alfonso.gambardella@unibocconi.it
Bio
I am Professor of Corporate Management at the Department of Management & Technology, Bocconi University, Milan, and Co-Director of the ION Management Science Lab at the SDA Bocconi School of Management. I obtained my PhD from the Department of Economics at Stanford University in 1991. My research has focused on the economics and management of technological innovations, the technology strategies of firms, and more recently I have embarked in a long-term research program on strategic decision-making under uncertainty.
About
I am currently Department Editor of Business Strategy at Management Science, a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society (SMS), a Fellow of the US Academy of Management (AOM), and a Research Fellow of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
In 2021, I obtained a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant entitled 'A Scientific Approach to Innovation Management (SAIM) ' (2021-2026).
In 2023, I received the TIM Distinguished Scholar Award from the Technology and Innovation Management Division of the US Academy of Management.
Research Interests
For many years I have studied the implications of innovation activities for firm strategies, market structure, and economic growth more generally. Given the uncertainty surrounding innovation decisions, both in firms and economies, I have recently become interested in how firms and entrepreneurs can make better decisions under uncertainty. Through a series of randomized control trials, conducted with Arnaldo Camuffo and other colleagues, we have demonstrated that decision-makers employing a scientific approach (theory and tests) make better decisions. The ION Management Science Lab at SDA Bocconi has taken up this stream of research with the aim at providing micro-foundation for management and strategy, particularly in the context of the ongoing digital revolution. The Lab also focuses on how to make our scientific understanding of strategic decision-making processes practical and useful to managers and entrepreneurs to make their decisions.
"NEW" forthcoming with MIT press:
Agarwal, A., Camuffo, A., Gambardella, A., Gans, J., Scott, E., and Stern, S. (eds.), 2025. Bayesian Entrepreneurship.
This edited volume collects a series of essays on how entrepreneurs can think about their ideas using Bayesian and non-Bayesian approaches. The introductory chapter provides a rigorous assessment of the common vision of the editors on how entrepreneurs can successfully adopt a choice-based scientific approach to their decision-making processes.
Publications
Teaching
Additional teachings info
I teach a Master courses in business analytics and a BA course on artificial intelligence in strategic management. Under different angles and technicalities, they show why and how a scientific approach, based on theoretical framing of problems and tests using econometric analysis, machine learning and AI tools, help managers and entrepreneurs to make better decisions. I also teach two executive courses on the topic, adapted to this audience. Finally, I teach a PhD course that tries to help students to use econometrics, machine learning and AI tools for business analysis.