Strategy, resource orchestration and e-commerce enabled social innovation in rural China

E-commerce enabled social innovation is becoming increasingly important as a way of reducing poverty in developing countries and yet has not been studied much by the IS community. We utilize the concept of resource orchestration as a theoretical lens to develop a fit model that explicates how resources are orchestrated under the guidance of either an indigenous, exogenous or collaborative strategy to achieve e-commerce enabled social innovation. The findings show how resources are orchestrated through the following specific resource-focused actions (collaborating, linking and enriching), which are influenced by the types of strategies applied. Our study also identifies different resource portfolios that influence the type of e-commerce enabled social innovation that can be achieved. This research benefits both academics and practitioners by contributing to cumulative theoretical developments related to e-commerce enabled social innovation and the resource orchestration perspective, and by offering corresponding practical insights to achieve fit between strategy, resource orchestration and social innovation

Ecosystem synergies, change and orchestration

This thesis investigates ecosystem synergies, change, and orchestration. The research topics are motivated by my curiosity, a fragmented research landscape, theoretical gaps, and new phenomena that challenge extant theories. To address these motivators, I conduct literature reviews to organise existing studies and identify their limited assumptions in light of new phenomena. Empirically, I adopt a case study method with abductive reasoning for a longitudinal analysis of the Alibaba ecosystem from 1999 to 2020. My findings provide an integrated and updated conceptualisation of ecosystem synergies that comprises three distinctive but interrelated components: 1) stack and integrate generic resources for efficiency and optimisation, 2) empower generative changes for variety and evolvability, and 3) govern tensions for sustainable growth. Theoretically grounded and empirically refined, this new conceptualisation helps us better understand the unique synergies of ecosystems that differ from those of alternative collective organisations and explain the forces that drive voluntary participation for value co-creation. Regarding ecosystem change, I find a duality relationship between intentionality and emergence and develop a phasic model of ecosystem sustainable growth with internal and external drivers. This new understanding challenges and extends prior discussions on their dominant dualism view, focus on partial drivers, and taken-for-granted lifecycle model. I propose that ecosystem orchestration involves systematic coordination of technological, adoption, internal, and institutional activities and is driven by long-term visions and adjusted by re-visioning. My analysis reveals internal orchestration's important role (re-envisioning, piloting, and organisation architectural reconfiguring), the synergy and system principles in designing adoption activities, and the expanding arena of institutional activities. Finally, building on the above findings, I reconceptualise ecosystems and ecosystem sustainable growth to highlight multi-stakeholder value creation, inclusivity, long-term orientation and interpretative approach. The thesis ends with discussing the implications for practice, policy, and future research.Open Acces

Leveraging IS-based Energy Systems for Energy Poverty Alleviation in Zambia: An Interpretive Case Study

Energy poverty is a pressing societal challenge, affecting over 700 million people worldwide, particularly underserved communities. Although information systems (IS) resources have been made available to alleviate energy poverty, realizing their effective use for intended impacts remains challenging. In this ongoing research, we adopt a resourcing perspective to explore how IS resources can be effectively used to alleviate energy poverty in underserved contexts. We present a community case study in Lusaka, Zambia, where the effective use of IS-based Energy Systems (IES) has yielded promising results. We develop an initial framework that explains “what it takes” to realize effective IES resourcing for energy poverty alleviation, including mechanisms (i.e., gap spotting, narratives, and scaffolding) and actors (i.e., resource providers and users) in three stages - resourcing IN, resourcing WITHIN, and resourcing OUT. We also indicate the next steps of this study and expected contributions and discuss implications for future research

Strengths of Chinese Rural Areas to Develop E-commerce Projects

It is important to use appropriate ways to develop e-commerce in rural areas. Despite numerous studies which have addressed barriers that rural areas in developing countries are facing, few studies can be found that were focused on strengths that rural areas could consider about when developing e-commerce. In this paper, we analyzed typical cases (as known as patterns) in Chinese rural areas where e-commerce have been developed in a quick, innovative and successful way. We analyzed these cases and proposed four strengths (i.e., Industry Strength, Resource Strength, Position Strength and Marketing Strength) that rural areas could use when developing e-commerce. Started from the strength, a framework named SASS (Strength, Aim, Subjects, and Solutions) which characterizes key elements to develop e-commerce in rural areas was identified. According to a review on ten such cases, we found that the four strengths and the SASS framework could help us understand such cases in a unified and organized way. Accordingly, reference can be obtained in a more efficient way for top-level design of e-commerce development in similar areas

