George Day

Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor Emeritus and Faculty Emeritus in Residence of the Mack Institute of Innovation Management

Contact Information

Primary Email:
dayg@wharton.upenn.edu
Office Phone:
(215) 898-8245
Mobile Phone:
(610) 220-1234

office Address:
767 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
3730 Walnut Street
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: competitive strategies in global markets, innovation and organic growth, marketing management, strategic formulation processes and methods, and foresight capabilities.

Links: CV

Overview

George S. Day is the Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He founded the Mack Institute for Innovation Management at the Wharton School, where he is presently Faculty Emeritus in Residence. He was previously the Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute and is currently an Academic Trustee.

He has consulted to numerous corporations such as General Electric, IBM, Metropolitan Life, Unilever, E.I. DuPont de Nemours, W.L. Gore and Associates, Coca-Cola, Boeing, LG Corp., Best Buy, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic. He is the past chairman of the American Marketing Association and serves on Boards of Directors including the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Zoological Society of Philadelphia and the Lower Merion Conservancy. He is also the co-chair of the Ag Sustainability Center of the Sonoma County Winegrowers and a Trustee of the Marketing Science Institute.

Dr. Day has authored twenty books in the areas of marketing innovation and strategic management, including: Peripheral Vision: Detecting the Weak Signals that Can Make or Break Your Company (with Paul Schoemaker) 2006, Strategy from the Outside-In: Profiting from Customer Value (with Christine Moorman) 2010, and Innovation Prowess: Leadership Strategies for Accelerating Growth, 2013. His most recent book is See Sooner/Act Faster: How Vigilant Leaders Navigate Digital Turbulence (with Paul Schoemaker) 2019.

He has won ten best articles award and one best book award, and two of his articles were among the top 25 most influential articles in marketing science in the past 25 years. He was honored with the Charles Coolidge Parlin Award in 1994, the Paul D. Converse Award in 1996, the Sheth Foundation award in 2003, and the Mahajan Award for career contributions to strategy in 2001. In 2004, he received the AMA/Irwin/McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award. In 2015 he was chosen as one of eleven “Legends in Marketing,” and in 2017 he was awarded the William L. Wilkie, “Marketing for a Better World” award. In 2020 he was awarded the Sheth Medal, a bi-annual award for exceptional contributions to marketing scholarship and practice.

September 2023

Research

George Day (Forthcoming), Capturing Innovation Opportunities: Learning from Growth Leaders.
George Day (2023), Diagnosing the Market-Driven Approach to Innovation: Learning from Practice, Strategic Management Review.
George Day (2023), Accelerating growth with strategic innovation: Putting market driving into context, Industrial Marketing Management.
George Day (2022), Commentary on Formulating Strategy from the Outside In, Long Range Planning.
George Day and Roger Dennis (2022), Overcoming the preparedness paradox: five initiatives to ready businesses for an uncertain future disruption, Strategy & Leadership, 50 (5), pp. 9-14.
George Day (2022), Why Working Backwards Works Better, Management and Business Review (MBR), 2 (2), pp. 41-47.
Abstract: Working backwards is a signature method that Amazon uses to assess its innovation initiatives. The system works because the company has the essential ingredients: leadership commitment, investment in finding opportunities, empathy at all levels, and collective curiosity. All firms can use working backwards to assess, challenge, and rethink how they innovate.
George Day and Gregory P Shea (2021), Innovating How Innovation Works at Procter & Gamble, Strategy & Leadership.
P. J. H. Schoemaker and George Day (2021), Preparing Organizations for Greater Turbulence, California Management Review.
Abstract: Vigilant organizations excel at seeing looming threats and embryonic opportunities sooner than rivals, which prepares them to act faster when needed. Four drivers distinguish vigilant from vulnerable organizations, which can be used to design a roadmap to improve organizational acuity and preparedness. The fulcrum of these changes rests with the leadership team by demonstrating a strong commitment to vigilance at all levels, and reinforcing this by making targeted investments in foresight capabilities. These strategic moves also need to be supported by corresponding changes in the strategy-making process and by ensuring accountability and coordination of vigilance activities throughout the enterprise.
George Day and Karissa Kruse (2020), How vigilant leaders prepare for a turbulent future, Strategy & Leadership.
George Day, P. J. H. Schoemaker, Sue Todd (2020), Is Your Supply Chain Ready For What’s Next?, Supply Chain Management Review .

