David J. Collis

David J. Collis

Adjunct Professor

Adjunct Professor

Strategy
+1 (617) 495-6768
 
David J. Collis
Unit
Contact Information
(617) 495-6768
Featured Work Publications Research Summary Awards & Honors

For the past thirty years David J. Collis has been a professor at the Harvard Business School, where he was only the second ever full-time Adjunct Professor appointed. Previously, he was the Thomas Henry Carroll Ford Foundation Adjunct Professor, the MBA Class of 1958 Senior Lecturer and an Associate Professor in the Strategy group at the Harvard Business School, having also completed five years as the Frederick Frank Adjunct Professor of International Business Administration at the Yale School of Management and two years as a professor at Columbia Business School. The winner of the 50th Anniversary McKinsey Award for the best article in the Harvard Business Review in 2008, and a Harvard Business Review best-selling author, he is an expert on corporate strategy and global competition, and is the author of the recent books International Strategy: Context, Concepts and Choices; Corporate Strategy (with Cynthia Montgomery); and Corporate Headquarters (with Michael Goold and David Young). Professor Collis is on the faculty for several HBS Executive Education programs, including Strategy: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage, and cochairs Building and Sustaining Value Across Markets. As the author of over thirty articles and book chapters, his work has been frequently published in the Harvard Business Review, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, and in many books including Managing the Multibusiness Company, International Competitiveness, and Beyond Free Trade. The over one hundred cases and articles he has authored have sold nearly 2.5 million copies, with over 14,000 citations.

David Collis received an M.A. (1976) with a Double First from Cambridge University where he was the Wrenbury Scholar of the University. He graduated as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School, MBA (1978), and received a Ph.D. (1986) in Business Economics at Harvard University where he was a Dean's Doctoral Fellow. From 1978 to 1982 he worked for the Boston Consulting Group in London. He is currently a consultant to several major U.S. corporations, and on the Board of Directors of Cambridge in America, the Board of Trustees of the Hult International Business School, and the Advisory Boards of Vivaldi Partners, Muzzy Lane and formerly of Walter Scott PICIS, Ocean Spray, and WebCT. He is also the cofounder of the elearning company E-Edge, and the advisory firm Ludlow Partners.

Featured Work
International Strategy: Context, Concepts and Implications

The comprehensive guide to managing and leading companies that compete internationally

Drawing on the course material developed at the Harvard Business School and Yale School of Management by David Collis, International Strategy provides theoretical insight and pragmatic tools that address the decisions facing senior managers in multinational corporations.

Filled with illustrative examples from a wide range of international companies, International Strategy offers an accessible guide to help managers navigate the myriad decisions they must make in order to create value from their foreign operations and outperform competitors in an increasingly integrated world.

