Thompson, Arthur A. Jr. : University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa
Dr. Thompson earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from The University of Tennessee in 1961 and 1965, spent three years on the economics faculty at Virginia Tech, and served on the faculty of The University of Alabama's College of Commerce and Business Administration for 24 years. In 1974 and again in 1982, Dr. Thompson spent semester-long sabbaticals as a visiting scholar at the Harvard Business School.
Dr. Thompson's areas of specialization are business strategy, competition and market analysis, and the economics of business enterprises. He has published over 30 articles in some 25 different professional and trade publications and has authored or co-authored five textbooks and four computer-based simulation exercises.
Dr. Thompson is a frequent speaker and consultant on the strategic issues confronting the electric utility industry, particularly as concerns the challenges posed by industry restructuring, re-regulation, competition, and freedom of customer choice. He spends much of his off-campus time giving presentations to electric utility groups and putting on management development programs for electric utility executives all over the world.
Art and his wife of 37 years have two daughters, two grandchildren, and two dogs.
Strickland, A. J. III : University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa
Dr. A. J. (Lonnie) Strickland, a native of North Georgia, attended the University of Georgia where he received the Bachelor of Science degree in Math and Physics in 1965. After he completed his work at Georgia, he entered Georgia Institute of Technology where he received a Master of Science in Industrial Management. For his doctorate, he received a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Georgia State University in 1969. He currently holds the rank of Professor of Strategic Management in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Alabama.
Lonnie's experience in consulting and executive development training programs is in the strategic management area with a concentration in industry and competitive analysis. He has developed strategic planning systems for such firms as the Southern Company, BellSouth, South Central Bell, American Telephone and Telegraph, Gulf States Paper, Carraway Methodist Medical Center, Delco Remy, Mark IV Industries, Amoco Oil Company, USA Group, General Motors and Kimberly Clark Corporation (Medical Products). He is a very popular speaker on the subject of implementing strategic change. Lonnie serves on several corporate boards.
He has served as Director of Marketing for BellSouth where he had responsibility of $1 billion in revenues and $300 million in profits.
In the international arena, Dr. Strickland has done extensive work in Europe, the Middle East, Central America, Malaysia, Australia, and Africa. He developed for France a management simulation of corporate decision making which enables management to test various strategic alternatives.
In the area of research, he is the author of fifteen books and texts. The tenth edition of STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: CONCEPTS AND CASES, co-authored with Dr. Art Thompson, is the best selling text in the world in the field of strategic management. His books are currently being used at over 900 universities and 120,000 students worldwide. His management simulations, TEMPOMATIC IV, and MICROMATIC are also considered to be premier in the market.
Recent awards for him include the Outstanding professor Award for the Graduate School of Business, and an award in which he takes particular pride, recipient of the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award for The University of Alabama. His is a member of various honor leadership societies; Mortar Board, Order of Omega, Beta Gamma Sigma, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Jasons. He is past National President of Pi Kappa Phi social fraternity.
