Prof. Robert Chapman Wood

Robert Chapman Wood teaches Global Dimensions of Business, Strategic Management, and Strategic Thinking. His sections of Global Dimensions of Business (Business 187) examine how today's global systems of business got to be as they are and what we need to do so they can work for us, for investors, and for the peoples and natural environments of the countries where they operate.  To understand this, we look at the rules of the game in different parts of the world and different times in recent history. We show how people have changed and are changing the rules, and how that in turn transforms the world.

Wood's sections of the Strategic Thinking (Business 290) and Strategic Management courses (Business 189) emphasize how successful managers create and manage unique capabilities and competences. Here, we examine the rules of the game both inside the firm and in the marketplace. With something unique, companies can serve customers, stockholders, and employees better. 

Before coming to San Jose, Wood was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Business School in the Program on Organizational Change. He completed his doctorate in Management Policy and Strategy at Boston University, where his thesis dealt with how companies overcome inertia and begin innovating effectively. Research for his dissertation dealt with companies including IBM, GE Capital, Monsanto, and NIPSCO. 

Wood’s research has resulted in publications appearing in journals such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Technology Review, Policy Review, Asia, and European Management Journal.   He is academic advisor to the Global Leadership and Technology Exchange, a global, senior executive-driven consortium of large companies seeking to re-engineer their value chains to cope with today's environmental problems. The consortium funds on-going studies on how managers can integrate research on strategic management, leadership, and operations management to achieve the changes needed.

Prior to his doctoral studies, Wood was a journalist for more than 20 years.  His work appeared in such publications as Forbes, the Financial Times of London, and the New York Times.  He is a former associate editor of Inc. magazine.  Much of Wood’s journalism dealt with Asia and with Asian-influenced management techniques.   

College of Business  BT 357
San Jose State UniversityOne Washington Square
San Jose, CA, 95192-0070
email:  wood_rc@cob.sjsu.edu
Tel. 408 924-3573
FAX 408 924-3555