I am an Assistant Professor in Strategy at HEC Paris. My research is at the intersection of innovation strategy, non-market strategy, and public policy. I investigate how firms navigate and interact with their institutional environments when formulating innovation strategies. I pay particular attention to how firms and courts interact to shape patent policy and how in turn those policies shape firms’ innovative activities.
I received my doctoral degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining academia, I worked in management consulting, telecom and media regulation and investment banking. I completed an undergraduate degree in Mathematics, and graduate degrees in I.T. engineering and in applied economics.
Innovation Management & Strategy, Nonmarket Strategy, Intellectual Property, Science & Technology Policy
Conti, A., Ortega, L., & Sung, E. (2025). Sharpen your sword for litigation: incumbent strategic reaction to the threat of entry. Management Science, 71(1), 803-824.
Other contribution as a member of a consortium (peer-reviewed):
Fišar, M., Greiner, B., Huber, C., Katok, E., Ozkes, A. I., & Management Science Reproducibility Collaboration. (2024). Reproducibility in Management Science. Management Science, 70(3), 1343-1356. (open access, online appendix).
Corporate Political Activity at the U.S. Supreme Court - with John P. Walsh
Revise&Resubmit at Administrative Science Quarterly
The Heterogeneous Response to Weaker Excludability for Patented Technology
Revise&Resubmit at the Strategic Management Journal
Finalist for the Kauffman Prize (REER Conference Best Student Paper Award), 2018
Best Paper for an Emerging Scholar Award at the European Policy for Intellectual Property 2017 conference
National Constraints in the Innovation Process: Alliances for New Product Development in Aircraft Manufacturing - with Joao Albino-Pimentel, Pierre Dussauge, Louis Mulotte, and Steve Tallman
Revise&Resubmit at Research Policy
Lobbying the Courts: Evidence from Patent Cases - with Yasir Dewan
Under review
Lobbying Meetings and Contract Winners: Evidence from the European Union - with Nel Dutt, Miguel Espinosa, Andrea Fosfuri, Ruyue Li, and Johan Rath
Lobbying in the EU - with Nel Dutt, Miguel Espinosa, Andrea Fosfuri, Ruyue Li, and Johan Rath (available on SSRN)
Innovation in Publicly Backed Small Firms: The Mediating Role of Attention Allocated to External Knowledge Sources - with John P. Walsh
Strategy Core, Spring 2019 - present
Nonmarket Strategy, doctoral course (co-teaching), 2023, 2025
Competitive Strategy and Firm Heterogeneity, doctoral course (co-teaching), Spring 2022, 2024
Business simulation, MBA, 2023, 2024, 2025
Business simulation, Executive MBA, 2023
Guest lecture on Industry Analysis, Executive MBA, Fall 2021
Advisory Editor for Research Policy, 2022 – Present
Ad hoc reviewer for Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
Representative-at-large for the TIM division at the Academy of Management, 2025– Present
Representative-at-large for the Entrepreneurship & Strategy Interest group at the Strategic Management Society, 2025– Present
Representative-at-large for the Competitive Strategy Interest group at the Strategic Management Society, 2022 – 2024
HEC Foundation, F-budget, 2023
Best Dissertation Award, Academy of Management, TIM Division, 2020
HEC Foundation, F-budget, 2020
ECODEC grant (Area 5: New Challenges for New Data), 2020
Best Reviewer Award, Academy of Management, TIM Division, 2019
William H Read Award, Georgia Tech, 2018-2019
Finalist for the Kaufman Best Student Paper Award (REER Conference), 2018
Best Reviewer Award, Academy of Management, TIM Division, 2018
Certificate of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing awarded by Research Policy, 2017
Outstanding doctoral student, School of Public Policy, Georgia Tech, 2017-2018
NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (#1759991) to the Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program (co-PI, PI: John P. Walsh), 2017-2018
Best Paper for an Emerging Scholar Award at the European Policy for Intellectual Property 2017 conference
Best Presentation Award at the Technology Management and Policy Graduate Consortium, 2017
Best Presentation Award at the Doctoral Workshop of the European Policy for Intellectual Property 2016 conference
sung@hec.fr
+33 (0) 1 39 67 9813
HEC Paris
1 rue de la Liberation, 78351 Jouy-en-Josas, France