George Day

George S. Day is the Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He was previously the Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute.

He has been a consultant to numerous corporations such as General Electric, IBM, Metropolitan Life, Unilever, E.I. DuPont de Nemours, W.L. Gore and Associates, CocaCola, Boeing, LG Corp., Best Buy, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic.  He is the past chairman of the American Marketing Association. His primary areas of activity are marketing, strategy making, organic growth and innovation, organizational change, and competitive strategies in global markets.

Dr. Day has authored eighteen books in the areas of marketing and strategic management. His most recent books are Peripheral Vision:  Detecting the Weak Signals that Can Make or Break Your Company (with Paul Schoemaker) 2006, Strategy from the OutsideIn: Profiting from Customer Value (with Christine Moorman) 2010, and Innovation Prowess:  Leadership Strategies for Accelerating Growth, 2013.

He has won ten best article award and one best book award, and two of his articles were among the top 25 most influential articles in marketing science in the past 25 years. He was honored with the Charles Coolidge Parlin Award in 1994, the Paul D. Converse Award in 1996, the Sheth Foundation award in 2003, and the Mahajan Award for career contributions to strategy in 2001. In 2003 he received the AMA/Irwin/McGrawHill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award.  In 2011 he was chosen as one of eleven “Legends in Marketing.”

March 2013

George Day (Draft), Charting New Directions: Match Your Growth Path to your Growth Strategy.

George Day, Dominique Hanssens, Christine Moorman, Legends in Marketing: Yoram (Jerry) Wind, Volume 4, Marketing Strategy (2014)

David Reibstein, George Day, Jerry (Yoram) Wind (2009), Is Marketing Academia Losing Its Way?, Journal of Marketing, 73, pp. 13.

Abstract: In this article the author discusses marketing academia. He is critical of the relationship between the standards of academic marketers and marketing executives. The author suggests a remedy for the problem which includes increasing the amount of debate between marketing academics and making marketing research more relevant.

Katrina J. Hubbard and George Day (Working), Customer Relationships Go Digital.

Description: Opinions on the impact of digital technologies on customer relationships have swung from anxiety about the threat of frictionless commerce, to enthusiasm over the prospects for cutting customer service costs and tightening connections with customers. As recently as 1999 the prevailing view was that when customers could use the internet to expand their search for alternatives, learn more about them faster and easily compare prices, that margins would shrink and loyalty would be increasingly transient.

Adam J. Fein and George Day (Working), Shakeouts in Digital Markets.

Description: Shakeouts loom large in the landscape of all fastgrowing markets. During the boom period an unsustainable glut of competitors is attracted by forecasts of high growth and promises of exceptional returns. Even when the market is already crowded more entrants keep arriving. These followers are often naïve about the barriers to entry and don’t realize how many others are also poised to enter at the same time. Reality intrudes with a bust that precipitates the exit of more than 80 percent of the players through failure or acquisition. This shakeout is triggered by some combination of disappointing growth, pricing pressures that degrade profit prospects, or shortages of crucial people and financial resources.

George Day, Katrina Hubbard, Elaine Zannuto (Working), Propensity to Answer Surveys on the Internet.

George Day (2004), Capitalizing on the Internet Opportunity,, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing. 10.1108/08858620510603837

Abstract: Purpose – To investigate how businesstobusiness (B2B) firms view the opportunities and threats of the internet and determine which firms are most likely to gain from the internet. Design/methodology/approach – A nationwide survey of marketing, sales and MIS managers in B2B firms provides the data necessary to explore the impact of the internet. Findings – Managers view the internet positively as it will reduce customer service costs and allow firms to tighten relationships with customers. The positive potential outweighs the negative potential of increased competition and new pricing models. However, not all will benefit. Practical implications – While there is much optimism about the internet, those most likely to benefit are those firms already proficient at forging close customer relationships. Originality/value – This paper provides lessons about who will benefit from the internet.

George Day and Paul Schoemaker (2004), Driving Through the Fog: Managing at the Edge, Long Range Planning, Peripheral Vision: Sensing and Acting on Weak Signals, Long Range Planning. 10.1016/j.lrp.2004.01.004

Abstract: Although the periphery does not occupy the centre of our attention, it should be ignored at our peril. This paper gives many examples of companies that have been heavily influenced by peripheral events, whether they started out there, or whether they hopelessly misread the oncoming signals. It argues that a monitoring of the periphery can help diffuse small problems before they becomes crises. It provides a roadmap for organisations by describing how to define the field of view and how to assess the signals from it.

George Day and David Reibstein (2004), Managing Brands in Global Markets ,, The Alliance on Globalizing: Drivers, Consequences and Implications.

George Day (2004), Peripheral Vision: Sensing and Acting on Weak Signals, Long Range Planning, Long Range Planning. 10.1016/j.lrp.2004.01.003

Past Courses

MKTG777 MARKETING STR

This course views marketing as both a general management responsibility and an orientation of an organization that helps one to create, capture and sustain customer value. The focus is on the business unit and its network of channels, customer relationships, and alliances. Specifically, the course attempts to help develop knowledge and skills in the application of advanced marketing frameworks, concepts, and methods for making strategic choices at the business level.

MKTG890 ADVANCED STUDY PROJECT

The principal objectives of this course are to provide opportunities for undertaking an indepth study of a marketing problem and to develop the students' skills in evaluating research and designing marketing strategies for a variety of management situations. Selected projects can touch on any aspect of marketing as long as this entails the elements of problem structuring, data collection, data analysis, and report preparation. The course entails a considerable amount of independent work. (Strict librarytype research is not appropriate) Class sessions are used to monitor progress on the project and provide suggestions for the research design and data analysis. The last portion of the course often includes an oral presentation by each group to the rest of the class and project sponsors. Along with marketing, the projects integrate other elements of management such as finance, production, research and development, and human resources.

