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David Teece

Rock Star of Business

An economics rock star, Bachelor of Arts and Master of Commerce in Economics

By John MacDonald

David Teece has reportedly been labelled “an economics rock star”. Appropriate, perhaps, for someone who joined the likes of heavy metal band Metallica in the music industry's battle with the Napster internet music-sharing scheme.

The likening to a rock star is somewhat incongruous, though, when Teece talks about his place on the world's economics stage. There's not a lot of swagger and no hint of arrogance.

For example, becoming a professor at the University of California Berkeley by the age of 34 was not something he set out to achieve.

“When I left Canterbury, my plan was to obtain a PhD in economics from a world-class overseas university in the UK or North America.

“I certainly didn't think I was good enough to get a professorship at a top US university.”

Yet, just 11 years after graduating from UC, he was Professor Teece at Berkeley and on the road to becoming one of the World's Top 50 Living Business Intellectuals and the 10 th most cited scholar worldwide in economics, business, and finance.

He has remained at Berkeley and is currently Professor of Business Administration at the Walter A. Haas School of Business, holder of the Mitsubishi Bank Chair in International Business and Finance, and Director of the Institute of Management, Innovation and Organisation.

Among his numerous off-campus interests are his chairmanship of the Law & Economics Consulting Group (LECG), a prestigious international economic and financial consulting firm he co-founded in 1988; and his role as a director of Canterbury New Zealand Ltd.

He also provides advice to the legal fraternity.

One of the high profile cases he has been involved in was the action by the recording industry against the Napster internet music-sharing scheme.

The Recording Industry Association of America alleged that Napster's technology, which allowed users to share music stored as MP3 files, was a major violation of copyright.

The action involved 17 recording companies, with the support of several major recording artists such as Metallica and rapper Dr Dre, and led to the service being shutdown by a court order.

With such variety in his work, Teece describes himself as an economist, entrepreneur and consultant, depending on what he is doing.

He says it reflects current attitudes.

“The reality is that outside academia, and outside North America, very few take a business intellectual all that seriously, despite the critical importance of business and business initiatives to the global economy and everyday life.

“I happen to have the most cited paper in the combined fields of business and economics for the decade 1995-2005, but I doubt more than a handful of executives have read it.

“In short, the notion of a business intellectual is unpersuasive to both business people and to intellectuals alike.”

Nevertheless, he successfully marries academia and business.

“I routinely use ideas and findings from the academic literature in my consulting activities; and I've built a firm with 1200 employees and annual revenues of approximately NZ$500m, applying what I have learned from the academic literature and from my consulting and business experience.

“My understanding of scholarship and business organisation gave me the knowledge, confidence and the courage to mount a new business model and pursue a differentiated strategy.”

Teece says he is not a corporate tycoon and describes his business endeavours as “small change” in the global business world.

And any suggestion he might be some sort of guru is quickly dismissed.

“In the academic world, I don't have — and nor do I seek — guru status. You are correct to observe that according to Science Watch (November/December 2005) I was ranked #10 globally in business and economics for the decade based on citation counts in the leading scientific journals.”

Speaking from California , he tells Canterbury magazine that while he has achieved great things outside New Zealand, it makes him no less a New Zealander than he was when he left in 1971 to continue his studies.

Born in Blenheim, he moved with his family to Nelson when he was 12 and went to Waimea College. By 1966 he was head boy. From there it was to Canterbury University where he developed his interest in economics, graduating BA in 1970 and MCom in 1971.

His belief that New Zealand should celebrate and share the successes of its citizens wherever they are drove him to join the Warehouse's Stephen Tindall in co-founding the Kiwi Expat Association, also known as KEA.

“The vision of a greater New Zealand nation not confined to New Zealand 's geographic borders was appealing to me and to others, too.

“There had been much talk and little action about an expatriate network for a number of years. I teamed up with Steve Tindall, and together with him and many others, I think we have begun to materialise a very good idea.”

Teece describes members of the association as “door-openers for each other and New Zealand around the globe.

“We can help budding entrepreneurs, professionals, and creative talent more generally.

“Although Steve Tindall and our family foundation funded it for the first three years, it is now financially self-funded and expanding nicely by bringing value to its membership.

“We just opened a new chapter in Melbourne and 400 Kiwis showed up for our first event. Three hundred of them are now registered members.”

While Teece does not see himself returning to New Zealand to live permanently, he is a regular visitor.

His family holidays at their property in Nelson most summers. This year he is looking forward to hiking, four-wheel driving, boating and catching up with family and friends.

“Especially those from my University of Canterbury days.”

Source:
Canterbury Magazine 2006 Vol 3 No 2 (PDF, 4MB)