Steve Wood

Biography

Professor Steve Wood has been Dean of Surrey Business School since 2019. Currently responsible for 120 academic staff and 2,500 students, Steve has wide-ranging experience of academic leadership, including accreditation, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission and forming business school strategy. He was previously Director of Research, School REF lead, as well as Head of the Department of Marketing. Earlier in his academic career, Steve was Reader in Strategy, University of Southampton (2011-2012), and Lecturer/Senior Lecturer at University of Surrey (2005-2011). Prior to 2005, Steve spent three years at Tesco plc in its marketing and property departments advising on store development strategy both domestically and abroad and has experience as a Retail Analyst for Verdict Research, a London-based retail consultancy.

Steve's research particularly focuses on retailing, including internationalization, store location planning, competition policy, supply networks and pricing. He is European and Africa Regional Editor for the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, a member of the editorial board of Journal of Business Research and has been cited by the press in publications such as The Economist, China Daily and Retail Week. He has been a member of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Peer Review College since 2015. In 2019 he was Visiting Professor at Global Production Networks Centre at the National University of Singapore. Steve has received research funding from the John Lewis Partnership, SONY, Advanced Institute of Management (AIM), British Academy of Management (BAM), NEMODE/EPSRC and the Nuffield Foundation. An experienced examiner, he was most recently external examiner for undergraduate management programmes at University of Bristol (2017-2022), having fulfilled the same role at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2011-2014) amongst others.

Since 2018, Steve has been a Trustee of Bohunt Education Trust, a Multi Academy Trust comprising eight secondary schools and over 10,000 students, where he Chairs the Trust’s Education Committee. Earlier, between 2012-15, he sat on the governing body of Ash Manor School where he was Chair of its Curriculum Committee. He is also a leader at his local village Cub Scout pack in Hampshire and Assistant Manager of the mighty Under 13s Liphook Pumas football team. Steve is a season ticket holder at Portsmouth FC and still regularly attends matches at his first love, Chelsea FC. He is often to be found kayaking in rivers and the sea or out running.

My qualifications

• 2007 Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP), University of Surrey
• 2001 PhD Economic Geography: Corporate Restructuring, Regulation and Competitive Space: The Case of the US Department Store Industry, University of Southampton.
• 1998 BA (Hons) Geography 1st Class, University of Southampton.

Research interests

Professor Steve Wood's research particularly focuses on:

• The internationalization of retailing
• Retail stores, locations, competition policy and supply networks
• Retail pricing

An economic geographer by training, Steve has published widely in leading social science journals including Economic Geography, Journal of Economic Geography, Environment and Planning A, Journal of Business Research, Regional Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, The Service Industries Journal, Journal of Marketing Management and European Journal of Marketing amongst others. His research has been cited by the press in publications such as The Economist, China Daily and Retail Week. He is European Regional Editor for the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management and regularly acts as a referee for a range of highly rated academic journals. He has been a member of the Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM) Scholars’ Pool and the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Peer Review College (since 2015). In June 2019 he was Visiting Professor at Global Production Networks Centre at the National University of Singapore. Steve has received research funding from the John Lewis Partnership, SONY, Advanced Institute of Management (AIM), British Academy of Management (BAM), NEMODE/EPSRC and the Nuffield Foundation. An experienced examiner, he was most recently external examiner for undergraduate management programmes at University of Bristol (2017-2021), having fulfilled the same role at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2011-2014) amongst others.