Devin Stein
Strategy · Governance · Environment

Devin Stein

How order emerges without hierarchy

My research asks how communities and organizations self-organize to govern complex collective problems — from wildfire and water rights to public health — when no single actor has the authority or knowledge to act alone. I draw on institutional economics, polycentric governance theory, and strategic management to study the structures that emerge when coordination happens without command.

Methods & tools Panel econometrics · IV/GMM · Geospatial analysis · Archival data | Stata · Python · QGIS · R
01 Research
My work contributes to strategy and management theory by studying polycentric governance — how decentralized, overlapping organizational structures create public value in contexts where centralized authority breaks down.
Published · AMJ
R&R · SMJ
[Title withheld for blind review] — Organizational diversity and wildfire management
Koppl, R., Minniti, M., & Stein, D.
R&R · JBV
[Title withheld for blind review] — Entrepreneurial ecosystems as knowledge commons
Stein, D. & Minniti, M.
Working Paper
Whisky is for Drinking, Water is for Fighting Over: Stakeholder Dynamics and Property Rights Innovations
Stein, D., Dean, T., & Minniti, M.
Working Paper
Scaling Without Hierarchy: Governing Collective Action Across Organizational Boundaries
Stein, D.
Working Paper
Venture Capital Composition Under Natural Disaster Exposure
Han, S., Lee, S. Y., & Stein, D.
Working Paper
Adapting Together: Portfolio Consolidation and Climate Adaptation in the Ski Industry
Stein, D.
Working Paper
Enabling Systemic Search Through Interorganizational Hybridity
Koppl, R., Minniti, M., & Stein, D.
Working Paper
Stigma, Alignment, and Public Health Policy in Brazil
Minniti, M., Rodriguez, Z., & Stein, D.
Working Paper
Know Thy Neighbor: Community Organizing and Knowledge Spillovers
Stein, D. & Minniti, M.
02 Recognition
2025Outstanding Dissertation AwardEd Snider Center for Enterprise & Markets, University of Maryland
2025Finalist, Best Dissertation AwardAcademy of Management — Social Impact & Management (SIM)
2025Excellence in Innovative Teaching AwardManderson Graduate School of Business
2025Untenured Tenure-Track Instructional Excellence AwardCulverhouse College of Business
2024Best Dissertation AwardAcademy of Management — Organizations & the Natural Environment (ONE)
2023Smith FellowThomas W. Smith Foundation / Institute for Humane Studies
2022Dr. Torpey Teaching Excellence AwardWhitman School of Management, Syracuse University
2022Outstanding Teaching Assistant AwardSyracuse University Graduate School
2015First Place, Undergraduate Research CompetitionAssociation of Private Enterprise Education
03 Teaching
Courses taught
Business Policy · Manderson MBA, Alabama5.00 · 4.91 · 4.80 · 4.75
Strategic Management · Culverhouse, Alabama4.70 · 4.61
Building Blocks of Entrepreneurship · Culverhouse, Alabama4.64 · 4.25
Introduction to Entrepreneurship · Whitman, Syracuse4.66 · 4.44 · 4.38
4.65 / 5.0 mean · 11 course sections
Three teaching excellence awards
04Talks & Presentations
2025
Minniti, Rodriguez & Stein — “The Multilevel Nature of Social Entrepreneurship: Managing the AIDS Epidemic in Brazil”
Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Boston
2024
Stein & Minniti — “Know Thy Neighbor: Community Organizing and Knowledge Spillovers”
Academy of Management, Chicago · Babson BCERC, Munich
2022
Palubinskas, Stein & Minniti — “Nonmarket Strategies and Firm Performance”
Strategic Management Society, London
Stein — “Nested Knowledge and the Creation of Public Value”
Oxford Residence Week · Industry Studies Association, Philadelphia
Diaz, Stein & Minniti — “Legitimacy, Licensing, and Informal Entrepreneurship”
Babson BCERC, Waco
2020–2021
Stein & Minniti — “Competition, Coordination, and Civic Wealth Creation”
Academy of Management, 2021 · Social Entrepreneurship Conference, Bloomington, 2020
Stein & Minniti — “Decentralized Institutions for Public Goods”
Academy of Management, Vancouver, 2020 · SEE Conference, San Juan, 2020
05 Bio & Headshot
Short bio
Devin Stein is an Assistant Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship at Colorado State University’s College of Business. His research examines how communities and organizations self-organize to address problems of collective action and social impact — from wildfire management to public health. His award-winning dissertation on wildfire management in California has been recognized by the Academy of Management and the University of Maryland’s Ed Snider Center. He holds a Ph.D. from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.