Gaining visibility at the Academy of Management

Each year, the Academy of Management (AOM) brings together close to ten thousand researchers from about 80 countries. Switzerland is fairly well represented there, including a large contingent of researchers from the Institute of Management of Technology & Entrepreneurship.
This prestigious conference – the biggest in its field – allows academics to find out what is happening in their area of interest and to meet other specialists of their field. Given the long journal cycle time (2-5 years to get an article published), the AOM is always a good occasion to discover other colleagues' current research.

CONFERENCE DESIGN
Besides the paper presentations sessions, the AOM also offers numerous workshops designed for young researchers – PhD students, post-docs, and junior faculty members. The PDW “Professional Development Workshop”, “Doctoral Consortium” and the “Junior Faculty Consortium” are platforms to exchange knowledge and ideas, allowing and encouraging professional development of the participants. Prof. Marc Gruber, Prof. Christopher Tucci and Prof. Anu Wadhwa shared their expertise in those sessions: by explaining the paper review process or how to structure a dissertation, presenting empirical research, giving useful advice about teaching or about the job market, or by giving feedback on papers. “Usually papers get sent out to publishers without having been read by anybody else before, and receive a lot of negative feedback from the review process. So participants at these sessions really appreciate getting feedback to help avoid obvious mistakes in the writing process.” explains Prof. Tucci.

MTEI PhD Students Jana Thiel, Melvin Haas and Markus Simeth, at different stages of their PhD process, had different interests when they traveled to the conference: Presenting a paper and getting feedback from scholars, following a doctoral consortium on Entrepreneurship to learn how to structure your research, or an occasion to stay in contact with the people relevant to your field. “Networking, career advice or discussing current research: AOM is all about getting visibility” states Jana.

Given the size of the conference, sessions are categorized by divisions and interest groups, going from “Conflict Management” to “Management History” to “Organizational Behavior”. Divisions where most of MTEI researchers are present are “Technology & Innovation Management (TIM),” “Business Policy & Strategy (BPS)," "Organization & Management Theory (OMT)," and "Entrepreneurship (ENT).”

SOCIAL EVENTS
At the fringes of those numerous sessions, social events are organized by prestigious universities, such as NYU Stern, Harvard Business School, MIT, Georgia Tech, or the Wharton School competing to attract participants.

The MTEI, in collaboration with the University of Lausanne, also contributes to these events by organizing a Swiss Luncheon. Despite its title, no fondue or chocolate on the menu – the suffocating heat of San Antonio Texas, guest city 2011, discouraged serving such food! Not at its first edition, this annual meeting is becoming a well-known and awaited reunion of the AOM community. This year's reception was a huge success. More than 175 people came to the Historic Sunset Station to meet colleagues and discuss current research or to launch potential new partnerships and to enjoy the Tex-Mex food and the refreshing juices.
This luncheon is year after year always a good occasion to offer more visibility to our College and Institute, to support MTEI researchers developing their network and above all to expand EPFL’s reputation in the Management world.

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE AOM

Prof. Marc Gruber
- Doctoral Consortium in Entrepreneurship – Empirical workshop

Prof. Carina Lomberg (post-doc at EPFL until March 2011, now at University of Berne)
- Article(OB division): “Affect and Self-Regulation in the Idea Generating Process” co-écrit avec Tobias Kollmann, University of Duisburg-Essen

Markus Simeth:
- Paper (TIM division): “What Makes Companies Commit to Open Science?”, co-authored with Julio Raffo, EPFL

Prof. Christopher Tucci:
- TIM Junior Faculty Consortium
- Panel (TIM): Meet the Editors
- Symposium (TIM & OMT divisions): Online Distributed Organization – Crowdsourcing
- Showcase Symposium (TIM & ENT divisions): Emerging Industries: Theory and Evidence

Prof. Anu Wadhwa:
- Symposium (TIM, ONE & ENT divisions): The Emergence of the Cleantech Sector: Institutional Actors, Innovation and Adoption
- Doctoral Consortium in Entrepreneurship - Research Salon on Corporate Entrepreneurship
- Paper (BPS division): “Growth Options and Exit Decisions: Does External Venturing Generate Discontinuous Strategic Renewal?” (won a Best Paper Award in the BPS division), co-authored with Sandip Basu, California State University
- Paper (TIM division): “The Paradox of being Open: External Technology Sourcing and Knowledge Protection”, co-authored with MB Sarkar, Temple University, & Isabel Bodas Freitas, Politecnico di Torino

ABBREVIATIONS OF AOM DIVISIONS
BPS Business Policy & Strategy
ENT Entrepreneurship
OB Organizational Behavior
OMT Organization & Management Theory
ONE Organizations & the Natural Environment
TIM Technology & Innovation Management