On July 23, 2018，Professor Christian Terwiesch from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania visited ShanghaiTech University to deliver a lecture on “Connected Strategy and Digital Disruption.” The lecture was hosted by Professor Hanming Fang, Dean of School of Entrepreneurship and Management at ShanghaiTech University.
In his talk, Dr. Terwiesch discussed three significant and highly-intertwined topics: the power of connectivity between firms and consumers, patterns of disruptive innovations, and lessons about digital disruption. For disruptive innovations, connectivity leads to new user experiences and thus new dimensions of merit from the customer perspective; at the same time, from the firm perspective, connectivity allows for new delivery models and thus makes existing capabilities obsolete. Connectivity is an especially potent ingredient in digital disruption. We can use this framework proactively to come up with new ideas and defensively to spot disruptive threats.
His talk provided valuable insights for tech entrepreneurs and researchers on how to effectively discover new ideas and manage innovations. Afterwards, SEM professors had further dialogue with Professor Terwiesch to discuss in more depth.
Christian Terwiesch is the Andrew M. Heller Professor at Wharton’s Operations, Information and Decisions department. He co-directs Penn’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management, and holds a faculty appointment in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. His research on Operations Management and on Innovation Management appears in many leading academic journals ranging from Management Science to The New England Journal of Medicine. He is an award winning teacher with extensive experience in MBA teaching and executive education.
