Benjamin M. Cole

• Bachelors: B.A., Japanese Language & Culture, Occidental College
• Masters: M.B.A. with Distinction, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
• PhD: Strategy, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

• The social construction of economic exchanges
• The role of status, reputation and legitimacy on firm exchange
• The opportunities and challenges of the global business environment

Benjamin Cole joined Fordham's Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA) as an Assistant Professor of Management Systems in September 2008. He currently teaches the capstone strategy course, Business Policy, in the College of Business Administration (CBA).

Professor Cole uses both domestic and international settings to investigate how economic transactions are influenced by social factors. In particular, he examines the benefits, limitations and liabilities of status and legitimacy in the marketplace. One recent study looks at how firms with high status may be shielded from regulatory action during “normal markets,” but suddenly become the target of regulators during “high discourse markets.”

Professor Cole was selected as a finalist in the INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition in 2006, and has earned six outstanding reviewer awards from divisions of the Academy of Management over the past five years. Prior to his appointment at Fordham, Professor Cole taught at the Stern School of Business at New York University and at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.  Professor Cole was recognized as one of the “Top 15 Instructors” for BBA-level instruction at the Ross School.

Professor Cole lived and worked in Japan for nine years before joining academia. During his time in Tokyo, he worked as a writer/translator at Shubun Publishing Co., and as a corporate representative at the country's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corporation. He is also the managing director of Bushin Books, a publication company that he launched in 2001.

Professor Cole earned his B.A. in Japanese Language and Culture from Occidental College, and his M.B.A. with distinction and Ph.D. in Strategy from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.