Maria De Villa is Full Professor of Strategy at EAFIT University and Editorial Board Member of Global Strategy Journal (from the Strategic Management Society) and Long Range Planning (the first scientific journal to appear in the world in the field of Strategy). Previously she was Academic Director of Alta Dirección (Exec Ed) and MBA Director at EAFIT. She has been invited as a visiting scholar to Northeastern University (U.S.), Pula University (Croatia), and ESAN University (Peru). She obtained her Ph.D. in Strategy from Cranfield University (U.K) and her MBA, Marketing Specialization, and International Business B.I.B. from EAFIT. She has also participated in the executive programs “Global Strategic Management" at Harvard University (United States) and “Strategic Management Performance" at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge (England). Her research is focused on MNE's nonmarket strategies, particularly corporate political strategies/capabilities to manage host markets of high political risk, and the internationalization of emerging market multinationals. Her research has received the Most Cited Article 2019-2020 Recognition from the Global Strategy Journal, the Best Paper Award from the Academy of International Business, has been nominated to the Best Conference PhD Paper Prize from the Strategic Management Society, and was finalist to the Gunnar Hedlund Award for the best doctoral thesis in the world in international business from the Stockholm School of Economics and the European International Business Association.
Her doctoral research was conducted within Grupo Nutresa and included more than 30 food companies (both local and foreign) with headquarters or branches in Colombia and with sales in Venezuela, Ecuador, or Nicaragua, such as: Pepsico, Kellogg's, Nestlé, Cadbury, Grupo Bimbo, among others. During her coordination of PROCOLOMBIA's Expopyme program, Professor De Villa was involved in the consulting of the international and competitive strategies of more than 250 companies. She has also been the Director of AAC Logistics, where she was involved in the coordination of exports and logistic operations of companies such as Ford, Gerber, Nokia and Ecopetrol. She is an active member of the Strategic Management Society, Academy of Management, and Academy of International Business.
Her work has appeared in the Global Strategy Journal, International Business Review, Thunderbird International Business Review, and others. The following are some of Professor De Villa's publications: "Political strategies of subsidiaries of multinational enterprises" in The Oxford Handbook of International Business Strategy; "To engage or not to engage with host governments: Corporate political activity and host-country political risk" in Global Strategy Journal; "Assessing the needs of international markets against an emergent market company's capabilities: A tool for internationalization" in Thunderbird International Business Review (co-author Carlos Enrique Piedrahita, Former CEO of Grupo Nutresa); "Market entry modes in a multipolar world: Untangling the moderating effect of the political environment" in International Business Review; “The mirror trap: Do managerial perceptions influence organizational responses to crises?" in Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración (the official journal of the Latin American Council of Schools of Management); and “From Multilatina to Global Latina: Unveiling the corporate-level international strategy choices of the Grupo Nutresa" in Revista Administer.