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Palgrave Macmillan

The Grammar of Innovation

A Literary Exploration of Technological and Organizational Change

  • Book
  • © 2024

Overview

  • Uses the works of Italo Calvino to explore the history and philosophy of innovation
  • Applies a philosophical prism to contemporary case studies in innovation and corporate strategy
  • Outlines management and policy lessons to create the environmental conditions for innovation in organisations

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About this book

In Six Memos for the Next Millennium, Italo Calvino elaborated on six concepts or memos to offer insights on the ‘shapes of things to come’, which were lightness, rapidity, exactness, visibility, multiplicity and consistency. To do so, the Italian writer embraced an interdisciplinary approach to describe each concept through juxtaposition of its antonyms, heaviness, slowness, indeterminacy, invisibility, uniqueness, and inconsistency. Inspired by Calvino’s intuition, this book puts forward the notion of the ‘Calvino Method’ to interpret the inner dynamics of innovation processes. Drawing on literature and cases from the fields of innovation, history of technology, organisation theory and corporate strategy, the book elaborates on each of the six concepts to offer a unique angle to understand innovation as technological, organisational and cultural change that generates value across a variety of domains. 

The linguistic juxtapositions at the root of the CalvinoMethod forms the framework of The Grammar of Innovation and the tension between opposites, which at first seems insoluble, emerges as the catalyst of future thought. This book will be of great interest to scholars of innovation, strategy, organisation studies, philosophy of business, and all those with an interest in the works of Italo Calvino.

 


Keywords

Table of contents (7 chapters)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Luiss University, Rome, Italy

    Andrea Prencipe

  • Milan, Italy

    Massimo Sideri

About the authors

Andrea Prencipe is the Rector as well as Professor of Organisation and Innovation at Luiss University in Rome, Italy. His research focuses on innovation-related issues in organisations and higher education institutions and on project-based organising. His works have been published widely in books and journals and he sits on several editorial boards. His writings regularly appears in national and international newspapers.

Massimo Sideri is a correspondent and columnist for the newspaper Corriere della Sera, writing on innovation, science and economics. He is the former Editor-in-Chief and founder of Corriere Innovazione, a monthly magazine focused on innovation. He is an Adjunct Professor of Socio-Economic History of Innovation at Luiss University. He has authored a variety of books and received several journalism awards.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Grammar of Innovation

  • Book Subtitle: A Literary Exploration of Technological and Organizational Change

  • Authors: Andrea Prencipe, Massimo Sideri

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60649-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Business and Management, Business and Management (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-60648-9Published: 07 June 2024

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-60651-9Due: 21 June 2025

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-60649-6Published: 06 June 2024

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVII, 78

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Business and Management, general, Organization, History of Technology, Literary Theory

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