Phil Powell

Areas of Expertise

Economic and Institutional Development in Pacific Island States; Business Strategy in Health Care and Life Sciences

Academic Degrees

• PhD , Vanderbilt University, 1995
• BA , University of South Carolina, 1991

Professional Experience

• Faculty Chair, Full-Time MBA Program (Bloomington, 2009 - 2012)
• Faculty Chairperson, Evening MBA Program (2006 - 2009)
• Faculty Co-director, MBA Discovery, Innovation, and Ventures Enterprise (2005 - 2007)
• Faculty Director, MBA Health Care & Life Sciences Academy, Bloomington (2002 – 2005)
• Visiting Scholar, Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center, Honolulu (2003)

Awards, Honors & Certificates

• Lilly Alumni MBA Teaching Award: 1999, 2002, 2005
• Trustee’s Teaching Award: 2000
• MBA Teaching Excellence Award: each year 1997 - 2007
• Teaching Excellence Recognition Award: 1998, 1999, 2000
• Rendigs Fels Excellence in Teaching Award: 1995

Selected Publications

• Hiatt, J., Hutchens, M., Ortiz, R., & Powell, P. 2011 (May 16). The South Pacific Business Development Foundation: Fighting Poverty in Fiji. Ann Arbor: Globalens, William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan, Case 1-429-169. (and separately published Teaching Note)

Abstract The case can motivate a three-stage discussion. Stage one is a definition of SPBD’s mission, stage two is a country analysis of Fiji in comparison with Samoa and Tonga, and stage three is formulation of a market-entry strategy, including identification of a product portfolio. Discussion can be positioned to add value in courses focused upon social enterprise, nonprofit marketing, international business, or country analysis.

• Powell, Philip T. and Ron Laufer, 2010. “The promises and constraints of consumer directed healthcare,” Business Horizons, 53(2), 171-182.

Abstract Consumer-directed healthcare promises to reduce costs and increase quality by expanding provider choice for prospective patients. High-deductible insurance, employer- or government-subsidized health savings accounts, transparent pricing, and accurate information on clinical performance help generate millions of patients shopping for healthcare. As in any other well-behaved market, when patients shop, there is a link between financial reward and value for the individual patient. Absence of price competition, agency problems, and high barriers to entry in local markets are market failures that currently break this link in U.S. healthcare. Consumer-directed health plans are already popular among many employers and have established a momentum that indirectly shapes discussion of reform by the Obama administration. Complexity of reporting clinical results, dependence of treatment success on at-home patient behavior, and scientific ignorance among consumers threaten delivery of results promised by theory. Successful implementation requires regulator attention to sophisticated data reporting that adjusts for clinical risk, avoidance of patient-focused marketing that leads to over-consumption, and adequate subsidy of health savings accounts. In the end, implementation shifts the locus of healthcare system control from cost-shifting negotiations between employers, providers, and payers to new-found purchasing power of prospective patients.

• Russell, Clifford S. and Philip T. Powell, 2007. "Practical Considerations and Comparison of Instruments of Environmental Policy" in Environmental Planning, J. Van Den Bergh, Kenneth Button, and Peter Nijkamp, eds. Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, MA, pp. 147-68.
• Powell, P. T. (2006), "Ethnic Heterogeneity, Economic Integration and Atomistic Federalism in the Pacific," Pacific Economic Bulletin, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 53-69.

Abstract Atomistic federalism describes a federal system of government with a high ratio of constitutional jurisdictions to national population. The system is appropriate when ethnic heterogeneity is high and economic activity is not well integrated between communities. New theoretical research suggests that atomistic federalism in the Pacific will increase the efficiency of public administration, increase state legitimacy through elevation of voter participation rates, and reduce parliamentary hyper-competition. A game-theoretic model of cooperation between communities in a Pacific island country suggests a higher probability of regional state failure in the future unless constitutional structures are reformed to build state legitimacy. Palau offers a successful working model of atomistic federalism in the Pacific region.

• Powell, P. T., 2005. "Too Young to Marry": Economic Convergence and the Case Against Integration of Pacific Island States" in Pacific Island Regional Integration and Governance, S. Chand, ed. Asia Pacific Press, Canberra, Australia, pp. 218-239.
• Powell, Philip T., 2004. "A Theory of Atomistic Federalism for Melanesia," Pacific Economic Bulletin, 19(3): 49-63.
• Schmenner, Roger W. and Philip T. Powell (2002), “Economics and Operations Management:  Towards a Theory of Endogenous Production Speed,” Managerial and Decision Economics, Vol. 23, No. 6, November, pp. 331-342.