Business Model Innovation in European SMEs: Descriptive analysis of quantitative survey and case survey data

In this paper we analyse Business Model Innovation (BMI) in European micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SME). We present descriptive findings from our quantitative survey and qualitative case survey on how SMEs are innovating their Business Models. Our survey indicates that 37% of European SMEs innovate their Business Model. We found some differences in BMI depending on the age and industry sectors. We also describe the changes the SMEs make in differing Business Model components when they are improving their Business Model.Information and Communication Technolog

An analytical framework for an M-payment ecosystem: A merchants' perspective

Harvest Available online 23-10-2015Information and Communication Technolog

Tensions in Global IT Multisourcing Arrangements: Examining the Barriers to Attaining Common Value Creation

Previous contributions on IT multisourcing were mainly focused on strategy and governance. The way in which actors exchange value as well as information and knowledge has been ignored. Given this void, this paper adopts the ecosystem metaphor and concepts from business model thinking to study common value creation and capturing. An exploratory, case-study is used to study a global IT multisourcing arrangement. The results indicate four barriers in ecosystems that may hinder value creation: managed interdependencies, resource integration, ecosystem boundary spanners, and formal inter-organizational contractual agreements. We contribute to IS literature by exploring, beyond the strategic decision to collaborate, the complexity and mutual dependencies of competing and collaborating actors within a global IT multisourcing context.Information and Communication Technolog

Tensions in Global IT Multisourcing Arrangements: Examining the Barriers to Attaining Common Value Creation

Previous contributions on IT multisourcing were mainly focused on strategy and governance. The way in which actors exchange value as well as information and knowledge has been ignored. Given this void, this paper adopts the ecosystem metaphor and concepts from business model thinking to study common value creation and capturing. An exploratory, case-study is used to study a global IT multisourcing arrangement. The results indicate four barriers in ecosystems that may hinder value creation: managed interdependencies, resource integration, ecosystem boundary spanners, and formal inter-organizational contractual agreements. We contribute to IS literature by exploring, beyond the strategic decision to collaborate, the complexity and mutual dependencies of competing and collaborating actors within a global IT multisourcing context.Information and Communication Technolog

Orchestration and governance in digital platform ecosystems: a literature review and trends

Purpose: Because of the attention increasingly being focused on digital transformation, interest in business models of platform-enabled ecosystems is rising rapidly. Although there are different theoretical views on the role of ecosystems, a synthesis of research, with a focus on governance and orchestration in dynamic, multi-industry eco-systems, is lacking. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was conducted by following a rigorous search protocol in the scholarly databases covering both journal articles and conference papers These papers were subsequently filtered, and finally, 48 relevant papers were selected for analysis. Findings: The review identifies five key aspects of platform governance design that need close consideration: the meta-organisation or ecosystem design, coordination mechanisms, mechanisms for value co-creation, value appropriation mechanisms and architectural principles. To achieve balance among a set of competing demands, platform leaders need to devote adequate attention to these aspects. Practical implications: Based on a literature review, the authors provide an overview of underlying theoretical views, research methods and key trends to develop a sound theoretical grounding for research on platform governance design. The paper also suggests research gaps in the existing literature and sets directions for researchers to strengthen the understanding of effective platform governance design. The paper also provides valuable information to managers in developing or leading a successful platform ecosystem. Originality/value: The paper uses existing literature published in this topic and original in nature.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Information and Communication Technolog

An ecosystem view on third party mobile payment providers: a case study of Alipay wallet

Purpose: To understand why the penetration of handset-based mobile payment in most countries is still low has been an important research topic for the last 15 years, and it has been analyzed from different perspectives. However, the analysis of a single aspect cannot provide a sophisticated answer to the complicated underlying question. The purpose of this paper is to understand how a relatively successful m-payment ecosystem is created and sustained through the coopetition of various actors. Design/methodology/approach: To that end, the authors analyze the case of Alipay wallet, the m-payment service provider with the largest market share in China, and focus on understanding the motivations and subsequent actions of the organizations cooperating in the Alipay wallet core ecosystem. Findings: The results show that actors with heterogeneous and complementary resources can forge sustainable collaboration. Within an ecosystem, although always constrained by resources and capabilities, the actions that the core actors take and the resulting power imbalances are dynamically changing, reflecting actors’ aim of reducing uncertainty. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of this case is that it was conducted in a Chinese context, which has specific features that may not apply to other cases. In addition, this study is based on a single case study in a single country, without comparing the results to any other cases or countries. Therefore, some modifications may have to be made when applying the framework and generalizing the results. Practical implications: With regards to the practical perspective, the Alipay case may serve as an example that other providers follow, taking similar actions to increase the dependency of others and reduce their own dependency on others. It is helpful to take a keystone strategy to create value within the ecosystem and share this value with other participants. Moreover, Alipay acts as the platform provider, in addition to managing value creation within the ecosystem and sharing that value with the other participants. Alipay focuses on the business and strategic needs of the core actors, without threatening their main business, for example, Alipay focuses on micro-payments, which does not pose a direct competition to banks, who mainly rely on macro-payments to generate profit. Micro-payments are often related to high transaction costs for banks. In addition, although it is difficult to define the boundaries of actors in the ecosystem, the core business of every actor is the key competitive or even survival condition. This notion should be taken into consideration by actors whose actions affect the business of other ecosystem partners. For instance, Alipay will not aim to become a bank, as they know that if they do so, they cannot connect any other bank to their platform. In other words, the scope and boundary of the actors are clearly identified so that the core business will not be threatened. Sords, we can learn from Alipay that it pays off to focus on one area, and not to let your competitors challenge you. Originality/value: The authors proposed the StReS framework for analyzing a business ecosystem by combining resource-based review, resource dependency theories and network analysis for investigating the motivations of the organizations cooperating in the core ecosystem and the actions they have taken to reduce dependency and uncertainty.Information and Communication Technolog

