Dr. McDermott specializes in international business and institutional analysis, particularly on issues of governance, innovation and corporate strategy in emerging countries. His work in Latin America examined conditions under which societies build new innovative capacities that enable their industries to compete in global markets. Dr. McDermott's first book, Embedded Politics: Industrial Networks and Institutional Change in Post-Communism (University of Michigan Press, 2002), was a finalist for the American Political Science Association's 2003 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for the Best Book on government, politics and international affairs.