Professor Costas Markides | Keynote Speaker

Professor Markides: Strategic Leadership, Strategy and Innovation

Widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on business strategy and strategic innovation, Professor Costas Markides shows how established companies can pursue radical or disruptive innovation while protecting competitive advantage.

His books include All the Right Moves (1999), Fast Second (2004) and Game-Changing Strategies (2008). He is known for sessions that help individual managers design innovative solutions they can use straight away, supported by clear management ideas and real life examples.

Career Experience

A graduate of Harvard Business School and Boston University, Professor Markides worked with the Cyprus Development Bank and as a research associate at Harvard Business School before joining London Business School in 1990. He has taught on a wide range of in-company programmes and has served on the editorial boards of leading journals.

He sat on the Board of Directors of the Strategic Management Society from 2013 to 2019 and has participated at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He teaches strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School.

Publications, Consultancy and Other Activities

Professor Markides writes on strategic innovation, corporate restructuring, business model innovation and international acquisitions. His work appears in journals such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Strategy and Management and European Management Journal. He is a member of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society, and advises leaders on how to shape continuous innovation across international management settings.

Books

His books include Organizing for the New Normal, Game-Changing Strategies: How to Create New Market Space in Established Industries by Breaking the Rules, Diversification, Refocusing and Economic Performance and All the Right Moves: A Guide to Crafting Breakthrough Strategy.

He also co-edited Strategic Thinking for the Next Economy and co-authored Fast Second: How Smart Companies Bypass Radical Innovation to Enter and Dominate New Markets, which was shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year in 2005.

Research and Keynote Themes

Professor Markides explores corporate entrepreneurship, the management of business model innovation and the use of creativity to achieve strategic breakthroughs. He shows established firms how to run two business models under one roof, what happens when a disruptive business model invades the same industry and how individual managers play a decisive role in shaping continuous innovation. Audiences leave with practical ways to pursue radical ideas, handle continuous disruption and apply innovative solutions that build durable advantage.