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The Olin Award: Recognizing Research that Transforms Business

The Olin Award recognizes Olin faculty research that has the greatest potential to advance business.


Each year, faculty submit papers for consideration and the papers are judged by a group of national business executives and educators. Richard Mahoney, Olin executive in residence and former chairman and CEO of Monsanto, initiated the award in 2008 to promote scholarly research that has timely practical applications for complex management problems.

Winner(s) receive a $10,000 honorarium.

2011 winners
Radhakrishnan Gopalan, assistant professor of finance; Todd T. Milbourn, Hubert C. & Dorothy R. Moog Professor of Finance; and Anjan V. Thakor, director of the PhD program and John E. Simon Professor of Finance, co-authored the 2011 winning Olin Award paper:  “The Optimal Duration of Executive Compensation: Theory and Evidence.” (PDF) This new research offers an evidence-based model to help the board of directors align the duration of the CEO’s compensation with the strategic needs of the company.

2010 winner
Judi McLean Parks, Reuben C. and Anne Carpenter Taylor Professor of Organizational Behavior, co-authored "Give and Take: Incentive Framing in Compensation Contracts" (PDF) with James W. Hesford, assistant professor of accounting, Cornell University. The research examines the relationship between different forms of compensation (performance-contingent and salary) and fraudulent behavior.

2009 winners
Markus Baer, assistant professor of organizational behavior; Kurt Dirks, professor of organizational behavior; and Jackson Nickerson, Frahm Family Professor of Organization and Strategy, co-authored "A Theory of Strategic Problem Formulation." Read more.

2008 winners
Jackson Nickerson and Todd Zenger, Robert and Barbara Frick Professor of Business Strategy, co-authored of “Envy, Comparison Costs and the Economic Theory of the Firm.” Read more.

Olin Award

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From the Video Gallery



2011 Olin Award Winners
Radhakrishnan Gopalan, Todd Milbourn and Anjan Thakor discuss the research behind their co-authored study.