Dr. Mark de Rond
Cambridge University

Dr. Mark de Rond is a University Lecturer in Strategy at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He completed his DPhil in Management Studies (Strat­egy and Organization) at the University of Oxford. Prior to joining the Judge Institute in 2001, Dr de Rond was an assistant professor in strategy at ESSEC Business School, Paris (1999-2001), a college lecturer at University College and Trinity College (Oxford Univer­sity), and a visiting scholar at the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center at The Whar­ton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr de Rond’s principal interests are threefold: (1) strategic alliances (specifically research col­laborations in life sciences); (2) innovation in the context of virtual work (a study sponsored by the Cambridge-MIT Institute and jointly coordinated with Prof Jonathon Cummings at MIT); and (3) causation, serendipity, and innovation in strategy.

He has been engaged in executive teaching programmes for several companies, including Shell Exploration, Royal Mail, ARM, Rolls Royce, Allen & Overy, the Department for Education and Skills, Groupe Limagrain, and Diageo. He has also been involved in research projects for IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Fast Track 100, and the Berrien County Economic Develop­ment Department. His publications include several award-winning articles and two books on strategic alliances. His latest book “Strategic Alliances as Social Facts” was described as a “tour de force analysis of strategic alliances” offering a “masterfully written, intellectually rich assessment of alliances as an increasingly important way of competing in our globalizing world”. It recently won a major international book award.

Session Plans:

SESSION 1

• How can we explain the continuing popularity of strategic alliances when they more often fail than succeed? The nature of relationships.

SESSION 2

• How can we explain the continuing popularity of strategic alliances when they more often fail than succeed? Strategies for beating the odds.

SESSION 3

• Value creation and conflict resolution in strategically important relation­ships. Fortune favors the prepared mind.