Brandon Ofem, Ph.D.

Brandon Ofem is an Assistant Professor in the Global Leadership and Management Department in the College of Business. Brandon earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration with a concentration in Strategy/Entrepreneurship from the University of Kentucky in 2014. His dissertation examined the collaborative and entrepreneurial practices of economic development organizations in eastern Kentucky, one of the most persistently distressed regions in the United States. Brandon has published three book chapters on social network theory and analysis, and two papers stemming from his dissertation. He has also coauthored over $1.5 million in funded research projects from the National Science Foundation. His research interests include interorganizational collaboration, social networks, entrepreneurship, and local economic development. His teaching interests include strategic management and entrepreneurship. He also holds an MBA from the University of Kentucky and a BA in economics from Transylvania University.

CONTACT

ofemb@umsl.edu
314-516-6146
216 Anheuser-Busch Hall

INTERESTS

TEACHING

Areas: Strategy/Entrepreneurship

COURSES

MGMT 4219 - Strategic Management (syllabus)

RESEARCH

• Areas: Entrepreneurship, interorganizational collaboration, social networks, local economic development

• Selected Publications:
  • Ofem, B., Arya, B., & Borgatti, S. P. “The drivers of collaborative success between rural economic development organizations.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, (forthcoming).
  • Uzuegbunam, I., Ofem, B., Nambisan, S. “Do corporate investors affect entrepreneurs’ IP portfolio? Entrepreneurial finance and intellectual property in new firms.” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (forthcoming).
  • Compion, S., Ofem, B., Ferrier, W.J., Borgatti, S.P., Cook-Craig, P., Jensen, J., Nah, S. 2015. “The collaboration networks of economic development organizations in eastern Kentucky.” Journal of Appalachian Studies, 21(1). 
  • Mehra, A., Borgatti, S.P., Soltis, S., Floyd, T., Ofem, B., Halgin, D., Kidwell-Lopez, V. 2013. “Imaginary worlds: Using visual network scales to capture perceptions of social networks.” Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Volume on Contemporary Perspectives on Organizational Social Network Analysis, Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
  • Ofem, B., Floyd, T., Borgatti, S.P. 2012. “Social networks and organizations.” A Companion to Organizational Anthropology. Blackwell Publishing.
  • Borgatti, S.P., Ofem, B. 2010. “Overview: Social network theory and analysis.” Social Network Theory and Educational Change. Harvard Education Press.
• Research grants:
  • “A research study of teacher retention and network formation in Noyce communities of practice.” National Science Foundation: Division of Undergraduate Education. $1,026,372. (Co-PI, April 2017 to March 2020).
  • “Cognitive, relational, and strategic drivers of organizational effectiveness.” National Science Foundation: Innovation and Organizational Sciences Program. $485,553. SES-1063773. (Project manager and coauthor, June 2011 to May 2013).

Click here for full curriculum vitae.