Catherine Thomas joined the Columbia Business School faculty in 2006. She teaches Managerial Economics as part of the MBA core curriculum. Prior to completing her PhD at Harvard, she worked at McKinsey & Company and the McKinsey Global Institute. Her research interests are in the areas of industrial organization and international trade. Her current work investigates decision making within multinational enterprises and the resulting impact on the location of production and on product range availability in local markets. The following is an excerpt from her interview.


What is the nature of your research to date?
My research is mostly about decision making within multinational firms. It's a pretty broad area that covers all sorts of aspects of a manager's role with these firms. In general, my research seeks to answer such questions as How does a firm organize production? Where are the optimal locations for plants? When should a firm integrate with foreign subsidiaries or contract with locally owned plants? Should a firm keep production in-house or outsource certain elements? How does a firm interact with its customers? Is a firm best-off selling standardized products across different markets or customizing them to the tastes of those particular locations? Finally, how do institutional differences affect a firm's strategy in those local markets?