Robert Gibbons is Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Professor in MIT’s Department of Economics. His research and teaching concern the design and performance of organized activities, especially “relational contracts” (informal agreements so rooted in the parties' circumstances that they cannot be adjudicated by courts). Organized activities may occur within firms, between firms (e.g., supply relationships, alliances, joint ventures), or beyond firms (e.g., hospitals, schools, government agencies). He has won teaching awards in both the Sloan School and the Economics Department.