How to Build a Digital Brand That Lasts
HBR Web Article
What makes a brand durable even as business models, technology and consumer behavior radically change? They key is that durable brands are adaptable brands — even legacy ones. To create durability, apply the MACE framework: 1) Mastery: Give your consumers non-transferrable rewards for using your products and engaging with your content; 2) Accessibility: Make your brand easily available to as many consumers as possible; 3) Cadence: Constantly create news and content around your brand; and 4) Ensnarement: Make your brand as sticky as possible by building in switching costs and creating network effects.
Books
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
  • Collis, David J., Bharat Anand, and J. Yo-Jud Cheng. "The United States in Contemporary Perspectives: Evolving Forms, Strategy, and Performance." Chap. 15 in Business Groups in the West: Origins, Evolution, and Resilience, edited by Asli M. Colpan and Takashi Hikino. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "The Value of Breadth and the Importance of Differences." In Emerging Economies and Multinational Enterprises. Vol. 28, edited by Laszlo Tihanyi, Elitsa R. Banalieva, Timothy M. Devinney, and Torben Pedersen, 29–33. Advances in International Management. Emerald Group Publishing, 2015. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "The Paradox of Scope: A Challenge to the Governance of Higher Education." In Competing Conceptions of Academic Governance: Negotiating the Perfect Storm, edited by William G. Tierney. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "New Business Models for Higher Education." In The Future of the City of Intellect: The Changing American University, edited by Steven Brint, 181–202. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "When Industries Change Revisited: New Scenarios for Higher Education." In Forum Futures, edited by David J. Collis, 103–126. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2001. View Details
  • Ghemawat, Pankaj, and David J. Collis. "Mapping the Business Landscape." In The Portable MBA in Strategy, edited by Liam Fahey and Robert M. Randall, pp.171–188. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "When Industries Change: Scenarios for Higher Education." In Exploring the Future of Higher Education, edited by David J. Collis, 47–70. New York, NY: Forum for the Future of Higher Eucation, 1999. View Details
  • Collis, David J., Stephen P. Bradley, and P. William Bane Jr. "The Converging Worlds of Telecommunications, Computing and Entertainment." In Sense and Respond: Capturing Value in the Network Era, edited by Stephen P. Bradley and Richard L. Nolan, 31–62. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1998. View Details
  • Collis, D. J., P. W. Bane, and S. P. Bradley. "Winners and Losers--Industry Structure in the Converging World of Telecommunications, Computing, and Entertainment." In Competing in the Age of Digital Convergence, edited by D. B. Yoffie. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1997. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "Organisational Capability as a Source of Profit." In Ogranisational Learning and Competitive Advantage, edited by David J. Collis, 139–163. London: Sage Publications, 1996. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "Related Corporate Portfolios." In Managing the Multibusiness Company, edited by David J. Collis, 122–142. London: Routledge, 1996. View Details
  • Collis, D. J., and P. Ghemawat. "Industry Analysis." In The Portable MBA in Strategy, edited by Liam Fahey and Robert M. Randall. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "Bearings: The Visible Hand of Global Firms." In Beyond Free Trade: Firms, Governments, and Global Competition, edited by D. B. Yoffie, 251–310. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1993. View Details
  • Collis, David J. "The Machine Tool Industry and Industrial Policy 1955-82." In International Competitiveness, edited by A. Michael Spence and Heather A Hazard, 75–114. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1988. View Details
Working Papers
Cases and Teaching Materials
Research Summary
corporate strategy, international strategy, strategy process
David Collis' research is primarily concerned with how companies create value across markets, whether those markets are different businesses (corporate strategy), or different countries (international strategy). Additionally, he is interested in how strategies are developed and new initiatives and companies launched, whether within large corporations or as entrepreneurial ventures. 
Awards & Honors
Recognized as one of the Top One Hundred Most Influential Textbook Authors by the Academy of Management Learning and Education in 2018.
Recognized as one of the Top Twenty-five Best-selling Case Authors (out of over 8,000 authors) for The Case Centre in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
“Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?” (with Michael G. Rukstad, April 2008) was selected by the editors at Harvard Business Review for the 2013 HBR OnPoint issue entitled, “Turn Smart Strategy into Winning Performance,” due to the article’s timely relevance in today’s workplace.
Elected a fellow of The International Academy of Management in 2013 in recognition of an outstanding international contribution to the science and art of management.
In 2012, Harvard Business Review ranked “Competing on Resources: Strategy in the 1990s” (with Cynthia Montgomery) as one of the top twenty-five most cited articles of all time.
Harvard Business Review Best Selling Author in 2010 with over one quarter of a million reprints sold.
Named first-place co-winner of the 50th Anniversary McKinsey Award for the best article in Harvard Business Review during 2008 for the paper (with the late Michael G. Rukstad) "Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?"
Selected as the Outstanding Reviewer for Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management in 2008.
Named 1986 Dean's Doctoral Fellow at Harvard Business School.
Selected as a 1978 Baker Scholar at Harvard Business School.
Named the 1976 Wrenbury Scholar at University of Cambridge (top academic economist of the class).
Selected as a 1976 Downing Scholar at University of Cambridge.
Recipient of the 2024 STR Outstanding Educator Award for Excellence in MBA/Executive education from the Strategic Management Division of the Academy of Management.
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