Awards and Honors

William L. Wilkie “Marketing for a Better World” Award, 2017
Selected as one of the eleven Legends in Marketing, 2015
AMA/Berry Prize for the Best Book on Marketing, 2012 Description
Winner (with Christine Moorman) for Strategy from the Outside-In (McGraw-Hill 2010)
IBM Award for Best Article published in the Journal of Service Research, 2007 Description
"The Path to Customer Centricity" with Denise Shah, Roland Rust, A. Parasuraman and Richard Staelin.
Robert D. Buzzell Marketing Science Institute Best Paper Award, 2007 Description
Award for Aligning the Organization with the Market (MSI Report 05-110).
JM/Sheth Foundation Award, 2004 Description
For the best article published in the Journal of Marketing that has made a long term contribution to the field of Marketing
AMA/McGraw-Hill Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator, 2004 Description
AMA/McGraw-Hill Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator
Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2002 Description
Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Vijay Mahajan Award, 2001 Description
For career contributions to marketing strategy, awarded by the American Marketing Association
Excellence in Teaching Award, 1998 Description
From the Wharton Graduate Association
Finalist, Anvil Award, 1992 Description
For teaching excellence at The Wharton School, 1992, 1997, 1998
Honored with the establishment of the George S. Day Doctoral Dissertation Award, 1997 Description
For research on interfunctional issues
Paul D. Converse Award, 1996 Description
For outstanding contributions to the development of the science of
marketing, awarded by the American Marketing Association.
Marketing Science Institute Award, 1995 Description
For best working paper “The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organizations”
Harold H. Maynard Award, 1994 Description
For most significant contribution to marketing theory and thought for the article “The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organizations.” This article was also the runner-up for the Alpha Kappa Psi Foundation Award.
Charles Coolidge Parlin Award, 1994 Description
In recognition of outstanding contributions to marketing and marketing education
Top 20 articles that have most affected the practice of marketing science, 1994 Description
INFORMS Society for Marketing Science picked my article "The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organizations" which appeared in the Journal of Marketing in 1994 as one of the Top 20 articles that have most affected the practice of marketing science.
Master of Arts (Honorary), University of Pennsylvania, 1992
Harold H. Maynard Award, 1989 Description
For most significant contribution to marketing theory and thought, Jointly with Mary Lambkin for article on “Evolutionary Processes in Competitive Markets: Beyond the Life Cycle.”
Runner-up for Alpha Kappa Psi Award, 1980 Description
In 1980 and 1988
Alpha Kappa Psi Foundation Award, 1988 Description
For most significant contribution to marketing practice, Jointly with Robin Wensley for article on “Assessing Advantage: A Framework for Diagnosing Competitive Superiority.”
Recognition Award for 10 years of contributions to management education in the General Electric Company, 1988
Hewlett-Packard Award, 1987 Description
For outstanding contributions to the use of computers in the field
of business education
Runner-up for Harold H. Maynard Award, 1980
Runner-up for Alpha Kappa Psi Award, 1980 Description
For ACustomer-Oriented Approaches to Identifying Product Markets,” with Allan D. Shocker and Ray Srivastava
Alpha Kappa Psi Foundation Award, 1978 Description
For most significant contribution to marketing practice, 1978, for article on “Diagnosing the Product Portfolio”
Sheth Medal for exceptional contributions to marketing scholarship and practice, 1970
Beta Gamma Sigma Dissertation prize, 1969 Description
With publication of Buyer Attitudes and Brand Choice Behavior in 1970 by Free Press
Ford Foundation Dissertation Research Award, Columbia University, 1966
Ford Foundation Doctoral Study Awards, Columbia University, 1964-1965 Description
1964 and 1965
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Merit Award, University of Western Ontario, 1960

Activity

Latest Research

George Day (Forthcoming), Capturing Innovation Opportunities: Learning from Growth Leaders.

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Banks are facing a new era of digital transformation. In this article, Wharton’s George Day and co-author Cassie Solomon explain how a traditional finance firm has embraced the evolution of fintech and thrived. …Read More

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