UCL School of Management

Davide Ravasi

Director
Professor
Phone number
(0)20 3108 6040
(internal 56040)
Office location
Level 38, 1 Canada Square
Rm SW3

Biography

Prior of joining the UCL School of Management, he was a Professor of Management at the Cass Business School, London, and Bocconi University, Milano, where he also received his PhD in Business Administration and Management. He has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Aalto School of Business, Helsinki, and visiting the Rotterdam School of Management, Copenhagen Business School, University of Lugano, and at the International Hellenic University of Thessaloniki. 


He has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Management Studies (2010-2013) and sits on the editorial board of the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Discoveries, the Journal of Management, the Journal of Management Studies, and Strategic Organization. 


He served as Chair of the Organization and Management Theory (OMT) Division of the Academy of Management, and Representative-at-Large for the Managerial and Organizational Cognition (MOC) Division.


Research

Davide’s research primarily examines interrelations among organizational identity, culture, and strategy in times of change. He has used several cases of - successful and less successful -organizational change to examine how claims and beliefs about “who we are” or “who we want to be” influence how change is embraced (or rejected) by the organization, and how history, memory and culture affetc the process.


He has also investigated how designers work and how they contribute to strategic change and innovation, and he is interested more generally in cultural-cognitive processes influencing how new objects and practices come to be. 


One of his latest studies examined how corporate museums and archives enable organizations to use history, memory, and heritage as valuable resources for design and innovation. Based on this study, he curated an exhibition entitled Che Storie! Oggetti, miti e memorie dalle collezioni dei musei e degli archivi d‘impresa [tr. What stories! Objects, myths and memories from the collections of corporate museums and archives], Milan, April-May 2013.


More recently he has become interested in traditional and new forms of craftsmanship and craft production, and he is one of the editor of an Organization Studies special issue on “Rediscovering and Theorizing Craft in Organization Studies” (deadline for submissions: 28th February 2022): https://journals.sagepub.com/page/oss/call-for-papers 


His research has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Annals, Organization Science, Organization Studies, and Journal of Management Studies, Strategic Organization, Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Business Venturing among others. He is also a co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Organizational Identity.

PhD supervisor to:

Research projects

Organizational identity, culture and change

How do organizational identity and culture change? How do they affect organizational and strategic change? Can identity be managed at all?

Symbolic value creation

How does design contribute to infusing products with valuable meanings?

Design, designers, innovation and change

How do designers think and how does their work contribute to strategic change and innovation?

History, memory and identity

How do people in organizations relate to history and heritage? How do history and memory shape strategy and innovation?

Alternative perspectives on reputation

How can we revisit our theories of organizational reputation to better reflect the current reputational landscape?

