Marina Candi
Marina Candi, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Reykjavik University’s School of Business and the Director of the Reykjavik University Center for Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She received her Ph.D. from Copenhagen Business School. Her research interests include design driven innovation, experience-based innovation, business model innovation, and interactive marketing. Her research has been published in academic journals including the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Technovation, Long Range Planning, Industrial Marketing Management, the Journal of Service Management, Creativity and Innovation Management, and Design Studies. She has over 20 years of experience in the IT sector as a Software Engineer and Project Manager and, during the latter half of her industry career, held positions in executive-level management as well as sitting on the boards of directors of IT firms. She is a visiting professor at the LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome. For more information, please see www.ru.is/staff/marina.
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Papers by Marina Candi
Keywords: Business model innovation, social responsibility, narrative methodology.
Keywords: New service development, corporate social responsibility, small and medium sized enterprises, strategy, innovation.
to business success, namely diversity and the logic that drives entrepreneurial decision
making. The empirical context is new ventures and data collected using a survey of new
ventures are used to investigate the contribution of founder team informational diversity
to innovation performance as well as the moderating effect of the degree of causation logic
used in decision making.
The findings confirm that founder team informational diversity is positively related with
both idea generation and the implementation of ideas into new products or services.
Furthermore, the findings suggest that the relationships between founder diversity and
both idea generation and realized innovation are moderated by the logic of entrepreneurial
decision making. The relationship between founder team informational diversity and idea
generation is stronger when decision making is based on strong causation logic, while the
relationship between founder team informational diversity and realized innovation is
stronger when decision making is based to a lesser degree on causation logic.
common reaction to high levels of technological turbulence. However, existing definitions of project
flexibility are inconsistent and sometimes unclear, and empirical evidence is limited. This article makes
an important distinction between flexible project planning and flexible project specifications.
A negative relationship is found between flexible project planning and innovation project performance,
whereas flexible product specifications are found to contribute positively.
This article also examines how technological turbulence contributes to the choice of flexible or
inflexible strategies. Technological turbulence can be present in the external environment or can be
internal to the firm, when radically new products are developed. The findings suggest that when
businesses perceive technological turbulence in the environment they are more likely to adopt flexible
approaches to innovation in an attempt to adapt to external pressures. In technologically innovative
projects, product specifications are likely to remain fixed while project organization is likely to be
adapted to the needs of the project.
Taken together, the findings suggest that innovation projects should maintain stable organization,
schedules and budgets, but stay flexible about product specifications. Vigilance with regards to external
and internal conditions of technological turbulence, which may lead organizations to be more flexible
in terms of project planning, is needed.
successful innovation, but does so with a unique focus—that of new firm founder teams. This is in contrast to much of
the existing literature, which focuses on organizational units in large firms.
As part of their strategy for success, new technology-based firms need to find an optimal balance between exploration
and exploitation in their innovation activities. However, the resource constraints they typically face make it difficult for
them to pursue both at the same time, which means that at any given point in time they are likely to opt for either
exploration or exploitation rather than both. The purpose of this research is to investigate what influences new
technology-based firms to select one innovation strategy over another. Data collected in 145 new technology-based
firms are used to test hypotheses about how environmental conditions and founder team composition interact in their
contributions to choice of innovation strategy. Based on hierarchical regression analysis of the data, the research
findings suggest that teams consisting of individuals who have dissimilar backgrounds are more likely to adapt their
innovation strategy to the characteristics of the environment than teams of individuals with similar backgrounds.
Conversely, teams consisting of individuals with similar backgrounds are more likely to continue to follow their
preferred strategy. However, as competitive intensity or environmental dynamism increases, such teams are likely to
deviate from their preferred strategy.
tends to focus on high-profile examples of firms from largely hedonic sectors, such as entertainment and hospitality.
These cases provide vivid and persuasive examples, but they fail to address how firms outside these sectors can join the
experience economy—a term coined in 1998 by Pine and Gilmore—by developing new products and services with
experiences at their core. The paper reports on two studies undertaken to examine why firms that do not belong to
sectors that are largely hedonic innovate through experience staging and how they benefit from doing so. The first study
is an in-depth case study of 15 diverse firms, which examines these firms’ motives for pursuing innovation through
experience staging. The second study is a two-year longitudinal quantitative survey of 131 small- and medium-sized
firms (SMEs) to address the question of the benefits that firms that do not have strong brands can gain by from
innovation through staging experiences.
