Multiple framings and divergent responses: a cognitive account of incumbent responses to disruptive innovation
Research Seminar at Catania: Wednesday, 15 February 2017 at 11.00 in Aula 15 of Palazzo delle Scienze - Prof. Shaz Ansari, Cambridge University (UK), will present his research seminar entitled "Multiple framings and divergent responses: a cognitive account of incumbent responses to disruptive innovation"
Contact Person: Prof. Giambattista Dagnino
Professor Shaz Ansari, Cambridge University
www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/faculty-a-z/shahzad-ansari/
Abstract
Research has shown that managerial cognition and cognitive frames play
a prominent role in shaping organizational strategy under conditions
of market uncertainty and ambiguity. While this work often has
implications for understanding incumbent responses to disruptive
innovation, relatively few attempts have been made to apply a
cognitive lens directly to cases of disruptive innovation. Where a
cognitive approach has been applied, it has often incorporated binary
or dichotomous understandings of cognitive framing: often involving an
opportunity/threat heuristic. Recent work has begun to suggest that
cognitive positions held by organizational members can incorporate
multi-dimensional and non-binary cognitive frames. This paper explores
the cognitive processes involved in incumbent organizations following
the emergence of a disruptive innovation. We conduct an in-depth case
study of the response of Aviva plc. to a disruptive innovation - the
rise of general insurance aggregator sites between 2005 and 2007 - to
develop a grounded model of the cognitive forces involved. We propose
that organisational members develop different framing positions, which
can be mapped across three separate framing dimensions. Framing
positions are distributed holographically throughout the organisation
such that conflicting frames can be held by members of the same
organisational department or group. The framing positions held by
members influence organizational response strategies to disruptive
innovations.
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Shaz Ansari
Professor of Strategy & Innovation Judge Business School &
Professorial Fellow of St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge.
Professor Ansari has published in several leading academic journals,
including Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review,
Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of
Management Studies, Strategic Organization, Research Policy,
Industrial and Corporate Change and Organization Studies. He serves on
the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal, Academy of
Management Review, Organization Science, Journal of Management Studies
and Organization Studies. Research interests: institutional processes
and diffusion of practices, social and environmental issues,
technological and management innovations, value creation and new
market development, offshoring and outsourcing, reputation management,
and bottom-of-the-pyramid strategies.