
Contact
- +44 (0)20 7040 0991
- +44 (0)20 7040 0991
- elena.novelli.1@city.ac.uk
Postal address
106 Bunhill Row
London
EC1Y 8TZ
United Kingdom
About
Overview
Elena Novelli is Professor of Strategy at Cass Business School, where she also serves as the Director of the PhD in Management and the Co-Director of the Digital Leadership Research Centre. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration and Management and an M.Sc., cum laude, in Business Administration from Bocconi University, Milan. She also studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid.
Her research, focused on the strategic management of knowledge, technology and innovation and the implications of these for firm performance, has been published on international academic journals including the Academy of Management Review, the Academy of Management Annals, Organization Science and Research Policy, and in other outlets such as The Blackwell Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, Handbook of Innovation Management - Oxford University Press, The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management.
Her work has been recognized with multiple awards including the 2015 Strategic Management Society Best Paper IG Knowledge and Innovation Award, the 2013 SIIE.EBS/Mikroforum Best-Paper-Award Innovation Management, the 2013 Cass Business School Research Publication Prize, the 2012 University of Bath Bright Idea Award. Her Ph.D. dissertation was selected as the Finalist for the Best Dissertation Awards from the Academy of Management (BPS Division) and the Danish Research Unit on Industrial Dynamics (DRUID). In 2012, the UK Economic and Social Research Council awarded the prestigious Future Research Leaders Grant to Dr. Novelli (GBP 212,240). In 2018, she has received as the Principal Investigator the UK Government BEIS Business Basics Grant (GBP 387,000) to fund Strategy Insight Lab (in collaboration with colleagues at Bocconi University and the University of Oxford), a programme to deliver free training for one year to hundreds of UK micro businesses, keeping them at the forefront of business knowledge and conducting research on what enables their growth and success. For her work on this project, Professor Novelli was shortlisted as one of the three finalists for the 2019 City Icon Partnership Award.
Professor. Novelli is a member of the Editorial Review Boards of Organization Science, the Strategic Management Journal, Strategy Science and the Journal of Management Studies. Since 2015, she has been serving in the Executive and Operating Committee of the Technology and Innovation Management Division of the Academy of Management in the role of Treasurer of the Division. Since 2017, she is also an elected member of the Executive Committee of the Strategic Management Division of the Academy of Management. Since 2018 she is the Program Chair of the Knowledge and Innovation Interest Group of the Strategic Management Society. She had already served in the same interest group in the role of Representative-at-Large in 2016-2017 and in the role of Associate Program Chair in 2017-2018.
At Cass Business School, Professor Novelli teaches “Strategic Leadership” in the Executive MBA programme and “Corporate Strategy” in the Modular Executive MBA programme. In 2017, she launched the successful elective “Capturing Value from Innovation”, currently taught to students across all MBA Programmes. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of Bath; in 2016 she was nominated for a City University Learning Enhancement Award; in 2017 she was the Finalist for the Rector's Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, in 2019 she won the City Student Union Impact Award for Most Innovative Teaching. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Professor Novelli was a member of Cass Business School Board of Studies between 2013 and 2019 and she has been a member of Cass Business School Research Committee since 2016. Since 2017, she is also an Elected Member of City University Senate.
Professor Novelli has coordinated and taught Executive Education courses for public organisations as well as leading international companies in the media, banking, real estate, transportation and retail industries. Dr. Novelli comes to academia with a background in the textile design and manufacturing industry, which informs her teaching practice.
