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Hello everyone,

Just a reminder if you are interested in signing up for the PDW titled "Managing the Unexpected in Innovation: Toward an Understanding of the Discovery Journey" at the upcoming AOM Annual Meeting (both in-person and virtually).
Interested participants should pre-register by emailing marchesini.pdw@gmail.com by July 17, 2022. Given we accept only a limited number of participants for the second part, we encourage early registrations.

In the first part (panel), a group of seven leading scholars – Arnaldo Camuffo, Stefano Brusoni, J.P. Eggers, Chengwei Liu, Jacqueline Lane, Madeleine Rauch, and Christian Busch – will introduce different topic areas. In the second part (pre-registration required), participants will be accommodated in an interactive roundtable format("research incubator") chaired by each of the seven invited speakers.

Please find all the information here: https://www.giacomomarchesini.com/managing-the-unexpected 
And feel free to contact me in case you have any questions.

Best regards,

Giacomo

Title: Managing the Unexpected in Innovation: Toward an Understanding of the Discovery Journey

When: Aug 6 2022 from 9:00AM to 11:30AM (Seattle time)

• Arnaldo Camuffo, Bocconi U.
• Stefano Brusoni, ETH Zürich
• J.P. Eggers, New York U.
• Chengwei Liu, ESMT Berlin (attending Virtual)
• Jacqueline Lane, Harvard U.
• Madeleine Stefanie Rauch, Stanford U. & Copenhagen Business School
• Christian Busch, New York U.

Unexpected events are intrinsic components of innovative activities, processes that, by their idiosyncratic nature, have likelihoods that are impossible to foresee. 

Scientific creativity is associated with search processes that are "ill-defined" (Klahr and Dunbar 1988), with the initial state poorly specified, and the goals ambiguous. Many great ideas, scientific discoveries, and game-changing inventions happen thanks to unplanned events like fortuitous coincidences or multiple failed attempts. Yet, exactly because they are not easy to plan or foretell, most management literature assumes these events should be avoided or limited. For instance, failures tend to be considered errors or mistakes, whereas there are contexts where they can be valuable. Similarly, serendipity and uncertainty are constantly minimized, yet they are integral parts of how individuals search, learn, memorize, and forge the structures of novel ideas.

This PDW aims to advance the debate on how organizations can better manage and capture value from unexpected events when they are supposed to be embraced rather than avoided if we want to accomplish breakthrough ideas that can benefit society. Specifically, this workshop focuses on two key domains: innovation failures (i.e., managing and capturing value from unexpected adverse events) and serendipity (i.e., managing and capturing value from unexpected positive events).