Brian Smith

Professor Brian D Smith creates, disseminates and transfers knowledge about how firms manage the difficult process of making and implementing strategy. He spent 20 years working in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors, first as a Research Chemist and then in an ascending series of marketing roles. Since 1998, he has divided his time between academic research, writing and advising executive teams. He has published over 250 articles and papers, which can be seen at www.pragmedic.com. He completed his PhD, under the supervision of Professor Malcolm McDonald, at Cranfield School of Management and he is now a Visiting Professor at the Hertfordshire University Business School in the UK and an Adjunct Professor at SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy. As an advisor, he has worked with many of the leading firms in the medical technology and pharmaceutical sectors.

His research to date has run in four phases. Firstly, looking at why some firms make strong strategy and others don't. This was described in his first book "Making Marketing Happen". Then, he worked with two of his Cranfield colleagues, Professors Malcolm McDonald and Keith Ward, to develop the linkage between Marketing Strategy and Share Price. This work is described in "Marketing Due Diligence". Finally, he examined how firms create the market insight on which strong strategies are built. This was published in "Creating Market Insight", written with Dr Paul Raspin. He has recently begun to research the challenges of strategy implementation, work which has been published in academic papers but not yet as a practitioner-oriented book.

His latest book - "The Future of Pharma", looks at how the pharmaceutical industry will evolve and the capabilities needed to succeed in that sector. He is currently working on the follow up to that book, Darwin's Medicine.

Education

• PhD Cranfield School of Management (1998 — 2003)
• Post Graduate Diploma in Strategic Marketing Management CIM | The Chartered Institute of Marketing (1989 — 1990)
• BSc Hons Newcastle University (1980 — 1983)

Companies

• External Examiner University College London (2021)
• Visiting Professor University of Hertfordshire (2013)
• Adjunct Professor SDA Bocconi School of Management (2011)
• Principal Advisor Pragmedic Limited (1998)
• Editor Journal of Medical Marketing (2009 — 2015)
• Visiting Research Fellow, Open University Business School Open University (2007 — 2013)
• PhD Programme Cranfield School of Management, UK (1998 — 2003)
• Head of Marketing Boehringer Mannheim (1996 — 1998)
• Marketing Manager London International (1992 — 1996)