Resumo

Very often, the process of creating innovative enterprises is nonlinear and the objectives can suffer strategic reorientations several times before finding a promising value proposition. Although several scholars have pointed out market feedbacks as the trigger for those strategic reorientations, alternative studies suggest that technology-driven experimentation is another approach that also may lead the business goals.

However, there is still limited empirical evidence for how technology-driven experimentation encourages reorientations in new ventures. Therefore, this study aims to examine how technology-driven experimentation can promote strategic reorientations.

This study is based on three theoretical aspects: (1) Strategic reorientations, defined by McDonald and Gao (2019) as drastic shifts in the business idea and offerings; (2) Strategy formation in which entrepreneurs defined the “activities to create and capture value” (Ott et al., 2017, p. 306) and can be either by thinking or by doing; and (3) Technology-driven experimentation, an unstructured approach wherein individuals explore and test the technology in an iterative fashion in order to analyze and refine the business potential of the ideas (Curran, 2016).

In order to provide evidence about this approach, we conduct a case study of an EdTech spin-off to deeply examine how technology-driven experimentation can promote strategic reorientations. For data analysis, we follow the narrative strategy described by Langley (1999).

The firm experienced four major strategic reorientations triggered by cycles of technology-driven experimentation. These cycles entail the following phases: 1) strategic orientation (guidelines for product development and requirements for technology), 2) technology acquisition or actualization, 3) prototyping, and 4) experimentation. Once the team analyzes the feedback from the experimentation, they decide to undertake the strategic reorientation.

This study, provided evidence about how technology-driven experimentation encourages strategic reorientations. Our findings suggest that this approach may not only lead to strategic reorientations but also it can both broaden and enrich the business’s value proposition.

Curran, C. (2016). 3 approaches to emerging technology experimentation. Retrieved from Pricewaterhouse Coopers website: https://usblogs.pwc.com/emerging-technology/ Langley, A. (1999). Strategies for Theorizing from Process Data. Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 691–710. McDonald, R., & Gao, C. (2019). Pivoting Isn’t Enough? Managing Strategic Reorientation in New Ventures. Organization Science, 30(6), 1–30. Ott, T., Eisenhardt, K., & Bingham, C. B. (2017). Strategy Formation in Entrepreneurial Settings: Past Insights and Future Directions. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 11(3),306-25