Special Issue: Technology Strategy for Electronic Marketplaces

ERIC 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 such as e-Commerce, information economics, the changes that information technology enables in the competitive balance between new entrants and established industry participants, transformation of distribution channels, 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, telecommunications, 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 Reginald H. Jones Center’s Sponsored Research Project on Information: Industry Structure and Competitive Strategy, founder and area coordinator of the School’s new major in Information: Strategy, Systems, and Economics, director of the School’s new MBA e-Commerce major, an active participant in the School’s e-Commerce Forum research program, and member of the Faculty Council of the SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management. 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 twenty-five years of experience on the faculties of Wharton, Cornell, and Harvard, and consulting experience in the private and public sectors both domestically and abroad.