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Lean Startups and Innovation Strategy:Towards a New Paradigm?
Andy Wu & David Clough
Academy of Management Annual Meeting
5th August 2017
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The Lean Startup framework
• Ideas popularized by Eric Ries and Steve Blank
• They put forward a systematic process for finding a new
venture business model, for low up front cost
• Some major components of the process
– ‘Customer Development’
– ‘Minimum Viable Product’
– ‘Validated Learning’ & ‘Build-Measure-Learn’
– ‘Pivot or persevere’ decisions
– A/B Testing
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The method has been broadly adopted amongst practitioners and gets
taught in many entrepreneurship programs
The Lean Startup framework
“Too many startups begin with an idea for a product that they think people want.
They then spend months, sometimes years, perfecting that product without ever
showing the product, even in a very rudimentary form, to the prospective customer.
When they fail to reach broad uptake from customers, it is often because they never
spoke to prospective customers and determined whether or not the product was
interesting. When customers ultimately communicate, through their indifference, that
they don't care about the idea, the startup fails.”
Eric Ries, theleanstartup.com
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Is ‘The Lean Startup’ being cited in academic research?
• As of 2nd August 2017, Eric Ries’ book has 2,083 Google Scholar Citations
• 26 articles in the top management & entrepreneurship journals cite Ries
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2
4
6
8
10
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2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 H1 2017
Articles citing Ries 2011, count by year (15 top management / entrepreneurship journals)
Is ‘The Lean Startup’ being cited in academic research?
• As of 2nd August 2017, Eric Ries’ book has 2,083 Google Scholar Citations
• 26 articles in the top management & entrepreneurship journals cite Ries
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 H1 2017
Articles citing Ries 2011, count by year (15 top management / entrepreneurship journals)
Is ‘The Lean Startup’ being cited in academic research?
• As of 2nd August 2017, Eric Ries’ book has 2,083 Google Scholar Citations
• 26 articles in the top management & entrepreneurship journals cite Ries
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 H1 2017
Articles citing Ries 2011, count by year (15 top management / entrepreneurship journals)
1st edition of this PDW
Is ‘The Lean Startup’ being cited in academic research?
• As of 2nd August 2017, Eric Ries’ book has 2,083 Google Scholar Citations
• 26 articles in the top management & entrepreneurship journals cite Ries
0
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2
3
4
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ETP JBV SEJ RP AMR JMS AMP AMD ASQ
Articles citing Ries 2011, count by journal (15 top management / entrepreneurship journals)
Where does Lean Startup methodology intersect with academic research?
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Searching for business model / for
opportunities
Lean Startup
(Entrepreneurial) Learning from failure
e.g. McGrath, 1999
Organizational strategic change
Engaging users in entrepreneurial
process
New Product Development process
Deliberate learning from
experimentation
e.g. Marx, Gans & Hsu, 2014e.g. Shah & Tripsas, 2007
e.g. Erat & Kavadias, 2008
e.g. Amit & Zott, 2001;Pontikes & Barnett, 2017
e.g. Thomke, 1998
Where does Lean Startup methodology intersect with academic research?
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Searching for business model / for
opportunities
Lean Startup
(Entrepreneurial) Learning from failure
e.g. McGrath, 1999
Organizational strategic change
Engaging users in entrepreneurial
processNew Product
Development process
Deliberate learning from
experimentation
e.g. Marx, Gans & Hsu, 2014e.g. Shah & Tripsas, 2007
e.g. Erat & Kavadias, 2008
e.g. Amit & Zott, 2001;Pontikes & Barnett, 2017
e.g. Thomke, 1998
Interdependence of elements of strategy
Some speculative research questions to ‘prime the pump’
• RQ1: Does adopting Lean Startup methodology raise venture performance?
– What research designs and settings could test this?
• RQ2: Can we theorize about the Lean Startup methodology?
– What existing theoretical frameworks map onto Lean Startup—or conflict with it?
• RQ3: What are the boundary conditions or moderators of a Lean Startup innovation strategy?
– For what environments is it more / less effective?
– For what types of organizations is it more / less effective?
• RQ4: Are the constituent elements of the Lean Startup methodology intrinsically complementary?
– Which elements work best together, and why?
– How might we model this, e.g. formally or with simulation?
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