Academic Leadership

Professor Paolo Aversa uniquely combines academic excellence with industry leadership.

Paolo’s research focuses on innovation and the evolution of industries and ecosystems. His investigations concentrate on technology-intensive settings to explore radical solutions, digital transformation and business models.

He considers himself “a qualitative storyteller with quantitative appetites” and he has published in top journal with quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods, as well as conceptual and review pieces.

He is globally considered
the leading academic expert in the motorsport and Formula 1 industry. Through the years he emerged as one of the leading scholars in the use of sport data to advance management theories.

His work is published in leading academic journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Academy of Management Annals, Journal of Management, Research Policy, Journal of Management Studies, and practice-oriented outlets such as Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review.

Paolo serves as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Management Studies, on the editorial review board at Organization Science and Academy of Management Discoveries, for which he also served as guest editor. Within the Academy of Management he is the Director of Communications and an appointed officer of the Strategic Management (STR) Division and Elected Representative at Large of the Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) Division. He is a Senior Fellow of Higher Education.

His research was funded by various public and private institutions including EPSRC and the European Commission (Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship) and received several awards and accolades internationally for his research and teaching

  • "With passion and charisma to spare, Aversa often uses unexpected scenarios to make learning unforgettable. Many times, he ties his lessons to Formula 1 racing, whose data sets, examples, and even guest speakers offer unforgettable lessons in teamwork, culture, and innovation."

    Poets & Quants
    “Best 40 Under 40 Professor”

  • “Honestly when I first came into this class I had no idea what it was about or if even was interested but from the first lecture. Paolo made me fall in love with this module. I look forward to the lectures every week not just for the materials he gives but he also provides life advice and lessons without you knowing. I love it! Thank you Paolo. It all comes back the professor!”

    Anonymous Student

  • "Honestly, I LOVED the module leader. He is a true leader and very inspiring. He set the tone right from the first lecture which honestly motivated me throughout the entire module. This module was the only module throughout my two past years where I was motivated to read all the core readings and participate because of the leader. Loved it throughout the lectures were very inspiring as it gave me insights into the real world, and not only theoretical stuff."

    Anonynous Student

Main Research Awards

Finalist, “That’s Interesting! Award
EGOS Colloquium 2023

For the paper: The Social Attribution of Innovation:Uncovering the Heads Behind the Guillotine

Coauthored with Howard, A., Makarova, M.

Logo with the word "egos" inside a circle on a dark background.

Awarded by the Competitive Strategy Interest Group

For the paper: Riders on the Storm: Individual Risk-taking and Organizational Resource Disadvantages

Coauthored with Sharma, S., Moliterno, T.

Winner, 2022 Best Paper Award for “Rigor in Research”
Strategic Management Society Annual Conference

Logo of the Strategic Management Society featuring a stylized globe and the organization's name.

Finalist, 2021 OMT Best Paper Award
Academy of Management Annual Conference

Logo of the Academy of Management with a blue square containing stylized white M's and the text beneath reading 'Academy of Management'.

Awarded by the Organization and Management Theory Division (OMT)

For the paper: The Grand Tour: The role of catalyzing places for industry emergence. Academy of Management Journal, 65 (6): 2058-2091.

Coauthored with Bianchi, E., Gaio, L., Nucciarelli, A.

For the paper: Driving performance via exploration in changing environments. Evidence from Formula One racing. Organization Science, 26(4): 1079-1100.

Coauthored with Marino, A., Mesquita, L., Anand, J.

Winner, 2015 EBS-SIIE Best-Paper-Award “Innovation Management” 2015

Runner-up, 2014 Marie-Curie Communicating Science Prize

Pop art style collage of Marie Curie's portrait in four colored squares—pink, blue, green, and red—with the European Union flag and stars on the right side, and the text 'Marie Curie' at the bottom and 'INS' on the right.

Awarded by the European Commission to the 10 EU-funded research projects with the highest impact on the media.

European Union flag with a circle of twelve gold stars on a blue background.

Winner, 2011 Best Doctoral Paper Award
EURAM Annual Conference

For the Paper: Framing the strategic peripheries. The evolution of suppliers

Red square logo with white text reading 'European Academy of Management' and 'EURAM' at the bottom.

Recent Research

Upcoming Event

Poster for a conference on using sports data to advance management theory, featuring headshots of eight speakers with their names and affiliations, event date and location details.

