Strategy courses

Academic Focus

Acquisitions and corporate strategy, developing an acquisitions strategy and post-acquisition integration.

Recent Clients

Marcus Alexander consults to a number of multinational companies such as Shell, Proeza and Alfa Group, and has worked with more than 50 group CEOs over three decades. He also brings experience from joint ventures in Abu Dhabi and as a board member of an acquisitive Saudi Arabian Group.

Experience

Alexander is a non-executive director of companies in three countries, and on the advisory board of a private equity firm. Prior to joining London Business School, he worked in investment banking, strategy consulting, and advertising. He has had many articles published in leading practitioner journals, including Business Strategy Review, Harvard Business Review and California Management Review. He has also co-authored a number of books and contributed to leading news outlets including the BBC, CNN, CNBC, The Times, and the Financial Times.

Academic Focus

David’s research interests include marketing strategy, innovation and market evolution, brand management, and global customer management.

Experience

He consults to multinational companies on various aspects of international marketing. His publications have included The Mirage of Global Markets (2003), Can Selling be Globalized? (2001), Seven Rules of International Distribution (2000) and The Handbook of Brand Management (1992). David also holds adjunct faculty positions at two other business schools.

Experience

John Bates is the founder and a director of Sussex Place Ventures Ltd, the School’s in-house venture capital fund manager. For 10 years he led the School’s practical initiatives in developing entrepreneurial firms. This included €20 million of pre-seed and seed venture capital funds and various networks of entrepreneurs, advisors and private investors who have supported over 70 alumni-founded or affiliated companies since 1998.

He started teaching and developing Strategy and Entrepreneurship courses at LBS in 1985, while also starting up, running and selling two technology businesses in Cambridge. He developed and taught New Venture Development, Managing the Growing Business and New Creative Ventures MBA electives and the popular Growing Your Business Open Executive programme. As Fellow in Strategy and Entrepreneurship, he continues to teach on custom programmes for Executive Education clients and the Entrepreneurship Summer School for Masters students.

He received his BSc from Nottingham University in 1972. Following a sales career in the scientific equipment and pharmaceutical industries in the UK and Africa, he graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA with high distinction in 1979.

Mr Bates then became a Marketing Manager for International Paint (now part of AkzoNobel), launching the highly successful Interpon range of solvent-free coatings worldwide. He was invited back to Harvard as a lecturer on the MBA programme in 1983, before joining the London Business School faculty part-time the following year.

Since then he has balanced a career as an entrepreneur, educator, investor and investment manager. He is chairman of DocSociety, Chattermill Ltd , Colmeia Ltd (Hiver) and New Unity CIO (Charity). He is an investor, director or board advisor of a number of early-stage ventures and growing businesses in the creative and technology industries in London.

Academic Focus

Julian’s main area of expertise is in the strategy and management of large multinational corporations, specifically corporate entrepreneurship, innovation, change management and subsidiary headquarters relationships.

Recent Clients

Rio Tinto, ABN Amro, UBS, Tata Group, Exxon.

Experience

Professor Julian Birkinshaw is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Strategic Management Society, and the (US) Academy of Management. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees by the Stockholm School of Economics (2009) and Copenhagen Business School (2018), and is regularly ranked among the Thinkers50 list of the top global management thinkers.

His main area of expertise is in the strategy and organisation of large corporations, and specifically such issues as innovation, corporate entrepreneurship, strategic agility and headquarters-subsidiary relationships.

Professor Birkinshaw is the author of 15 books, including Fast/Forward, Becoming a Better Boss, Reinventing Management and Giant Steps in Management, and more than 90 articles in journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review.

Professor Birkinshaw speaks at business conferences in the UK, Europe, North America and Australia. He is regularly quoted in international media outlets, including CNN, the BBC, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Businessweek and The Times.

Academic Focus

Currently Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, Donal Crilly is Associate Editor at the Strategic Management Journal, and an editorial board member of the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, the Journal of International Business Studies, and Strategic Organization.

Experience

Michael Davies is a globally recognised thought leader in technology, innovation and leadership. Founder and Chairman of Massachusetts-based strategy consulting house Endeavour Partners, Michael has worked with the world’s leading digital and mobile businesses to develop growth strategies.

Academic Focus

Professor Tammy Erickson runs a board member simulation.

Experience

A McKinsey award-winning author, Professor Erickson has been three-times named one of the 50 most influential global management thinkers by Thinkers50. An experienced senior executive, she has served on the Board of Directors of two Fortune 500 companies. Her academic work is based on extensive research on employee values and the changing nature of work.

Experience

Professor Aytekin Ertan’s research focuses on financial intermediation and debt contracting, specifically, the real effects of financial regulation and banks’ reporting practices. His research has been accepted for publication in top journals, including the Accounting Review and Journal of Accounting Research. Aytekin has taught Executive MBA, MBA, Masters in Finance, and doctoral courses in financial reporting. Prior to academia, he worked as a banker in Turkey.

