David Clough

Originally from Derby, UK, I attended King’s College, University of Cambridge, where I studied natural sciences and engineering, majoring in manufacturing engineering. I then spent 2.5 years working as a strategy consultant in London for a boutique consultancy called Credo (now part of Teneo), which exposed me to industries including mobile telecommunications, electric power distribution, business process outsourcing, and airport management. Alongside my induction into strategy consulting, I trained in financial analysis in my spare time, passing Levels 1 and 2 of the CFA qualification.

I joined INSEAD’s PhD program in the Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise area in the incoming class of 2012, initially based in Fontainebleau. In the fall of 2013 I spent a semester as a visiting PhD scholar at the Wharton school sponsored by the INSEAD-Wharton Alliance. In January 2015 I transferred to INSEAD’s Singapore campus. I have thus fulfilled the INSEAD promise of undertaking my PhD across three continents.

I am deeply passionate about social science research, and about communicating the fruits of that research through teaching. In my (scarce) free time, I enjoy travel, long-distance running, reading sci-fi novels, and writing about various topics in technology, strategy, finance and economics.

Research interests

• Innovation Ecosystems
• Technological Evolution
• Interorganizational Networks
• Organizational Learning
• Entrepreneurship

Selected publications

• Clough, D. R., & Wu, A. (in-press) Dialogue: Artificial Intelligence, Data-Driven Learning, and the Decentralized Structure of Platform Ecosystems. Academy of Management Review, forthcoming.
• Fang, T. P., Wu, A., & Clough, D. R. (2021) "Platform Diffusion at Temporary Gatherings: Social Coordination and Ecosystem Emergence" Strategic Management Journal, 42(2): 231-232.
• Clough, D. R. & Piezunka, H. (2020). "Tie Dissolution in Market Networks: A Theory of Vicarious Performance Feedback" Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(4): 972-1017.
• Clough, D. R., Pan Fang, T., Vissa, B., & Wu, A. (2019). "Turning Lead Into Gold: How do Entrepreneurs Mobilize Resources to Exploit Opportunities?" Academy of Management Annals, 13(1): 240-271.

Awards & Honors

• Honorable Mention for Best Conference Paper Prize, Strategic Management Society Special Conference, Costa Rica 2017
• Finalist for Best Paper Award, OMT Division, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta 2017
• Finalist for Best Symposium Award, OMT Division, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim 2016
• Best Reviewer Award, TIM Division, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver 2015
• Finalist, INFORMS / Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition, 2016
• Strategy Research Foundation Dissertation Scholarship, 2015
• Finalist for the 'Wings of Excellence' essay competition at the 46th St. Gallen Symposium
• Finalist for Best PhD Paper Prize, Strategic Management Society Annual Conference, Denver 2015