fitness of business models for digital collaborative platformsin clusters: a case study - difense...

Fitnessofbusinessmodelsfordigitalcollabora3vepla6ormsinclusters:acasestudyLucaCremonaSmartUpandLab#ID,UniversitàCarloCa9aneo-LIUC,Castellanza(VA),[email protected],UniversitàCarloCa9aneo-LIUC,Castellanza(VA),[email protected],CH-1015Lausanne,[email protected]

DigitalPla6ormsinClusters

Agenda

DiFenSE-9thJune2015-Stockholm

Agenda

1.   Background2  ResearchMethod3  Casestudy4  DigitalplaZormsadopJoninclusters

2


DiFenSE-9thJune2015-Stockholm 3

Background

“Clustersaregeographicconcentra-onsofinterconnectedcompaniesandins3tu3onsinapar-cularfield.Clustersencompassanarrayoflinkedindustriesandotheren--esimportanttocompe33on”,

Clusters

Source:Porter,M.E.(1998)Clustersandtheneweconomicsofcompe33on.HarvardBusinessReview.November-December


ITasoperandresourcevs.ITasoperantresource

Operandresource Operantresource


Background

“(oKentangibleandsta3c)thatanactoractsontoobtainsupportforexecu3nga

task”

Source:Nambisan,S.(2013)Informa3onTechnologyandProduct/ServiceInnova3on:ABriefAssessmentandSomeSugges3onsforFutureResearch.JournaloftheAssocia3onforInforma3onSystems,14(4)

“(o]enintangibleanddynamic)thatactonotherresourcestoproduceeffects”

Inthispaperweaimtounderstandthefactorsimpac3ngontheuse-withinclusters-ofdigitalcollabora3vepla6ormsasanoperandresource,andthediversetrajectoriesthat

theycantriggerasanoperantresource



Background

“asystemofinterdependentac3vi3esthattranscendsthefocalfirmandspansitsboundaries.Theac3vitysystemenablesthefirm,inconcertwithitspartners,tocreatevalueandalsotoappropriateashareofthatvalue”Zo],C.,Amit,R.:Businessmodeldesign:anac3vitysystemperspec3ve.LongRangePlann.43,2-3,216–226(2010).

Businessmodelas…



ResearchMethod

TheDSRacJviJes:•  Building•  Evalua-ng•  Theorizingon•  Jus3fyingar3facts

DesignScienceResearch(DSR)

RQ1:What’stheroleofbusinessmodels,amongotherfactors,fortheuseofDigitalcollabora3veplaeorms(DCPs)andtheirdigitalop3onsexploita3on?RQ2:Consequently,isthereabusinessmodelforanenterprisethatbe]erfitstheneeds-aswellasallowstobe]erexploitthebenefits-ofusingaDCPtosupporttheac3vi3esinabeingpartinadigitalcluster?



ResearchMethod

Ques-onnaireandinterviews•  AquesJonnairewasdistributedtotwosmallandmedium-sizedenterprises(SMEs)belonging

totheLombardyEnergyCluster(LEC,aclusteroffirmsinthethermo-mechanicalindustrylocatedintheLombardyRegion,Italy).

•  TwodifferentJmings:atthebeginningoftheproject(October2012)anda]eralmostoneyearthefirmswereusingtheplaZorm(July2013).

•  TheCEOoritsrepresentaJveand/orthemarke3ngandsalesmanagerwereinterviewed.Othersourcesofevidence•  ArJfacts(i.e.extractsfromtheplaZorm),documentsfromeachfirm(aboutperformancesand

financialsituaJons)andinformaJonfromwebsites.

•  OtherdatafrombusinessmeeJngsorganizedtoexplainhowtousetheplaZorm.

DataCollec3on



ResearchMethod

•  GroundedTheoryopenandselecJvecodingsteps(throughNVIVO)

•  Afirstcoderwhohadnottakenpartintheinterviewsreadandcodedtheinterviewtranscriptsbyiden3fyingtextpassagesthatincludedinforma3onabouttheconstructsofthetheore3calframework.