Academic Focus

Dr David Faro’s research examines consumer and managerial decision-making. He is particularly focused on understanding and improving consumer decisions in medical and financial settings.

Recent Clients

Telenor, Tata, ExxonMobil, Idomoo, Digitai

Experience

Dr Faro's research has been published in top journals in marketing, psychology and management. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Consumer Research. Before joining academia, he worked in the marketing departments of household appliance firms in Turkey and Greece.

Experience

Professor Gallien’s research focuses on pushing the frontier of supply chain management and global health delivery through collaborations with leading firms and organisations. He has published, consulted and taught extensively in the areas of operations and supply chain management, and serves on the editorial boards of leading journals.

Academic Focus

Professor Gratton is recognised as one of the world’s leading thinkers on human resources and the future of work. Over the last 20 years she has written extensively about the interface between people and organisations. She was named by The Times/Harvard Business Review ‘Business Thinkers50’ as one of the top 15 business thinkers in the world.

Experience

Lynda has written extensively about the interface between people and organisations. Her most recent book, Redesigning Work: How to Transform Your Organisation and Make Hybrid work for Everyone, presents a four-step framework to help organisations thrive in today’s more flexible working world, while The New Long Life, published with co-author Andrew Scott, LBS Professor of Economics, delivers a post-pandemic road map exploring the need to invest in productive longevity.

Previous titles cover the link between business and HR strategy (Living Strategy), new ways of working (The Democratic Enterprise), the rise of complex collaboration (Hot Spots and Glow) the impact of a changing world on employment and work (The Shift) and the impact of longevity on society (The 100 Year Life – co-authored with Andrew Scott).

Lynda is a Steward of the World Economic Forum and has chaired the WEF Council on Leadership. She serves as a judge on the Google.org prize, and in November 2017 was named as a council member of Prime Minister Abe’s council on social change.

Academic Focus

Guest Lecturer at London Business School and Research Affiliate at MIT. A serial technology entrepreneur, advisor, keynote speaker and author, Peter Hinssen is one of the most sought-after thought leaders on radical innovation, leadership and the impact of digital on society and business. Peter founded nexxworks to help organisations become fluid, innovate and thrive in The Day After Tomorrow, the title of his most recent book.

Recent Clients

He has performed keynotes for major technology firms such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle.

Experience

Peter’s research examines radical and disruptive changes in society due to technology innovation. Since 2008, Peter has taught on London Business School’s Senior Executive Programme. Since 2016, he has been a research affiliate at MIT SLOAN CISR, the centre for Information Systems Research.

Academic Focus

Dominic teaches strategy, values and corporate transformation. He combines his teaching work with independent consultancy assignments and Board appointments.

Recent Clients

Dominic works as an independent consultant with major corporations including SAP, Linde, Balfour Beatty, Groupe Publicis, Deloitte, British Airways, G4S, PwC and Herbert Smith.

Experience

Previously, Dominic was Group Strategy Director at Blue Circle Industries. He was responsible for managing the Group’s business planning systems, leading merger and acquisition programmes, and coaching executives in the development and implementation of corporate strategy. Dominic’s books include Strategy and Mindfulness and Money, and he has also published in Sloan Management Review and Harvard Business Review. His most recent article, The Professional Challenge, looks at the dangers and opportunities facing global knowledge intensive organisations.

Academic Focus

Professor Ioannis Ioannou focuses on business and sustainability.

Recent Clients

He consults internationally on environmental, social and corporate governance strategies. He is a member of the UK Network Rail’s External Transparency Challenge Panel, the Prosperity Panel and the Advisory Board of Ethical Corporation.

Experience

Professor Ioannou explores how, and the extent to which, organisations contribute towards building a sustainable future. In 2016, he was awarded the 2016 ARCS Emerging Sustainability Scholar Award

Academic Focus

Professor Jacobides is an expert on business model change and strategy in changing environments, and one of the worlds’ leading experts on business (and digital) ecosystems. He has studied industry change, value migration, and organisational transformation, and teaches the popular turnarounds elective. Professor Jacobides is an Academic Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, has served on the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, and is a visiting scholar with the New York Fed and a visiting fellow at Cambridge.

Recent Clients

McKinsey, IDEO, Accenture, PwC, Deloitte, Santander, Helvetia, Zurich, CS, Airbus, Lufthansa, Vodafone, Nokia, DeBeers, Burberry, MerckSerono and the NHS.

Experience

Professor Jacobides focuses on change, design and strategy: he studies industry evolution, value migration, new business models and structural change in firms and sectors. A highly cited researcher, he is an Editor of Industrial & Corporate Change, and has earned the Theory to Practice Award (2018, WU). A frequent keynote speaker at high profile events from TEDx to Davos, he puts his theory into practice with top consulting firms, Fortune 500 companies, and sits on smaller ventures’ Advisory Boards. He has also worked with the EU, the UK and the WEF on policy.