The first study provides the basis for classifying firms along two dimensions depending on the nature of the new
products or services (referred to collectively as offerings) they create. The first dimension has to do with whether new
offerings have a functional or experiential core. The second dimension has to do with the degree of experiential
augmentation applied to offerings.
The first study suggests that firms adopt an experience-staging strategy to innovation based on both outward-facing
and inward-facing motives. The outward-facing motives include improving a firm’s image in its market, entering new
markets, and attracting new customers. The inward-facing motives include improving a firm’s attractiveness to
employees and increasing profitability. The results of the second study suggest that creating offerings with an
experiential core can contribute to success by enhancing a firm’s image, its attractiveness to employees, and its ability
to enter new markets. Moreover, experiential augmentation contributes to profitability, new customer attraction, and
employee attractiveness.
This research has important implications for theory and practice. In the first place, this research extends existing
theory about experience staging to firms outside sectors that are largely hedonic. In the second place, the managerial
implications are that innovation through experience staging can be an effective way for SMEs, even those outside
industries, such as entertainment or hospitality, to create competitive advantage.
ways to reach, learn about, and engage customers in new product development (NPD). However, the rapidly changing
landscape of social network sites can be difficult to navigate successfully and doubts remain about whether and how
they can be used to good effect. In fact, empirical research confirming a positive relationship between the use of social
network sites in NPD and business performance is scarce.
This paper reports on research examining the use of social network sites for three purposes, namely for market
research guiding the development of new products, for getting customers to collaborate in the NPD process, and for
new product launch. The results of this research suggest that the benefits expected from using social network sites in
NPD are largely not being realized by businesses. Using social network sites to conduct market research leading into
the NPD process was not found to contribute to business performance, and in fact was found to have negative
relationships with both profitability and market growth. Using social network sites to get customers to collaborate in
the NPD process was found to be positively related with innovativeness but not with market growth or profitability.
Finally, using social network sites for new product launch was where the most positive indications were seen, since this
was found to be positively related with innovativeness, market growth, and profitability.
Thus, it appears that while businesses may get good results from using social network sites for product launch, they
still have a learning curve to traverse before they can successfully use them for market research or customer
collaboration in NPD. While there is currently a great deal of enthusiasm—even hype—about the potential opportunities
of using social network sites for NPD, this research suggests that businesses should move carefully and recognize
that just jumping on the social network bandwagon will not insure success.
Keywords: Business model innovation, social responsibility, narrative methodology.
Keywords: New service development, corporate social responsibility, small and medium sized enterprises, strategy, innovation.
to business success, namely diversity and the logic that drives entrepreneurial decision
making. The empirical context is new ventures and data collected using a survey of new
ventures are used to investigate the contribution of founder team informational diversity
to innovation performance as well as the moderating effect of the degree of causation logic
used in decision making.
The findings confirm that founder team informational diversity is positively related with
both idea generation and the implementation of ideas into new products or services.
Furthermore, the findings suggest that the relationships between founder diversity and
both idea generation and realized innovation are moderated by the logic of entrepreneurial
decision making. The relationship between founder team informational diversity and idea
generation is stronger when decision making is based on strong causation logic, while the
relationship between founder team informational diversity and realized innovation is
stronger when decision making is based to a lesser degree on causation logic.
common reaction to high levels of technological turbulence. However, existing definitions of project
flexibility are inconsistent and sometimes unclear, and empirical evidence is limited. This article makes
an important distinction between flexible project planning and flexible project specifications.
A negative relationship is found between flexible project planning and innovation project performance,
whereas flexible product specifications are found to contribute positively.
This article also examines how technological turbulence contributes to the choice of flexible or
inflexible strategies. Technological turbulence can be present in the external environment or can be
internal to the firm, when radically new products are developed. The findings suggest that when
businesses perceive technological turbulence in the environment they are more likely to adopt flexible
approaches to innovation in an attempt to adapt to external pressures. In technologically innovative
projects, product specifications are likely to remain fixed while project organization is likely to be
adapted to the needs of the project.
