Santi Furnari

• PhD
• Professor at City, University of London

Research Summary Research is scant on how multiple venture attributes combine as “whole packages” of signals (or cognitive configurations) in resource holders’ eyes, shaping a venture's ability to mobilize resources. Drawing on a qualitative comparative analysis of 1,395 crowdfunding campaigns, we identified different configurations of signals for...

We study collaborative shareholder engagements on climate change issues. These engagements involve coalitions of investors pursuing behind-the-scenes dialogue to encourage target firms to adopt environmental sustainability practices. Drawing on a unique data set of 553 engagements coordinated by the United Nations–supported Principles for Responsib...

Previous research on the genesis of industrial clusters has focused on macrolevel (e.g., agglomeration economies and institutions) or mesolevel explanatory factors (e.g., serial entrepreneurship, spin-offs). Less studied are the microfoundations of cluster genesis, intended as the individual- and group-level processes underlying such macrolevel out...

This chapter identifies the assumptions underlying the two constructs of industry and field, comparing their usefulness to study the digital transformation of creative industries. Two assumptions of the industry construct makes it less useful to understand the blurring of creative industries' boundaries and roles induced by digital technologies: 1)...

In this presentation, I review four approaches to the analysis of longitudinal panel data with fsQCA (fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis): 1) the analysis of temporally-ordered configurations as sequences of events; 2) the analysis of configurations over time via time-windows; 3) panel data set-theoretic research; 4) the case-oriented calib...

Qualitative comparative analysis is increasingly applied in strategy and organization research. The main purpose of our essay is to support this growing community of qualitative comparative analysis scholars by identifying best practices that can help guide researchers through the key stages of a qualitative comparative analysis empirical study (mo...

Despite the importance of brokers in creative projects, limited attention has been devoted to the micro-interactions by which brokers induce others' collaboration while simultaneously retaining some control over creative production. Building on an interactionist perspective, we develop the concept of brokerage style-i.e., a recognizable pattern in...

Previous research has shown that institutional fields evolve around issues, but has devoted less attention to explain why certain issues trigger substantial field-level changes while others remain largely inconsequential. In this article, I argue that the extent to which an issue is likely to trigger field change and the type of field change trigge...

Causal complexity has long been recognized as a ubiquitous feature underlying organizational phenomena, yet current theories and methodologies in management are for the most part not well-suited to its direct study. The introduction of the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) configurational approach has led to a reinvigoration of configurational...

Whereas prior research has investigated cases of partially open strategizing, this article explores the practices and outcomes of radically open strategizing. We draw on a case study of the German Premium Cola collective to explore how it translates its principles of radically open agenda setting, participation, and governance into strategizing pra...

Theories of institutional change have paid limited attention to the ways in which relations between institutional fields might facilitate or hinder institutional change. I introduce inter-field resource dependence as an important condition explaining institutional change between fields. Building on resource dependence theory, I conceptualize two di...

Research has highlighted the cognitive nature of the business model intended as a cognitive representation describing a business’ value creation and value capture activities. Whereas the content of the business model has been extensively investigated from this perspective, less attention has been paid to the business model’s causal structure – i.e....

We investigate the business model configurations associated with high and low firm performance by conducting a qualitative analysis of firms competing in Formula One racing. We find that configurations of two business models—one focused on selling technology to competitors, the other one on trading human resources with competitors—are associated wi...

Research on the formation of institutional fields has under- studied the micro-processes by which actors construct fields and how these processes may vary in different field structures. In this paper, I develop a framing perspective on field emergence, theorizing the relationship between the structure of a field and the frames that field actors use...

I develop a model linking specific microinteraction dynamics between members of different institutional fields and the genesis of new practices. The model centers on the concept of interstitial spaces that is, small-scale settings where individuals from different fields interact occasionally and informally around common activities to which they dev...

This chapter reconstructs the roots of configurational analysis in organization theory and organizational economics, focusing on the elements of configurational thinking that are particularly relevant to organizational design; and outlining some future prospects for a configurational theory of organization design. We detect the presence of configur...

This paper is a response to the call for models of organization design as a science revealing the inner composition of organization and specifying the laws to be respected when crafting it. It maintains that the needed science is a chemistry of organization, addressing the combination of 'organizational elements' playing a role analogous to that of...

The concept of exaptation the co-optation of a feature for its present role from some other origin-has been proposed as an important mechanism of radical innovation in technology and market evolution as well as in the design and production of artefacts. However, empirical evidence is lacking on the cognitive processes leading to exaptation events i...