Organization & knowledge
How does vertical integration change the flow of ideas within firms and across their boundaries?
Strategy · Applied Economics · Quantitative Research
Understanding how firms innovate and economies grow.
I am an economist and strategy scholar using firm-level data and quantitative methods to study innovation, research productivity, and how organizations shape economic outcomes.
Leonardo KlüppelAssistant Professor
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Research agenda
Research at the intersection of firms and markets
Innovation & productivity
What does firm-level evidence reveal about the sources of declining research productivity?
Incentives & protection
How do firms motivate R&D work and choose between trade secrets and other forms of intellectual property?
Data and methods
From firm-level evidence to wider questions
My work uses applied econometrics and economic theory with restricted U.S. Census/NSF R&D surveys, longitudinal firm and industry data, and patent records. I connect micro-level evidence to questions about innovation, productivity, and organizational design.
Selected publications
Research highlights
Are ideas being fished out?
Research Policy · with Anne Marie Knott
Firm-level evidence finds that diminishing knowledge opportunities do not explain declining U.S. research productivity.
The deep historical roots of organization and strategy
Organization Science · with Lamar Pierce and Jason A. Snyder
How historical shocks can shape the cultural and institutional environment of modern firms.
Interactive teaching
Learn strategy by making decisions.
I teach undergraduate strategic management and MBA competitive analysis. Four classroom simulations let students explore rivalry, entry, innovation, and diversification through decisions they make together. Students join anonymously using a code from their instructor.
Open classroom games ↗Research and teaching share a central question: how do choices made by firms shape outcomes in a wider market?