Thomas Robertson

Thomas S. Robertson is the Joshua J. Harris Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. An expert in marketing strategy and competitive behavior, the diffusion of innovation, and consumer behavior, Dr. Robertson is author, coauthor or editor of a dozen books and almost 100 scholarly articles and book chapters. He has won numerous awards for his scholarship and has lectured widely in North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Dr. Robertson recently completed a sevenyear term as Dean of the Wharton School. In this role he raised substantial financial resources for the School, while championing global engagement, a strong culture of innovation, and business as a force for good. Under his leadership Wharton implemented a new MBA curriculum, a new initiative in public policy, creation of modular courses which run in eight countries, a physical research and teaching presence in Beijing, a commitment to lifelong learning for Wharton alumni, and the design of a portfolio of online courses reaching over one million participants worldwide.

Prior to his Wharton deanship, Dr. Robertson held posts at Emory University. As Chair of International Strategy, he served as founding Executive Faculty Director of the Institute for Developing Nations, a jointventure research initiative with The Carter Center and President Jimmy Carter. From 1998 to 2004 he was Dean of Emory’s Goizueta Business School and is widely credited with positioning the school to compete as an international leader in business education.

From 1994 to 1998, he served as Deputy Dean of the London Business School in charge of the School’s entire portfolio of degree and nondegree programs. In addition to his appointments at Wharton, Emory and London Business School, Dr. Robertson has held faculty positions at UCLA’s Anderson School and Harvard Business School.

Dr. Robertson is an active board member in the university and corporate domains. He is a trustee of Singapore Management University, and serves on the Advisory Boards of the Sorbonne, Indian School of Business, Tsinghua University and Guanghua School of Management (Peking University). He is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Carlyle Group and CRA International.

Born in Scotland, Robertson earned his B.A. from Wayne State University. He holds an M.A. in sociology and a Ph.D. in business from Northwestern University. He is married to Diana C. Robertson, the Riady Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School. They have three grown children.

Thomas S. Robertson (2005), Winning The TakeOff Battle (with Sabine Kuester), European Business Forum.

Thomas S. Robertson (2002), Entry Strategy for Radical Product Innovations: A Conceptual Model and Propositional Inventory (with Elisa Mintagut and Sabine Kuester), International Journal of Research in Marketing, 19, pp. 2142.

Thomas S. Robertson (2001), Defense Strategies for New Entrants (with Sabine Kuester, Christian Homburg and Heiko Schafer), Zeitschrift Fur Betriebswirtschaft, 71, pp. 11911215.

Thomas S. Robertson (1999), Retaliatory Behavior to New Product Entry (with Sabine Kuester and Christian Homburg), Journal of Marketing, 63, pp. 90106.

Thomas S. Robertson (1998), Technology Development Mode: A Transaction Cost Conceptualization (with Hubert Gatignon), Strategic Management Journal, 19, pp. 515531.

Thomas S. Robertson (1997), Incumbent Defense Strategies Against Innovative Entry (with Hubert Gatignon and Adam Fein), International Journal of Research in Marketing, 14, pp. 163176.

Thomas S. Robertson (1996), Technology Adoption: Amplifying vs. Simplifying Innovations (with Bruce G. Hardie and William T. Ross, Jr.), Marketing Letters, 7, pp. 355370.

Thomas S. Robertson (1995), New Product Announcement Signals and Incumbent Reactions (with Jehoshua Eliashberg and Talia Rymon), Journal of Marketing, 59, pp. 115.

Abstract:   The authors focus on NPA signals, which they define as new product announcements in advance of market introduction. They develop a set of hypotheses regarding incumbent reactions to NPA signals and test them in a field study among managers in the United States and the United Kingdom. The authors' findings provide a characterization of the factors affecting the likelihood of competitive response to NPA signals and suggest a set of managerial implications.  

Jehoshua Eliashberg, Thomas S. Robertson, Talia Rymon (1995), New Product Announcement Signals and Incumbent Reactions, Journal of Marketing, 59, pp. 115.

Thomas S. Robertson (1995), Inducing Multiline Salespeople to Adopt House Brands (with Erin Anderson), Journal of Marketing, 59.

Past Courses

MKTG101 INTRO TO MARKETING

The objective of this course is to introduce students to the concepts, analyses, and activities that comprise marketing management, and to provide practice in assessing and solving marketing problems. The course is also a foundation for advanced electives in Marketing as well as other business/social disciplines. Topics include marketing strategy, customer behavior, segmentation, market research, product management, pricing, promotion, sales force management and competitive analysis.

MKTG277 MARKETING STRATEGY

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.

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.