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This volume brings together researchers from a diverse array of academic disciplines – including sociology, organization theory, strategy and psychology – to address the question of what organizations can do to better recognize novel ideas and support their proponents in implementing those ideas. The contributors draw from different theoretical perspectives and empirical papers use both qualitative and/or quantitative methods in their analysis. All contributions speak to a common set of phenomena at the intersection of creativity, innovation, and social evaluation in a variety of cultural fields. In the first section of the volume – searching for novelty – the papers discuss different conceptualizations of novelty and examine the conditions that foster the creation of new ideas or product offerings. In the second section of the volume – seeing novelty – the papers discuss how novelty is evaluated and recognized both within and outside organizations. Papers in the third and final section – sustaining novelty – explore how these evaluations affect the support that novelty receives in its journey to gain legitimacy. Setting an agenda for a more holistic theory on the emergence, evaluation, and legitimation of novelty, this volume showcases how novelty generation, recognition, and legitimation correspond to distinct phases of the journey of novelty, from the moment it makes its appearance in the world to the moment it takes root and propagates.

The growth of evolutionary thinking has had a profound impact on economic theory and related fields such as strategy and technological innovation. An important paradigm that underlies the evolutionary theory of innovation is neo-Darwinian evolution. According to this paradigm, evolution is gradualist and based on the mechanisms of variation, selection, and retention. Since the 1970s, theoretical advancements in evolutionary biology have recognised the central role of punctuated equilibrium, speciation, and exaptation. However, despite their significant influence in evolutionary biology, these advancements have been reflected only partially in evolutionary approaches to economics, strategy, and innovation. The aim of this book is to review these advancements and explore their implications, with a particular emphasis on the role of serendipity and unprestateability in innovation and novelty creation.

This book contains an Open Access chapter Scholarship in management and strategy is paying increasing attention to the domain of aesthetics. Companies routinely make aesthetic choices and there is growing recognition that aesthetic considerations are fundamental for successful performance in competitive markets. Stylistically sophisticated products may appeal to demanding customers, yielding higher profit margins. Style and beauty can also be applied toward enriching organizational cultures, informing leadership visions or motivating employees to defy conventions in designing new products. Aesthetics and Style in Strategy constitutes the first systematic survey of the interface between the aesthetic and strategic domains. Motivated by the rise of aestheticism in contemporary culture, it lays the foundations for an “aesthetic” turn in strategy, which interrogates the use of aesthetic features as a source of competitive advantage and provides examples of connecting design and engineering, style and technology. The “aesthetic turn” is not simply about creating value, but about sharing value among employees and infusing organizational activities with a purpose that transcends principles of efficiency. Volume 42 of Advances in Strategic Management documents the variety of ways in which the useful and the beautiful can be brought together, making a valuable contribution to the sustainability of business in the 21st century.

This volume is designed to renew, stimulate and facilitate discussion about project-based organizations (PBOs) and how they increasingly pervade business dimensions, from R&D and new product development, to the production of complex capital goods and implementation of organizational change across very different industries such as management consulting, engineering or entertainment. Contributors analyze PBOs as firms, units or networks of firms set up to complete a specific assignment, as well as address the evolution from traditional operations-driven project management, to the strategic role of projects in delivering innovation and organizational change, and the implications for research and teaching. The volume brings together scholars with a diverse theoretical background and using a wealth of methodological approaches in studying PBOs. It focuses on theoretical frameworks for understanding PBOs through different lenses, looks at learning at the individual, team and organizational levels in temporary organizational structures, investigates current issues related to projects and networks, and identifies new areas for future research.