Alfonso Gambardella

Full Professor
Knowledge groupStrategy and Operations
Research domainsInnovation
Teaching domainsTechnology Management, Growth Strategy, High Impact Technologies, Industry Analysis, Technology Scouting
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Biography

Alfonso Gambardella is Professor in the department of Management & Technology at Università Bocconi and at SDA Bocconi School of Management

At Bocconi he served as Dean of the Phd School from 2008 to 2014 and was Head of the department of Management & Technology. He teaches in graduate and executive programs and in the DBA delivered by SDA Bocconi.

His teaching and research activity focuses on Innovation, Strategic Management, Technology Strategy ed Entrepreneurship. He published in leading international journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Strategy Science, Organization Science, Management Science, as well as on journals specialized in the practical implementation of managerial theories such as Management & Business Review. He is editor of the department of strategy of Management Science, member of the ESMT-Berlin Academic Board, Fellow of the Strategic Management Society (SMS) and Research Fellow of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London.

He received a degree in Business and Economics from the University of Genoa, a Master of Arts in Economics from New York University and a PhD in Economics from Stanford University. He also received a Diploma in flute from the Conservatory “Niccolò Paganini” of Genoa, Italy.

Recent Publications

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  • 2026
    Beyond Black Boxes: Designing and Testing Agentic AI Systems for Strategy
    CAMUFFO, A., A. GAMBARDELLA, S. KAZEMI, A. PANDEY, "Beyond Black Boxes: Designing and Testing Agentic AI Systems for Strategy", Strategy Science, 2026, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 137-156
  • 2026
    CEO Succession Under Anticipatory Awareness Misalignment
    ESPINOSA, M., A. CAMUFFO, A. GAMBARDELLA, A. PIGNATARO, "CEO Succession Under Anticipatory Awareness Misalignment", Organization Science, 2026
  • 2025
    A theory based analysis of path dependence
    CAMUFFO, A., A. GAMBARDELLA, S. KAZEMI, "A theory based analysis of path dependence", Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 2025, pp. 1-24
  • 2025
    Design- and Theory-Based Approaches to Strategic Decisions
    GAMBARDELLA, A., D. MESSINESE, "Design- and Theory-Based Approaches to Strategic Decisions", Organization Science, 2025, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 1271–1287
  • 2025
    Does a theory-of-value add value? Evidence from a randomized control trial with Tanzanian entrepreneurs
    AGARWAL, R., F. BACCO, A. CAMUFFO, A. COALI, A. GAMBARDELLA, H. MSANGI, S. SONKA, A. TEMU, B. WAIZED, A. WORMALD, "Does a theory-of-value add value? Evidence from a randomized control trial with Tanzanian entrepreneurs", Organization Science, 2025, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 601-625
  • 2025
    Internal initial conditions and path dependence: an experimental and AI-synthetic study of theories and awareness of unknown events
    CAMUFFO, A., A. GAMBARDELLA, S. KAZEMI, "Internal initial conditions and path dependence: an experimental and AI-synthetic study of theories and awareness of unknown events", Industrial and Corporate Change, 2025, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 1280-1308

Grants & Honors

  • Excellence in Research Award, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 2024

  • Richard Nelson Award for the Best Paper by younger Scholars in Research Policy 2005-2008 - (A. Gambardella, P. Giuri, A. Luzzi, “The Market for Patents in Europe”), 2009

  • Epton Prize for best 1993 article in R&D Management - (F. Della Valle, A. Gambardella, “Biological Revolution and Strategy for Innovation in Pharmaceutical Companies”), 1994