Professor Raffaelli's research focuses on the concept of reinvention. This work examines how organizations and leaders manage processes of innovation adoption, institutional change, and cognitive framing.
Ryan L. Raffaelli
Marvin Bower Associate Professor
Marvin Bower Associate Professor
Ryan Raffaelli is the Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the MBA course "Leadership: Execution and Action Planning" (LEAP) and serves on the faculty of several executive education programs, including Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation and Leading Change and Organizational Renewal.
Professor Raffaelli's research focuses on organizational reinvention and leading change. His work introduces the concept of "technology reemergence," a process whereby organizations and industries faced with technological change reinvent themselves. He also studies how leaders infuse values and meaning into institutions during periods of instability. Professor Raffaelli’s research has been published in journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, the Strategic Management Journal, the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Annals, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, as well as in a number of edited handbooks on innovation and management. He serves on the editorial board of Administrative Science Quarterly and is a faculty associate at Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. His work has been covered by such media as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Washington Post, NPR, Fortune, CNBC, Fast Company, and Rolling Stone.
Organizational Behavior
Ryan Raffaelli is the Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the MBA course "Leadership: Execution and Action Planning" (LEAP) and serves on the faculty of several executive education programs, including Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation and Leading Change and Organizational Renewal.
Professor Raffaelli's research focuses on organizational reinvention and leading change. His work introduces the concept of "technology reemergence," a process whereby organizations and industries faced with technological change reinvent themselves. He also studies how leaders infuse values and meaning into institutions during periods of instability. Professor Raffaelli’s research has been published in journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, the Strategic Management Journal, the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Annals, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, as well as in a number of edited handbooks on innovation and management. He serves on the editorial board of Administrative Science Quarterly and is a faculty associate at Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. His work has been covered by such media as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Washington Post, NPR, Fortune, CNBC, Fast Company, and Rolling Stone.
Professor Raffaelli's research has received several awards, including the inaugural "Best Research Methods Paper" from the Strategic Management Society, and "Best Paper" and "Giarratani Rising Star" distinctions from the Industry Studies Association. His doctoral thesis won multiple "Best Dissertation" awards from the academic community, including the Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) Division of the Academy of Management, the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS), and the INFORMS Technology Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Division. In recognition of his research at the intersection of leadership, strategy, and technology studies, he was awared the Richard Hodgson Fellowship at Harvard Business School.
Professor Raffaelli earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from Georgetown University and studied corporate strategy at Oxford University. He holds master’s degrees in business and government relations (MPP) and in organizational ethics (MTS) from Harvard University. He received a PhD in management and an MS in organization studies from Boston College.
- Journal Articles
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- Raffaelli, Ryan. "The Three Traps That Stymie Reinvention: Organizational Identity, Architecture, and Collaboration Can Be Either Assets or Liabilities to Pursuing Growth in New Sectors." MIT Sloan Management Review 66, no. 1 (Fall 2024): 46–52. (Cover story.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, Rich DeJordy, and Rory M. McDonald. "How Leaders with Divergent Visions Generate Novel Strategy: Navigating the Paradox of Preservation and Modernization in Swiss Watchmaking." Academy of Management Journal 65, no. 5 (October 2022): 1593–1622. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Technology Reemergence: Creating New Value for Old Technologies in Swiss Mechanical Watchmaking, 1970-2008." Administrative Science Quarterly 64, no. 3 (September 2019): 576–618. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, Mary Ann Glynn, and Michael Tushman. "Frame Flexibility: The Role of Cognitive and Emotional Framing in Innovation Adoption by Incumbent Firms." Strategic Management Journal 40, no. 7 (July 2019): 1013–1039. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Mary Ann Glynn. "What's so Institutional about Leadership? Leadership Mechanisms of Value Infusion." Research in the Sociology of Organizations 44 (2015): 283–316. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Why the Apple Watch Is a Gift to the Swiss Watch Industry." Reprint H00ZKX. Harvard Business Review (website) (September 12, 2024). View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Mary Ann Glynn. "Turnkey or Tailored? Relational Pluralism, Institutional Complexity, and the Organizational Adoption of More or Less Customized Practices." Academy of Management Journal 57, no. 2 (April 2014): 541–562. View Details
- Glynn, Mary Ann, and Ryan Raffaelli. "Logic Pluralism, Organizational Design, and Practice Adoption: The Structural Embeddedness of CSR Programs." Research in the Sociology of Organizations 39B (2013): 175–198. View Details
- Glynn, Mary Ann, and Ryan Raffaelli. "Uncovering Mechanisms of Theory Development in an Academic Field: Lessons from Leadership Research." Academy of Management Annals 4 (2010): 359–401. View Details
- Working Papers
