How to generate knowledge in companies. And in academia
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How to generate knowledge in companies. And in academia

THIS IS THE CORE OF GIADA DI STEFANO'S RESEARCH. SHE'S ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF STRATEGY AND BUSINESS POLICY AT HEC, AND A BOCCONI ALUMNA

She studies the way in which knowledge is generated within a company and then shared outside of it; specifically, she analyzes how competing firms can share information even though each firm is motivated to gain its own competitive edge. Giada Di Stefano is Associate Professor of Strategy and Business Policy at HEC, in Paris. She received her BA and Master at Bocconi, and then went to work for L’Orèal. “The corporate environment was very stimulating, but I felt like it didn’t allow me to work on broader issues. So I decided to return to Bocconi for my PhD”. Thanks to job market, she left Italy and went to Paris: she wanted to enter a European business school that places importance on research and offers practical orientation.

“In academic research there are creative phases in which ideas emerge, and then these ideas are finalized and brought to publication. New inspiration comes from conferences, where one’s able to receive input from colleagues coming from a variety of backgrounds, who handle different topics and use different methods to explore those topics. Life in a department is also very stimulating. Here, everyone stands out, so we have to work hard to translate our work if we want to exchange ideas: this situation encourages us to develop increasingly broader visions”. When she moved from a junior to a senior position, Giada Di Stefano had to change her co-authorship relationships, in particular: “During my first years in academia I did daily work under the direct guidance of my advisors, who have the task of guiding research activities. Today, however, I relate with researchers who have the same seniority as I, and so the work is divided according to competencies, or a synergic process is used to involve all the authors in the same way. In that case, we might spend days at a time on Skype or FaceTime as we exchange information and thoughts as if we were in the same room – even though we are actually in different countries”.

Read more on this topic:
Men May Dominate Academia, But Culture and Creativity Go Beyond Gender. Article by Jacopo De Tullio
If Gyro Gearloose were a woman…
Simona Botti, academia as a creative enterprise
Alessandra Casella: experimentation and voting theory
Magdalena, at home in five countries
Francesca, the first female full professor at the London Business School
Chiara and innovative technologies
Paola, a Bocconi degree and lots of recognition
Women and research according to Annamaria Lusardi: tenacity is the key
Gaia’s research: making an impact in developing countries
Agnieszka Tymula: neuroeconomics, and an interdisciplinary approach to research

by Allegra Gallizia

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