THIS LECTURE IS NOW FULL!

Professor Gerard George, Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Director, Rajiv Gandhi Centre presents his Inaugural Lecture on: "Implausible Opportunities: how entrepreneurs design firms that achieve the unexpected."

In the Chair: Professor David Begg, Prinicipal, Imperial College Business School

Vote of Thanks: Professor David Gann, Group Head, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Imperial College Business School

Closing Remarks: Professor Shaker Zahra, Robert E. Buuck Chair of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategy and Organization, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

Tea and coffee will be served from 16.45 and a drinks reception will follow the lecture, both in the Lower Ground Foyer

Abstract: Our immediate reaction to radical ideas is that it is simply too absurd!  Yet, entrepreneurs continually figure out new business models to achieve what seems implausible to many of us. Based on case studies, interview and survey data from pretty much everywhere, the lecture will present non-random (but not necessarily systematic) evidence on how entrepreneurs come up with new business models. I portray entrepreneurship as how opportunities can be 'made possible' through organisational design. Be informed though, this lecture is not about Google or Apple or any company you've heard of. It is certainly not about wealth accumulation! It is about simple people who have big ideas and try to make them real, where the end game is to shape the world in small, but profound ways!

Biography: Gerry George is Professor and Deputy Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and also serves as the Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre. Before joining Imperial, he held tenured positions at the London Business School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He was Innovation Fellow of the Advanced Institute of Management, ESRC. An award-winning researcher and teacher, Gerry has published several articles in leading scholarly journals on the topics of resource constraints in entrepreneurial firms, value creation, and innovation in large and small organisations.  He is actively engaged in guiding companies on technology venturing and international growth. He serves on the Strategy Board of the Energy Futures Lab and on many prestigious editorial boards including the Academy of Management Journal and Academy of Management Review.  

To register for this event please email Emma Powell