Vijay Gurbaxani

Vijay Gurbaxani is the Taco Bell Professor Emeritus of Information Systems and Computer Science and Director of the Center for Digital Transformation (CDT) at UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business. His research, teaching and consulting interests are at the nexus of business strategy and information technology (IT). He focuses on analyzing how emerging information technologies enable business model innovation; on developing and evaluating business-driven strategies for the sourcing of information services; and on valuing IT investment. His approach is distinctive in its use of economic principles as the lens with which to analyze strategic management questions.

Gurbaxani has extensive experience in management education and advisory services, having lectured worldwide on management issues, taught extensively in degree and executive education programs, and consulted for and provided research expertise to many organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, technology service providers, and leading consulting firms. He has been a visiting scholar at the business schools at Stanford University and at MIT. In 1994-95, he was a Research Fellow at Computer Sciences Corporation, where he reported to the President of the Technology Management Group.

Gurbaxani has an active research program supported by funds from the National Science Foundation and from industry, having raised over $5M during his career. He authored the book, “Managing Information Systems Costs,” and has published numerous articles in premier journals in his areas of specialization including Information Systems Research, Management Science, MIS Quarterly and Sloan Management Review. His expertise in outsourcing was recognized when he won the 2002 Outsourcing World Achievement Award in the Academic category by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Michael Corbett and Associates at the fourth annual Outsourcing World Summit Conference & Exposition.

He also served as Senior Associate Dean from 2006 to 2008 and Associate Dean of the MBA program from 2004 until 2006 and from 1995 to 1999. In both terms, he led the school’s efforts to develop and implement new innovative curricula aimed at providing students with the capabilities and knowledge needed for success in the businesses of the future. In his first term, Gurbaxani initiated and then led the development of the school’s new strategic focus on the transformative role of information technology in business, an approach which led to widespread external recognition of the business school as a center of excellence in IT in business.

Gurbaxani received an integrated 5-year Master's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He received Master's and PhD degrees in Business Administration from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, New York. His doctoral thesis won the prize for the best dissertation in a worldwide competition sponsored by the International Center for Information Technologies.