Portrait of Professor Simone Ferriani

Professor Simone Ferriani

Professor of Entrepreneurship

Bayes Business School , Faculty of Management

Contact

About

Overview

Simone Ferriani is Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, a lifetime member of Clare-Hall College (University of Cambridge), and Visiting Fellow of the Center on Organizational Innovation at Columbia University. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Prof Ferriani’s current research employs a mix of qualitative techniques and large datasets to study the social sources of innovation. His research has been supported by a variety of grants including the European Research Council, the Italian National Science Foundation, H2020, and the Swiss Science Foundation. In his current work, Simone is employing a combination of experimental designs and network analytic methods to examine the network and cognitive bases of recognition in creative and cultural Fields. A two-time recipient of the European Commission Seal of Excellence, Ferriani is also working at the intersection of historical methods, lab experiments, and linguistic analysis to study how entrepreneurs and innovators elicit support from their target audiences.

His work has been published in various international journals and books, such as American Sociological Review, Organization Studies, Strategic Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Organization, Journal of Management.

Over the past 10 years, Ferriani has also been actively involved in the organization of scholarly events and training initiatives for the benefit of young scholars. Among other things, he is the co-founder of the Medici Summer School in Management Studies (www.medicisummerschool.it), one of the most prominent and well-known international doctoral training initiatives in the field of Management and Organizational Studies. The school is organized yearly in collaboration with HEC Paris and MIT Sloan. Prof. Ferriani has supervised several doctoral students most of whom have now graduated and moved to senior positions in renowned academic institutions Prof. Ferriani has been a visiting fellow at many institutions including Wharton, NYU, Columbia, Cambridge (UK), and the Sociology Department of the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2015 Simone founded ReActor, a school of entrepreneurship and innovation designed to foster the talent and competencies of young scientists working on cutting-edge technologies rooted in their research findings. For his innovative contributions to the advancement of entrepreneurship in higher education in 2022, Simone Ferriani was a runner-up to the title of European Entrepreneurial Leader of the Year, conferred by ACEEU (Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial & Engaged Universities) in collaboration with the Triple Helix Conference.

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Bologna, Italy

Employment

  • Fellow, Columbia University, United States, February 2016 - present
  • Full Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Bologna, Italy, October 2014 - present
  • Honorary Professor, Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), United Kingdom, February 2011 - present

Research students

1stsupervisor

Publications

Books (5)

  1. Cattani, G., Deichmann, D. and Ferriani, S. (2022). The Generation, Recognition and Legitimation of Novelty. Emerald Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781801179980.
  2. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Godart, F. and Sgourev, S.V. (2020). Aesthetics and Style in Strategy. Emerald Group Publishing. ISBN 9781800432383.
  3. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Frederiksen, L. and Taube, F.A. (2011). Project-Based Organizing and Strategic Management. Emerald Group Publishing. ISBN 9781780521930.
  4. Ferriani, S. (2004). Multirelational Embeddeness, Information Transfer and Opportunity Discovery A Longitudinal Study of a Small Firm Cluster. Bologna, Italy: Bononia University Press. ISBN 8873950337.
  5. Ferriani, S. (2004). Dinamiche competitive e fattori critici di successo nel settore fieristico. ISBN 9788849123258.

Chapters (16)

