He moved to the United States to attend the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he received a Ph.D. in economics, specializing in industrial economics, international trade, and technological innovation.[6][8] Two members of the Economics faculty had a particular influence on his research that he later acknowledged in articles he wrote in tribute to each of them: Edwin Mansfield, a pioneer in the study of industrial R&D and the economics of technological change;[9] and Oliver Williamson, Nobel Laureate and creator of Transaction Cost Economics.[10]
After the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the couple offered a substantial donation to the city for earthquake recovery. The money was used by his former university to install the classics and music school in the Old Chemistry building at the Christchurch Arts Centre. In 2017, 40 years after its move from the Christchurch Central City to the Ilam campus, the University of Canterbury returned to its original home, and opened The Teece Museum of Classical Antiques in May 2017.[13] The Townsend Teece restored telescope has been restored for placement in the university's observatory in Christchurch.
"Teece has made lasting contributions to the study of innovation."[16] Teece's 1986 paper "Profiting from Technological Innovation" was selected by the editors as one of the best papers published in Research Policy from 1971 to 1991 [17] and is the most cited paper ever published in the publication.[18][19] In October 2006, Research Policy published a special issue commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the original article.[20] The paper was updated in 2018 to give attention to emerging issues in the digital economy.
In this series of papers, Teece explained why innovative firms often fail to capture economic returns from their invention. He described how it is sometimes more important for a business to be able to win at marketing, distribution, manufacturing, and other complementary areas than to come up with a big idea in the first place.[21] He identified the factors which determine whether the firm that wins from innovation is the firm that is first to market, a follower firm, or a firm that has related capabilities that the innovation requires to provide value to a customer.[22] The key elements in what has been called the Teece Model[23] are the imitability of the innovation (how easily competitors can copy it) and the ownership of complementary assets.[24] Sidney Winter has argued that Teece's paper contributes "en passant but fundamentally, to the clarification of basic questions." [25]
Dynamic capabilities
Teece is identified as being partially responsible for the dynamic capabilities perspective in strategic management.[26] Dynamic capabilities have been defined as "the ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments".[27] Further, "The concept of dynamic capabilities, especially in terms of organizational knowledge processes, has become the predominant paradigm for the explanation of competitive advantages. However, major unsolved—or at least insufficiently solved—problems are first their measurement and second their management…"[28]
According to ScienceWatch, his paper (with Gary Pisano and Amy Shuen) "Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management" was the most cited paper in economics and business globally for the period from 1995 to 2005.[29]
Teece's concept of dynamic capabilities is a theory about the foundations of competitive advantage: "the capacity (1) to sense and shape opportunities and threats, (2) to seize opportunities, and (3) to maintain competitiveness through enhancing, combining, protecting, and, when necessary, reconfiguring the business enterprise's intangible and tangible assets."[30]
His concept stands parallel to the dynamic capability perspective of Eisenhardt & Martin (2000). It also builds on the idea of combinatorial capabilities (Kogut & Zander 1992).[citation needed]
Theory of the multiproduct firm
Roberts and Saloner (2013)[31] credit Teece with "the first attempt to build a systematic theory of the firm scope based on profit-maximizing behavior" (827) in his 1982 article "Towards an Economic Theory of the Multiproduct Firm,"[32] in which Teece describes the existence of excess resources in firms, stating that firms could better use those resources by diversifying into new lines of business. He also presents transaction cost arguments regarding whether resources can be shared contractually, and explains that protecting those resources is a potential basis for diversification. Teece additionally builds on Williamson (1975)[33] in arguing that "internal capital allocation may be better than what the market can achieve" (828).[citation needed]
Dynamic Competition
For over three decades Teece has criticized antitrust and competition economics for its failure to consider the power of innovation driven broad spectrum dynamic competition. Teece tweaks the sources of economic rents down more finely, and believes Schumpeterian and Ricardian rents are generally benign from an antitrust perspective.[34] This is seen to be "a very valuable insight"[35] that is counter to traditional antitrust enforcement.[36] He is recognized for persistently alerting regulatory bodies to the different nature of competition in the innovation economy compared to the industrial economy.
