Peter McKiernan

Adjunct Professor of Management
BA, MA, PhD, CABS, FRSA, FBAM, FEURAM, FAcSS, FGIA, FCIS, FCIM, FRRBM

Email: peter.mckiernan@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Peter McKiernan is a Professor of Management at Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Peter is also a distinguished professor of management at the Brussels School of Governance, VUB, and has an adjunct professorship at the University of Notre Dame, Australia. He has authored, edited, or co-authored 10 books, including the bestseller “Sharpbenders” on organisational turnaround, and he has won prizes for his research on organisational leadership, organisational sense-giving, and growth strategies in SMEs and top management teams. He has published in the leading academic journals in Europe and the USA. He has been Chairman and President of the BAM and Vice-President and President of the European Academy of Management (EURAM), where he was a co-founder of i) the Academy, ii) its house journal - the European Management Review, iii) its Research Leadership programme, and iv) the EECC. He is a past Dean of the Fellows College of BAM and the current Dean of the Fellows College of EURAM. He holds fellowships from BAM and EURAM and seven other international academic and professional bodies. 2016, he co-founded the successful social movement Responsible Research in Business and Management (RRBM).

  • Teaching areas

    Scenario Thinking, Leading Change in a Catholic Context, Strategic Management

  • Research expertise and supervsion

    Peter has published over 120 publications, including books, articles, book chapters, working papers, case studies, and many conference papers. He has worked on research grants totalling over £2 million and supervised over 30 doctoral and MPhil students. He founded the EURAM research leadership programme with the EFMD in Brussels and has spent over 10 years as a Research Director in academia. Peter recently co-founded the impactful, global social movement Responsible Research in Business and Management. Peter sits on the scientific Committees of the European Academic Journal Guide (CABS list), Woxsen University, India and chairs the board at IEDC Bled, Slovenia.

  • Books

    • McKiernan, P., Grinyer P. and Mayes D., (1988) Sharpbenders: The Secrets of Unleashing  Corporate Potential, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 325 pp.
    • McKiernan, P. (1992) Strategies for Growth: Recovery, Maturity and Internationalisation,  Routledge, 220 pp.
    • McKiernan, P. & Egan, C. (1993) Inside Fortress Europe: Competitive Strategies for the  Single Market, Addison-Wesley, Wokingham, 227 pp.
    • McKiernan, P. (academic editor), (1996) Historical Evolution of Strategic Management; The  Planning and Learning Schools of Thought, Vol. 1, Gower Press, Aldershot, 445 pp.
    • McKiernan, P. (academic editor), (1996) Historical Evolution of Strategic Management: The  Positioning and Resource-Based Schools of Thought, Vol. 2, Gower Press, Aldershot, 449 pp
    • McKiernan, P. & AL-Ishmaily, S. (2007) Inside the Omani Corporate Culture; a Research in  Management Styles, Oman Economic Review, Muscat, 219 pp.
    • McKiernan, P. and Leavy, B. (2009) Strategic Leadership; Governance and Renewal,  Palgrave, Basingstoke, 332 pp.
    • McKiernan, P. & Purg, D. (2013) Hidden Champions in CEE and Turkey: Carving Out a Global Niche, Springer, London, 437 pp.
    • McKiernan, P. & MacKay, R.B., (2018) Scenario Thinking: A historical evolution of strategic foresight, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 120pp
    • McKiernan, P., Bali, A., Vas, C., & Waring, P. (2018), Productivity and Innovation in SMEs: Creating Competitive Advantage in Singapore and Southeast Asia, Routledge, Abingdon, 210pp

  • Book chapters

    • McKiernan, P. & Purg, D., (2013), The Context of Hidden Champions. In: McKiernan, P., & Purg, D., Hidden Champions in CEE and Turkey: Carving Out a Global Niche, Springer, London
    • McKiernan, P. and Wilson, D.C. (2015), Strategic Choice: Taking Business out of B-schools. In: Pettigrew, A, M, Cornuel, E., & Hommell, U., (Eds.) Institutional Development of Business Schools, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Chapter 11, pp 248-270
    • McKiernan, P, Bali, A. Vas, C and Waring, P (2015) ‘Competition Law, Regulation And Trade: Implications For Productivity And Innovation In Singaporean Manufacturing SMEs’, In Lee, C And Schaper, M (Eds) Competition Law, Regulation And SMEs: Understanding The Small Business Perspective, Institute Of South-East Asian Studies, Singapore. pp.211-229
    • McKiernan, P., Garcia-Goni, M., and Paulucci, F., (2015) ‘Pathways towards chronic care-focused healthcare systems: international experiences’ in Albach, H., Meffert, H., Pinkwart, A., Reichwald, R. & von Eiff, W. (Eds) 'Anthology about challenges and opportunities of health care management in the 21st century’, Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.
    • McKiernan, P., Bali, A., Vas, C. and Waring, P. (2016) ‘Addressing sustainability challenges through state-led social innovation: The Singapore story’. In Nicolopolou, K. Karatas-Ozkan, M. Janssen, F. and Jermier, J., (Eds), Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Routledge, 2016.
    • McKiernan, P. & Tsui, A., (2020) ‘Responsible Research in Business and Management: Transforming Doctoral Education’, In The SAGE Handbook of Responsible Management Learning & Education. Edited by Moosmeyer, D., Laasch, O., Parkes, C. & Brown, K. G. London: Sage Publications, pp. 485–502, 10 Aug 2020.
    • McKiernan, P., Sunner, A., Ates, A. (2021) ‘Open strategy: a systematic literature review and research agenda’, in Strategic Responsiveness for a Sustainable Future: New Research in International Management. Andersen, T. J. (ed.). [Bingley, UK]: Emerald Publishing Limited, 19 p. (Emerald Studies in Global Strategic Responsiveness), 6 Sep 2021
    • McKiernan, P., Ates, A., and Sunner, A. (2023), "Reversing the Pyramid: Interactive and Bottom-up Strategy Practices in Small and Medium Enterprises", Kucukaltan, B. (Ed.) Contemporary Approaches in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Strategic and Technological Perspectives (International Perspectives on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 9), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 75-100. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2051-233320230000009006
    • McKiernan, P. (2024) ‘Business Schools and Business in the UK: A growing success story’ in O’Regan, N. (Ed), ‘From Purpose to Impact: The university and business partnership’, Oxford: Routledge, Chapter 3
    • McKiernan, P., Thomas, H., and Thomas, M. (2025), ‘Exploring Liberal Undergraduate Management Education in the UK’, in Feiger, G. and O’Regan, N. (Eds),  ‘Business Schools and the Future’, Oxford: Routledge, Part 2

