Portrait of Professor Santi Furnari

Professor Santi Furnari

Professor of Strategy

Bayes Business School , Faculty of Management

Contact

About

Overview

Santi Furnari is a Professor of Strategy at Bayes Business School in London, a Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University in Chicago, and a Senior Editor at the journal Organization Studies. Recently, he was a 2023-24 Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and previously served as Associate Dean for Executive Education at Bayes. He held visiting faculty positions at the University of Chicago and the University of Cambridge and completed his Ph.D. at Bocconi University, where he also obtained an MSc cum laude.

Prof. Furnari studies how organizations can have a social impact on local communities and society, for example by shaping the emergence of industrial clusters, work practices, and new physical spaces (such as social impact incubators and civic spaces). Recent research focuses on how business, philanthropic and political actors in cities can collaborate to create successful civic places, such as widely used public parks and libraries. He is also an expert of organization design, business models, and configurational thinking and methods. 

Prof. Furnari is a multi-disciplinary researcher combining insights from sociology with organization studies, and using qualitative and mixed methods (such as fuzzy-set/Qualitative Comparative Analysis or fs/QCA). His paper titled “A Chemistry of Organization” (with Anna Grandori) has been among the first empirical applications of the fs/QCA methodology in organization studies. His research has been published in leading academic journals, such as the Academy of Management Review, the Academy of Management Journal, Management Science, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal (among others). His solo-authored paper titled “Interstitial Spaces” has received the AMR Best Paper Award for the best paper published in the Academy of Management Review in 2014. He was a finalist for the same award in 2022 with his co-authored paper "Capturing Causal Complexity". From 2019 to 2022, Prof. Furnari served as the Representative-at-large of the Organization and Management Theory (OMT) Division of the Academy of Management. He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of Organization Theory and Strategic Organization. 

Prof. Furnari regularly develops and delivers Executive Education and Strategic Leadership programs for international corporations, such as the BBC, Barclays, Cromwell-Valad, Fullers, Inmarsat, Odgers and Berndtson, SimCorp, Symantec and Weber & Shandwick, as well as for professional associations, such as the Asian Banking School and the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers in Industry and Commerce. His areas of expertise in Executive Education include: 1) Breaking the silos: how to enhance collaboration between business units and functions; 2) Leveraging networks for business development and collaboration; 3) Influence without authority: coalition-building and negotiation; 4) Strategy, organization design and business models. 

At Bayes, Prof. Furnari teaches "Corporate Strategy" and "Advanced Business Model Thinking" in the MBA and Executive MBA (EMBA) programmes, and various PhD seminars in strategy, organization theory, qualitative methods and fsQCA. He has also taught "Advanced Corporate Strategy in a Globalized World" (for MEMBA/EMBA) and "Advanced Strategic Management" in the Undergraduate Program (from 2010 to 2013) as well as "Research Methods and Business Analytics" in the MSc in Management (from 2010 to 2020). He received (in 2013) the Staff Recognition Award for the outstanding quality of his teaching. Prof. Furnari has also been the Coordinator of the Faculty of Management's Research Workshops and served as member of the school's Research Committee from 2013 to 2016.

Qualifications

  • MSc (cum laude)
  • PhD

Employment

  • External Examiner, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, September 2020 - present
  • Visiting Scholar, Kellogg School of Management, Northwester University, United States, July - December 2019
  • Visiting Scholar, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, January - June 2019

Visiting appointments

  • Research Affiliate, University of Chicago's Cultural Policy Center, September 2010 - September 2013

Memberships of committees

  • Member, All-Academy Theme (AAT) Committee for the 2017 Academy of Management (AOM) Meeting., August 2017
  • Member, Scientific Committee of the European Theory Development Workshop (ETDW)., January 2015 - present

Memberships of professional organisations

  • Advisory Board Member, COMPArative Methods for Systematic cross-caSe analySis (COMPASS), January 2012 - present

Awards

  • University of California Davis (2016). Best paper award at the 2016 Davis Conference on Qualitative Research
  • Cass Business School (2015). Prize for Excellent Research Publications
  • Academy of Management Review (2015). AMR Best Paper Award 2014
  • Cass Business School (2014). Prize for Excellent Research Publications
  • Academy of Management OMT Division (2013). Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Award
  • Cass Business School, City, University of London (2013). Prize for Excellent Quality in Teaching and Outstanding Contribution to Curriculum Design
  • Academy of Management OMT Division (2012). Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Award
  • Academy of Management (Organization and Management Theory Division) (2012). Nomination for Louis R. Pondy Best Paper Award
  • Organization Science Winter Conference (2010). Second runner-up award
  • European Group for Organization Studies (EGOS) (2009). EGOS Best Student Paper Award

Languages

Italian

Expertise

Primary topics

  • Innovation & Creativity
  • Organization Theory
  • Qualitative Research Methods
  • Public Sector Management

