Peter Williamson

Research interests

Globalisation and its implications for corporate strategy; business ecosystems and the management of networks of strategic alliances; merger and acquisition strategy and post-merger integration; strategies for success in China and the internationalisation of Chinese companies and their global impact; strategies for a carbon-constrained world.

Professional experience

Professor Williamson has wide experience in research, consulting and executive education as well as serving as a non-executive director and chairman of both publicly listed companies and new ventures in industries as diverse as whisky, textiles, hedge fund management and Chinese software. He has worked in Australia, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States, before returning to Britain to join Cambridge Judge Business School, where he founded the Advanced Leadership Programme, and at Jesus College, where he is Fellow and Director of Studies in Management. He is currently Chairman of the digital process automation company Bizagi, and has served as a non-executive director of both listed and private companies across a wide variety of industries, including textiles, whisky, green energy, hedge funds, software and sales training.

Professor Williamson was formerly with the Boston Consulting Group in London, and Merrill Lynch. He serves on the editorial boards of European Management Journal, and Academy of Management Learning and Education. Peter has acted as consultant on business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and international expansion to numerous companies as well as to governments and international organisations throughout the Asia-Pacific region as well as in Europe and North America. He has experience in China since 1983, assisting numerous multinationals, and more recently, Chinese companies venturing abroad.

Previous appointments

Prior to joining Cambridge Judge Business School, Professor Williamson was ten years with the Asian Business and International Management faculty at INSEAD (1997-2007). Between 2003 and 2007 he was also Visiting Professor in Strategy at the Cheung Kong Business School in Beijing. He was Visiting Professor of Global Strategy at Harvard Business School (1993-1996) and Dean of MBA Programmes and Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School (1987-1992).

Awards & honours

• Sloan-Pricewaterhouse Coopers Award honouring those articles that have contributed to the enhancement of management practice, 2005
• Lloyds Tercentenary Fellow, 2001
• Fulbright Scholar, 1980-1984
• Frank R. Knox Memorial Fellow, 1980-1984

Selected publications

De Meyer, A. and Williamson, P.J. (2020) Ecosystem edge: sustaining competitiveness in the face of disruption. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Symeou, P.C., Zyglidopoulos, S. and Williamson, P. (2018) “Internationalization as a driver of the corporate social performance of extractive industry firms.” Journal of World Business, 53(1): 27-38

Williamson, P.J. and Raman, A.P. (2011) “How China reset its global acquisition agenda.” Harvard Business Review, 89(4): 109-114

Zeng, M. and Williamson P.J. (2007) Dragons at your door: how Chinese cost innovation is disrupting the rules of global competition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. (Also translated into Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian and Russian)

Doz, Y., Santos, J. and Williamson, P. (2001) From global to metanational: how companies win in the knowledge economy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. (Also translated into Korean, Italian, and Portuguese)

Markides, C.C. and Williamson, P.J. (1994) “Related diversification, core competences and corporate performance.” Strategic Management Journal, 15(Special Issue, Summer): 149-165