Dennis Yao

Lawrence E. Fouraker Professor of Business Administration Unit Head, Strategy

Dennis Yao is Lawrence E. Fouraker Professor of Business Administration and head of the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. He joined the faculty in 2004 after having been at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. From 1991-1994 he served as Commissioner, U.S. Federal Trade Commission where he and his four colleagues had decision responsibility for antitrust and consumer protection matters in both prosecutorial and judicial roles. Professor Yao has a BSE in civil engineering from Princeton, an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD from the Graduate School of Business (economics group) at Stanford. Before beginning his doctoral studies he was a car product planner at Ford Motor Company. He also has served on the National Advertising Review Board.

Professor Yao's research involves the application of microeconomics and game theory to incentive and information problems affecting firms. His recent work has focused on understanding contracting and knowledge flow issues in markets for ideas and inventions. Earlier he worked on problems involving procurement and on technology-forcing regulation. Professor Yao has also written extensively in the areas of antitrust policy and non-market strategies. His work has been published in top economics, strategy, political science, and public policy journals. Professor Yao has also held a number of editorial positions with strategy, economics, and public policy journals.