Visualization in qualitative research

How do visual tools - figures, tables - support analysis and theory building in qualitative research?
Selected publications
Gioia, D., Corley, K., Eisenhardt, K., Feldman, M., Langley, A., Lê, J., . . . Welch, C. (2022). A Curated Debate: On Using “Templates” in Qualitative Research. Journal of Management Inquiry. doi:10.1177/10564926221098955 [link]
Ravasi, D., & Schultz, M. (2021). Organizational Identity and Culture Change. The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Change and Innovation (pp. 106-130). doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198845973.013.5 [link]
Cloutier, C., & Ravasi, D. (2021). Using tables to enhance trustworthiness in qualitative research. Strategic Organization. doi:10.1177/1476127020979329 [link]
Ravasi, D., Radic, M., & Munir, K. (2021). Privatization: Implications Of A Shift From State To Private Ownership. Journal of Management. doi:10.1177/0149206320988356 [link]
Kroezen, J., Ravasi, D., Sasaki, I., Żebrowska, M., & Suddaby, R. (2021). Configurations of Craft: Alternative Models for Organizing Work. The Academy of Management Annals.
Ravasi, D., Nummela, N., & Sasaki, I. (2021). Managing cultural specificity and cultural embeddedness when internationalizing: Cultural strategies of Japanese craft firms. Journal of International Business Studies. doi:10.1057/s41267-020-00330-0 [link]
Cloutier, C., & Ravasi, D. (2020). Identity trajectories: Explaining long-term patterns of continuity and change in organizational identities. Academy of Management Journal. doi:10.5465/amj.2017.1051 [link]
Sasaki, I., Kotlar, J., Ravasi, D., & Vaara, E. (2020). Dealing with revered past: Historical identity statements and strategic change in Japanese family firms. Strategic Management Journal. doi:10.1002/smj.3065 [link]
Ravasi, D. (2020). Reflections on Style and Strategy: An Interview with Davide Ravasi. In G. Cattani, S. Ferriani, F. Godart, S. V. Sgourev (Eds.), Aesthetics and Style in Strategy (pp. 267-270). Emerald Publishing Limited. doi:10.1108/S0742-332220200000042020 [link]
Etter, M., Ravasi, D., & Colleoni, E. (2019). Social media and the formation of organizational reputation. Academy of Management Review, 44 (1), 28-52. doi:10.5465/amr.2014.0280 [link]
Ravasi, D., Rindova, V., & Stigliani, I. (2019). The stuff of legend: History, memory, and the temporality of organizational identity construction. Academy of Management Journal. doi:10.5465/amj.2016.0505 [link]
Sasaki, I., Ravasi, D., & Micelotta, E. R. (2019). Family firms as institutions: Cultural reproduction and status maintenance among multi-centenary shinise in Kyoto. Organization Studies. doi:10.1177/0170840618818596 [link]
Langley, A., & Ravasi, D. (2019). VISUAL ARTIFACTS AS TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS AND THEORIZING. In T. B. Zilber, J. M. Amis, J. Mair (Eds.), PRODUCTION OF MANAGERIAL KNOWLEDGE AND ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY: NEW APPROACHES TO WRITING, PRODUCING AND CONSUMING THEORY (pp. 173-199). EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD. doi:10.1108/S0733-558X20190000059010 [link]
Giudici, A., Reinmoeller, P., & Ravasi, D. (2018). Open-system orchestration as a relational source of sensing capabilities: Evidence from a venture association. Academy of Management Journal, 61 (4), 1369-1402. doi:10.5465/amj.2015.0573 [link]
Ravasi, D., Rindova, V., Etter, M., & Cornelissen, J. (2018). The formation of organizational reputation. Academy of Management Annals, 12 (2), 574-599. doi:10.5465/annals.2016.0124 [link]
Stigliani, I., & Ravasi, D. (2018). The shaping of form: Exploring designers' use of aesthetic knowledge. Organization Studies, 39 (5-6), 747-784. doi:10.1177/0170840618759813 [link]
Schreiter, K., & Ravasi, D. (2018). Institutional pressures and organizational identity: The case of Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau in the GDR and beyond, 1945–1996. Business History Review. doi:10.1017/S0007680518000776 [link]
Ravasi, D. (2017). Visualizing our way through theory building. Journal of Management Inquiry, 26 (2), 240-243. doi:10.1177/1056492616680575 [link]
Dalpiaz, E., Rindova, V., & Ravasi, D. (2016). Combining logics to transform organizational agency: Blending industry and art at Alessi. ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE QUARTERLY, 61 (3), 347-392. doi:10.1177/0001839216636103 [link]
Compagni, A., Mele, V., & Ravasi, D. (2015). HOW EARLY IMPLEMENTATIONS INFLUENCE LATER ADOPTIONS OF INNOVATION: SOCIAL POSITIONING AND SKILL REPRODUCTION IN THE DIFFUSION OF ROBOTIC SURGERY. ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 58 (1), 242-278. doi:10.5465/amj.2011.1184 [link]
Canato, A., Ravasi, D., & Phillips, N. (2013). COERCED PRACTICE IMPLEMENTATION IN CASES OF LOW CULTURAL FIT: CULTURAL CHANGE AND PRACTICE ADAPTATION DURING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SIX SIGMA AT 3M. ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 56 (6), 1724-1753. doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0093 [link]
Stigliani, I., & Ravasi, D. (2012). ORGANIZING THOUGHTS AND CONNECTING BRAINS: MATERIAL PRACTICES AND THE TRANSITION FROM INDIVIDUAL TO GROUP-LEVEL PROSPECTIVE SENSEMAKING. ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 55 (5), 1232-1259. doi:10.5465/amj.2010.0890 [link]
Rindova, V., Dalpiaz, E., & Ravasi, D. (2011). A Cultural Quest: A Study of Organizational Use of New Cultural Resources in Strategy Formation. ORGANIZATION SCIENCE, 22 (2), 413-431. doi:10.1287/orsc.1100.0537 [link]
Kjaergaard, A., Morsing, M., & Ravasi, D. (2011). Mediating Identity: A Study of Media Influence on Organizational Identity Construction in a Celebrity Firm. JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, 48 (3), 514-543. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00954.x [link]
Ravasi, D., & Phillips, N. (2011). Strategies of alignment: Organizational identity management and strategic change at Bang & Olufsen. STRATEGIC ORGANIZATION, 9 (2), 103-135. doi:10.1177/1476127011403453 [link]
Ravasi, D., & Schultz, M. (2006). Responding to organizational identity threats: Exploring the role of organizational culture. ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 49 (3), 433-458.