Nigel Walton

Assistant Professor, School of Strategy and Leadership, Coventry University
From 1980 to 1990 I worked as an International Marketing Manager for Sealy Posturepedic covering the West Indies and South America. Between 1990 - 2000, I was a strategy consultant undertaking turnaround strategies for medium-sized business in the UK.

In 2001, I became a Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Worcester and an Associate Lecturer at the Open University Business School. I am currently an Assistant Professor in Business Strategy at Coventry University Business School (SSL).

I have a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Humanities from Teeside University, a Post-Graduate Diploma in marketing from the Chartered institute of Marketing, an MBA from the Open University and a PhD from Coventry University. I also have a Post-Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching from the Uiversity of Worcester.

My research interests are in the area of platform ecosystems and digital disruprion. This includes innovation, digital technologies and Big Data. I am interested in the disruptive impact of these technologies and their implications for competitive strategy.

My PhD analysed the role of data as a driver of innovation and the extent to which two-sided paltform (Internet) companies were more innovative as a result of their large data resoures compared to traditional, linear businesses.

I have also written two books that explore the relevance of strategic models and neo-classical approaches to strategy in the platform driven economy. These publications are titled: The Internet as a technology-Based Ecosystem: A New Approach to the Analaysis of Business, Industries and Markets and Technology Strategy.

I have also written a book chapter that analyses the Internet as a small business e-commerce ecosystem and I am currently wrting a number of journal articles that explore data as a driver of innovation in the platform age and how the circular economy can benefit from the adoption of platform business models and the likely challenges.