Professor Peter Williamson
Professor Williamson has acted as consultant on business strategy, restructuring and international expansion to numerous companies throughout the Asia-Pacific region as well as in Europe and North America. He has been actively involved in a numerous mergers/acquisitions and joint ventures in China since 1983.
Areas of Specialisation
Professor Williamson has extensive experience working with the Boards of major international companies on global strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and alliances over the past 20 years.
Career Background
His business career began in banking with Merrill Lynch in London, Singapore and New York.
For eight years, he acted as adviser to the Australia government on strategies for improving its engagement with Asia, working with the most senior civil servants within the Commonwealth and State Governments through the “Leading Australia’s Future in Asia” programme under the sponsorship of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
He spent four years with The Boston Consulting Group working on client assignments in Europe, Asia and Latin America. He then joined the London Business School where he taught strategic management and directed executive programmes in Japan and South East Asia. In 1990 he became Dean of MBA Programmes at London, followed by an appointment as Visiting Professor of Global Strategy and Management at Harvard Business School.
He is Non- Executive Chairman of the global hedge-fund, Tactical Global Management and Imparta Ltd he is a director of several other companies.
He has worked with BHP-Billiton board on their corporate strategy, restructuring their portfolio of businesses and potential acquisitions, disposals and international alliances. Peter has assisted the board of Shell on improving their innovation and new business development processes. He is also advising BP on their strategy for gas, renewables and potential “clean coal” opportunities.
Qualifications and Publications
A PhD in Business Economics from Harvard University, he was Professor of International Management and Asian Business at INSEAD and he is now at Cambridge Judge Business School.
Professor Williamson’s research and publications span globalisation, strategic innovation, acquisitions and alliances, and strategy in Asian markets. Examples of his published work are as follows: Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy, The Economics of Financial Markets (1995); Managing the Global Frontier (1994) and The Strategy Handbook (1992), Asia’s New Competitive Game, Strategies for Competing in a Changed China, Is Your Innovation Process Global, Strategy as Options on the Future and Diversification, Core Competences and Corporate Performance. He is currently undertaking research projects on globalisation, competing in China, and the use of alliances to accelerate growth and build new businesses.
