About Paul
Professor Paul A. Phillips
Paul has acted for a wide range of clients in the public and private sectors, which included providing strategic advice to organisations such as the UK Government; Deputy Prime Minister’s Office; Northern Ireland Government; Ministry of Defence (UK); China People’s Liberation Army; World Bank; China Development Bank; Caribbean Development Bank; BT; Shell; Guinness; hospitality and tourism organisations; and an increasing number of for-profit, non-profits and local, regional and global higher education institutions.
Paul is currently working on several innovative sustainable strategy projects to help organisations boost their economic, social, and environmental impacts.
Strategic Development and Advisory Committees
During his term as Director of Kent Business School, he provided strategic, academic, and operational leadership, which increased revenue by 56% and UK student numbers by 17%. He formulated and implemented new strategic partnerships in Mainland Europe, the Middle East, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Africa, and Brazil.
Paul has served as Chair of the UK Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) Research Steering Committee (2008-2011) and Member of the CABS Executive Committee (2008-11). He chaired the 2010 ABS Annual Research Conference and the 2010 ABS Annual Doctor of Business Administration Conference. Paul has served on the Institute of Business Ethics UK Advisory Council (2010-2017) and Westminster Business School Advisory Board (2010-2016) and is the Founder and Inaugural Chair of the CABS International and External Relations subcommittee (2011-2013).
Training and Facilitation
Paul has completed the Experienced Deans’ and New Deans’ Seminar Series, Association to Advance Collegiate School of Business (AACSB) International. In addition, he completed the International Deans’ Programme, Association of Business Schools/European Foundation for Management Development, and the Leading Change and Organisational Renewal Programme at Harvard Business School, Harvard University.
He has assisted global universities by creating strategic development and implementation plans. He has facilitated universities, faculties, divisions, schools, and departments to pivot in repositioning strategies and building and enhancing research capacity and capability. He has been used as an external advisor for the Research Assessment Exercises, UK and more recently, the Research Excellence Framework 2014, 2021, and 2029 for all levels of research-intensive universities. In addition, Paul has been used as an external advisor for Professorial appointment panels in several countries worldwide, so he is well qualified to offer insights into shaping academic-related strategies. Professor Phillips brings about change through agile strategic management, innovation, design thinking, visual techniques and technology to help (re)shape and drive impact transformation across universities, businesses, governments, processes and people.
Honorary Appointments and Publications
Professor Phillips has served as a Visiting Professor at three universities in China: The School of Business Administration, Hunan University, Changsha; International Business School, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing; School of Economics, Shandong University, Ji’nan.
Paul has recently written three books: Newman, V. and Phillips, P. A. (2023) The Research Impact Strategy Playbook; Phillips, P. A. Subramanian, K V and Newman, V. (2019) Management Consultancy Through an Academic and Practitioner Perspective, and Phillips, P. and Moutinho, L. (2018) Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management (Routledge).
Routledge has commissioned Professor Phillips to write a book entitled Sustainable Strategic Management: Leadership with Purpose, which is due for publication in Jan 2026.
Or, you can email me on pap@igstrategypartners.com
I look forward to hearing from you.
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Offerings:
- Sustainable Strategy Management (Programmes)
- 30-Minute Sustainable Strategy Live Brief (Live Stream)
- Sustainable Strategy Brief (Newsletters and Blogs)
- Interactive Events (Workshops and Webinars)
- Playbooks (Digital frameworks and Tools)
PhD Examination in Iceland
Congratulations to Dr Kristján Reykjalín Vigfússon
It was my honour to be appointed as one of the external examiners and opponents of doctoral candidate Kristján Reykjalín Vigfússon’s dissertation.
This was submitted to the Faculty of Business Administration, School of Social Sciences at the University of Iceland.
In partial fulfilment of the requirements of a PhD degree in Business. The dissertation was titled: “Strategy Implementation in Icelandic Fisheries – Obstacles, key success factors, and competitive advantages”.
I was delighted, together with the committee, to pass the defence of Dr Kristján Reykjalín Vigfússon’s dissertation.
The procedure at the defence is very different from the UK. The defence is an event intended to be an honour for the University, the Faculty, the candidate, and those who have contributed to the candidate’s work and the preparation of the public defence. The audience includes Faculty members, the candidate’s relatives, friends and colleagues.
Congratulations to Dr Kristján Reykjalín Vigfússon and his family, who treated us all to some wonderful Icelandic hospitality!
About Paul
Professor Paul A. Phillips served for over two decades as Professor of Strategic Management at Kent Business School, University of Kent, UK. He also served as Deputy and Director of Kent Business School and held academic appointments at Cardiff Business School and the University of Surrey, UK.
In 2001, Paul was appointed to the Charles Forte Chair of Hotel Management at the University of Surrey. His earlier business career was as a qualified accountant and a Senior Management Consultant with Price Waterhouse. Professor Phillips holds an MBA and a PhD from Cardiff Business School and is a qualified marketer.
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