  1. Ferriani, S., Lanzolla, G. and Lorenzoni, G. (2025). Learn the Rules Like a Pro, so You Can Break Them Like an Artist: How Michelin-Starred Chefs Create a New Robust Tradition. Tradition as Resource or Constraint for Strategic Action (pp. 175-201). Emerald Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781837087617.
  2. Cancellieri, G., Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2023). Blending novelty and tradition in creative projects: how robust project design and conventionality shape the appeal of operatic productions. Handbook on Innovation and Project Management (pp. 333-354). Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781789901795.
  3. Ravasi, D. (2020). Reflections on Style and Strategy: An Interview with Davide Ravasi. Aesthetics and Style in Strategy (pp. 267-270). Emerald Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781800432376.
  4. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Godart, F. and Sgourev, S.V. (2020). The Aesthetic Turn in Strategy: Creating Value with Style. Aesthetics and Style in Strategy (pp. 1-15). Emerald Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781800432376.
  5. Formilan, G., Ferriani, S. and Cattani, G. (2020). A methodological essay on the application of social sequence analysis to the study of creative trajectories. In Dörfler, V. and Stierand, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods on Creativity Edward Elgar.
  6. Formilan, G., Ferriani, S. and Cattani, G. (2020). A methodological essay on the application of social sequence analysis to the study of creative trajectories. Handbook of Research Methods on Creativity Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781786439642.
  7. Cattani, G., Falchetti, D. and Ferriani, S. (2020). Innovators’ Acts of Framing and Audiences’ Structural Characteristics in Novelty Recognition. Technology and Creativity (pp. 13-36). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783030175658.
  8. Cattani, G., Colucci, M. and Ferriani, S. (2016). Chanel’s Creative Trajectory in the Field of Fashion: The Optimal Network Structuration Strategy. Creativity in the Twenty First Century (pp. 117-132). Springer Singapore. ISBN 9789812876171.
  9. In Dagnino, G.B. and Cinici, M.C. (Eds.), (2015). Research Methods for Strategic Management. In Routledge.
  10. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S. and Colucci, M. (2013). Creativity in Social Networks. Oxford University Press.
  11. In Kaufman, J.C. and Simonton, D.K. (Eds.), (2013). The Social Science of Cinema. In Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199797813.
  12. Ford, S.J., Ferriani, S. and Probert, D.R. (2013). Overcoming the Innovation Barrier: A Search-Selection Model of Breakthrough Innovation in Large Firms. Strategy and Communication for Innovation (pp. 41-61). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 9783642414787.
  13. Ferriani, S. and Giuliani, A. (2012). The management of growth strategies in firm networks: A stylized model of opportunity discovery via network ties. Handbook of Research on Competitive Strategy (pp. 165-181).
  14. Ferriani, S., Garnsey, E. and Probert, D. (2008). Sustaining breakthrough innovation in large established firms: Learning traps and counteracting strategies. Creating Wealth from Knowledge Meeting the Innovation Challenge (pp. 177-202).
  15. Ferriani, S., Cattani, G. and Baden-Fuller, C. (2007). Fitness determinants in creative industries: a longitudinal study of the Hollywood film-making industry 1992-2003. In Cantner, U. and Malerba, F. (Eds.), Innovation, industrial dynamics and structural transformation (pp. 209-237). Berlin. Germany: Springer Verlag. ISBN 9783540494645.
  16. Ferriani, S., Corrado, R. and Boschetti, C. (2005). Transferring organizational capabilities across transient organizations: evidence from the Hollywood filmmaking. In Dagnino, G., Capasso, A. and Lanza, A. (Eds.), Strategic Capabilities and Knowledge Transfer Within and Between Organizations (pp. 56-82). Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781843769453.

Conference papers and proceedings (4)

  1. Ferriani, S., Cattani, G. and Baden-Fuller, C. The relational antecedents of project-entrepreneurship: Individual connectedness, team composition and project performance. .
  2. FERRIANI, S., CATTANI, G. and BADEN-FULLER, C. THE RELATIONAL ANTECEDENTS OF PROJECT-ENTREPRENEURSHIP: INDIVIDUAL CONNECTEDNESS, TEAM COMPOSITION AND PROJECT PERFORMANCE. .doi:10.5465/ambpp.2008.33717553
  3. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Negro, G. and Perretti, F. Integrating ecologies: Population dynamics and interorganizational networks in the U.S. motion picture industry, 1912-1970. .
  4. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Negro, G. and Perretti, F. Integrating ecologies: Population dynamics and interorganizational networks in the U.S. motion picture industry, 1912-1970. .

Journal articles (37)

  1. Ferriani, S. and Cattani, G. (2025). Lessons Learned From Outside Innovators. MIT Sloan Management Review, 66(3), pp. 25-28

    [publisher’s website]

  2. Deichmann, D., Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2024). Recognizing, evaluating, and selecting new ideas: the problematic journey of novelty. Innovation, 26(3), pp. 349-358. doi:10.1080/14479338.2024.2359383

    [publisher’s website]

  3. Falchetti, D., Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2024). Radically concrete or incrementally abstract? The contingent role of abstract and concrete framing in pitching novel ideas. Innovation, 26(3), pp. 473-493. doi:10.1080/14479338.2024.2363254

    [publisher’s website]

  4. Cutolo, D. and Ferriani, S. (2024). Now It Makes More Sense: How Narratives Can Help Atypical Actors Increase Market Appeal. Journal of Management, 50(5), pp. 1599-1642. doi:10.1177/01492063231151637

    [publisher’s website]

  5. Corbo, L., Corrado, R. and Ferriani, S. (2024). Network pathways of peripheral firm entry: Empirical evidence from the global airline industry. Research Policy, 53(4), pp. 104960-104960. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2024.104960

    [publisher’s website]

