

Fulton Hall 424A
Telephone: 917-545-3285
Email: opazo@bc.edu
“Managing People & Organizations”, “Negotiations”
Organizational studies; innovation and entrepreneurship; negotiations; cultural and economic sociology; communications and qualitative methods.
Pilar Opazo is an Assistant Professor of the Practice at the Carroll School of Management, Boston College.
Prior to coming to Boston College, she was a Post-Doctoral Associate and Lecturer in the Work and Organization group at MIT Sloan School of Management. She was also at Columbia University Graduate School of Business as a Post-Doctoral Research Scholar and an Adjunct Assistant Professor.
Pilar’s research interests include organizational theory, innovation studies, negotiation and qualitative methods. Her research has been supported by Fulbright Commission and by a grant from Telefonica R&D, Spain’s major telecommunications company.
She is the author of Appetite for Innovation (Columbia University Press). The book uses ethnographic methods to examine the organization of creativity and the nature of radical innovation by examining the case of “elBulli,” the avant-garde restaurant directed by Chef Ferran Adria that has revolutionized the gastronomy industry.
Pilar’s other published works include two co-authored Spanish-language volumes, Communications in Organizations and Negotiation: Competing or Collaborating. Her work has also been published in Organization Studies, Sociological Theory and the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science.
She received her PhD in Sociology from Columbia University and a BA from the Catholic University of Chile.
Books
“Appetite for Innovation: Change and Creativity at elBulli”. 2016. Columbia University Press
“Communications in Organizations”. 2007. Universidad Católica de Chile Editions (in Spanish) Darío Rodriguez and M. Pilar Opazo
“Negotiation: Competing or Collaborating?”. 2006. El Mercurio/Aguilar Editions (in Spanish) Cristian Saieh, Darío Rodriguez, and M. Pilar Opazo
Articles
“Politics of Meaning in Categorizing Innovation: How Chefs Advanced Molecular Gastronomy by Resisting the Label”. 2019. With Gerardo Patriotta, Barbara Slavich and Silviya Svejenova. Organisation Studies. 1-24.
“Rethinking Organizational Boundaries via Niklas Luhmann’s Systems Theory”. 2017. Revista Mad. 36:21-37 (in Spanish) M. Pilar Opazo and Darío Rodriguez
“Discourse as a Driver of Innovation in Haute Cuisine: The Case of elBulli Restaurant.” 2012. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 1: 83-89. M.Pilar Opazo
“Order at the Edge of Chaos: Meanings from Switchings across Functional Systems.” 2011. Sociological Theory, 29 (3): 178-198. Jorge Fondevila, M.Pilar Opazo and Harrison C. White