George Yip

George Yip Speaker Biography

Leading Authority on Global Strategy and Marketing

Geoge Yip is Emeritus Professor of Marketing and Strategy, Imperial College Business School. His 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 faculty at Harvard, UCLA, Cambridge Judge, and London Business School. Previous business positions include Vice President and Director of Research & Innovation at Capgemini Consulting, senior manager at Price Waterhouse (USA), manager at Unilever, and various boards.

Books

George is the 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: Changing While Winning (2013), Managing Global Customers (2007), Asian Advantage: Key Strategies for Winning in the Asia-Pacific Region (1998), and Total Global Strategy (1992 and 2012).

Publications

George has over 100 articles in print, including those in Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review and California Management Review.

Education

He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in economics from Cambridge University; and MBAs from Cranfield School of Management and Harvard Business School, and a doctorate from Harvard. He is Chinese with American and British nationalities.

Keynote Speaker

In his talks and teaching, George brings a unique combination of his Asian background, British eloquence and humor, and American expertise. He also blends academic rigor with business pragmatism and draws on many company examples.

Clients

George is an outstanding speaker who has talked to top management groups and forums all over the world, including ABN Amro, American Express, Arab-Malaysian Bank, Arup, Ashland, Ashmore Investment Forum, Bank of America, BASF, Beiersdorf, Bertelsmann, Brown Forman, Carl Zeiss, Confederation of British Industries, Cisco, Concours Group, Corporate Research Forum, D Group, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Delta Airlines, Deutsche Bank, Du Pont, Ernst & Young, Etisalat, Genting, GMAC, HLB International, Honeywell, IBM, J-Phone (Japan), Industry Canada, Invensys, McKinsey, KPMG, Milliken, National Australia Bank, Nestlé, Nissan, Nokia, Philips, Peoplesoft, Pitney Bowes, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ralston-Purina, San Miguel, SAP, Sara Lee, Saudi Basic Industries Company, Singapore Airlines, Sonae, Sony, Strategic Account Management Association, ST Microelectronics, TAS, TransCanada, and Via Group; and for conferences held by Business Week, Chatham House, Far Eastern Economic Review, Forbes, Fortune, Global Competitiveness Forum (Saudi Arabia), Global Digital Leaders Summit, Global HR Forum (Seoul), Pacific Economic Congress (Vladivostok), World Economic Forum (Davos, Seoul, Singapore, Dalian, and Tianjin), and World Chinese Economic Forum (Beijing).

George Yip Speaking Topics

Strategic Transformation and Organizational Intelligence

Most company strategies are based on what has been done in the past, especially if it was successful. They go through long periods of relative continuity during which established strategy changes, but only incrementally. What companies find difficult is to make radical changes or strategic transformations that change the existing business model. Managers need to be able to: Recognize when strategies need to be changed or transformed. Diagnose the organizational barriers to strategic change. Learn a framework for strategic transformation. Understand how to develop traditions for transformation (based on a study of the 20-year financial and strategic performance of 215 of the largest publicly listed British companies). Also, to execute strategic transformation, leaders need to motivate an organization of thousands or hundreds of thousands to embrace and implement the change strategies. It helps to have a high IQ, emotional intelligence, technical competence, etc. This talk proposes an additional capability--organizational intelligence, OQ, a new concept that Nelson Phillips and George Yip have published in a 2020 article in Harvard Business Review.

The Rise of Innovation in China and Implications for Global Companies (MNCs)

While China has long had a reputation for imitation, Chinese companies are now starting to innovate. This talk is based on a ten-year program of research conducted by the CEIBS Centre on China Innovation and at Zhejiang University, and is the subject of two books: Pioneers, Hidden Champions, Change Makers and Underdogs: Lessons From China’s Innovators (MIT Press 2019), and China’s Next Strategic Advantage: From Imitation to Innovation (MIT Press, 2016). The research included interviews with hundreds of R&D and innovation-related executives at hundreds of Chinese and foreign companies. This talk will cover: Characteristics of China’s environment that foster innovation, both on the supply and the demand side. The specific nature of Chinese companies’ approach to innovation and the factors driving their foreign expansion. An insiders’ view of China’s under-the-radar, globally competitive innovators: pioneers, large companies that are globally known; hidden champions, mid-size enterprises that are market leaders in their niches; underdogs, technology-driven ventures with significant intellectual property; and change makers, newer firms characterized by digital disruption, exponential growth and cross-industry innovations. The stages in MNCs’ R&D strategies in China and the evolving significance of China as a base for innovation. The imperative for MNCs to participate in the Chinese national innovation system, not only for China but also for the world. How foreign companies can overcome the challenges of conducting innovation in China. Leadership and strategy lessons foreign companies can learn from China.