The talk will be delivered by Prof. Jagadeesh Sivadasan, University of Michigan

6 May, 2025, Bengaluru: The Office of Research and Publications (R&P) will host a seminar on, ‘Managerial Capital and Adverse Shocks: Evidence from the 2018 US-China Trade War’, to be led by Prof. Jagadeesh Sivadasan, University of Michigan (Economics area), at 3 pm on 15th May 2025, at Classroom-N 101.

Abstract: Executive human capital is a critical asset for firms navigating adverse shocks that disrupt normal operations. Leveraging the US-China trade war in 2018 as a plausibly exogenous source of negative trade shocks, the researchers examine how companies adjust the composition of their executive team to manage adversity. They find that firms more exposed to the trade shock hire more executives with overseas experience, especially those with marketing expertise and background in European markets. Consistent with increased demand for such expertise, these executives receive higher compensation following the onset of the trade war, especially through equity-based incentives. The researchers provide suggestive evidence that these executives contribute to maintaining overseas revenue and expanding foreign subsidiaries. Moreover, the stock market responds more negatively to the unexpected departure of such executives during the trade conflict period. Similarly, the researchers also document that US firms increased non-Chinese Asia-related representation on their boards. Together, the findings highlight the role of executive human capital in firms’ strategic response to external shocks and underscore how firms actively restructure leadership to enhance resilience.

Speaker Profile: Dr. Jagadeesh Sivadasan is the Buzz and Judy Newton Professor of Business Administration in the Business Economics and Public Policy group of the Ross School of Business, and a Faculty Associate at the Institute for Social Research, at the University of Michigan. His recent research is focused on understanding the drivers of firm entry, growth and productivity, and worker performance and mobility. Ongoing and recent work include analysis of the response of Chinese firms to the 2018 trade war, the influence of reduced fertility on female entrepreneurship in China, the effect of commute improvement on worker performance, and analysis of US firm growth patterns.

He teaches the core applied microeconomics course in the full-time, weekend and Executive MBA programmes. His MBA elective course, Incentives and Productivity, presents an economics-grounded approach to human capital management. He also teaches in the PhD programme at Ross. He has served as the Director of the FTMBA programme, and as the Chairperson of the Business Economics and Public Policy group. He was the recipient of the 2018 Victor L Bernard Teaching Leadership award, and the 2019 Ross School of Business Neary Teaching Excellence Award (from the FTMBA class of 2019).

Prof. Jagadeesh Sivadasan is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, where he completed a PGDM after a B Tech at IIT Madras. He then worked as a Senior Consultant at Arthur Andersen, before completing PhD from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He is also an Associate Editor, IIMB Management Review, in the Business Economics and Public Policy area, and has been an Invited Speaker at the IMR Doctoral Conference for two years (IMRDC 2013: Building a Research Career – Some Lessons; IMRDC 2021: Recent empirical approaches in research on firm and worker productivity).

Webpage Link: https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/faculty/jagadeesh-sivadasan