Qualifications
- MSc (cum laude), Bocconi University, Italy
- PhD in Business Administration and Management, Bocconi University, Italy
- Fellow, Academy of Higher Education
Fellowships
- Fellow, Higher Education Academy
Memberships of professional organisations
- Representative at Large, Knowledge and Innovation IG, Strategic Management Society, Jan 2017 – present
- Member, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College, Jun 2012 – Jun 2015
- Member, Strategic Management Society, Jul 2007 – present
- Member, Treasurer TIM Division, Academy of Management, May 2007 – present
Awards
- Strategic Management Society IG Knowledge and Innovation (2015) Best Paper Award
- Cass Business School (2013) Research Publication Prize
- SIIE-EBS (2013) Best Paper Award Innovation Management
- Academy of Management (2011) BPS Division Best Dissertation Award Finalist
- Academy of Management (2011) BPS Outstanding Reviewer Award
- The DRUID Society (2011) Doctoral Dissertation Award Finalist
- University of Bath (2010) Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence
- University of Bath (2010) Bright Idea Award
- Bocconi University, Milan (2004) Best Graduates Award
Languages
Italian.
Expertise
Primary topics
- Strategic Management
- Technology Management
Industries
- high technology
- manufacturing
Research
My research interests and agenda focus on the investigation of firms’ technology strategy. The overarching question that my research addresses concerns the interdependence between firms’ decisions regarding their scope and boundaries and their ability to capture value from their technologies.
In different research projects I examine different dimensions of the problem, focusing on
• the association between the scope of firms’ technological knowledge and their ability to appropriate value from their technological inventions;
• the relationship between firms’ value appropriation strategies and their vertical scope;
• the relationship between firms’ value appropriation strategies and their horizontal scope.
I serve as the Co-director of the Digital Leadership Research Centre and I am a member of the Centre for Research in Corporate Governance
Research topics
The Scope of the Firm and Value Appropriation
Technology Commercialization Strategies and the Vertical Scope of the Firm
Patenting Strategy
Knowledge Boundaries, Technology Development and Value Appropriation
Resource Allocation and Investment Strategies
Research students
Hang Dong
Attendance: Jan 2017 – present, full-time
Thesis title: Digital strategy
Role: 2nd Supervisor
Wenlu Yang
Thesis title: Determinants of Reverse Knowledge Transfer in Chinese MNEs
Role: 2nd Supervisor
Publications
Chapters (3)
- Novelli, E. and Ahuja, G. (2013). M&A and Innovation. In Dodgson, M., Gann, D. and Phillips, N. (Eds.), Handbook of Innovation Management Oxford University Press.
- Novelli, E. and Ahuja, G. (2013). Innovation Strategies. In Teece, D.J. and Augier, M. (Eds.), Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management Palgrave.
- Ahuja, G. and NOVELLI, E. (2011). Knowledge Structures And Innovation: Useful Abstractions, Lessons Learnt And Unanswered Questions. In Easterby-Smith, M. and Lyles, M.A. (Eds.), The Blackwell Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-3304-3.
Journal articles (9)
- Conti, R., Gambardella, A. and Novelli, E. (2019). Specializing in general purpose technologies as a firm long-term strategy. Industrial and Corporate Change, 28(2), pp. 351–364. doi:10.1093/icc/dty069.
- Conti, R., Gambardella, A. and Novelli, E. (2019). Specializing in generality: Firm strategies when intermediate markets work. Organization Science, 30(1), pp. 126–150. doi:10.1287/orsc.2018.1243.
- Ahuja, G. and Novelli, E. (2017). Activity Overinvestment: The Case of R&D. Journal of Management, 43(8), pp. 2456–2468. doi:10.1177/0149206317695770.
- Ahuja, G. and Novelli, E. (2017). Redirecting research efforts on the diversification–performance linkage: The search for synergy. Academy of Management Annals, 11(1), pp. 343–390. doi:10.5465/annals.2014.0079.
- Ahuja, G. and Novelli, E. (2016). Incumbent Responses to an Entrant with a New Business Model: Resource Co-Deployment and Resource Re-Deployment Strategies. pp. 125–153. doi:10.1108/s0742-332220160000035006.
- Novelli, E. (2015). An examination of the antecedents and implications of patent scope. Research Policy, 44(2), pp. 493–507. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2014.09.005.