Experience

An experienced consultant and industry collaborator, Dr Yang’s main areas of research and teaching are supply chain finance, FinTech, business analytics, value chain management, risk management, and platform economy. His research has appeared in top management and finance academic journals.

Academic Focus

Professor Costas Markides teaches strategic innovation and creative thinking leading to breakthroughs.

Recent Clients

Unilever, Pirelli, Avon, Polygram, Mercury Asset Management, Nestlé, LVMH and Sara Lee.

Experience

Holder of the Robert P Bauman Chair of Strategic Leadership, Non-Executive Director of Amathus (UK) and best-selling author of All the Right Moves: A Guide to Crafting Breakthrough Strategy and Fast Second: How Smart Companies Bypass Radical Innovation to Enter and Dominate New Markets with Paul Geroski.

Academic Focus

Faculty lead for Financing the Entrepreneurial Business, and winner of nine teaching awards at LBS, John brings to his research and teaching 20 years of executive experience in high-growth retailing firms, including two ventures he founded and one he took public.

Recent Clients

John has served on the boards of fast-growth companies in Europe, North America and Asia.

Experience

John has delivered executive education on five continents, winning awards from the Marketing Science Institute, the American Marketing Association and the Richard D. Irwin Foundation. Widely published, he is the author of three bestselling trade books including, The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Executives Should Do Before Writing a Business Plan.

Academic Focus

Yiorgos’ research focuses on understanding how organisations and individuals identify new challenges and develop innovative ways of addressing them while overcoming resistance to change. He has examined these issues in the context of ecological sustainability, venture communities and business ecosystems.

Recent Clients

Zurich Financial Services, IBM, Lufthansa.

Experience

Yiorgos has taught and consulted for a wide range of companies worldwide, in sectors from banking to travel, and was Faculty Lead of the Global Business Consortium 2006-2012.

Academic Focus

Kathleen’s current research examines professional women’s critical decisions. She translates those findings into practical tips that women can use to boost their influence and effectiveness. Kathleen also advises firms on how to pull down the barriers that stop women from realising their ambitions.

Recent Clients

Danone, Nestle, Air Liquide, KPMG, Deutsche Bank, Prudential, World Economic Forum, Johnson Matthey and Young Presidents’ Organization.

Experience

Kathleen’s corporate consulting aims to help managers make smarter decisions, negotiate better strategic partnerships, build more effective networks, and foster high levels of sustained engagement and outstanding performance. The empirical research that backs her teaching and consulting appears in top-tier academic journals. That work also has been honoured by awards from leading professional organisations, including the Academy of Management and the International Association for Conflict Management.

Academic Focus

Professor Nicos Savva is an expert in data science, using it to solve operational problems and help large organisations develop data-science capabilities. He also advises on the policy implications of algorithms. His research focuses on hospital operations and healthcare management. His work has appeared in leading journals such as Management Science, M&SOM, Production & Operations Management, and Nature Biotechnology. He holds multiple editorial positions.

Experience

Professor Savva holds an honorary appointment at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, a large hospital system based in London. He has acted as a consultant to hospitals, biotech/pharma companies, high-tech start-ups, retail firms, and a hedge fund. He has also taught at The Wharton School, Columbia GSB, and at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

Academic Focus

Professor Henri Servaes offers participants new approaches to adding shareholder value, number analysis and governance.

Recent Clients

PwC, Deutsche Bank, Anglo American and Chase Manhattan.

Experience

Professor Servaes is Chair of the Finance Faculty, Director of the Institute of Finance and Accounting and an award-winning author published in the world’s top finance journals.

Experience

Dr Sivanathan’s research focuses on how social hierarchy and the psychological experience of status and power regulates judgement, decisions and behaviours.  He co-directs the Decision-Making Strategies for leaders programme, and directs the Leading Teams for Emerging Leaders programme. His teaching portfolio also includes the Negotiating and Bargaining elective for degree programmes and Influence and Persuasion for Executive Education programmes. 

Academic Focus

As a researcher, instructor, and programme director, Stefano has gleaned significant insights on strategy execution — which has become a critical component of the Executing Strategy for Results programme.

Recent Clients

In the last few years Stefano has consulted for a number of companies worldwide including Deutsche Bank, Coller Capital, Exterran, Ferrari, Hess Oil, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Luxottica, Oman Fiber Optic Company, Purdys, Thomson Reuters and VicSuper.

Experience

Stefano is the co-founder of Charles Thames Strategy Partners, a boutique advisory firm assisting CEOs and top teams in formulating and executing strategy. He has worked closely with a multitude of C-suite executives, leading company-wide interventions to remove strategic bottlenecks—all with documented results and far-reaching impact. Stefano holds an MSc in General Management (with distinction) from London Business School and an MSc in Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, and has studied participant-centered learning methods at Harvard Business School. He has published a number of papers, case studies and articles.