northwestern University, 2010
- Excellence in Refereeing Award, Northwestern University, 2009
- Junior Fellowship Program, Northwestern University , 2003
- Center for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University , 2002
- CLEC Competition in the United States, Northwestern University , 2002
Teaching Interests
At Kellogg, Mazzeo was the point person for the school’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and used that experience to innovate in the school’s working professional degree programs.
Mazzeo earned his PhD in economics from Stanford University in 1998 and was immediately hired on to the faculty at Kellogg. Previously, he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and urban studies at Stanford in 1991.
Research Interests
Mazzeo’s research has been published in leading journals, including the Rand Journal of Economics, the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, Marketing Science, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Review of Industrial Organization, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, and the Journal of Industrial Economics.
Personal Interests
His child attends New York University. Outside of work, he volunteers on the board of directors for Chicago-based Howard Brown Health, which provides affirming healthcare services to the LGBTQ+ community and is one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ nonprofits.
Selected Publications
- "Product Choice and Oligopoly Market Structure", RAND Journal of Economics, p.221-242, 2002
- "Competitive Outcomes in Product-Differentiated Oligopoly", Issue 4, 716-728, 2002
- "Competition and Service Quality in the U.S. Airline Industry", Review of Industrial Organization, Issue 4, 275-296, 2003
- "Differentiation and Competition in HMO Markets", Issue 4, 433-454, 2003
- "Retail Contracting and Organizational Form: Alternatives to Chain Affiliation in the Motel Industry", Issue 4, 599-615, 2004
- "The Role of Differentiation Strategy in Local Telecommunication Entry and Market Evolution: 1999-2002", International Journal of Industrial Organization, Issue 3, 617-619, 2006