- Padula, G., Novelli, E. and Conti, R. (2015). SMEs Inventive Performance and Profitability in the Markets for Technology. Technovation, 41-42(July–August 2015), pp. 38–50. doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2015.01.002.
- Conti, R., Gambardella, A. and NOVELLI, E. (2013). Research on Markets for Inventions and Implications for R&D Allocation Strategies. The Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), pp. 717–774. doi:10.1080/19416520.2013.787709.
- Ahuja, G., Lampert, C. and NOVELLI, E. (2012). The second face of appropriability: generative appropriability and its determinants. Academy of Management Review, 38(2), pp. 248–269. doi:10.5465/amr.2010.0290.
Professional activities
Editorial activity (14)
- Organization Science, Member of Editorial Review Board, Jan 2017 – present.
- Journal of Management Studies, Member of Editorial Board, 2016 – present.
- Academy of Management Journal, Referee, 2016 – present.
- Management Science, Referee, 2016 – present.
- Strategy Science, Member of Editorial Board, 2014 – present.
- Research Policy, Referee, 2014 – present.
- Journal of Management Studies, Referee, 2013 – 2016.
- Strategic Management Journal, Member of Editorial Board, 2013 – present.
- Long Range Planning, Referee, 2010 – present.
- Organization Science, Referee, 2010 – present.
- Strategic Management Society Conference, Referee, 2009 – present.
- European Management Review, Referee, 2008 – 2013.
- Academy of Management Annual Conference (BPS, TIM), Referee, 2007 – present.
- Industrial and Corporate Change, Referee, 2007 – present.
Events/conferences (52)
- CREI Workshop. (Workshop) (2017). Invited speaker.
- Scale, Scope and Firm Boundaries in Technology-Based Industries: Novel Reflections and Directions for Future Research. (Conference) Cass Business School (2016). Chair, Session/Day Chair and Organising Committee.
- Invited Seminar, Imperial College Business School. (Seminar) Imperial College London (2016). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E. (invited)
Co-authors: Conti, R., Gambardella, A. - TIM Mid-year meeting. (Workshop) Boston College, Boston, MA (2016).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E.
Co-authors: Conti, R., Gambardella, A. - Wharton Technology Conference. (Conference) Mack Institute for Innovation Management, Philadelphia (2016).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E.
Co-authors: Conti, R., Gambardella, A. - Sumantra Ghoshal Conference on Managerially Relevant Research. (Conference) London Business School, London UK (2016).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E.
Co-authors: Conti, R., Gambardella, A. - I&E Conversation. (Conference) Royal Society London (2016). Invited speaker.
Paper: Discussant
Author: Novelli E. - Invited Seminar, Catolica Lisbon School of Business and Economics. (Seminar) Lisbon, Portugal (2015). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar Cardiff Business School. (Seminar) Cardiff (2015).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E. - Strategic Management Society Conference. (Conference) (2015).
Paper: Reflecting on the scope of the firm: New avenues for future research (Organizer)
Author: Novelli E. - Strategic Management Society Conference. (Conference) (2015).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E.
Co-authors: Ahuja, G. - Special Conference on Corporate Strategy and Resource Redeployment,. (Conference) Strasbourg, France (2015).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E.
Co-authors: Ahuja, G. - SMS Special Conference St. Gallen. (Conference) St. Gallen, Switzerland (2015).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E.
Co-authors: Ahuja, G. - Druid Conference. (Conference) (2015). Invited speaker.
Paper: PDW External search and innovation (Invited panelist)
Author: Novelli E. - Druid Conference. (Conference) Rome (2015).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E.
Co-authors: Ahuja G. - Academy of Management Annual Meeting Vancouver. (Conference) Vancouver, Canada (2015).
Paper: PDW Digital transformation and firm strategy (Organizer with Gianvito Lanzolla)
Author: Novelli E. - Invited Seminar, Warwick Business School. (Seminar) Warwick Business School (2014). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Academy of Management Annual Meeting Philadelphia. (Conference) Philadelphia, PA, USA (2014).