Panmure House Declaration
Teece invited and organized the "New Enlightenment Conference" in Panmure House, the original home of Adam Smith in Edinburgh, Scotland, July 2019. The conference participants signed the Panmure House Declaration, "the first major pronouncement from Adam Smith's home since 1790."[37] It called for a stronger commitment to Adam Smith's values of economic freedom and a rule-of-law democracy, and the pursuit of the common good.[38] Teece became the inaugural Adam Smith scholar in residence in Panmure House.[39]
In 2003, Lappeenranta University presented Teece with the first Viipuri International Prize in Strategic (Technology) Management and Business Economics.[43][44]
A 2008 analysis by Thomson Scientific found him to be one of the top-10 most-cited scholars in economics and business from 1997 to 2007.[45]
In 2011 he received the Herbert Simon award from Laszlo College for Advanced Studies, Corvinus University of Budapest.[46]
A 2011 article, "Innovation in Multi-Invention Contexts,"[47] coauthored with Deepak Somaya and Simon Wakeman, was selected as the winner of the 2012 California Management Review Best Article Award.[48] This article presents a framework designed to help guide managers of innovating firms in designing appropriate strategy when seeking to bring an innovation to market in a multi-invention context.[citation needed]
Who Who's Legal 2018 noted that David Teece is "'extremely highly regarded' for his longstanding output in the field of competition economics."[52] In the same year, the Strategic Management Society awarded him the CK Prahalad Distinguished Scholar-Practitioner Award and classified him as "a renowned academic, a prolific author, an active consultant, serial entrepreneur, angel investor and CEO mentor."[53]
In 2020 he was ranked as the world's most-cited scholar in the combined field of business and management in an analysis of science-wide author citations published in PLOS Biology, a peer-reviewed journal.[54] He was also indicted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame.[55]
Teece has not publicly stated his political views, though he chaired Californians for a Balanced Budget and Better Economy, a PAC that supported Tom Campbell's 2012 run for U.S. Senate.[57]
His largest political donation was $500,000 to Californians for a Balanced Budget and Better Economy. In recent election cycles he has donated to several Republican senators' campaigns, including Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Tom Cotton, Lisa Murkowski, and Dan Sullivan.[58]
Selected publications
Teece has published more than 200 scholarly papers and more than a dozen books and is coeditor of the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management.[11] They include:
Strategy, Innovation and the Theory of the Firm. Edward Elgar. 2012.
Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management: Organizing for Innovation and Growth. Oxford University Press. 2009. Second edition (with new preface), 2011.
The Transfer and Licensing of Know-How and Intellectual Property: Understanding the Multinational Enterprise in the Modern World. World Scientific Publishing. 2008.
Technological Know-How, Organizational Capabilities and Strategic Management. World Scientific Publishing. 2008.
Managing Intellectual Capital: Organizational, Strategic, and Policy Dimensions. Oxford University Press. 2000.
Economic Performance and the Theory of the Firm: The Selected Papers of David Teece. Vol. 1 and 2. Edward Elgar Publishing. 1998.
Teece, David; Jorde, Thomas, eds. (1992). Antitrust, Innovation and Competitiveness. Oxford University Press.
^ abHughes, Samuel (March–April 2005). "All Business". The Pennsylvania Gazette. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
^Teece, David J. (January 2005). "Technology and Technology Transfer: Mansfieldian Inspirations and Subsequent Developments". Journal of Technology Transfer. 30 (1/2): 17–33. doi:10.1007/s10961-004-4355-x. S2CID189871541.
^Teece, David J. (Winter 2010). "Williamson's Impact on the Theory and Practice of Management". California Management Review. 52 (2): 167–176. doi:10.1525/cmr.2010.52.2.167. S2CID153372058.
^ abAnders, George (March 19, 2007). "An Economist's Courtroom Bonanza: Whether It's Mötley Crüe or Antitrust Law, Berkeley's David Teece Is Ready to Testify". The Wall Street Journal. pp. A1.
^Introduction to the Research Policy 20th anniversary special issue of the publication of "Profiting from Innovation" by David J. Teece, by editors Henry Chesbrough , Julian Birkinshaw, and Morris Teubal, Research Policy, Volume 35, Issue 8, October 2006, Pages 1091-1099.
^Chesbrough, Henry; Birkinshaw, Julian; Teubal, Morris (October 2006). "Introduction to the research policy 20th anniversary special issue of the publication of "Profiting from Innovation" by David J. Teece". Research Policy. 35 (8): 1091–1099. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2006.09.001.
^Teece, David J. (December 1986). "Profiting from Technological Innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy". Research Policy. 15 (6): 285–305. doi:10.1016/0048-7333(86)90027-2.
^Scocco, Daniel (August 24, 2006). "The Teece Model". Innovation Zen. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
^Afuah, Allan N., and Kwaku O. Prakah-Asante (2010). "Innovation Models." In V.K. Narayanan and Gina Colarelli O'Connor (eds.), Encyclopedia of Technology & Innovation Management, p. 107. John Wiley & Sons.
^Roberts, John; Saloner, Garth (2013). Gibbons, Robert; Roberts, John (eds.). The Handbook of Organizational Economics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 799–852.
^Teece, David J.; Coleman, Mary (September 1, 1998). "The Meaning of Monopoly: Antitrust Analysis in High-Technology Industries". The Antitrust Bulletin. 43 (3–4): 801–857. doi:10.1177/0003603X9804303-406. ISSN0003-603X. S2CID156165128.
^"Innovation and the Law: The Contributions of David Teece"
Tom Campbell, Dean of the Haas School of Business
Research Policy Conference: 20th Anniversary of the Publication of Profiting from Technological Innovation
Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
September 21, 2006