MKTG899 INDEPENDENT STUDY

A student contemplating an independent study project must first find a faculty member who agrees to supervise and approve the student's written proposal as an independent study (MKTG 899). If a student wishes the proposed work to be used to meet the ASP requirement, he/she should then submit the approved proposal to the MBA adviser who will determine if it is an appropriate substitute. Such substitutions will only be approved prior to the beginning of the semester.

MKTG995 DISSERTATION

• Selected as one of the eleven Legends in Marketing, 2013
• AMA/Berry Prize for the Best Book on Marketing, 2012 Description

Knowledge @ Wharton

• Is It Too Late to Reinvent Yahoo?, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/04/2016
• How Can Barnes & Noble Avoid Borders’ Fate?, Knowledge @ Wharton 12/18/2015
• Navigating the Whitewater World of New Product Development, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/03/2014
• Vacation Reading: Summer Book Report, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/01/2013
• ‘Innovation Prowess’: George S. Day on What Distinguishes Growth Leaders, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/01/2013
• Is Canada Suffering from the ‘Dutch Disease’?, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/10/2012
• Convincing the Swing Vote: How to Lure ‘Noncustomers’, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/26/2012
• What’s in a Title? Overcoming a ‘Crisis’ of CEO Credibility, Knowledge @ Wharton 08/01/2012
• What’s Wrong with This Picture: Kodak’s 30year Slide into Bankruptcy, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/01/2012
• What’s Behind Buffett’s IBM Buy?, Knowledge @ Wharton 11/15/2011
• Today’s Marketing Challenge: Turning the Data Deluge into Competitive Advantage, Knowledge @ Wharton 11/09/2011
• Inside Job: Changing of the Guard at IBM, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/26/2011
• Executives Speak Up, in Realtime, on Innovation, Financial Risk, Hiring and Other Concern, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/30/2011
• Executives Speak Up, in Realtime, on Innovation, Financial Risk, Hiring and Other Concerns, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/16/2011
• ‘Outside In’ Strategy for the Csuite: Put Your Customers Ahead of Your Capabilities, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/29/2010
• Dell’s Diversification Strategy: ‘A Day Late and a Dollar Short?’, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/01/2010
• Eyes Wide Open: Embracing Uncertainty through Scenario Planning, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/22/2009
• A World Transformed: What Are the Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years?, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/18/2009
• Finding Money for Innovation: Develop Those People Skills, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/07/2009
• Why an Economic Crisis Could Be the Right Time for Companies to Engage in ‘Disruptive Innovation’, Knowledge @ Wharton 11/12/2008
• Philips Lighting CEO Rudy Provoost: Innovation Means Putting Consumers’ Needs First, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/20/2008
• Chief Receptionist Officer? Title Inflation Hits the CSuite, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/30/2007
• Sustaining Corporate Growth Requires ‘Big I’ and ‘small i’ Innovation, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/21/2007
• Vigilant vs. Operational Leaders: Changes at Ford, the CokePepsi Fiasco, and Other Management Moments, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/20/2006
• Logistics Make the World Go Round, at Least in the Global Marketplace, Knowledge @ Wharton 06/22/2006
• Aligning the Organization with the Market: Focusing on ‘The Customer’s Total Experience’, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/31/2006
• Podcast: George Day: Keeping an Eye on Distant Events that Can Make or Break Your Company, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/10/2006
• Managing Brands in Global Markets: One Size Doesn’t Fit All, Knowledge @ Wharton 06/01/2005
• The HP Compaq Merger Two Years Out: Still Waiting for the Upside, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/20/2004
• Getting Close to the Customer: Quantitative vs. Qualitative Approaches, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/05/2004
• Biosciences: High Risk, High Reward, and the Potential for “Real Chaos”, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/22/2003
• Which Customers Are Worth Keeping and Which Ones Aren’t? Managerial Uses of CLV, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/30/2003
• Sifting Through Data Overload to Broaden Your Company’s Vision, Knowledge @ Wharton 06/04/2003
• War, Disease and the Economy Are Battering the Airlines. What Lies Ahead?, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/09/2003
• Why Some Companies Succeed at CRM (and Many Fail), Knowledge @ Wharton 01/15/2003
• Surviving the Shakeout: Where B2B Exchanges Went Wrong, Knowledge @ Wharton 12/04/2002
• eBay: Last Man Standing, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/27/2002
• From Skin Creams to Life Insurance to Medical Care, Biosciences Are the New Frontier of Business Opportunity, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/27/2002
• Marketing Ethics in a PostTerrorist Economy: What is the Right Pitch?, Knowledge @ Wharton 11/21/2001
• HewlettPackard and Compaq: If It Goes Through, Here’s How to Try and Make It Work, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/13/2001
• Making Customer Relationship Management Work, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/04/2001
• Footandmouth Disease Poses Challenge for U.S. Beef industry, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/11/2001
• New Economy or Old Economy, a Shakeout is a Shakeout, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/19/2001
• What Xerox Should Copy, and Not Copy, from Its Past, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/25/2000
• How to Keep Others From Ripping Off Your Ideas, Knowledge @ Wharton 08/30/2000
• What’s Behind the Food Industry’s Appetite for Mergers?, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/05/2000
• A Different Game: Wharton Book Explores Managing Emerging Technologies, Knowledge @ Wharton 06/07/2000
• Staying Close, but Not Too Close, to the Customer, Knowledge @ Wharton 12/10/1999
• Winning and Retaining Customer Loyalty, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/29/1999
• New Strategies for Success, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/17/1999