Dr. Rao teaches extensively in the Babson Executive Education programs. His executive teaching and consulting are in the areas of innovation, implementation of innovation initiatives within firms, corporate entrepreneurship, and customer experience innovation. Dr. Rao also teaches 2 elective courses in the Babson MBA programs (1) Leading Innovation: Gorillas, Chimps & Monkeys and (2) #CX #UX #DX Innovation. His research has appeared in The Sloan Management Review, the Journal of Innovative Management, The European Business Review, The European Financial Review, Cornell Hotel, and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, and others. He is the author of the book The Discipline and Culture of Innovation. He has written several business cases on a range of topics.

He was a member of the Innovation Advisory Board at Ocean Spray (USA) from 2010 to 2015. He currently sits on the Innovation Advisory Board of Bancolombia (Colombia), and on the Flavor Advisory Board of Firmenich (Switzerland). He also has a family-business background and sits on the board of Hymamshu (Bangalore, India).