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- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Ryann Noe. "Institutional Emplacement and the Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-033, December 2022. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-068, January 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati, and Jan Rivkin. "Transforming the Federal Bureau of Investigation: Outcome and Process Framing." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-084. (Revise and Resubmit.) View Details
- Navis, Chad, Greg Fisher, Ryan Raffaelli, and Mary Ann Glynn. "The Market That Wasn't: The Non-emergence of the Online Grocery Category." Proceedings of the Frontiers in Managerial and Organizational Cognition Conference 1 (September 2012). View Details
- Book Chapters
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- Claes, Kim, and Ryan Raffaelli. "Secondary Markets, Demand Revival, and Firm Performance: Exploratory Analyses in the Vintage Timepiece Auctions Market." In Les vies multiples d'une montre [The Multiple Lives of a Watch], edited by Kalust Zorik and François H. Courvoisier. Éditions Loisirs et Pédagogie, 2016, French ed. View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., Matthew Bird, Ethan Bernstein, and Ryan Raffaelli. "How Leaders Use Values-based Guidance Systems to Create Dynamic Capabilities." Chap. 2 in The Oxford Handbook of Dynamic Capabilities, edited by David J. Teece and Sohvi Leih. Oxford University Press, 2015. Electronic. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Mary Ann Glynn. "Institutional Innovation: Novel, Useful, and Legitimate." In The Oxford Handbook of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, edited by Christina E. Shalley, Michael A. Hitt, and Jing Zhou. Oxford University Press, 2015. View Details
- Glynn, Mary Ann, Christi Lockwood, and Ryan Raffaelli. "Staying the Same While Changing: Organizational Identity in the Face of Environmental Challenges." In Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective, edited by Rebecca Henderson, Ranjay Gulati, and Michael Tushman. Oxford University Press, 2015. View Details
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Raffaelli, Ryan, Alexandra C. Feldberg, and Sarah Gulick. "Moleskine Foundation: Can Creativity Change the World?" Harvard Business School Case 423-043, February 2023. (Revised July 2023.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, Akshaya Varghese, and Laura Weimer. "Leader Action Orientations." Harvard Business School Technical Note 423-050, November 2022. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Akshaya Varghese. "Backstage at Boston Ballet." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 423-049, November 2022. View Details
- Fubini, David G., Ryan Raffaelli, Begum Agca Okutgen, and Julia Kelley. "Backstage at Boston Ballet." Harvard Business School Case 420-005, July 2019. (Revised November 2022.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Sarah Gulick. "Moleskine: Daniela Riccardi Turns the Page." Harvard Business School Case 422-044, December 2021. (Revised September 2022.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Kerry Herman. "Kwame Spearman at Tattered Cover: Reinventing Brick-and-Mortar Retail." Harvard Business School Case 422-014, November 2021. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Akshaya Varghese. "How to Write an Action-Planning Memo." Harvard Business School Background Note 422-033, October 2021. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Aldo Sesia. "Wendell Weeks at Corning Inc. (B): Valor Glass and the COVID-19 Pandemic." Harvard Business School Supplement 421-078, March 2021. (Revised August 2021.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Organizational Reinvention." Harvard Business School Technical Note 421-041, October 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "The Reinvention of Kodak (A) Multimedia Case." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 421-704, September 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "The Reinvention of Kodak (A) Case Supplement." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 421-707, September 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "The Reinvention of Kodak (B) Video Case Supplement." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 421-709, September 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "The Reinvention of Kodak (C) Case Supplement." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 421-706, September 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Christine Snively. "The Reinvention of Kodak." Harvard Business School Case 419-012, November 2018. (Revised August 2020.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Sarah Livick-Moses. "The Reinvention of Kodak Case Series." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 421-023, September 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, David G. Fubini, and Aldo Sesia. "Wendell Weeks at Corning Inc.: Extending a History of Life-Changing Innovations (A)." Harvard Business School Case 419-003, April 2019. (Revised April 2024.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "This Old House of Worship: St. Anthony Shrine (A)." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 421-701, August 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "This Old House of Worship: St. Anthony Shrine (B)." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 421-702, August 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Leticia Garcia. "This Old House of Worship: St. Anthony Shrine (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 421-010, August 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Raffaella Sadun. "Moleskine (B): Maria Sebregondi and Arrigo Berni Video Supplements." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 420-714, June 2020. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Akshaya Varghese. "Faber-Castell (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 419-060, December 2018. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Moleskine (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 419-061, December 2018. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, Ryan Raffaelli, Ai-Ling Jamila Malone, and Jonathan Cohen. "Sesame Workshop: Bringing Big Bird Back to Health (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 317-118, April 2017. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Ron Johnson: A Career in Retail." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 419-010, July 2018. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Jean-Claude Biver (A) and (B): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 418-054, January 2018. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Organizational Behavior Reading: Leading Organizational Change (Teaching Note)." Core Curriculum Readings Series. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing 8325, 2017. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Organizational Behavior Reading: Leading Organizational Change." Core Curriculum Readings Series. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing 8324, 2017. View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, Ryan Raffaelli, and Jonathan Cohen. "Sesame Workshop (A): Bringing Big Bird Back to Health." Harvard Business School Case 317-094, January 2017. (Revised May 2020.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., Ryan Raffaelli, and Jonathan Cohen. "Sesame Workshop: Bringing Big Bird Back to Health." Harvard Business School Case 317-086, January 2017. (Revised January 2017.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Christine Snively. "Faber-Castell (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 417-030, December 2016. (Revised December 2018.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, and Christine Snively. "Faber-Castell." Harvard Business School Case 417-010, December 2016. (Revised December 2017.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, Joshua D. Margolis, and Das Narayandas. "Ron Johnson: A Career in Retail." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 417-704, December 2016. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Jean-Claude Biver: The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 416-703, April 2016. View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, Raffaella Sadun, and Kathy Qu. "Moleskine (A)." Harvard Business School Case 716-407, April 2016. (Revised March 2019.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan, Raffaella Sadun, and Kathy Qu. "Moleskine (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 716-464, May 2016. (Revised November 2018.) View Details
- Groysberg, Boris, and Ryan Raffaelli. "Toby Johnson: Leading After School." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 416-701, January 2016. View Details
- Narayandas, Das, Joshua D. Margolis, and Ryan Raffaelli. "Ron Johnson: A Career in Retail." Harvard Business School Case 516-016, July 2015. (Revised September 2017.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Leading and Managing Change." Harvard Business School Background Note 415-040, October 2014. (Revised December 2018.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Leading and Managing Change (ABRIDGED)." Harvard Business School Background Note 416-021, October 2015. (Revised May 2016.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry." Harvard Business School Case 415-031, October 2014. (Revised December 2018.) View Details
- Raffaelli, Ryan. "Jean-Claude Biver (B): Leading Change at Hublot." Harvard Business School Supplement 415-032, October 2014. (Revised March 2016.) View Details
- Bernstein, Ethan, Ryan Raffaelli, and Joshua Margolis. "Leader-as-Architect: Alignment." Harvard Business School Background Note 415-039, October 2014. View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., Pamela Yatsko, and Ryan Raffaelli. "CEMEX (A): Building the Global Framework (1985-2004)." Harvard Business School Case 308-022, July 2007. (Revised September 2009.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., Pamela Yatsko, and Ryan Raffaelli. "CEMEX (B): Cementing Relationships (2004-2007)." Harvard Business School Supplement 308-023, July 2007. (Revised September 2009.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., Pamela Yatsko, and Ryan Raffaelli. "CEMEX's Foundations for Sustainability." Harvard Business School Case 308-024, July 2007. (Revised September 2009.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., Lance P. Pierce, and Ryan Leo Raffaelli. "ABN AMRO Bank N.V.: Global Change Agents." Harvard Business School Case 307-050, April 2007. View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Publicis Groupe: Leading Creative Acquisitions (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 506-066, May 2006. (Revised February 2009.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Banco Real: Banking on Sustainability (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 306-067, February 2006. (Revised November 2008.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Innovation at Timberland: Thinking Outside the Shoe Box." Harvard Business School Case 306-064, January 2006. (Revised February 2015.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., Ryan Raffaelli, and Michelle Heskett. "Medical Innovation Beyond MedStar: Mobilizing for National Impact." Harvard Business School Case 306-096, April 2006. View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Publicis Groupe: Leading Creative Acquisitions." Harvard Business School Case 506-010, November 2005. (Revised February 2009.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Shinhan Financial Group (A)." Harvard Business School Case 305-075, February 2005. (Revised March 2008.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Shinhan Financial Group (A) (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 306-024, November 2005. (Revised February 2008.) View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., Douglas A Raymond, and Ryan Raffaelli. "The Making of Verizon." Harvard Business School Case 303-131, February 2004. View Details
- Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Union City Schools: Sustaining The Turnaround." Harvard Business School Case 303-137, June 2003. (Revised July 2003.) View Details
- Research Summary
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The prevailing view of industry and technology evolution has emphasized displacement, on the assumption that old technologies and organizational forms will disappear when newer ones arrive. Professor Raffaelli's research challenges this view by illuminating how and when it may be possible for incumbent firms in mature industries to reinvent themselves. This work introduces the notion of "technology reemergence," a process whereby organizations and industries successfully respond to new technologies or business models that threaten to render them obsolete. Recently, Professor Raffaelli has examined these dynamics in the context of the Swiss mechanical watch industry and the US independent bookselling sector.