Reflecting on the role of dynamic capabilities in digital government with a focus on developing countries

The ability to reconfigure organisational resources dynamically in order to adapt to changing environments is an important organisational capability. Developing countries in particular have a greater need to reconfigure their government resources. The aim of this study was therefore to conduct a systematic literature review of research into the dynamic capabilities of digital government. The findings suggest that most researchers have focused on the innovative capability compared with adaptive and absorptive capabilities. This means the focus is primarily on new services and infrastructure using ICT, but rarely on scanning the environment to identify new ways to provide existing services, nor on finding new ways to provide new services using ICT. The findings further highlight the absence of research in developing countries, specifically in Africa and Latin America. This research contributes to ICT4D literature in identifying research gaps on how to reconfigure government resources using ICT in developing countries

Value Creation from Big Data: Looking Inside the Black Box

The advent of big data is fundamentally changing the business landscape. We open the ‘black box’ of the firm to explore how firms transform big data in order to create value and why firms differ in their abilities to create value from big data. Grounded in detailed evidence from China, the world’s largest digital market, where many firms actively engage in value creation activities from big data, we identify several novel features. We find that it is not the data itself, or individual data scientists, that generate value creation opportunities. Rather, value creation occurs through the process of data management, where managers are able to democratize, contextualize, experiment and execute data insights in a timely manner. We add richness to current theory by developing a conceptual framework of value creation from big data. We also identify avenues for future research and implications for practicing managers

Towards a Nex-Gen Cottage Industry in the Digital Age: Insights from an Action Research with Rural Artisans in India

Despite the recognition of the significance of the crafts industry for inclusive development, its informal, disaggregated and disenfranchised nature poses several problems for the rural artisans, who are often forced to live in poverty. Extant approaches to address the industry’s problems have involved siloed attempts, wherein interventions were appropriated to resolve issues within parts of the supply chain, resulting in persistence of the issues. Using Self-Help- Group women in rural India as a case in point, the paper adopts a discovery orientation and action research alignment to evolve the design principles of an ICT driven peer-to-peer collaborative, decentralized supply chain model known as Nex-Gen Cottage Industry as a means to organise the industry. The results of a pre-pilot study in a village Kandi have been discussed along with the implications of this research for academia and the society

How do keystones govern their business ecosystems through resource orchestration?

Purpose: Sharing resources with stakeholders is the key for keystones to govern business ecosystems successfully. However, existing research has not paid further attention to how keystones share resources under the condition of resource sufficiency and how keystones balance resource sharing with complementors when they lack resources. Therefore, this paper aims to explore how keystones govern their business ecosystems under the conditions of resource sufficiency and resource insufficiency. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopts the single case study method. First, by adopting Gioia coding to analyze the relevant data of the case sample, this paper obtains the key concepts of the business ecosystem governance process. Then, it establishes the relationship between the concepts by analyzing the governance process of the case sample. Findings: Under the condition of resource sufficiency, keystones under the condition of resource sufficiency, should make full use of resources to incubate more complementors, and further integrate the resources of the business ecosystem, to create more value for their business ecosystems. Under the condition of resource insufficiency, keystones should break the boundaries of business ecosystems and acquire external resources, to meet the resource needs of complementors. Subsequently, keystones should redeploy idle resources according to the actual needs of complementors, to meet the changing resource needs of complementors. Originality/value: This study subdivides business ecosystem governance conditions and further constructs the business ecosystem governance process model, which provides a theoretical and practical reference for business ecosystem governance

Innovating within Institutional Voids: A Digital Health Platform in India

Most of the literature on digital innovation assumes availability of resources and access to markets and intermediaries. Institutional voids – lack of formal and informal arrangements – are generally seen as detrimental to digital innovation. While the extant literature provides insights about how some innovation can take place within institutional voids, it largely ignores the role of digital platforms. Based on field work in India, we examine how digital platforms can interface with institutional voids to create social and economic impacts. We find that platforms can address socio-economic challenges by framing, aggregating, and networking within institutional voids. Using an illustrative case study in rural India, where voids and constraints are prevalent, our research highlights how platforms can take strategic actions to develop socio-digital solutions to serve marginalized populations while earning sustainable revenues. We highlight dynamic interactions among physical, social, and digital layers that help platforms reframe constraints and address institutional voids