Dear Colleagues,
I am sorry to inform you that
our colleague, John Stopford, passed away this weekend at
his home in London. John has been ill with cancer over the
last several years. Despite this he has been active in
communications with us; indeed he participated in a seminar
here at Henley Business School in May 2009.
As you all know John was one of
the founders of the field of International Business and
probably the most influential institution builder in the UK
and Europe, where he was a leader in establishing the
International Business and Strategy department at the London
Business School over forty years ago. John had the
remarkable ability to be simultaneously a first rate
academic, an expert teacher (especially of executives and
MBAs) and a guru able to connect with top management teams
and practitioners at large. His academic work will be
remembered for his pioneering articles and book (with Lou
Wells) on the strategy and structure of MNEs: his unique
ability to combine economic and political analysis in his
work on government policy and strategies of MNEs; and his
career interest and publications on the strategies of mature
MNEs. Due to his abundant commitments, John was unable to
take up the invitation to serve as president of AIB some
years ago. But his contributions to the development of AIB,
EIBA and the field of international business in general will
be long remembered.
His life and career in
international business is an inspiration to all of us.
Alan
M. Rugman, Professor of International Business
Head
of International Business and Strategy
Henley
Business School, University of Reading
Henley-on-Thames,
Oxon, RG9 3AU
