John A. Pearce II, Ph.D., holds the Endowed Chair in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at Villanova University. In 2004, he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor at ITAM in Mexico City. Previously, Professor Pearce was the Eakin Endowed Chair in Strategic Management at George Mason University and a State of Virginia Eminent Scholar. He received the 1994 Fulbright U.S. Professional Award, which he served at INTAN in Malaysia. Dr. Pearce has taught at Penn State University, West Virginia University, the University of Malta as the Fulbright Senior Professor in International Management, and at the University of South Carolina where he was Director of Ph.D. Programs in Strategic Management. He received a Ph.D. degree in Business Administration and Strategic Management from the Pennsylvania State University.

Professor Pearce is coauthor of 36 books and has authored more than 250 articles and refereed professional papers. The articles have appeared in journals that include Academy of Management Executive, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Business Horizons, California Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Business Venturing, Long-Range Planning, Organizational Dynamics, Sloan Management Review, and Strategic Management Journal. Several of these publications have resulted from Professor Pearce's work as a principal on research projects funded for more than $2 million. He is a widely recognized expert in the field of strategic management, with special accomplishments in the areas of strategic planning and management, including strategy formulation, implementation, and control, mission statement development, environmental assessment, industry analysis, and tools for strategy evaluation and selection.

Professor Pearce is the recipient of several awards in recognition of his accomplishments in teaching, research, scholarship, and professional service, including three Outstanding Paper Awards from the Academy of Management and the 2003 Villanova University Outstanding Faculty Research Award. A frequent leader of executive development programs and an active consultant to business and industry, Dr. Pearce's client list includes domestic and multinational firms engaged in manufacturing and service industries.

Richard B. Robinson, Jr., Ph.D., is the Business Partnership Foundation Fellow in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship in the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. He also serves as Director of the Faber Entrepreneurship Center at USC and Assistant Director of the Center for Manufacturing and Technology in USC's College of Engineering and Information Technology. Dr. Robinson received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Georgia. He graduated from Georgia Tech in Industrial Management.

Professor Robinson has coauthored over 30 books addressing strategic management and entrepreneurship issues that students and managers use worldwide. He has authored over 300 articles, professional papers, and case studies that have been published in major journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, and the Journal of Business Venturing.

Dr. Robinson has previously held executive positions with companies in the pulp and paper, hazardous waste, building products, lodging, and restaurant industries. He currently serves as a director or adviser to entrepreneurial companies that are global leaders in niche markets in the log home, building products, animation, and computer chip thermal management industries. Dr. Robinson also supervises over 50 student teams each year that undertake field consulting projects and internships with entrepreneurial companies worldwide.