Incumbents, Platforms, and Beliefs with Alessio Cozzolino

Show notes

Professor Alessio Cozzolino is an Assistant Professor of Strategy at University College Dublin’s Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and Academic Director of the MSc in Strategic Management and Planning. He joined UCD in 2015 after completing his PhD in Business Administration and Management at Bocconi University, including a visiting scholar period at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business.

His research focuses on technological change, digital platforms, business models, and ecosystems, with a particular interest in how incumbents adapt to disruptive innovations and “complementary‑asset discontinuities” such as the internet and blockchain. He has published in leading journals like Journal of Management Studies, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Business Research, and Research Policy, and his work on disruption, coopetition, and platform-based ecosystems is widely cited.

Professor Cozzolino received the INFORMS Technology, Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship Section Best Dissertation Award for his doctoral work on technological change and competitive advantage in the newspaper industry. Before his academic career, he worked in corporate finance at the Italian media group Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, gaining hands-on experience with digital transformation in news, broadcasting, and advertising businesses.

He teaches strategy, innovation, and digital business in MBA and MSc programs and has delivered courses in Ireland, Italy, the United States, and across Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong. Across his teaching, research, and industry engagement, Cozzolino helps leaders understand how to redesign business models, manage alliances, and navigate disruption in fast-changing industries from media and entertainment to healthcare and transportation.