Christina Bidmon and René Bohnsack from CATÓLICA-LISBON were the recipients of a Best Paper Award at the renowned Academy of Management Annual Meeting. René Bohnsack, the founder and director of the Smart City Innovation Lab here at out school, and Christina Bidmon, who recently joined Católica from Aarhus University, were awarded the 2019 Best Paper Award from the ONE Division of the Academy of Management.

The paper “When Incumbents Change their Mind: Framing Strategic Reorientation in Emerging Fields” focuses on how the German car industry shifted its views from opposing to begin supporting electric mobility, over the course of 25 years. The paper, now published as a short version in the Academy of Management Proceedings, looked at the main five car manufacturers in Germany and their strategic position on electric vehicles between 1993 and 2018. 

One of its findings across letters to shareholders and CEO interviews was that the car manufacturers maintained ambiguity on the subject for a long period of time by mentioning the opportunity and the threat of this emergent technology, before deciding to support it later on. “How actors such as incumbents communicate about the prospects of an emerging field and their own role in this field is important because it guides meaning-making and action by other actors”, the authors highlight. 

Congratulations to the winners of the #ONE best paper award! Christina Bidmon and René Bohnsack pic.twitter.com/VtrPjTXyA4

— ONE Division, AOM (@AOM_OrgNatEnv) August 12, 2019

The ONE Division of the Academy of Management focuses on research on Organizations and Natural Environment. The scholars who participate in this division study and engage with businesses and policymakers on subjects related to the natural environment, sustainability, biodiversity and climate change.

René Bohnsack and Christina Bidmon are also currently organizing, with the Smart City Innovation Lab team, the GRONEN Research Conference 2020, which will be hosted by CATÓLICA-LISBON. The Group for Research on Organizations and the Natural Environment Conference serves to study the links between management and sustainability, and next year’s topic will be “Sustainability in the Digital Age”. The call for papers is already out.