MIT's Scott Stern has recently joined the Kellogg faculty as an Associate Professor of Management and Strategy. He will also be an Associate Professor in the Health Industry Management Program and in the Biotechnology Program.

Stern grew up on Long Island and then attended New York University as an economics major, graduating with honors in 1990. During this time, he worked at several summer jobs, which ranged from "good humor man, to working at McDonald's to working in a pharmacy," he said. Following graduation he then worked for a consulting firm prior to attending graduate school for a PhD in economics. He attended Stanford "for its exciting economics environment," he reported.

Scott Stern, Ph.D.

While at Stanford, Stern worked with Timothy Bresnahan, PhD (and wrote his dissertation under him), and with Nate Rosenburg, a leading economic historian of technological change. His dissertation was entitled "Product Competition in High-Technology Industries." While at Stanford, Stern continued his interest in the pharmaceutical industry, a seed which began those many years ago as summer employee in a local pharmacy on Long Island.

Following his 1996 graduation from Stanford, he took a faculty position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Scott says, "his fundamental research interest is how the production of concepts and ideas differs from the production of more traditional economic goods." His research ties in clearly with debates over the role of intellectual property, and, he notes, "that it is one of the reasons pharmaceuticals and biotechnology remain at the core of my academic focus."

One of the topics that has attracted his attention of late is innovation and the Innovation Index. Scott and Harvard guru Michael Porter have done a good deal of work for the Council on Competitiveness, resulting in The New Challenges to America's Prosperity: Findings from the Innovation Index. Their recent article "Innovation: Location Matters" (MIT Sloan Management Review: 42 (4), Summer 2001) looks at innovation and competitiveness internationally. "Innovation," they say "has become the defining challenge for global competitiveness. To manage it well, companies must harness the power of location in creating and commercializing new ideas."

"Managing ideas," says Scott, "is different from our traditional preoccupation with R & D and these distinct features need to be studied, explored and ultimately managed differently." Stern firmly believes "Kellogg will be an exciting and vibrant place to continue his research interests." He continues, "the overall intellectual community is very strong here, both for those interested in healthcare and in technical change. As well, there seems to be a good number of students interested in the crossroads of these two areas, which should be exciting."

Scott's wife Cathy is an attorney who grew up in Chicago, and now works for Kirkland and Ellis, a legal powerhouse in town. They like to travel and very much enjoy hiking. Their most recent trekking adventure was in Italy's Dolomites. They are also film buffs.

Professor Stern is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and was recently a Health and Aging Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He also has recently been appointed Associate Editor of the academic journal Management Science.