About

Principal:

Dr. Aydin S. Oksoy

Ph.D. Strategic Management concentration; minor in International Business

Background:

My career started when I serendipitously joined a 2-person corporate development team reporting to the CEO working on a full-range of C-suite projects.

Operating as an extension of operations that oversaw a nation-wide footprint of ~200 locations and ~$2.0 billion in sales, our primary responsibilities pertained to expanding the footprint via acquisitions and greenfields, alongside coordinating analyses and communication with higher tiers in the hierarchy of the larger ~$31.0 billion conglomerate. The larger footprint held / holds a dominant position across many markets around the world, including the United States market. During my ~7 years on that team, we consolidating two sub-industries in the specialty distribution of building products: interior products such as drywall and steel studs, and exterior products such as roofing and siding. We closed 21 successful acquisitions, adding ~$1.0 billion in revenue to our division.

Subsequently, I was blessed with operational experience and tasked with overseeing the New York Metro market plus the counties on Long Island for the distribution of interior products to carpenters and masons. I was handed the keys to a $15.0 million operation with a team of 25 spread across various roles: inside sales, outside sales, dispatcher, warehouse, driver; additional members of the team were folks from the regional and corporate bureaucracy I had just left for this operational role. A distribution business is complicated given need to orchestrate various components:

  • Sales,

  • Billing / pricing systems,

  • In-bound freight,

  • Warehouse and inventory management,

  • Delivery and dispatch,

  • Quoting systems,

  • Credit risk exposure,

  • Showroom activity,

  • Pick-up activity.

Things are made much more difficult in the NYC metro market where dispatcher routes are seldom known beyond a 24-hour window. This is because NYC general and sub-contractors operate fluid operations to accommodate the needs of all various tradespeople working on a single project. For the branch this translates into a phone call that could be for 5 trucks of drywall (‘rock’) or a skid of [joint] compound; a truly dynamic environment.

I was subsequently invited to obtain my Ph.D. in Strategic Management with a minor in International Business. During my studies, I was fascinated by the new-found ability to understand the theoretical underpinnings of my various experiences in industry. I was particularly interested in the early stage investing activity referred to as angel investing. It seems like the exact opposite side of the corporate development with many more swirling risks to contend with.

Specifically, my research agenda focuses on the negotiation; the following are a series of published and under-review products with a link to my Scholar Google account (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EyYPTkEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)

  • Oksoy, et al., (2022) Potential Power in a Quasi-Competitive Market;

    • Identifies the impact of the negotiation structure on power dynamics for negotiations with multiple buyers and a single seller

    • Seller's option set adheres to the function y = 2^(n) -1; buyer's option set adheres to the function y = 2^(n-1)

  • Oksoy et al., (2022) The Nature of a Firm’s Exchange Complexity

    • Identifies the notion of exchange complexity as a construct and its operationalization

  • Oksoy et al., (2024) Exchange Complexity: A Multi-Method Analysis of Firm Configurations

    • An empirical study focused on the introduced notion of exchange complexity

  • Oksoy et al., (2025) A Different Risk-Return Relationship

    • Identifies the pattern of all break even points that adheres to the function y = 1/x when using the cash-on-cash method in the domain of angel investing

  • Oksoy (Under Review) Angel Investing: A Teaching Exercise on Risk & Return and Power Dynamics

  • Oksoy (Under Review) On the Debate Between Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management: A Theory of Business

  • The Role of Equity in an Embryonic Firm: Governance versus Risk (Essay 1 of Dissertation); the interplay governance decisions and risk/return decisions on negotiation outcomes.

  • Dealing with Angels: The Anchoring Effect (Essay 2 of Dissertation); the interplay between cognitive biases (the anchoring effect) and power (potential and actual) on negotiation outcomes.

My current role is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, serving as the BSBA Coordinator for the Entrepreneurial Studies Program at the Barney School of Business, at the University of Hartford. My immediate teaching-related focus is the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems directly connecting the classroom to a wide range of university stakeholders. Developed for the University of Hartford, students enjoy a fully immersive entrepreneurial experience as they navigate key milestones:

  • Theory

  • Practice / Application (Strategic Architecture)

  • Presentation / Communication

  • Strategy & Planning for Implementation

  • Digital Infrastructure

  • Launch / Investment