Preferences in data usage and the relation to the use of mobile applications

Engineering, Systems and ServicesTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Understanding the Modularization of Business Services: The Maturity of Firms in Bundling Services

Sourcing literature reveals that large firms bundle or unbundle existing business services by means of modularization to achieve organizational agility. However, one may assume that firms need some degree of maturity to manage the complexity that comes along with bundling modularized services. The aim of our research is to understand how modularization interrelates with firm maturity when bundling business services, a topic that has been given limited attention in sourcing literature. Based on an exploratory research amongst 110 firms we found evidence for the relevance of influencing factors on firm maturity in bundling services. The findings provide evidence that the number of business services and the size of the firm correlate with the maturity of the firm. More specifically, our analysis identified that the type of market in which a firm acts (i.e. private or public) and adding the Marketing business function to a bundle does not increase firm maturity. Our empirical research contributes to sourcing literature as we expanded previous research by taking a more in-depth view on business services while providing up-to-date insights.Information and Communication Technolog

Business Model Innovation and Firm Performance: The Role of Mediation and Moderation Factors

Business model (BM) innovation is vital for today’s businesses. However, BM innovations can be irreversible, and therefore, in comparison to product, service or process innovation, entail bigger risk and ambiguity. Understanding the way in which BM innovation exerts influences over firm’s performance would help business-owners to be more effective. Based on a systematic literature review, a model to examine how BMI impacts firm performance through mediating and moderating factors was developed. Based on in-depth analysis of 37 articles, we identified twenty moderating factors classified in four groups, i.e., Firm-Characteristics, Industry-Characteristics, BM Implementation, and BM Practices, and ten mediating factors, categorized in three sub-groups, i.e., Revenue Growth, Efficiency Growth, and Enhancing the Organizational Capabilities. This paper offers the grounding for empirical research as well contribute to the development of tools to assess the effectiveness of the BMI.Information and Communication Technolog

The nexus between dynamic capabilities and competitive firm performance: the mediating role of open innovation

Purpose: Prior research has reported the indirect implications of firm's dynamic capabilities on their competitive firm performance. Our attention now turns to open innovation since it has been confirmed to be an influential factor contributing to the superior performance of technological firms. So far there has been little research on assessing the relationship between a firm's dynamic capabilities as an antecedent of the competitive performance of the firm or investigations into the mediating role of open innovation in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the theory of dynamic capabilities, we developed a framework as a way to better understand the role of open innovation, which could then help to better explain the relationship between firms' dynamics capabilities and their competitive firm performance. Based on the empirical data of 465 firms operating in innovative and non-innovative industries, we employed structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine the research hypotheses and the path relationships in the proposed model. Findings: The SEM analysis revealed that a firm's dynamic capabilities significantly impact its open innovation performance and that open innovation, consequently, impacts the competitive performance of the firm. Moreover, the results show that the path between dynamic capabilities and competitive firm performance is partially mediated through open innovation. Practical implications: The findings provide practical implications and draw managerial attention to the importance of: (1) investing in innovation, (2) engaging customers in the innovation process and (3) maintaining innovation management excellence as significant antecedent factors in increasing competitive firm performance. Originality/value: Considering the lack of empirical research in the literature on the links between dynamic capabilities and open innovation, this paper contributes to the dynamic capabilities and open innovation literature by confirming that open innovation not only mediates the relationship between these two aspects but also strengthens the effect the dynamic capabilities have on competitive firm performance. Besides, due to the significant impact of dynamic capabilities on open innovation, dynamic capabilities might be regarded as an antecedent of open innovation.Information and Communication Technolog