Pooja Thakur-Wernz

Professor Pooja Thakur-Wernz is a scholar and educator in Strategic Management and International Business. She joined Washington and Lee University in July 2020 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Business Administration. Prior to this, she held faculty positions at Virginia Tech and Wichita State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Management from Rutgers University.

Her research examines how firms’ strategic choices shape international expansion, innovation, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). She has a particular focus on the global biopharmaceutical industry and on emerging markets, especially India. Her work has been published in leading journals in strategic management and international business, and she serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of International Business Policy.

Professor Thakur-Wernz teaches courses in strategic management, global strategy, emerging markets, and international business. Her teaching emphasizes critical thinking and the application of theory to real-world business challenges. Drawing on her extensive international experience, she brings a global perspective to classroom discussions and student learning.

Education

• PhD in Management, Rutgers University
• MBA, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
• B.Commerce (Honors), Osmania University (India)

Research

• Emerging Economy Firms
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Internationalization
• Innovation
• Offshoring
• Outsourcing
• Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry
• India

Teaching

• BUS 394 – Global Strategy
• BUS 398 – Strategic Management
• BUS 305A – International Business
• BUS 362 – Understanding Emerging Markets

Selected Publications

• Thakur-Wernz, P., Singla, C., & Bruyaka, O. (2026). Family Ownership and CSR Overspending: Evidence from India on the Mediating Role of CSR Committee Composition. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-22.

• Thakur-Wernz, P. & Bruyaka, O. (2025) Not So Generous After All? Foreign Ownership and CSR Overspending in Emerging Markets, Global Strategy Journal. 15(4), 449–486.

• Thakur-Wernz, P., Bassiouny, A., & ElShinnawy, M. (2025). Family ownership and institutional voids: evidence from SMEs in Egypt. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 1-33.

• Thakur-Wernz, P., Barnard, H., & Matthee, M. (2024) Knightian Uncertain Violence and the Challenge of FDI-Assisted Development: Policy Recommendation where Civilian Lives are at Risk. Journal of International Business Policy, 7:356-390.

• Thakur-Wernz, P., & Bosse, D. (2023) Configurational Framework of Learning Conduits Used by Emerging Economy Firms to Improve their Innovation Performance. Journal of Business Research, 157.

• Piscitello, L., & Thakur-Wernz, P. (2023) Impact of Domestic and Foreign Knowledge Mechanisms on the Innovation Performance of Indian Firms, International Business Review, 102107.

• Thakur-Wernz, P. Bruyaka, O. & Contractor, F. (2022) Sourcing portfolio diversity in new product development: Antecedents and performance implications. Journal of Business Research, 150:179-193.
  
  
• Thakur-Wernz, P. & Wernz, C. (2022) Impact of Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Regime on Innovation by Indian Bio-pharmaceutical firms: De Alio Versus De Novo Firms. Journal of Business Research, 138: 457-473.

• Samant, S., Thakur-Wernz, P. & Hatfield, D. (2021) The Impact of Differences in Internationalization Processes on Innovation in Emerging Economy Firms. International Journal of Emerging Markets. DOI 10.1108/IJOEM-11-2020-1331.

• Thakur-Wernz, P. & Wernz, C. (2020) Does R&D Offshore Outsourcing Improve Innovation in Vendor Firms from Emerging Economies? A Study of Bio-pharmaceutical Industry in India. International Journal of Emerging Markets. DOI 10.1108/IJOEM-03-2020-0308.

• Thakur-Wernz, P. Bruyaka, O. & Contractor, F. (2020) Impact of Offshoring and Outsourcing of Complex Activities on Performance: Global Clinical Trials in Pharmaceutical R&D. Technovation, 90-91: 102097.

• Samant, S., Thakur-Wernz, P. & Hatfield, D. (2020) Does the focus of Policy Impact the Nature of Innovation? Evidence from Renewable Energy Sector in Emerging Economies. Energy Policy, 137:111119.

• Thakur-Wernz, P., Cantwell, J. & Samant, S. (2019) Impact of International Entry Choices on the Nature and Type of Innovation: Evidence from Emerging Economy Firms from the Indian Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry. International Business Review, 28(6):101601.

• Thakur-Wernz, P. & Samant, S. (2019) Relationship between International Experience and Innovation Performance: Importance of Organizational Learning for EMNEs, Global Strategy Journal. 9(3): 355-487.

• Thakur-Wernz, P. (2019) A Typology of Backsourcing: Short-Run Total Costs and Internal Capabilities for Re-internalization. Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing, 12(1): 42-61.

• Thakur-Wernz, P. & Bruyaka, O. (2017) Evolution of Offshoring and Outsourcing Configurations: Evidence from the Biopharmaceutical Industry, Management International Review, 57(6): 909-946.

• Gove, S., Junkunc, M., Bruyaka, O., Ricardo, L., Mingo, S., Song, Y., & Thakur-Wernz, P. (2017) Reexamining CEO Duality: The Surprising Problematic Issue of Conceptualization and Measurement, Corporate Governance: An International Review, 25(6): 411-427.

• Wernz, C., Thakur-Wernz, P. & Kongkiti P. (2014) Service Convergence and Service Integration in Medical Tourism, Industrial Management & Data Systems, 114(7): 1094-1106.

• Bruyaka, O., Zeitzmann, H., Chalamon, I., Wokutch, R. & Thakur, P. (2012) Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Orphan Drug Development: Insights from the US and the EU Biopharmaceutical Industry, Journal of Business Ethics, 117(1): 45-65.

• Newburry, W. & Thakur, P. (2010) Multi-Level Impacts on Perceived Career Opportunity from Global Integration, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(13): 2358-2380.