Business Models and Tactics in New Product Creation: The Interplay of Effectuation and Causation Processes

Effectuation and causation are two contrasting approaches to new business development. We argue that these two approaches are generic decision-making mechanisms that can coexist with one another and that they are configured in specific ways during different phases in the process of new product creation. These decision-making mechanisms are influenced by internal and external market factors: the nature of activities of a phase and the interplay between the business model and tactics. Our research framework is a generic two-stage competitive process that separates business models from tactics. We conducted an in-depth case study of a console game creation project to examine these decision-making mechanisms and to explore how business models are formulated and how each mechanism influences subsequent tactics during the new product creation process. Our findings suggest the following four decision-making configurations with unique modes of interplay between business models and tactics: effectuation centric, discovery centric, causation centric, and tactic centric. The theoretical insights on the linkage between decision-making mechanisms and business models have important practical implications for new product creation.