Paper: Appropriating Value from Ideas- Panel Symposium (Organizer)
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, Skema Business School. (Seminar) Sophia Antipolis, France (2013). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - SEI Doctoral Consortium at Imperial College London. (Workshop) Imperial College, London (2013). Invited speaker.
Paper: Discussant
Author: Novelli E - Academy of Management Annual Meeting Orlando. (Conference) Orlando, FL (2013).
Paper: Tackling Uncertainty Professional Development Workshop (Organizer, with Raffaele Conti)
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, Imperial College London. (Seminar) London, UK (2012). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, Cass Business School, City University London. (Seminar) London, UK (2012). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - The Vice-Chancellor Research Day. (Workshop) Bath, UK (2012). Invited speaker.
Paper: Research presentation to the Schools' Deans and the Vice-Chancellor
Author: Novelli E - Academy of Management Annual Meeting. (Conference) Boston, MA, USA (2012).
Paper: BPS Managing your Dissertation Workshop - Research Methods, Managing Data
Author: Novelli E - Strategic Management Society Conference. (Conference) Miami, Florida, USA (2011).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E. - Druid Summer 2011 Conference. (Conference) Copenhagen, Denmark (2011).
Paper: Doctoral Dissertation Award presentation
Author: Novelli E - Academy of Management Annual Meeting. (Conference) San Antonio, Texas, USA (2011).
Paper: BPS Dissertation Award presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, University of Bath. (Seminar) Bath, UK (2010). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, Strategic and International Management Department, London Business School. (Seminar) London, UK (2010). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, Organisation and Strategy Department, Tilburg University. (Seminar) Tilburg, Netherlands (2010). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, ESMT, European School of Management and Technology. (Seminar) Berlin, Germany (2010). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, Department of Innovation and Industrial Organization, Copenhagen Business School. (Seminar) Copenhagen, Denmark (2010). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, Strategy Department, IE Business School. (Seminar) Madrid, Spain (2010). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Invited Seminar, Dipartimento di Economia, LUISS Business School. (Seminar) Rome, Italy (2010). Invited speaker.
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Strategic Management Society Conference. (Conference) Washington D.C. (2010).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - DRUID Summer Conference. (Conference) London, UK (2010).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Academy of Management Annual Meeting. (Conference) Montreal, Canada (2010).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Bocconi Study Days, Bocconi University. (Workshop) Milan, Italy (2008).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - 15th Annual CCC Doctoral Colloquium, Carnegie Mellon University. (Workshop) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (2008).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Strategic Management Society Conference. (Conference) Cologne, Germany (2008).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - DRUID Winter 2008 PhD Conference. (Conference) Aalborg, Denmark (2008).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Bocconi Study Days, Bocconi University. (Workshop) Milan, Italy (2007).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - TIM Doctoral Colloquium, Academy of Management Annual Meeting. (Conference) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (2007).
Paper: Dissertation Proposal Presentation
Author: Novelli E - Strategic Management Society Conference. (Conference) San Diego, California, USA (2007).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - SMS 4th Annual Doctoral Workshop. (Conference) (2007).
Paper: Dissertation Proposal Presentation
Author: Novelli E - Euram 2007 Doctoral Colloquium, INSEAD, Fontainebleu. (Conference) Novelli E (2007).
Paper: Dissertation Proposal Presentation - DRUID Winter 2007 PhD Conference. (Conference) Aalborg, Denmark (2007).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Druid Summer 2007 Conference. (Conference) (2007).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Academy of Management Annual Meeting. (Conference) Philadelphia, PA (2007).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Fondazione IRI Summer School, SIAF. (Workshop) Volterra, Italy (2006).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E - Essid, European Summer School on Industrial Dynamics. (Workshop) Cargese, Corse, France (2006).
Paper: Paper presentation
Author: Novelli E