James M. Utterback
David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Management and Innovation and Engineering Systems

Since receiving the Ph.D. in 1968 from the MIT Sloan School of Management, Dr. Utterback has held faculty positions at Indiana University, the Harvard Business School, and Chalmers Technical University as well as MIT. From 1983 through 1988, he served as Director of Industrial Liaison at MIT.

Dr. Utterback’s research has focused on the process of technological innovation in firms in the United States and in other countries. He is author of Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation, published by Harvard Business School Press in 1994. Recent publications include contributions to Management Science, Research Policy, Strategic Management Journal, Technological Forecasting and Social Change and The Sloan Management Review.

Dr. Utterback's teaching focus is on the dynamics of product and process development, emerging and disruptive technologies, and understanding the varied roles of firms as predators and prey when new technologies emerge. His current research focuses on the sustained growth of newly formed technology based firms in the United States, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Utterback is one of the founding faculty and served as chair of the Management of Technology Program, now the Sloan Fellows in Innovation and Global Leadership, which was the first area of study at the MIT in which a degree was awarded jointly by the Schools of Management and Engineering. He is also one of the founders of the Leaders for Manufacturing Program and is currently developing a similar program in Biomedical Enterprise.

Dr. Utterback received the D.Sc. (Hon) from Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden, and was recently elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.