Brown Bag: Professor Gabriel Szulanski

The Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation at ETH invites you to the brown bag seminar with:

Gabriel Szulanski
INSEAD
external page https://www.insead.edu/faculty/gabriel-szulanskiexternal page

Date: Wednesday, June 26th, 12:00-14:00
Location: WEV H 326

Presentation title: Cognitive Inertia and Resource Allocation: Evidence from the Hotel Industry

Abstract
Organisational inertia often manifests itself in stubborn resource allocation patterns, misaligned routines, and cognitive rigidity. Cumulative evidence outlines modest prospects for adaptability to change hinting at cognitive barriers as a formidable hurdle even when resources are plentiful and capabilities aligned, inviting the question of what it takes to unfreeze inert organizations and what is the process by which such change happens. In this paper, we offer a close account of how the regional unit of a global hotel management company responded to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a dramatic survival-threatening shock to an industry that has been notoriously inert. We observe what could be described as unfreezing at the periphery, where restaurants, or food and beverage in industry speak, an ancillary function for the traditional hotel business model, gains prominence as temporary sustenance to a paralyzed organization, which in turn leads to profound changes in resources, routines, and cognition. Our findings suggest a plausible process by which inertia of resources, routines, and cognition begins to melt at the periphery. We propose a process model and offer some thoughts about the process of change. We conclude by discussing the implication for organizational change and replication scholars.

About the speaker
Gabriel Szulanski holds the Boston Consulting Group, Bruce G. Henderson Chair in International Business at INSEAD. His research focuses on knowledge transfer and replication, strategy making, resource allocation, and ecosystems.

Ranked among the top 1% most cited social scientists in “business and management” by Stanford University, Gabriel's best-known paper, which received the SMJ Best Paper Award, is "Exploring Internal Stickiness," a paper with over 13,000 citations.

Gabriel has written two books and several award-winning case studies. He has served on the editorial boards of Organization Science, Long Range Planning, and Administrative Science Quarterly and has advised numerous PhD students. After completing his Ph.D. at INSEAD, he joined the faculty at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, before moving to INSEAD’s Singapore campus, where he has served as Area Chair of the Strategy Area. He has also served on the board of the Strategic Management Society.

Gabriel also specializes in executive education programs that blend theoretical insights with practical applications to enhance strategic thinking in business leaders.

We look forward to welcoming you!

The Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation