Diana Jue-Rajasingh

I teach advanced strategy classes (with a focus on corporate strategy) for undergraduates and MBA students at Rice University. At the University of Michigan, I taught corporate strategy and business strategy for undergraduates.

I have taught in-person and virtually. In my virtual class, students would watch asynchronous lectures before attending sessions, during which we had a case discussion or live case update. Here is an example of an asynchronous lecture.

In a Poets&Quants for Undergrads column, one of my BBA students at the University of Michigan corporate strategy class as one of the "5 Most Impactful Business Classes" she had taken. You can read her reflections, as well as an interview with me about my approach to teaching, here (or in this PDF).

To the left is a photo of dusty, unopened improved biomass cooking stoves that were supposed to reduce indoor air pollution. I took it in Tamil Nadu, India where I was conducting field research on the distribution of life-improving technologies.

Of the different models that I saw, none were working exceptionally well. Nonprofit organizations gave products away at a subsidized price, and customers didn’t value them. Village level entrepreneurs were difficult to find, unreliable, and hard to scale. Brick-and-mortar stores required too much upfront financing. Most organizations were still pitching these technologies as products for poor people – an unattractive sales strategy.

I co-founded Essmart to address these problems. The social enterprise creates an essential marketplace for these technologies in places where people already buy their goods -- small stores near where they live. We demonstrate a catalogue of products, distribute to local mom-and-pop stores, and facilitate manufacturers’ warranties. From August 2012 to August 2016, I oversaw operations in southern India. To date, Essmart has positively impact over 1.1 million people people through our network of shops.

Here are Essmart's website and Facebook page.