Robert E. Spekman

Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration

  The Darden School at the University of Virginia

I have been at the Darden School since 1991 and have taught previously at the University of Southern California, University of Maryland, and the Norwegian School of Business Administration and Economics in Bergen, Norway. At USC, I served as co-director of the Center for Telecommunications.   I also serve on the Board of Directors of Comdial  (Nasdaq) and I serve on the board of advisors to several Internet and hi tech start-ups.

I am active in the academy and review for many of the top marketing journals and for several of the management/strategy journals.  I also review for the National Science Foundation.  Over the years my work has been awarded best article of the year in Supply Chain Management 1997; Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 1979, 1981.  I have also received teaching awards on three separate occasions.

My major research interests are in the general area of B2B marketing.  However, my research spans three separate but somewhat related areas:  strategic alliances, supply chain management, and B2B marketing strategy with a focus on strategy development and channels management.  I am interested in “messy” business  problems that cross business functions and rely on a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving.  If the problem involves understanding a relationship among organizations, I have an interest.

The focus of my work over the last decade has been in the area of alliances and partners.  Below is a recent interview about my book Alliance Competence: Maximizing the Value of Your Partnership.

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