Expert on strategy, marketing and organization for multinational companies as board director, manager, consultant, researcher and teacher. Emeritus Professor of Marketing and Strategy (and former Associate Dean for Executive MBA) at Imperial College Business School. Distinguished Visiting Professor and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Emerging Markets, D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. Fellow of the Academy of International Business. Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. Editorial Advisory Boards of California Management Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. Chair of Research Advisory Committee of SKEMA Business School (France). Previous academic positions include Professor of Strategy and Co-Director of the Centre on China Innovation at China Europe International Business School; Dean of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University; and Harvard, Georgetown (visiting), UCLA, Stanford (visiting), Oxford (visiting), Cambridge Judge (Beckwith Professor of Marketing and Strategy), London Business School (Professor and Associate Dean, MBA), and Lead Senior Fellow of the UK’s Advanced Institute of Management Research. Previous business positions include VP and Director of Research & Innovation at Capgemini Consulting, senior manager at Price Waterhouse (USA), manager at Unilever, and various boards. Author or co-author of Pioneers, Hidden Champions, Change Makers and Underdogs: Lessons From China’s Innovators (2019), China’s Next Strategic Advantage: From Imitation to Innovation (2016), Strategic Transformation (2013), Managing Global Customers (2007), Asian Advantage: Key Strategies for Winning in the Asia-Pacific Region (1998), and Total Global Strategy (1992 and 2012). Over 100 publications and 12,000 citations, including in Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review and California Management Review.

Education

  • DBA Business Policy (supervised by Professor Michael E. Porter), Harvard Business School
  • MBA, Cranfield School of Management (year 1) and Harvard Business School (year 2) strategy and finance with distinction
  • MA Economics and Law, Cambridge University
  • BA Economics and Law, Cambridge University

Selected Publications

  • Mark Greeven, Katherine Xin, and George S. Yip (2021),” How Chinese Retailers Are Reinventing the Customer Journey: Five lessons for Western companies”, Harvard Business Review, September-October, pp. 84-93.
  • Mark Greeven and George S. Yip (2021) “Six paths to Chinese company innovation,” Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 38, 17-33.
  • George Yip and Nelson Phillips (2020), “Good Leadership Hinges on “Organizational Intelligence” ”, Harvard Business Review online, 15 June, https://hbr.org/2020/06/good-leadership-hinges-on-organizational-intelligence?ab=hero-subleft-3
  • Mark Greeven, George S. Yip and Wei Wei, “Understanding China's Next Wave of Innovation,“ MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 60, No. 3, Spring 2019, pp. 75-80.
  • Shameen Prashantham and George S. Yip, “Engaging Startups in Emerging Markets,” MIT Sloan Management Review, 58 (2), Winter 2017, pp. 51 – 56.
  • George S. Yip and Bruce McKern, China's Next Strategic Advantage: From Imitation to Innovation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2016, 290 pages.

Selected Presentations

Research & Teaching Interests

Yip's research interests focus on frontier issues for managers, especially in international business. His current main focus is about the rise of innovation in China and how both Chinese and foreign companies can manage that phenomenon. Another current focus is global account management by multinational companies.

He teaches international business and strategic management to MBA and executive education classes. His MBA elective on International Business at Imperial College Business School was rated by the class of 2016 highly enough that Imperial was ranked 7th in the world for MBA international business by the Financial Times.

Industry & Academic Experience

Previous academic positions include Professor of Marketing and Strategy and Associate Dean of Executive MBA, Member of Management Board, Imperial College Business School; Professor of Strategy and Co-Director of the Centre on China Innovation at China Europe International Business School; Dean of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University; and Harvard, Georgetown (visiting), UCLA, Stanford (visiting), Oxford (visiting), Cambridge Judge (Beckwith Professor of Marketing and Strategy), London Business School (Professor and Associate Dean, MBA), and Lead Senior Fellow of the UK's Advanced Institute of Management Research.

Previous business positions include VP and Director of Research & Innovation at Capgemini Consulting, senior manager at Price Waterhouse (USA), and manager at Unilever.

Corporate Boards: Institute for Developing Markets (Africa), Glunz AG (Germany), Arlington Capital Management (Guernsey), and Data Instruments, Inc., (Lexington, MA).

Advisory Boards: Sonae (Portugal), Gemini Consulting (UK); Monitor Group (Europe), Capgemini C4 (telecom, media and entertainment); SKEMA (France), American University of Cairo Business School (Egypt), Porto Business School (Portugal) and Universiti Kebangsan Malaysia Graduate School of Business.

Non-Profit Boards and Advisory Boards: Shadwell Opera (UK), Hewnoaks Artist Colony (Maine), MassOpera (Boston), and Boston Lyric Opera.

Services to the Profession

  • California Management Review, International Advisory Board (2016 – )
  • MIT Sloan Management Review, Editorial Advisory Board (2013 – )
  • Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Editorial Board (2012 – 2016)
  • Asia-Pacific Business Review, Editorial Board (2005 – 2008)
  • Long Range Planning, Editorial Advisory Board (1996 – )

Awards & Recognitions

  • Elected in 1999 as Life Fellow of the Academy of International Business.
  • SAGE Scholarly Impact Award 2014 for co-authored article “Measuring Organizational Performance as a Dependent Variable: Towards Methodological Best Practice,” Journal of Management, 35, 3, June 2009.
  • ESMT Research Impacting Practice – Bringing Technology to Market Conference April 2012, won first prize for presentation “Customer Centric Leadership: The Rise of the Customer General Manager”, with Christoph Senn and Axel Thoma.
  • Runner Up for best paper award at 2002 Annual Conference of the Academy of International Business.
  • Business Horizons award for the Best Article on Global Business published in 2000.
  • Hans B. Thorelli Best Paper Award (2000) for the “most significant contribution to international marketing theory or thought,” in the Journal of International Marketing (lead author).

Media Mentions