Professional Development Workshop:
“Using Sports Data to Advance Management Theory”

at the 2025 Academy of Management Annual Conference, Copenhagen

Saturday, July 26th 2025
at Bella Center
in Hall D-D3-m11
12:00PM - 3:00PM CEST (GMT+2/UTC+2)

Special Issue in the Spotlight

Book cover titled 'Discoveries' from 'Academy of Management' with a yellow and white design.

New Special Issue: Exploring new playing fields: Sports settings and management theorizing.


The opening piece of the AMD Special Issue on “Sports” has been published.

Coauthored by: Aversa, P., Moliterno, T. P., Rockmann, K. W., Bothner, M., Sharapov, D., & Eckardt, R.

2025, Academy of Management Discoveries. In Press.

Research in the Spotlight

Presentation slide titled 'Using Sports Data to Advance Management Theory' by Paolo Aversa, a professor of strategy. The slide includes logos for King's College London Business School and Stockholm School of Economics, and a graphic of various sports equipment. Envelope with contact email paolo.aversa@kcl.ac.uk and Twitter handle @aversapaolo.

Using sports data to advance management theory

Professor Aversa was invited to deliver a research masterclass for the “New Scholar” network on the use of sports data for research purposes.

Publication in the Spotlight

New Publication: Creating new industries: The generative role of heterogeneous actors


Co-authored by Rajshree Agarwal, Mara Guerra Mahka Moeen, and Paolo Aversa in the Academy of Management Annals

Selected Publications

Aversa, P., Moliterno, T. P., Rockmann, K. W., Bothner, M., Sharapov, D., & Eckardt, R. 2025. Exploring new playing fields: Sports settings and management theorizing. Academy of Management Discoveries. 11(2) 145-151.

Agarwal, R., Moeen, M., Guerra, M., Aversa, P. 2025. Creating New Industries: The Generative Role of Heterogeneous Actors. Academy of Management Annals. 19(2): 476-521.

allila, P. Frankort, T.W.H., Aversa, P., 2024. Revving Up or Backing Down? Cross-Level Effects of Firm-Level Tournaments on Employees’ Competitive Actions., Academy of Management Journal. 67(5): 1331–1358.

Fonti, F., Ross, J. M., & Aversa, P. 2023. Using sports data to advance management research: A review and a guide for future studies. Journal of Management, 49(1): 325-362.

Aversa, P., Bianchi, E., Gaio, L., Nucciarelli, A. 2022. The Grand Tour: The role of catalyzing places for industry emergence. Academy of Management Journal. 65 (6): 2058-2091.

Aversa, P., Furnari, S., Jenkins M. 2022. The primordial soup: Exploring the emotional micro-foundations of cluster genesis. Organization Science, 33(4) 1340-1371.

Aversa, P., Huyghe, A., Bonadio, G. 2021. First impressions stick: Market entry strategies and category priming in the digital domain. Journal of Management Studies. 58(7): 1721-1760.

Aversa, P., Guillotin, O. 2018. Firm technological responses to regulatory changes: A Longitudinal Study in the Le Mans Prototype Racing, Research Policy. 47(9): 1655-1673.

Aversa, P., Haefliger, S., Reza, D. 2017. Building a winning a business model portfolio. MIT Sloan Management Review. 58(4): 49-54.

Aversa, P., Berinato, S. 2017. Sometimes, less innovation is better. Harvard Business Review. May-June 95(3): 38-39.

Marino, A., Aversa, P., Mesquita, L., Anand, J. 2015. Driving performance via exploration in changing environments. Evidence from Formula One racing. Organization Science. 26(4): 1079-1100.

Aversa P, Furnari S, Haefliger S. 2015. Business model configurations and performance: A qualitative comparative analysis in Formula One racing, 2005–2013. Industrial and Corporate Change. 24(3): 655-676

Innovation in Education

Strategic Innovation in Hyper-Competition: Lessons from Motorsport

An experiential study tour in the Italian Motor Valley to learn how to lead in turbulent environments by learning from the fastest companies on the planet.

Final MBA Project: Internship at Williams F1

A close collaboration designed to apply business insights to one of the most iconic Formula 1 teams in history.

Leadership, strategy and imitation: The regatta race

An experiential class to learn principles of strategy, competition and imitation while participating in a regatta.

The Great Strategy Bake Off

An experimental class to learn principles of strategy through a cake competition with tailored rules.

Learning Strategy like an MBA

Professor’s Aversa learning journey and teaching philosophy as a strategy educator at the MBA level.

* Video credits: Courtesy of Bayes Business School and Luxembourg School of Business