The Circulation of Ideas across Academic Communities: When Locals Re-import Exported Ideas

Julie  Battilana; Michel  Anteby; Metin  Sengul

Article | Organization Studies | June 2010

The Circulation of Ideas across Academic Communities: When Locals Re-import Exported Ideas

by Julie Battilana, Michel Anteby and Metin Sengul

Abstract

The circulation of ideas across academic communities is central to academic pursuits and has attracted much past scholarly attention. As North American-based scholars with European ties, we decided to examine the impact of Organization Studies in North American academia with the objective of understanding what, if anything, makes some Organization Studies articles more likely to have impact in North America than others. To set the stage for better understanding the role of Organization Studies in this academic community, we first present the key characteristics of North American academia. Second, relying on archival data spanning the first 29 years of Organization Studies (1980 to 2008, inclusive), we identify an apparent dynamic of select reimportation of exported ideas. Put otherwise, top North American journals tend to reimport ideas authored (and exported) by select North American scholars in Organizations Studies. Third, we discuss the implications of this process on the field of organization studies and on the circulation of ideas across academic communities.

Keywords: Knowledge Dissemination; Organizational Structure; Learning; Archives; Civil Society or Community; North and Central America; Europe;

Format: Print

19 pages

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Citation:

Battilana, Julie, Michel Anteby, and Metin Sengul. "The Circulation of Ideas across Academic Communities: When Locals Re-import Exported Ideas." Organization Studies 31, no. 6 (June 2010): 695–713.

Vox Capital was the first certified impact investing fund in Brazil. Founded in 2009, it provides early-stage capital for companies offering innovative and scalable solutions to enhance the lives of low-income Brazilians, while aiming to simultaneously generate attractive market-rate financial returns for investors. This case examines the evolution of Vox Capital, across understanding the landscape, launching, raising funds, selecting investees, structuring deals, building investee capacities, tracking performance, developing internal systems, and advancing the field of impact investing.

Brothers André and Daniel Albuquerque founded the company Terra Nova in 2001 to mediate land disputes between poor families illegally living in urban areas and the official landowners—with the aspiration to improve the lives of the poor. A business-led approach to the issue, like Terra Nova’s, was innovative and contested amid the widespread belief that land disputes fell solely within the public sector’s purview. After struggling to develop a viable business model, the company received support from impact investing firm MOV Investimentos. By 2019, Terra Nova finally broke even and was exploring opportunities for scaling. But its leaders had to decide the right expansion model for the social business.

Chapter | Handbook of Inclusive Innovation | 2019

Problem, Person, and Pathway: A Framework for Social Innovators

Julie Battilana, Brittany Butler, Marissa Kimsey, Johanna Mair, Christopher Marquis and Christian Seelos

As the appetite for learning about social innovation intensifies, how can we better prepare practitioners for the work of addressing the world’s pressing social problems at the relevant scale? This chapter presents the “3P” framework that we developed to help address this challenge, grounded in our experience researching, teaching, and advising social innovators around the world. In this framework, we propose three key lenses to help social innovators contribute to social change, unpacking the nature of: the problem at hand, the person pursuing change, and the pathway to change. Considering the alignment of these 3Ps provides an organizing template for social innovators to think about how they can effectively contribute to solving social problems. We illustrate how we engage new and experienced social innovators in this learning journey by discussing our pedagogical approach as educators. In conclusion, we discuss future research directions to help address unanswered questions.

Keywords: social innovation; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Issues; Change; Problems and Challenges;

Citation:

Battilana, Julie, Brittany Butler, Marissa Kimsey, Johanna Mair, Christopher Marquis, and Christian Seelos. "Problem, Person, and Pathway: A Framework for Social Innovators." In Handbook of Inclusive Innovation: The Role of Organizations, Markets and Communities in Social Innovation, edited by Gerard George, Ted Baker, Paul Tracey, and Havovi Joshi, 61–74. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019. View Details

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The Circulation of Ideas across Academic Communities: When Locals Re-import Exported Ideas

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