Manolito Hibanada

My research explores how power dynamics influences the relationship between platform owners and complementor firms in managing digital platforms across geographic contexts and regulatory settings. I also probe into the evolution of complementor firms as a function of their imitative capabilities and innovative activities vis-à-vis (mal)adaptations to platform governance models. My research is funded by the Swedish National Research School of Management and IT.

I am a proud alumnus of HEC Montréal where I completed my MSc in International Business with Great Distinction (summa cum laude) within the research track of the program. While at HEC Montréal, I received research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for my master’s thesis in the exploration of cannabis global value chains.

I completed my undergraduate studies at Concordia University in Montréal with a Bachelor of Arts – Double Majors with Distinction (cum laude). I obtained my first Major in Community, Public Affairs, and Policy Studies from Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs, and my second Major in Psychology with a focus on Cultural-Clinical Psychology.

Prior to pursuing graduate studies, I have ten years of professional experience in Montréal, Canada in the domains of mental health and wellness digital platforms, mutual funds, and precious metals trading.

I firmly believe in giving back to the community through volunteering and advocacy work. I am currently an advisory committee volunteer for Futures World Championships – International E-sport Case Competition. I also have volunteered as a scientific committee member for Medical Cannabis Canada, and a case worker and community organizer for the Immigrant Workers’ Centre in Montréal and PINAY Québec.

My research orientation is at the intersection of international business, innovation management, strategy, public policy, and psychology. I defer towards an interdisciplinary lens in researching complex phenomena using a variety of qualitative methodological approaches.

In July 2024, I was nominated to the Alan M. Rugman Most Promising Scholar Award at the Academy of International Business (AIB) Annual Conference in Seoul, South Korea for my research on cannabis global value chains. In June 2022, an abridged version of my master's thesis won the Best Paper Award at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) Annual Conference in Halifax, Canada.

My portfolio currently includes collaboration projects on the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector in the Global South. I also am collaborating on projects that investigate the influence of the EU AI Act to the decision making process and strategy implementation amidst cross border merger and acquisitions of AI firms.

A series of my ongoing collaboration projects involve probing into the case of gender-based violence elimination in the global value chains of the garment and textile sector, as well as the host-country social acceptability of an internationalized electric vehicle (EV) battery factory in Canada.

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