Industries

  • creative industries

Research students

Qian Li

Attendance: September 2017 - present, full-time

Thesis title: Strategy and identity dynamics in start-ups

Role: 2nd Supervisor

Zhihan Shen

Attendance: September 2016 - present, full-time

Thesis title: Configurations of Corporate Governance in IPOs

Role: 2nd Supervisor

Marianna Rolbina

Attendance: September 2014 - present, full-time

Thesis title: International replication of cultural products

Role: 2nd Supervisor

Sara Lara Marquez Gallardo

Attendance: September 2013 - present, full-time

Thesis title: Institutional Logics in the E-publising Industry

Role: 2nd Supervisor

Giulia Solinas

Attendance: September 2011 - January 2015, full-time

Thesis title: Organizational Configurations for Value Appropriation

Role: 2nd Supervisor

2ndsupervisor

  • Saad Alsubaiei, Research Student
  • Zhihan Shen, Research Student

Publications

Chapters (10)

  1. Furnari, S. (2019). Situating Frames and Institutional Logics: The Social Situation as a Key Institutional MicroFoundation. Microfoundations of Institutions (pp. 193-209). Emerald Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781787691285.
  2. Grandori, A. and Furnari, S. (2013). CONFIGURATIONAL ANALYSIS AND ORGANIZATION DESIGN: TOWARDS A THEORY OF STRUCTURAL HETEROGENEITY. CONFIGURATIONAL THEORY AND METHODS IN ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH (pp. 77-105). ISBN 9781781907788.
  3. Grandori, A. and Furnari, S. (2013). Configurational Analysis and Organization Design: Towards a Theory of Structural Heterogeneity. In Fiss, P.C., Cambré, B. and Marx, A. (Eds.), Configurational Theory and Methods in Organizational Research (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Volume 38) (pp. 79-107). Emerald. ISBN 9781781907788.
  4. Furnari, S. (2011). Exaptation and Innovation in Architecture: The Case of Chicago�s Millennium Park. In Grandori, A. and Gaillard Giordani, L. (Eds.), Organizing Entrepreneurship London: Routledge.
  5. Furnari, S. and Grandori, A. (2010). Dalle Forme alle Formule Organizzative: Una Chimica dell’Organizzazione. In Fabbri, T. (Ed.), Organizzare: Concetti e Metodi (pp. 433-454). Roma: Carrocci Editore.
  6. Grandori, A. and Furnari, S. (2009). Types of Complementarity, Combinative Organization Forms and Structural Heterogeneity: Beyond Discrete Structural Alternatives. In Morroni, M. (Ed.), Corporate Governance, Organization and the Firm: Co-operation and Outsourcing in a Globalised Market London: Edward Elgar Publishers.
  7. Furnari, S. (2007). Modeling Multidimensional Fit through Boolean Algebra: New Methods for Combinative Organization Design. In Golzio, L.E. and Fabbri, T.M. (Eds.), Relazioni di Lavoro e Forme Organizzative: Nuovi Modelli Progettuali Rome: Carrocci. ISBN 9788843042210.
  8. Soda, G., Sommaruga, M. and Furnari, S. (2005). Il Processo di Formazione delle Alleanze Strategiche: Razionalita Economica o Sociale? In Bodega, D. (Ed.), Organizzare a Misura d'Uomo (pp. 141-155). Milan: McGraw-Hill.
  9. Furnari, S. (2004). Organizzare e Gestire il Lavoro in Rete: Dinamiche di Apprendimento Organizzativo e Politiche del Significato. In D'Atri, A. (Ed.), Innovazione Organizzativa e Tecnologie Innovative (pp. 163-175). Milan: ETAS.
  10. Soda, G. and Furnari, S. (2004). Le Dinamiche Temporali della Condivisione di Conoscenza in Contesti di Lavoro Virtuale: uno Studio Empirico Longitudinale. Knowledge management e successo aziendale Bologna, Italy: Arti Grafiche Friulane.

Conference papers and proceedings (5)

  1. Li, , Jarzabkowski, P. and Furnari, S. (2019). Actualizing the potentiality: A process study on how emerging organizations realize the resource(s) in a corporate-run accelerating program. The 11th International Symposium on Process Organization Studies 19-22 June, Chania, Crete.
  2. Li, Q., Jarzabkowski, P. and Furnari, S. (2018). Strategy-as-practice, identity, and capability to perform in a pluralist context: A case study. 78th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 10 August-, Chicago.
  3. Li, Q., Furnari, S. and Jarzabkowski, P. (2018). Start-up programs as a constraint to innovative disruption: Preliminary evidence from InsurTech start-ups. 34th EGOS Colloquium 10 July-, Tallinn.
  4. Furnari, S. A Framing Perspective on Field Emergence: Constructing Institutional Fields as Settlements. Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings.
  5. Furnari, S. Interstitial Brokers and Institutional Change. Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings.doi:10.5465/AMBPP.2012.138

Journal articles (17)

  1. Calic, G., Neville, F., Furnari, S. and Chan, C.S.R. (2025). Seeing the whole: Configurational cognition and new venture resource mobilization. Strategic Management Journal, 46(2), pp. 309-347. doi:10.1002/smj.3654

    [publisher’s website]

