MICHAËL BIKARD

Associate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD

ABOUT ME

I am an Associate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD. My research examines how innovation unfolds within its moment—the alignment of ideas with technological, social, and institutional conditions that shape their success and impact. I explore how timing and context shape the fate of ideas, and how innovators can respond to tilt the odds in their favor. For instance, my research on “idea twins”—scientific discoveries made by several teams at the same time—shows how identical ideas can meet very different fates depending on where they emerge. Before joining INSEAD, I served on the Strategy and Entrepreneurship faculty at London Business School and earned my PhD from MIT Sloan in the Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management group.

Vita

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RESEARCH

I study the circumstances under which ideas thrive or falter, and how these dynamics shape the performance of individuals and firms. To date, my research has primarily focused on (1) the role of context, (2) the role of timing, and (3) the organization of creative work.

Home: Publications

How Context Shapes Which Ideas Succeed

This stream investigates how social and institutional contexts shape the trajectory of new ideas. It shows that identical ideas can meet very different fates depending on who produces them and where they emerge—whether across gender lines, organizational boundaries, or geographic hubs. Together, these studies reveal how inequality, institutional norms, and attention structures influence whose ideas gain traction and whose remain invisible.

Key papers

Bikard, Michaël. 2018. “Made in Academia: The Effect of Institutional Origin on Inventors’ Attention to Science.” Organization Science, 29 (5):818-36. (Link)
Bikard, Michaël, and Matt Marx. 2020. “Bridging Academia and Industry: How Geographic Hubs Connect University Science and Corporate Technology.” Management Science, 66 (8): 3425-43. (Link)
Bryan K. Stroube, Keyvan Vakili, Michaël Bikard. 2025. The Misfit Bias. Organization Science 36(5):1676-1689. (Link)
Bikard, Michaël, Isabel Fernandez-Mateo, and Ronak Mogra. 2025. “Standing on the Shoulders of (Male) Giants: Gender Inequality and Science-Based Invention.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 70(3), 695-732. (Link)

TEACHING

LGIT is an open-enrolment executive programme that builds leaders’ clarity and confidence in innovation by sharpening their ability to read moments and the conditions that shape outcomes. Participants learn when to push, when to adapt, and when to stop, as well as how to guide initiatives through the difficult middle phase where execution matters most. Sessions combine decision-focused cases, practical frameworks, and a high level of interaction. More information about the programme is available here.

Leading Growth through Innovation and Technology

TIS is an elective across INSEAD’s degree programmes (MBA, MiM, and GEMBA) that examines how individuals and firms create and capture value in the face of technological change. Through short, decision-focused cases and practical frameworks, participants learn how new technologies reconfigure industries, shift opportunities, and create new strategic positions.