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • McKiernan, P., Grinyer P., and Yasai, M., Market, Organisational and Managerial Correlates of Economic Performance in the Electrical Engineering Industry, Strategic Management Journal, Vol 9, No. 4, 1988. (CABS 4* star)
    • McKiernan, P. & Grinyer, P., Generating Major Change in Stagnating Companies, Strategic Management Journal, Vol 11, 1990. (CABS 4* star)
    • McKiernan, P., Grinyer, P., Mayes, D., Sharpbenders: Achieving a Sustained Improvement in Performance, Long Range Planning, Vol.23, No. 1, pp. 116 – 125, February 1990 (CABS 4 star)
    • McKiernan, P., Masrani, S., A., Williams, A., Management Education in the UK: the roles the British Academy of Management and the Association of Business Schools, Special Issue, British Journal of Management, Vol. 22: 382-400, September 2011 (CABS 4 star)
    • McKiernan, P., & Wilson, D., Global Mimicry: Putting Strategic Choice back on the Business School Agenda. Special Issue, British Journal of Management, 22, September 2011 (CABS 4 star)
    • McKiernan, P., Bowman, G., MacKay, R., Masrani, S., Storytelling and the Scenario Process: Understanding success and failure for a special issue of Technological Forecasting & Social Change, July 2012 (CABS 3 star)
    • McKiernan, P., Tsui, A., Responsible Management Research: A Senior Scholar Legacy in Doctoral Education, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2019 (CABS 4 star)
    • McKiernan P., Masrani, S.  and McKinlay, A., Firms, Technological Lock-in, Firm Capabilities and Long-Run Competitiveness: The Dundee jute industry, Business History, 2020 (CABS 4 star), https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1502750
    • Tsui, A. S., McKiernan, P., Understanding scientific freedom and scientific responsibility in business and management research, Journal of Management Studies, March 2022 (CABS 4 star, Financial Times List)
    • McKiernan, P., McPhail, K, Kafouros, M, Cornelius, N, Reimagining Business and Management as a Force for Good, British Journal of Management, 2024, vol 35, pp 1099-1112, doi https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12846 (CABS 4 star)

  • Conference papers

    Peter has delivered over 120 conference papers throughout his academic career and all the published articles above would have been in that collection. He has won conference prizes for his papers at BAM and ANZAM.

  • In the media

    Peter’s research is close to the market and has practical and policy outcomes. Hence, it has appeared on TV, radio and across the front pages of national newspapers (Scotsman), e.g., Scenarios for Scotland, and in the discussion pages of key newspapers (Financial Times), e.g., Responsible Research in Business and Management.

  • Professional affiliations

    • Companion of the Association of Businesses Schools
    • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
    • Fellow of the British Academy of Management
    • Fellow of the European Academy of Management
    • Fellow of the Academy of Social Science
    • Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia
    • Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries
    • Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management
    • Fellow of Responsible Research in Business and Management

  • Community engagement

    Peter has used his expertise in scenario thinking to support the visioning exercises of charities, e.g., Poverty Alliance (Scotland), and during the pandemic, conducted much pro bono work for key Scottish organisations to prepare them for the various outcomes better, e.g., National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, AGIC Babcock, Advanced Nuclear Research Centre, City of Glasgow Council Centre, inter alia. Over several decades, Peter has worked for Scottish regions (e.g., Fife, Grampian, Stirlingshire), cities (e.g., Edinburgh, Glasgow), and Scotland itself. He has conducted future studies in local schools (first and second), clubs, and societies. His scenario-thinking undergraduate course projects benefited local organisations for years. He has extensive governance experience on public and private sector boards, including appointments made by the Scottish government.

  • Awards

    Peter’s research has won prizes at conferences, such as BAM and ANZAM, from MNCs (such as IBM), Scottish Regions (such as Fife), and industry sectors (such as pharmaceuticals). He holds the 2013 CEEMAN Institutional Campion Prize. In 2015, the British Academy of Management (BAM) honoured him with a Lifetime Achievement award. In 2022, BAM granted him their most senior award, the Cooper Medal, for outstanding leadership and contribution to the profession. He holds a full university blue from the University of St Andrews in sports.

  • Other

    Peter holds both UK and Australian citizenship. He has worked extensively in Australia, serving as Dean at Murdoch University and as a consultant to large healthcare providers. In his spare time in Fremantle, he helps with the activities at the St Patrick’s homeless home.