Fernando Suarez, the newly appointed Jean C. Tempel Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business, considers himself an “innovation management expert.” A leader in his field, Suarez has cultivated his expertise working in both academia and the private sector on four continents: South America, Asia, Europe, and North America.
In taking over as the newly appointed Jean C. Tempel Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northeastern University’sD’Amore-McKim School of Business, Fernando Suarez brings a wealth of entrepreneurial and educational experience thanks to his time spent living, researching, and working on four different continents.
Throughout his career as an educator, Suarez has worked for Boston University, MIT, London Business School, Hitotsubashi University in Japan, and Adolfo Ibáñez University and ESE Business School in Chile.
In addition, as an institutional and private entrepreneur, Suarez founded the Strategy and Innovation Department at Boston University, launched an international MBA program at Adolfo Ibáñez University, developed a software company, and offers strategy and innovation consulting for several firms in the software, telecommunications, manufacturing and financial sectors.
For Melinda Shockley, who founded Innolign Biomedical before recently earning her EMBA from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, Fernando Suarez epitomizes the type of teacher who gets the best out of his students and keeps them coming back for more.
Sunday MBA provides ideas on running better businesses and succeeding in the modern workplace, this week from MIT Sloan Management Review.
Companies that launch innovative products in new industries need to understand the dynamics of new product categories. One of the elements of new categories is the name by which new product categories are known. Time it right, and you’re selling a “smartphone.” Time it wrong, and you’re trying to move a “PDA phone” or an “all-in-one device.”
Research by Fernando F. Suarez and Stine Grodal, both of Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, shows that names are no small matter. Their multiyear research finds that “a company’s labeling strategy can have important performance implications for products in nascent markets.”
Review of F. Suarez and S. Grodal article in MIT Sloan Management review, “Mastering the ‘Name your Product Category’ Game" by David Aaker.
I've stated many times before that the only way to grow, with some exceptions, is to innovate and create “must haves” that define a new subcategory (or category) and then manage that subcategory so that it wins in the marketplace and so that your brand becomes an exemplar. When this happens, subcategory competition becomes the focus rather than brand competition, and this can be a foreign concept to most marketers.
Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Fernando on Routines and Capabilities in High-Uncertainty Environments (Dynamic Capabilities)
Fernando F. Suarez | fsuarez@northeastern.edu | +1 617-373-6028 | www.fernandofsuarez.com
