Dr. Erik K. Clemons is Professor of Operations and Information Management at
the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a pioneer in
the systematic study of the transformational impacts of information on the
strategy and practice of business. His research and teaching interests include
strategic uses of information systems, the changes that information technology
enables in the competitive balance between new entrants and established
industry participants, transformation of distribution channels, the structure
and governance of the IT functional area, and the impact of information
technology on the risks and benefits of outsourcing and strategic alliances.
Industries of focus include international securities markets and financial
services firms, consumer packaged goods retailing, and travel. He specializes
in assessing the competitive implications of information technology, and in
managing the risks of large-scale implementation efforts.
Additionally, Dr. Clemons is the founder and Project Director for the Wharton
School's Sponsored Research Project on "Information: Strategy and Economics"
within the "Program for Global Strategy and Knowledge Intensive Organizations",
founder and area coordinator of the School's new major in "Information:
Strategy, and Economics" director of the School's new eCommerce major and
member of the Wharton eBusiness Initiative Curriculum Oversight Committee, an
active participant in the School's eCommerce Forum research program, and member
of the Faculty Council of the SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management.
In his consulting practice, Dr. Clemons focuses on helping clients anticipate
the fundamental impacts information technology will have on the structure of
their industries and on helping them develop a range of strategies to deal with
the changes to their industry. This has enabled his clients to develop
strategies and prepare for their rapid deployment, even in the presence of a
high degree of environmental uncertainity. He has participated as expert
witness in cases involving software contracting fraud, antitrust, and
intellectual property disputes.
Dr. Clemons is currently a member of the editorial board of the "Journal of
Manage-ment Information Systems" and the "Journal of Electronic Commerce". He
has served on the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment study of
securities markets and on the Quality of Markets Advisory Board of the London
Stock Exchange and has three times been co-Chair of the international Workshop
on Information Systems Economics. His education includes an S.B. in Physics
from MIT and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University.
Dr. Clemons has thirty years experience on the faculities of Wharton, Cornell,
and Harvard, and consulting experience in the private and public sectors both
domestically and abroad.
