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The name elBulli is synonymous with creativity and innovation. Located in Catalonia, Spain, the three-star Michelin restaurant led the world to "molecular" or "techno-emotional" cooking and made fantastic creations. Yet elBulli's business model proved unsustainable. The restaurant converted to a foundation in 2011, and is working hard on its next revolution. Will elBulli continue to innovate? What must an organization do to create something truly new? Appetite for Innovation is an organizational analysis of elBulli and the nature of innovation. She concludes that the successful strategies employed by elBulli are similar to those required for innovative achievements in art, music, business, and technology, proving the model's value across organizations and industries.
About the author
M. Pilar Opazo is a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia Business School. She is the coauthor of two Spanish-language volumes, Communications of Organizations and Negotiation: Competing or Collaborating, and her work has been published in Sociological Theory and the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science.
Summary
What combination of factors facilitates a breakthrough, and how does the recipe change over time?
Report
"Appetite for Innovation offers a backstage view of one of the world's most interesting restaurants, its remarkable laboratory, and the foundation that was created after Ferran Adria made the unusual decision to close his hugely successful restaurant. M. Pilar Opazo was afforded unusually close access, and her insider account is rich and intriguing. The processual view of innovation is useful, as it highlights the many elements that are needed to be galvanized in support of an expansive vision." - Walter W. Powell, Stanford University
