Biography

Click Here for Dr. Paul Friga's Full Curriculum Vitae

Paul FrigaDr. Paul N. Friga is a professor at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he teaches courses in management consulting and strategy. He also serves as the Director of the Consulting Concentrations for undergraduates and MBAs. He researches strategic decision-making, knowledge transfer, intuition, management consulting processes and entrepreneurship and has presented at numerous conferences throughout the world. He is the recipient of the IU Trustee Teaching Award (2008), IU Kelley School of Business Innovative Teaching Award (2006), and the UNC Kenan-Flagler Ph.D Teaching Award (2001). He was appointed to the Strategic Management Society task force on teaching strategy (2008).

Dr. Friga's work has been published in "The Academy of Management Learning and Education, Research Technology Management", and two books by McGraw-Hill, The McKinsey Mind (2001) and The McKinsey Engagement (2008-forthcoming). He serves on the Editorial Board for "The Academy of Management Learning and Education". His work has been cited in the "Economist", "CFO Magazine", "The Academy of Management Review", and other top journals. He completed his Ph.D. and MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and previously worked as a management consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and McKinsey & Company. Dr. Friga's undergraduate degree (Honors Program) is from Saint Francis University, where he graduated "Magna Cum Laude" with a double degree in Management and Accounting. He has also earned CPA and CMA designations.

Dr. Friga has consulted for numerous large (Fortune 100), mid-size and entrepreneurial companies as well as universities and not-for-profit organizations. Recent clients include "ABG Consulting, Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, Boeing, Boston Scientific, J.D. Power & Associates, Kimball Office Furniture, Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Scientific Atlanta (now part of Cisco), Technomic Consulting, the Greater Indianapolis Hospitality & Lodging Association, the U.S. Navy, and Walker Information". He is also a faculty member in the Institute for Management Studies for whom he offers approximately 5-10 one-day strategy seminars to executives in the U.S. and Europe each year. He is active in assisting with strategic planning for his church and community.

Dr. Paul Friga's Valued Clients and Relationships Include:

Dr. Friga's current research projects:
Measuring Personalized Knowledge Transfer
  • Currently wrapping up a six year study on the topic of knowledge transfer involving surveys of over 1,000 employees in top consulting/accounting firms
  • Proposition is that there is an over-focus on codified knowledge management systems including investment and measurement while the majority of knowledge resides in and transfers between the minds of employees
  • Proposing a new way of examining personalized knowledge transfer: "Measuring Conversations" - including both quantity and quality


Strategic Problem Solving and Project Management in Consulting
  • Created a methodology, "TEAM FOCUS", that examines the most important issues of successful project management (Talk, Evaluate, Assist, and Motivate; Frame the problem, Organize around hypotheses, Collect relevant data, Understand the "so what" and Synthesize and tell the story)
  • Ongoing study as to how top consulting firms (as well as a few exemplar non-consulting firms) recruit, train, evaluate and reward employees