  2. Wiedner, R., Dacin, M.T. and Furnari, S. (2024). Custodianship across Generations: Preserving the Practice of Vinyl Record Manufacturing. Academy of Management Journal, 67(6), pp. 1428-1462. doi:10.5465/amj.2022.0605

    [publisher’s website]

  3. Slager, R., Chuah, K., Gond, J.-.P., Furnari, S. and Homanen, M. (2023). Tailor-to-Target: Configuring Collaborative Shareholder Engagements on Climate Change. Management Science, 69(12), pp. 7693-7718. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2023.4806

    [publisher’s website]

  4. Aversa, P., Furnari, S. and Jenkins, M. (2022). The Primordial Soup: Exploring the Emotional Microfoundations of Cluster Genesis. Organization Science, 33(4), pp. 1340-1371. doi:10.1287/orsc.2021.1484

    [publisher’s website]

  5. Furnari, S., Crilly, D., Misangyi, V.F., Greckhamer, T., Fiss, P.C. and Aguilera, R.V. (2021). Capturing Causal Complexity: Heuristics for Configurational Theorizing. Academy of Management Review, 46(4), pp. 778-799. doi:10.5465/amr.2019.0298

    [publisher’s website]

  6. Greckhamer, T., Furnari, S., Fiss, P.C. and Aguilera, R.V. (2018). Studying Configurations with QCA: Best Practices in Strategy and Organization Research. Strategic Organization, 16(4), pp. 482-495. doi:10.1177/1476127018786487

    [publisher’s website]

  7. Furnari, S. and Rolbina, M. (2018). Brokerage Styles and Interaction Rituals in Creative Projects: Toward an Interactionist Perspective on Brokerage. pp. 17-45. doi:10.1108/s0733-558x20180000055002

    [publisher’s website]

  8. Furnari, S. (2018). When does an issue trigger change in a field? A comparative approach to issue frames, field structures and types of field change. Human Relations, 71(3), pp. 321-348. doi:10.1177/0018726717726861

    [publisher’s website]

  9. Luedicke, M.K., Husemann, K.C., Furnari, S. and Ladstaetter, F. (2017). Radically Open Strategizing: How the Premium Cola Collective Takes Open Strategy to the Extreme. Long Range Planning, 50(3), pp. 371-384. doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2016.07.001

    [publisher’s website]

  10. Misangyi, V., Greckhamer, T., Furnari, S., Fiss, P., Crilly, D. and Aguilera, R. (2017). Embracing Causal Complexity: The Emergence of a Neo-Configurational Perspective. Journal of Management, 43(1), pp. 255-282

    [publisher’s website]

  11. Furnari, S. (2016). Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of Creative Industries. Administrative Science Quarterly. ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE QUARTERLY, 61(3), pp. NP29-NP32. doi:10.1177/0001839216655772

    [publisher’s website]

  12. Furnari, S. (2016). Institutional fields as linked arenas: Inter-field resource dependence, institutional work and institutional change. Human Relations, 69(3), pp. 551-580. doi:10.1177/0018726715605555

    [publisher’s website]

  13. Furnari, S. (2015). A Cognitive Mapping Approach to Business Models: Representing Causal Structures and Mechanisms. pp. 207-239. doi:10.1108/s0742-332220150000033025

    [publisher’s website]

  14. Aversa, P., Furnari, S. and Haefliger, S. (2015). Business model configurations and performance: A qualitative comparative analysis in Formula One racing, 2005-2013. Industrial and Corporate Change, 24(3), pp. 655-676. doi:10.1093/icc/dtv012

    [publisher’s website]

  15. Furnari, S. (2014). Interstitial spaces: Microinteraction settings and the genesis of new practices between institutional fields. Academy of Management Review, 39(4), pp. 439-462. doi:10.5465/amr.2012.0045

    [publisher’s website]

  16. Soda, G. and Furnari, S. (2012). Exploring the topology of the plausible: Fs/QCA counterfactual analysis and the plausible fit of unobserved organizational configurations. Strategic Organization, 10(3), pp. 285-296. doi:10.1177/1476127012452826

    [publisher’s website]

  17. Grandori, A. and Furnari, S. (2008). A Chemistry of Organization: Combinatory Structural Analysis and Design. Organization Studies, 29(3), pp. 459-341. doi:10.1177/0170840607088023

    [publisher’s website]

Professional activities

Editorial activity (10)

  1. Academy of Management Review, Member of Editorial Board, March 2018 - present.
  2. Journal of Management Studies, Member of Editorial Board, 2015 - present.
  3. Organization Studies, Member of Editorial Board, 2015 - present.
  4. Strategic Management Journal, Referee, 2013 - present.
  5. Administrative Science Quarterly, Referee, 2012 - present.
  6. Corporate Governance: An International Review, Referee, 2011 - present.
  7. Journal of Management Studies, Referee, 2011 - present.
  8. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Referee, 2011 - present.
  9. Industrial and Corporate Change, Referee, 2010 - present.
  10. Organization Studies, Referee, 2010 - present.