The Future of Conducting and Publishing Research in Entrepreneurship, Innovation Management and Strategy

[image error]Bologna Workshop 2019 Group Photo, Courtesy: Bologna Business School

I am happy that a couple of my papers were accepted for the paper development workshop (PDW) at this futuristic event. It was also special as the workshop was hosted at The University of Bologna which is the Western World’s oldest University, running continuously since 1088, just a wee bit shy of its 1000th birthday! (Yes, you saw it right, thousandth b’day)

My working group, Courtesy: Einar Rasmussen

The workshop assembled a small group of established and early-career scholars! The stellar line-up of senior scholars represented the editorial boards of some of the best journals in management (e.g. AMJ, Org Science, SMJ, ETP, SEJ) and entrepreneurship (at least 10 FT50 journals). It was such an amazing experience walking and talking with the stars in management and entrepreneurship research. It was an equally amazing opportunity to make friends with peers across several topics within business and management.

The inspiring setting, the historic ‘Villa Guastavillani’ – a wonderful location on a hill in Bologna which also hosts the Bologna Business School, just raised our intellectual aspirations. I received high quality feedback (and so did every early-career scholar) on my papers from Johan Wiklund (Editor-in-Chief, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice), Frederic Delmar (Associate Editor, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal) and Alfredo De Massis (Associate Editor, Family Business Review). I am confident that this will help me prepare my paper for potential submission to a top ranked journal in management or entrepreneurship. The senior scholars were candid yet friendly. The constructive and developmental nature of the feedback received by me and my peers will help us improve as scholars apart from taking our specific papers forward.

Ask the editors session, Courtesy: Einar Rasmussen
Where it all started, Courtesy: Einar Rasmussen

 

In addition to the paper feedback sessions, the senior scholars also engaged in debates around issues concerning people within academia – open access publishing and where to publish. The lively sessions brought out many lighter moments while exposing the complexity of knowledge creation. We had adequate time and access to some of the best scholars in the world to answer our naive questions.

I thank the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Nord University Business School, Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS) and University of Bologna for hosting such a wonderful workshop. This enabled about twenty early-career scholars like myself to move our research forward. I am sure it provided adequate inspiration and guidance for us to plan and pursue our academic careers.

All of us left the workshop feeling deeply satisfied and sufficiently inspired for raising our scholarly aspirations.