  6. Cutolo, D. and Ferriani, S. (2024). Atypicality: Toward an Integrative Framework in Organizational and Market Settings. Academy of Management Annals, 18(1), pp. 157-209. doi:10.5465/annals.2022.0005

    [publisher’s website]

  7. Cutolo, D. and Ferriani, S. (2023). To Sell an Unconventional Product, Tell a Compelling Story. Harvard Business Review, (October)

    [publisher’s website]

  8. Cancellieri, G., Ferriani, S. and Cattani, G. (2023). Balancing Valued Tradition With Innovation When your product is a beloved classic, how do you update it to attract new customers? MIT Sloan Management Review, 64(4), pp. 14-16
  9. Cattani, G., Colucci, M. and Ferriani, S. (2023). From the Margins to the Core of Haute Couture: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Coco Chanel. Enterprise & Society, 24(2), pp. 546-588. doi:10.1017/eso.2021.58

    [publisher’s website]

  10. Cancellieri, G., Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2022). Tradition as a resource: Robust and radical interpretations of operatic tradition in the Italian opera industry, 1989–2011. Strategic Management Journal, 43(13), pp. 2703-2741. doi:10.1002/smj.3436

    [publisher’s website]

  11. Cattani, G., Deichmann, D. and Ferriani, S. (2022). Novelty: Searching for, Seeing, and Sustaining it. pp. 3-23. doi:10.1108/s0733-558x20220000077002

    [publisher’s website]

  12. Falchetti, D., Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2022). Start with “Why,” but only if you have to: The strategic framing of novel ideas across different audiences. Strategic Management Journal, 43(1), pp. 130-159. doi:10.1002/smj.3329

    [publisher’s website]

  13. Ferriani, S., Cattani, G. and Falchetti, D. (2021). When Pitching an Idea, Should You Focus on “Why” or “How”? Harvard Business Review, (October)

    [publisher’s website]

  14. Formilan, G., Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2021). Trajectories of Consecration: Signature Style and the Pace of Category Spanning. pp. 39-63. doi:10.1108/s0733-558x20210000075005

    [publisher’s website]

  15. Ferriani, S. and Cattani, G. (2021). How Outsiders Become Game Changers. Harvard Business Review, (August)

    [publisher’s website]

  16. Cutolo, D., Ferriani, S. and Cattani, G. (2020). Tell Me Your Story and I Will Tell Your Sales: A Topic Model Analysis of Narrative Style and Firm Performance on Etsy. pp. 119-138. doi:10.1108/s0742-332220200000042005

    [publisher’s website]

  17. Ferriani, S., Lazerson, M.H. and Lorenzoni, G. (2020). Anchor entrepreneurship and industry catalysis: The rise of the Italian Biomedical Valley. Research Policy, 49(8), pp. 104045-104045. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2020.104045

    [publisher’s website]

  18. Aadland, E., Cattani, G., Falchetti, D. and Ferriani, S. (2020). Reflecting glory or deflecting stigma? The interplay between status and social proximity in peer evaluations. PLoS ONE, 15(9 September), pp. 1-29. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0238651

    [publisher’s website]

  19. Aadland, E., Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2019). Friends, Gifts, and Cliques: Social Proximity and Recognition in Peer-Based Tournament Rituals. Academy of Management Journal, 62(3), pp. 883-917. doi:10.5465/amj.2016.0437

    [publisher’s website]

  20. Aadland, E., Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2018). The Social Structure of Consecration in Cultural Fields: The Influence of Status and Social Distance in Audience–Candidate Evaluative Processes. pp. 129-157. doi:10.1108/s0733-558x20180000055006

    [publisher’s website]

  21. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S. and Lanza, A. (2017). Deconstructing the outsider puzzle: The legitimation journey of novelty. Organization Science, 28(6), pp. 965-992. doi:10.1287/orsc.2017.1161

    [publisher’s website]

  22. Ferriani, S. and MacMillan, I. (2017). Performance gains and losses from network centrality in cluster located firms: a longitudinal study. Innovation, 19(3), pp. 307-334. doi:10.1080/14479338.2017.1341293

    [publisher’s website]

  23. Corbo, L., Corrado, R. and Ferriani, S. (2016). A New Order of Things: Network Mechanisms of Field Evolution in the Aftermath of an Exogenous Shock. Organization Studies, 37(3), pp. 323-348. doi:10.1177/0170840615613373

    [publisher’s website]

  24. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S. and Allison, P.D. (2014). Insiders, Outsiders, and the Struggle for Consecration in Cultural Fields. American Sociological Review, 79(2), pp. 258-281. doi:10.1177/0003122414520960

    [publisher’s website]

