- Faculty
Sarah Wolfolds
- Associate Teaching Professor
- Academic Director of the Grand Challenges Program
- Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Dyson School
Biography
Sarah Wolfolds is the Andrew Paul Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow and an associate teaching professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, part of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Her research examines how for profit and nonprofit organizations interact in industries where they coexist.
Wolfolds studies how nonprofits respond to competitive pressures — whether they differentiate themselves or converge toward for profit practices — by analyzing differences in financing models, human resource systems and organizational objectives. Much of her work focuses on the mixed industry of microfinance, where these dynamics are especially visible. Her recent research also explores issues related to financial exclusion in the U.S.
Before joining Cornell, Wolfolds worked at both the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She earned her doctorate in strategy from Harvard Business School and her bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from Swarthmore College. Wolfolds received a grant from the Strategic Research Foundation to support her dissertation research.
Education
DBA Harvard Business School, Harvard University, 2016 BA Swarthmore College, 2009
Research
- Wolfolds, Sarah; Taussig, Markus; Hong, Bryan; Carlsson, Kjell. "Tied up and Shocked: How Relational Contracting With Suppliers Constrains Global Buyers During an Economic Crisis"Breaking up the Global Value Chain (Advances in International Management), Ed. Torben Pedersen, Ed. Timothy Devinney, Ed. Laszlo Tihanyi, Ed. Arnaldo Camuffo. Emerald Publishing Limited. 30 (2017): 157-188
Awards
- Finalist for the Wiley Blackwell Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research in Business Policy and Strategy (2017)
- Finalist for the Best Dissertation Award, Public and Nonprofit Division of the Academy of Management (2017)
- Small Grant Award (2017 - 2018) Cornell Institute for Social Sciences
- Strategic Research Foundation Dissertation Scholar (2015 - 2016) Harvard University