Taken together, the findings suggest that innovation projects should maintain stable organization,
schedules and budgets, but stay flexible about product specifications. Vigilance with regards to external
and internal conditions of technological turbulence, which may lead organizations to be more flexible
in terms of project planning, is needed.
successful innovation, but does so with a unique focus—that of new firm founder teams. This is in contrast to much of
the existing literature, which focuses on organizational units in large firms.
As part of their strategy for success, new technology-based firms need to find an optimal balance between exploration
and exploitation in their innovation activities. However, the resource constraints they typically face make it difficult for
them to pursue both at the same time, which means that at any given point in time they are likely to opt for either
exploration or exploitation rather than both. The purpose of this research is to investigate what influences new
technology-based firms to select one innovation strategy over another. Data collected in 145 new technology-based
firms are used to test hypotheses about how environmental conditions and founder team composition interact in their
contributions to choice of innovation strategy. Based on hierarchical regression analysis of the data, the research
findings suggest that teams consisting of individuals who have dissimilar backgrounds are more likely to adapt their
innovation strategy to the characteristics of the environment than teams of individuals with similar backgrounds.
Conversely, teams consisting of individuals with similar backgrounds are more likely to continue to follow their
preferred strategy. However, as competitive intensity or environmental dynamism increases, such teams are likely to
deviate from their preferred strategy.
tends to focus on high-profile examples of firms from largely hedonic sectors, such as entertainment and hospitality.
These cases provide vivid and persuasive examples, but they fail to address how firms outside these sectors can join the
experience economy—a term coined in 1998 by Pine and Gilmore—by developing new products and services with
experiences at their core. The paper reports on two studies undertaken to examine why firms that do not belong to
sectors that are largely hedonic innovate through experience staging and how they benefit from doing so. The first study
is an in-depth case study of 15 diverse firms, which examines these firms’ motives for pursuing innovation through
experience staging. The second study is a two-year longitudinal quantitative survey of 131 small- and medium-sized
firms (SMEs) to address the question of the benefits that firms that do not have strong brands can gain by from
innovation through staging experiences.
The first study provides the basis for classifying firms along two dimensions depending on the nature of the new
products or services (referred to collectively as offerings) they create. The first dimension has to do with whether new
offerings have a functional or experiential core. The second dimension has to do with the degree of experiential
augmentation applied to offerings.
The first study suggests that firms adopt an experience-staging strategy to innovation based on both outward-facing
and inward-facing motives. The outward-facing motives include improving a firm’s image in its market, entering new
markets, and attracting new customers. The inward-facing motives include improving a firm’s attractiveness to
employees and increasing profitability. The results of the second study suggest that creating offerings with an
experiential core can contribute to success by enhancing a firm’s image, its attractiveness to employees, and its ability
to enter new markets. Moreover, experiential augmentation contributes to profitability, new customer attraction, and
employee attractiveness.
This research has important implications for theory and practice. In the first place, this research extends existing
theory about experience staging to firms outside sectors that are largely hedonic. In the second place, the managerial
implications are that innovation through experience staging can be an effective way for SMEs, even those outside
industries, such as entertainment or hospitality, to create competitive advantage.
ways to reach, learn about, and engage customers in new product development (NPD). However, the rapidly changing
landscape of social network sites can be difficult to navigate successfully and doubts remain about whether and how
they can be used to good effect. In fact, empirical research confirming a positive relationship between the use of social
network sites in NPD and business performance is scarce.
This paper reports on research examining the use of social network sites for three purposes, namely for market
research guiding the development of new products, for getting customers to collaborate in the NPD process, and for
new product launch. The results of this research suggest that the benefits expected from using social network sites in
NPD are largely not being realized by businesses. Using social network sites to conduct market research leading into
the NPD process was not found to contribute to business performance, and in fact was found to have negative
relationships with both profitability and market growth. Using social network sites to get customers to collaborate in
the NPD process was found to be positively related with innovativeness but not with market growth or profitability.
Finally, using social network sites for new product launch was where the most positive indications were seen, since this
was found to be positively related with innovativeness, market growth, and profitability.
Thus, it appears that while businesses may get good results from using social network sites for product launch, they
still have a learning curve to traverse before they can successfully use them for market research or customer
collaboration in NPD. While there is currently a great deal of enthusiasm—even hype—about the potential opportunities
of using social network sites for NPD, this research suggests that businesses should move carefully and recognize
that just jumping on the social network bandwagon will not insure success.