  25. Lipparini, A., Lorenzoni, G. and Ferriani, S. (2014). From core to periphery and back: A study on the deliberate shaping of knowledge flows in interfirm dyads and networks. Strategic Management Journal, 35(4), pp. 578-595. doi:10.1002/smj.2110

    [publisher’s website]

  26. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Mariani, M.M. and Mengoli, S. (2013). Tackling the "Galacticos" effect: team familiarity and the performance of star-studded projects. Industrial and Corporate Change, 22(6), pp. 1629-1662. doi:10.1093/icc/dtt001

    [publisher’s website]

  27. Ferriani, S., Fonti, F. and Corrado, R. (2013). The social and economic bases of network multiplexity: Exploring the emergence of multiplex ties. Strategic Organization, 11(1), pp. 7-34. doi:10.1177/1476127012461576

    [publisher’s website]

  28. Ferriani, S., Fonti, F. and Corrado, R. (2013). The social and economic bases of network multiplexity: Exploring the emergence of multiplex ties. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 11(1), pp. 7-34
  29. Ferriani, S., Garnsey, E. and Lorenzoni, G. (2012). Continuity and change in a spin-off venture: The process of reimprinting. Industrial and Corporate Change, 21(4), pp. 1011-1048. doi:10.1093/icc/dts001

    [publisher’s website]

  30. Petit, Y. (2012). Gino CATTANI, Simone FERRIANI, Lars FREDERIKSEN, and Florian TÄUBE (Eds.) (2011) Project-Based Organizing and Strategic Management. Bingley (UK): Emerald Group Publishing. M@n@gement, 15(3), pp. 333-333. doi:10.3917/mana.153.0333

    [publisher’s website]

  31. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Frederiksen, L. and Taube, F. (2011). Project-Based Organizing and Strategic Management: A Long-Term Research Agenda on Temporary Organizational Forms. Advances in Strategic Management, Vol 28, pp. xv-xxxix

    [publisher’s website]

  32. Ferriani, S., Cattani, G. and Baden-Fuller, C. (2009). The relational antecedents of project-entrepreneurship: Network centrality, team composition and project performance. Research Policy, 38(10), pp. 1545-1558. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2009.09.001

    [publisher’s website]

  33. Lorenzoni, G. and Ferriani, S. (2008). Searching for new units of analysis: firms, dyads and networks. European Management Review, 5(2), pp. 125-133. doi:10.1057/emr.2008.8

    [publisher’s website]

  34. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Negro, G. and Perretti, F. (2008). The structure of consensus: Network ties, legitimation, and exit rates of U.S. feature film producer organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 53(1), pp. 145-182. doi:10.2189/asqu.53.1.145

    [publisher’s website]

  35. Garnsey, E., Lorenzoni, G. and Ferriani, S. (2008). Speciation through entrepreneurial spin-off: The Acorn-ARM story. Research Policy, 37(2), pp. 210-224. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2007.11.006

    [publisher’s website]

  36. Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2008). A Core/Periphery Perspective on Individual Creative Performance: Social Networks and Cinematic Achievements in the Hollywood Film Industry. Organization Science, 19, pp. 824-844

    [publisher’s website]

  37. Ferriani, S., Corrado, R. and Boschetti, C. (2005). Organizational learning under organizational impermanence: Collaborative ties in film project firms. Journal of Management and Governance, 9(3-4), pp. 257-285. doi:10.1007/s10997-005-7422-2

    [publisher’s website]

Scholarly edition

  1. (2011). Project-Based Organizing and Strategic Management.

Working papers (5)

  1. Massa, L. and Ferriani, S. (2019). MAST: Mental Ambidexterity in Strategic Thinking. London, UK: Cass Knowledge
  2. Baden-Fuller, C., Ferriani, S., Mengoli, S. and Torlo, V. The Dark Side of Alternative Asset Markets: Networks, Performance and Risk Taking. Elsevier BV.
  3. Santoni, S., Ferriani, S. and Stark, D. Standing out to become outstanding: Career trajectories in electronic music.
  4. Cattani, G., Ferriani, S. and Santoni, S. The king is dead, long live the king! Superstar extinction and artist consecration in the music industry, 1958 - 2014.
  5. Santoni, , Ferriani, S. and Stark, D. On Line Cultural Markets.

Professional activities

Editorial activity (4)

  1. Innovation: Management & Organization, Member of Editorial Board, 2017 - present.
  2. Organization Science, Member of Editorial Board, 2016 - present.
  3. Organization Studies, Member of Editorial Board, 2015 - present.
  4. Long Range Planning, Member of Editorial Board, 2010 - present.