2016 Faculty Pioneer Awards: Field-Building
Ted London
Vice President and Senior Research Fellow, Scaling Impact Initiative, William Davidson Institute
Faculty, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Course: Business Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid
“Our students seek to harness the power of enterprise to address society’s grand challenges, including poverty and inequity faced by the base of the pyramid. Now more than ever, these students want strategies, frameworks and process that guide and drive action. They also need to appreciate the unique opportunities and challenges of operating an enterprise in this demanding market environment. My goal is to provide them with both an action-oriented toolkit and the contextual knowledge needed to build scalable businesses with substantial social impact.”
Biography
Ted London is Vice President and Senior Research Fellow for the William Davidson Institute’s Scaling Impact Initiative. He is also a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
An internationally recognized expert on the intersection of business strategy and poverty alleviation, London focuses his research on developing enterprise strategies for base of the pyramid (BoP) markets, building cross-sector collaborations, and enhancing mutual value creation. He has published extensively with an emphasis on creating new knowledge with important actionable outcomes, serves on several advisory boards, and shares his latest work in venues across the globe. He has also advised dozens of leadership teams in the corporate, non-profit, and development sectors on developing sustainable and scalable BoP impact enterprises. Prior to coming to the University of Michigan, London was on the faculty at the University of North Carolina, where he received his Ph.D. in strategic management. He has also held senior management positions in the private, non-profit, and development sectors in Africa, Asia, and the U.S.
His latest book, The Base of the Pyramid Promise: Building Businesses with Impact and Scale, translates over 25 years of research and field-based experience into actionable strategies, frameworks, and tools for developing sustainable, scalable enterprises in BoP markets.
