Donato Cutolo

Donato is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at IE University. Born in a family of entrepreneurs, he played professional basketball for more than ten years before joining academia. His scholarly interests span entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategy, and encompass 1) the impact of digital platforms on entrepreneurial dynamics; 2) the evaluation of atypical and unconventional social objects; and 2) the role narratives, language, and communication play in this process. Most of Donato’s work is based on quantitative methods, including big data econometric analyses coupled with computational linguistics techniques, such as topic modeling, word embedding, and automated text analysis. Donato’s research findings have been presented at numerous top international conferences, such as The Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, The Annual People and Organizations Conference at The Wharton School, the MIT Sloan’s Economic Sociology seminar series, the SKEMA KTO Paper Development Workshop, and the Platform Strategy Research Symposium at Boston University among others. His research has been published in, or has been invited for revisions at, the Journal of Management, the Academy of Management Annals, the Academy of Management Perspectives, the Sloan Management Review, and Advances in Strategic Management.

CORPORATE EXPERIENCE

• HR Assistant, WIREDELTA, Denmark, 2016

• Professional Basketball Player, Italy, 2003 – 2014

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

• Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, IE University, Spain, 2022 – Present

• Visiting Scholar, MIT Sloan School of Management, Boston, USA, 2019

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

• Ph.D. in Business Administration, University of Bologna, Italy, 2021

• M.Sc in Management Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy, 2016

• B.Sc in Management Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, 2014

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• Cutolo, D., Ferriani, S. (2021). “Now it makes more sense: How narratives can help atypical actors increase market appeal”. Journal of Management

• Cutolo, D., Kenney, M. (2021). “Platform-Dependent Entrepreneurs: Power Asymmetries, Risks, and Strategies in the Platform Economy”. Academy of Management Perspectives . 35 (4), 584 – 605

• Cutolo, D., Hargadon, A., Kenney, M. (2021). “Competing on Platforms: Recognizing and Navigating the Risks”. MIT Sloan Management Review. Vol. 62 (3): 22 – 30