Ashok Som is Associate Dean of Global MBA Program at ESSEC Business School, Paris-Singapore. He is the founder of the India Research Centre at ESSEC, Director of the Global Management Programs on Luxury and Retail Management (in partnership with Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad) and co-ordinator of the module Managing International Business. He received his Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, M.Sc and M.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and bachelors degree from Presidency College, Calcutta, India. Ashok’s three main research areas are in organization re-design, innovative HRM and innovation in Asia. His research has been published in Human Resource Management, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, European Business Forum, Thunderbird International Business Review to name a few. He has authored more than 35 case studies which have been widely referred, published and is respective best-sellers in their fields. His cases on {Lafarge: From a French cement company to a Global Leader (304-019-1); Carrefour Chevere (304-275-1)} won international awards. He is the winner of EFMD Case Writing Competition 2008 in the Indian Management category. He is a Visiting Professor at Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand); Graduate School of Business, Keio University (Tokyo), IIM Ahmedabad (India) and Tamkang University (Taiwan). He has been featured in Who’s Who of the World. He was nominated as one of the 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century in 2008-2009. He is the author of the book Organization-Redesign and Innovative HRM, Oxford University Press (Nov 2008) and International Management: Managing the Global Corporation, McGraw Hill, UK (August 2009).

Ashok's current research interests lie in the role of strategy in shaping human resource practices in turbulent environment, creation and evolution of organizational capabilities and performance specifically during organizational design (restructuring/re-engineering), HR innovation, governance and adoption of Strategic Human Resource Management Practices in organizations. He is currently studying the Luxury Industry, the global Movie Industry and the Art Industry.

He has been involved with large corporations such as Caisses d'Epargne, Lafarge, LVMH, LOreal, Canal+, Renault, Vodafone, Philips, Faurecia, France Telecom on topics related to International Strategy, Organization Design, International HR, Post-Merger Integration and Cross-cultural management issues. He has intervened in programs like "International and Cross-cultural Management" for middle-management executives of Norwegian Business School, speaking on "French Management Elites: The Indian Perspective". He is the co-ordinator of the module "Managing the Global Corporation" in the ESSEC-Mannheim Executive MBA programs. He is the founder Academic Director of ESSEC-IIMA Global Management Program on Luxury and Retail Management.

He lives with his family in Maisons Laffitte , a suburb of Paris.