Adopting a radical innovation creates pressure for leaders to reframe their mental models while they also sustain their organization's existing capabilities and product category variants. Yet at key junctures in a product class and during technological change, a concrete definition of the firm’s innovation boundaries and identity can hold a firm hostage to its past.
Professor Raffaelli has theorized that successful innovation adoption is in part due to the top management team’s "frame flexibility", i.e., the capability to cognitively expand an innovation’s categorical boundaries and to cast the innovation as emotionally-resonant with the organization’s identity, competencies, and competitive boundaries. A flexible cognitive frame – coupled with emotional framing – helps leaders and organization members become emotionally engaged in transformation efforts and, in turn, adopt multiple radical innovations over time. When asked to innovate, perhaps there is no more important role for leaders than to expand their cognitive frame and to infuse these expanded frames with emotion.Professor Raffaelli investigates the role of leaders within organizations and across industries during periods of upheaval and ambiguity. His work indicates the key role leaders play in driving and infusing values. He also connects leadership to meaning-making, theorizing about the underlying processes and mechanisms that allow leaders to foster the continuance, character, and collective nature of values in organizations. His research finds that such leadership is essential in times of instability. - Awards & Honors
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Runner-up for the 2024 Best Entrepreneurship Paper Award from the Academy of Management, Organization and Management Theory Division, with Ryann Noe.Runner-up for the 2024 Wyss Award for Excellence in Doctoral Student Mentoring.Runner-up for the 2022 Wyss Award for Excellence in Doctoral Student Mentoring."Frame Flexibility: The Role of Cognitive and Emotional Framing in Innovation Adoption by Incumbent Firms" with Mary Ann Glynn and Michael Tushman (July 2019) received a 2020 Strategic Management Journal Certificate of Achievement which is given for SMJ articles in the top ten percent of downloads in the year since published.Winner of the 2019 Strategic Management Society (SMS) Annual Conference Best Research Methods Paper Award for “Cognitive Framing and Capability Development at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” with Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati, and Jan Rivkin.Finalist for the 2019 Strategic Management Society (SMS) Annual Conference Best Paper Award for “Cognitive Framing and Capability Development at the Federal Bureau of Investigation” with Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati, and Jan Rivkin.Co-Runner Up for the 2019 Junior Faculty Wyss Award for Excellence in Doctoral Student Mentoring.Winner of the 2019 Bronze Telly Award in the Non-Broadcast—General Education category for "The Reinvention of Kodak (A)" with Dave Habeeb and Ruth Page (HBS Multimedia/Video Case 421-704).Awarded the 2018 Best Paper in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Industry Studies Association Annual Conference for “The Use of History as a Strategic Resource: Institutional Resilience and the Complementarity of Entrepreneurship and Guardianship in Swiss Watchmaking” (HBS Working Paper 16-003) with Richard DeJordy.Recipient of a 2015 Richard Hodgson Fellowship from Harvard Business School.Winner of the 2015 Best Symposium Award from the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management for "What does Imprinting Mean? New Perspectives on Imprint Formation and Persistence Processes."Received the 2015 Outstanding Reviewer Award from the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management.Winner of the 2014 Giarratani Rising Star Award for Best Paper from the Industry Studies Association for “Mechanisms of Technology Re-Emergence and Identity Change in a Mature Industry: Swiss Watchmaking, 1970-2008” (HBS Working Paper 14-048, 2013).Winner of the 2014 Best Dissertation Award from the Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) Division of the Academy of Management.Winner of the 2014 Grigor McClelland Doctoral Dissertation Award from the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS), the Journal of Management Studies (JMS), and the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS).Winner of the 2014 INFORMS Best Dissertation Award, Technology, Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Section.Received the 2013 Outstanding Reviewer Award from the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management.Received the 2013 Outstanding Reviewer Award from the Managerial and Organizational Cognition Division of the Academy of Management.Selected as a finalist for the 2012 INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition.Selected as a finalist for the 2012 Best Symposium Award for “Fields of Gold: Mining the Origins, Definitions, and Assumptions Attending Institutional Fields” from the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management.
- Additional Information
- Areas of Interest
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- innovation
- leadership
- organizational change and transformation
- qualitative research
- technological change
- business transformation
- corporate values/value systems
- identity
- industry evolution
- leading change
- managerial cognition
- strategy implementation
- advertising
- consulting
- consumer products
- federal government
- grocery
- information technology industry
- nonprofit industry
- publishing industry
- retailing
- Eastern Africa
- Europe
- North America
- South Korea
- Switzerland
- United States
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