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Thomas Powell

Emeritus Professor


  • thomas.powell@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HP

Profile

Thomas' areas of expertise include competitive strategy, behavioural strategy, and executive decision making.

Thomas' research on competitive strategy examines the causes and consequences of sustained competitive advantage. His research shows how the dynamics of strategy innovation and imitation bring about the emergence and decline of firm-specific advantages. His highly-cited studies on organisation structure, total quality management, information technology and formal strategic planning were among the first empirical studies of resource-based competitive advantage.

Thomas' work in behavioural strategy uses brain imaging and neuro-chemical methods to understand the micro-foundations of executive decision making. This experimental research, along with Thomas' 2011 review paper in Strategic Management Journal, have pioneered the emerging field of neurostrategy. Thomas' research in neurostrategy focuses on group decisions in large organisations, and how the brain functions when faced with decisions involving large resource commitments and multiple stakeholders.

Thomas also conducts research on firm performance and the philosophical foundations of strategy. His statistical research on performance shows that the degree of competitive dominance in business does not differ substantially from the dominance found in other competitive domains (games, sports, talent contests), and can be described by statistical laws and generating processes that involve a great deal of randomness. His work on the philosophy of strategy argues that the leading theories of competitive advantage are tautological and unfalsifiable, and yet have truth values that can be established probabilistically (by Bayesian analysis) and pragmatically (by consequences).

Thomas began his career in corporate finance and strategy consulting before earning his MPhil and PhD in Strategy and Economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He has worked as strategy professor in the USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia, and is Fellow of Management Strategy at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. He is a member of the Strategic Management Society, Academy of Management and American Economic Association, and serves on the editorial boards of Strategic Management Journal and Strategic Organization.

Expertise: 

  • Competitive strategy
  • Behavioural strategy
  • Neurostrategy
  • Strategic planning and strategy process
  • Statistical distributions of firm performance
  • The philosophy of strategy

Research

Thomas conducts research on competitive advantage, behavioural strategy and the philosophical foundations of strategy. He works both independently and collaboratively with colleagues at the University of Oxford and around the world.

Publications

Make cybersecurity a strategic asset(opens in new window)

  • Journal article
  • MIT Sloan Management Review
  • Thomas Powell,
  • Manuel Hepfer
Strategy
  • T Powell
Strategy
  • Thomas Powell
Strategy

Romantics, mercenaries and behavioral rationality(opens in new window)

  • Journal article
  • Advances in Strategic Management
  • Thomas C Powell
Strategy

Neurostrategy(opens in new window)

  • Chapter
  • The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management
  • Thomas C Powell
Strategy
See more publications

Engagement

Thomas began his career in corporate finance and strategy consulting.

He advised organisations on strategic issues such as international expansion, corporate strategy, executive decision making, and the design of  strategic planning processes. He has worked extensively with executives in financial services, retail, professional services, and the manufacturing sector.

Through his involvement with the Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme, Thomas has worked with managers from all points of the world – including Africa, South America, North America, China, India, Indonesia, and the Middle East – on issues such as competitive strategy, strategic thinking, executive development, and mergers and acquisitions. He provides executive coaching on the programme.

Thomas has won numerous research grants, including the Oxford Centre for Corporate Reputation for his work in neurostrategy. He also received a major research grant from the US Department of Defense to study the effectiveness of performance metrics and quality management, and from the Australian Research Council for the study of competitive dominance in industry.

Teaching

Thomas taught strategy to MBA students, doctoral students, undergraduates and senior business executives.

At Saïd Business School he taught courses in strategic management, corporate strategy, strategic thinking, and competitive advantage. He also taught on a variety of executive programmes, including diplomas, open programmes, custom programmes, and executive coaching. Thomas has won many teaching awards and is consistently praised by students for the dynamic energy and interactivity of his class sessions.

Thomas used an open and participative teaching style focused on analysing complex strategy cases, testing hypotheses, diagnosing problems and developing recommendations that work. 'Anyone can teach a body of knowledge,' he says, 'and that is not my aim. My main purpose is to change the way people think about strategy problems.'

According to Thomas, 'Strategy problems never have perfect solutions but there’s always an approach that will get the job done. The aim is to help students learn the art of executive judgement: to know what information to look for and how to absorb it quickly; to combine rigorous analysis with wisdom gained from experience; to see patterns and diagnose problems; and to make hard choices when faced with complexity, uncertainty and incomplete information. That’s what we work on: the art of executive judgement.'

In executive seminars, Thomas focused on improving participants’ critical and analytical skills, and tries to facilitate discussions that bring out the experiences and abilities of each participant. In his words, 'Every seminar room has an enormous amount of accumulated wisdom already in it. My job was to provide an environment that brings private wisdom into the open where everyone can talk about it, evaluate it, learn from it.'

Thomas has taught on these programmes:

  • MBA: Strategy (core); Competition, Strategy and Performance (elective)
  • Doctoral: Research in Strategic Management
  • Undergraduate: General Management (core); Strategic Management (electives); lectures and tutorials
  • Diploma in Financial Strategy: Strategy
  • Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme: Strategic Thinking, Competitive Advantage, Corporate Strategy
  • Executive Education: Open and custom programmes; clients include Standard Chartered Bank, Bunzl, Pinsent-Masons.