Nathan Furr

Nathan Furr is an Associate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, where he teaches innovation and technology strategy. Nathan earned his PhD from the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University and holds BA, MA and MBA degrees from Brigham Young University. He has held permanent or visiting positions at INSEAD, ESSEC, and BYU.

Nathan’s research focuses on innovation and technology strategy, particularly how new and established firms adapt to technology change and enter new markets. Published papers include explorations of how to capture new opportunities, how to balance the need for execution and flexibility, how firms develop innovative business models, the determinants of success for firms changing industries, and the impact of learning on new market success. His research has been published in leading journals, such as Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He has received various awards, including the Best Dissertation Award from both the Technology & Innovation Management Division and the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management, as well as Best Paper Awards or finalist distinctions from the Business and Public Policy Division of the Academy of Management, the Kauffman Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, and other recognised academic institutions.

Nathan is also a recognised expert in innovation, entrepreneurship, and value creation, co-authoring The Innovator's Method (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014) and Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation (NISI Institute, 2011). His articles appear in Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review. In addition, Nathan contributes to Forbes, Inc. and other magazines on issues of innovation, value creation, and technology strategy.

Professionally, Nathan has acted as the founder or advisor to corporations and startups in healthcare, clean technology, professional services, the internet, retail and financial services industries. Nathan also sits on the investment board of the Kickstart Seed Fund, an innovative early-stage venture fund, and was the founder of the International Business Model Competition, which attracts thousands of innovative teams from around the world in an international competition. Nathan also worked as a consultant at Monitor Group, a premier international strategy consulting firm, working with senior executives on a range of strategic and market discovery initiatives.

PUBLICATIONS

• JOURNAL ARTICLES - Managing Multi-Party Innovation: How big Companies are Joining Forces to Seize Opportunities at their Intersections - Harvard Business Review
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - Products to Platforms: Making the Leap - Harvard Business Review
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - Intergenerational Hybrids: Spillbacks, Spillforwards, and Adapting to Technology Discontinuities - Organization Science
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - Complementarities and Competition: Unpacking the Drivers of Entrants' Technology Choices in the Solar Photovoltaic Industry - Strategic Management Journal
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - The Prius Approach - Harvard Business Review
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - Leading Your Team into the Unknown - Harvard Business Review
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - The Opportunity Paradox - Sloan Management Review
• BOOKS - The Innovator's Method: Bringing the Lean Start-up into your Organization - Harvard Business Review
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - Who Changes Course? The Role of Domain Knowledge and Novel Framing in Making Technology Changes - Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - Which Strategy When? - Sloan Management Review
• BOOKS - Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation - NISI Institute
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - CROSSROADS—Microfoundations of Performance: Balancing Efficiency and Flexibility in Dynamic Environments - Organization Science
• JOURNAL ARTICLES - What Makes a Process a Capability? Heuristics and the Strategic Logic of Opportunity - Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

RESEARCH AREAS

Technology Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Technology Change and Innovation, Ecosystems, Platforms, Architectures, and Systems

TEACHING AREAS

Technology and Innovation Strategy, Innovation