Rita Gunther McGrath (born July 28, 1959 in New Haven, CT) is an Associate Professor of Management at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business (Columbia Business School. She joined Columbia in 1993 after completing her Ph.D. at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is best known for her work on innovation and corporate growth, including the development of discovery driven planning.
Prior to her entry to Academia, Professor McGrath worked in government and the political arena and founded two entrepreneurial startups. She earned a Masters of Public Administration from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in 1982. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Barnard College in 1981.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 2000. The entrepreneurial mindset : strategies for continuously creating opportunity in an age of uncertainty. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 2005. MarketBusters: 40 Strategic Moves that Drive Exceptional Business Growth. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 2009. Discovery Driven Growth: A Breakthrough Process to Reduce Risk and Seize Opportunity. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing
Sargut, Gökçe and Rita Gunther McGrath. 2010. Managing under Complexity: Where is Einstein when you really need him? Ivey Business Journal, June, 2010.
McGrath, R. G. 2009. Business Models: A Discovery Driven Approach. Forthcoming, Long Range Planning.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 2009. How To Rethink Your Business During Uncertainty. Sloan Management Review, 50 (3) pp. 24—30.
McGrath, R. G. 2009. Early Warnings of a Pending Disruption in an Existing Business Model: A Leader's Responsibility. In D. Dotlich & P. Cairo & S. Rhinesmith & R. Meeks (Eds.), The 2009 Pfeiffer Annual Leadership Development: 264-276. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
McGrath, R. G. 2009. The Trap of Conventional Thinking: Obvious, Intuitive and Wrong. IESE Business Insight, First Quarter 2009(1): 12-16.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 2009. Why Uncertainty Means Every Business is a Start-Up. Sloan Management Review, Forthcoming.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 2009. How to Get Unstuck. Harvard Business Review, Forthcoming.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 2009. Discovery Driven Growth: Averting risk, saving money and growing anyway. American Management Association Journal, Forthcoming.
Pall, G. S. & McGrath, R. G. 2009. Institutional Memory Goes Digital. Harvard Business Review, 87(2): 27.
McGrath, R. G. 2008. And the winner takes it all? Necessary conditions and entry strategies in Winner-Take-All Markets. In R. Galavan & J. Murray & C. Markides (Eds.), Strategy, Innovation and Change: 57-68. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McGrath, R. G. & Keil, T. 2007. The Value Captor's Process: Getting the Most Out of Your New Business Ventures. Harvard Business Review, 85(5): 128-136.
MacMillan, I. C. & McGrath, R. G. 2007. Managing Growth through Corporate Venturing. In M. P. Rice & T. G. Habbershon (Eds.), Entrepreneurship: The Engine of Growth, Volume 3 Place, Vol. 3: 21-48. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing.
McGrath, R. G., Keil, T., & Tukiainen, T. 2006. Extracting value from corporate venturing. Sloan Management Review, 48(1): 50-56.
MacMillan, I. C., Putten, A. B. v., McGrath, R. G., & Thompson, J. D. 2006. Using Real Options Discipline for Highly Uncertain Technology Investments Research Technology Management, 49(1): 29-38.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 2005. Market Busting: Strategies for Exceptional Business Growth. Harvard Business Review, 83(3): 81.
MacMillan, I. C. & McGrath, R. G. 2002. Crafting R&D Project Portfolios. Research-Technology Management, 45(5): 48-59.
MacMillan, I. C., Van Putten, A., & McGrath, R. G. 2003. Global Gamesmanship. Harvard Business Review, 81(5): 62-71.
MacMillan, I. C. & McGrath, R. G. 2004. Nine new roles for technology managers. Research-Technology Management, 47(3): 16-26.
McGrath, R. G. & Boisot, M. 2003. Real Options Reasoning and the Dynamic Organization: Strategic Insights from the Biological Analogy. Chapter 10. In R. Peterson & E. Mannix (Eds.), Leading and Managing People in the Dynamic Organization: 201-226. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Press.
MacMillan, I. C. & McGrath, R. G. 2000. Assessing technology projects using real options reasoning: The STAR approach. Research-Technology Management, July-August: 35-49.
MacMillan, I. C. & McGrath, R. G. 1996. Discover your products' hidden potential. Harvard Business Review, 74(3): 58-68.
MacMillan, I. C. & McGrath, R. 1997. Discovering new points of differentiation. Harvard Business Review, 75(4): 133-145.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 1993. Technology and the CEO: Seeking tomorrow's edge. Chief Executive(82): 64.
McGrath, R. G. & MacMillan, I. C. 1995. Discovery Driven Planning. Harvard Business Review, 73(4): 44-54.
Keil, T., McGrath, R. G., & Tukiainen, T. 2009 (forthcoming). Gems from the Ashes: Capability Creation and Transformation in Internal Corporate Venturing. Organization Science.
McGrath, R. G. 2007. No longer a stepchild: how the management field can come into its own. Academy of Management Journal, 50(6): 1365-1378.
McGrath, R. G. & Nerkar, A. 2004. Real Options Reasoning and a new look at the R&D Investment Strategies of Pharmaceutical Firms. Strategic Management Journal, 29: 1-21.
McGrath, R. G., Ferrier, W., & Mendelow, A. 2004. Real options as engines of choice and heterogeneity. Academy of Management Review, 29(1): 86-101.
Child, J. & McGrath, R. G. 2001. Organizations Unfettered: Organizational Form in an Information-Intensive Economy. Academy of Management Journal, 44(6): 1135-1148.
McGrath, R. G. 2001. Exploratory Learning, Adaptive Capacity and the Role of Managerial Oversight. Academy of Management Journal, 44(1): 118-131.
McGrath, R. G. 1999. Falling forward: Real options reasoning and entrepreneurial failure. Academy of Management Review, 24(1): 13-30.
McGrath, R. G. 1998. Only fools rush in? Using real options reasoning to inform the theory of technology strategy: Response to Garud, Kumaraswamy, and Nayyar. Academy of Management. The Academy of Management Review, 23(2): 214.
McGrath, R. G., Chen, M.-J., & MacMillan, I. C. 1998. Multi-market maneuvering in uncertain spheres of influence: Resource diversion strategies. Academy of Management Review, 23(4): 724-740.
McGrath, R. G. 1997. A real options logic for initiating technology positioning investments. Academy of Management Review, 22(4): 974-996.
McGrath, R. G., Tsai, M. H., Venkataraman, S., & MacMillan, I. C. 1996. Innovation, Competitive Advantage and Rent: A Model and Test. Management Science, 42(3): 389-403.
Koch, M. & McGrath, R. G. 1996. Improving labor productivity: Human resource management policies do matter. Strategic Management Journal, 17(5): 335-354.
McGrath, R. G., MacMillan, I. C., & Venkataraman, S. 1995. Defining and developing competence: A strategic process paradigm. Strategic Management Journal, 16: 251-275.
McGrath, R. G., S. Venkataraman & MacMillan, I. C. 1994. The Advantage Chain: Antecedents to Rents from Internal Corporate Ventures. Journal of Business Venturing, 9.
McGrath, R. G., MacMillan, I. C., & Tushman, M. L. 1992. The role of executive team actions in shaping dominant designs: Towards the strategic shaping of technological progress. Strategic Management Journal, 13: 137-161.
2009 Elected a "Fellow" of the Strategic Management Society
Winner of the McKinsey 'best paper' award from the Strategic Management Society for McGrath and Nerkar, Real options reasoning and a new look at the R&D strategy of pharmaceutical firms.
2001 Maurice Holland "best paper" award from the Industrial Research Institute Link to Maurice Holland Award site.
