Berna Polat Aksu

Department: Management and Entrepreneurship

Office Location: Power Plant Room 105

Professional Overview

Bio: Dr. Berna Polat Aksu is an endowed professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at and the founding chair of the Management & Entrepreneurship Department at St. Mary’s College School of Economics and Business Administration. She is currently leading the School's Executive Education Programs and Strategic Partnerships, and is also the Director of the Center for the Regional Economy, which coordinates outreach, community involvement, consulting, research, and events, especially in the field of entrepreneurship, for the School.

Dr. Aksu has been teaching executive, graduate, and undergraduate students for more than 20 years. She is the recipient of a 2015 Saint Mary's College Teaching Excellence Award. Over her career, Dr. Aksu has worked with and consulted for startups as well as large corporations. Her research has been published in edited books and international scholarly journals such as the Academy of Management Discoveries, Journal of International Finance and Economics, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, and the Journal of Learning in Higher Education.

Specialties: strategy, global management, entrepreneurial mindset, top management teams, creativity and innovation, corporate governance.

Courses Taught:

Business Strategy
Competitive Strategy
Creativity, Innovation, and the Entrepreneurial Mindset
Doing Business in World Regions (Travel Course - Italy, Spain)
Entrepreneurial Concepts and Mindset
Entrepreneurship for Innovators
Global Business Strategy
International Business

Publications:

Aponte-Moreno, M., Aksu, B. P. (in press). Understanding Immigrant Leaders in the United States: A Preliminary Study. Cultural Leadership (vol. forthcoming). San Diego, CA: Cognella.
Hadani, M., Aksu, B., Coombes, S. (2021). 15 minutes of fame? The impact of media visibility and media reputation on the relationship between corporate political activity and government contract awards. Academy of Management Discoveries, 7(1), 57-84. https://digitalcommons.stmarys-ca.edu/school-economics-business-faculty-works/1094

Education

PhD, Strategic Management (Minors in Research Methods and Organizational Behavior). University of Washington, 2005.
MBA, Marketing and Finance. San Francisco State University, 1994.
BA, Political Science and International Relations. Bosphorus University, 1990.