Founding history
The Medici Summer School in Management Studies was founded in 2009 by Gianni Lorenzoni, Rudi Durand, Simone Ferriani, Joe Porac and Gino Cattani to promote doctoral education and research in organization theory and related fields (economic sociology, management studies, strategy) and contribute to the development of enlightened practices in the management of business organizations. The School was named after the celebrated patron of arts and science Lorenzo de Medici, who helped imprint the western world with humanism by catalysing extraordinary scholars, artists and intellectuals.
In 2013, Emilio Castilla and Ezra Zuckerman joined the founding board bringing new impetus to the development of the School and helping to consolidate its role as a leading international institution in the field of managerial doctoral education. Today the Medici Summer School is the expression of the concerted organizing effort of three institutions – MIT Sloan School of Management (Economic Sociology PhD Program), BBS (University of Bologna Business School), and HEC Paris (Society & Organizations Institute and the HEC Foundation) – devoted to scholarly excellence and empowerment of future academic leaders.
The Medici has played an important part in fostering innumerable collaborations, articles and dissertations. It advocates a special focus on cross-fertilizing research across North American and European traditions, facilitating an ongoing conversation around leading edge topics in management, sociology and organizational sciences across the world. Now into its second decade, the School stands as an exemplar of productive transnational scholarly collaboration, and it remains a catalyst of thought leaders and exciting research ideas: a party of “curious spirts” more than a grouping of academics.
Organizing committee
Emilio J. Castilla, MIT Sloan
Rodolope Durand, HEC Paris
Simone Ferriani, University of Bologna & City, University of London
Ezra Zuckerman Sivan, MIT Sloan