•  Followingthecodingofthefirstcodertheseniorresearcherasecondcoder),likewise,codedthetranscripts.

•  Thetwocodersthenexaminedthemismatchedcodingandagreedonafinalcodingmatrixthatwasusedforthedataanalysis.

DataAnalysis



Casestudy

•  Thefirstfirmunderstudy,givenitsyoungtopmanagementanditsproac3vityinusingtheDCPtoolasawaytoimprovevisibilityinsidethecluster(postscommercialopportuniJesandmarketinformaJonthatcanbeexploitedbyotherfirmsinthecluster).

•  Thevalueproposi3onofthisfirmistobecomeacentralfirmintheclusterbyprovidingvalueaddedacJviJesforotherfirmsinthecluster.

•  ThefirmisfocusedonthefollowingselectedacJviJes:treatmentsandcoa3ngs,bothforaestheJcalandprotecJvepurposesonawidevarietyofmaterials.

TheInnovator

•  Governance:thesonoftheCEOplaysapivotalroleandactsbothasHeadofInnovaJveProjectsandformalrepresentaJveinclusterandinsJtuJonalmeeJngs(heis,forexample,thePresidentoftheItalianDelegaJonofYoungEntrepreneursatG20).

•  Thisperson,proacJveandpassionateofnewdigitaltechnologies,actsasadigitalchampionamongotherentrepreneursandhelpspushingthegrowthandusageoftheDCP



Casestudy

BoththeCEOandhisson,theHeadoftheTechnicalDepartment,arenotfamiliarwithandgenerallyreluctanttousedigitaltechnologies.Thevalueproposi3onofthisfirmistosupportotherfirmsbyprovidinghighlyspecializaJonindesignofecologicplants,thermals,handlingandstockingones.ThisfirmisspecializedonacJviJesofdesignofspecificplantsthatputthefirminanoutlierposiJoninrelaJontootherfirmsoftheclusterDuringthedevelopmentandfirstusageoftheDCPtherepresentaJvesofthefirmparJcipatedinseveralofflinemeeJngsandwereproacJveinsharingtheirneedsandobjecJves.A]ertheposiJvestart,theCEOandhissonwerenotacJveontheDCPandshowedasenseofmistrusttowardstheDCPbecausetheyfearedopportunis3cbehaviorsfromtheotherparJcipants.

TheConserva3ve

Structure:theusageoftheDCPimpactedatdifferentlevelsoncurrentfirmsacJviJes.Content:theyfirmaccessedtheDCPsfewJmesonlyandwiththeantudeoflurkers:theydonotshareanyinformaJonaboutcommercialormarketopportuniJes;rather,theytrytoexploitopportuniJespostedfromotherfirsparJcipaJngtotheplaZorm.


other participants. As a result, their interactions with the other firms of the clusters remained limited to traditional media, such as phone calls and offline meetings, to start new projects and make new customers.

As for activity system governance within the second firm of the study the design department plays a pivotal role: since all the firm ac-tivities are orchestrated from here. The person in charge of this is the son of the CEO and has a complete visibility among all activities per-formed. The CEO, on the other hand, plays an important role as formal representative during institutional and cluster meetings.

5 Discussion of the results

The analysis of the case study focused, on the one hand, on the rela-tionship between business models and clusters - seen as business eco-systems -, to explore the possibility to represent a cluster as a “business model ecosystem”, i.e. a set of specific, interrelated business models characterizing the firms of a cluster. In doing so, we were interested in the emerging factors able to explain the implications of the different business models on the adoption and usage of DCPs. Figure 1 shows the main constructs of the framework.

Fig. 1. An analytic framework for understanding the dynamic adoption and exploitation of DCPs at cluster level and the role of business models.

A cluster of firms can be abstracted as a configuration of business

models, where we recognize two main types: business models describ-


DigitalplaZormsadopJoninclusters

Digitalpla6ormsadop3oninclusters:whichroleforbusinessmodels?

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