See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/322688810

The Impact of Digitalization on Business Models

Article  in  Digital Policy Regulation and Governance · January 2018

DOI: 10.1108/DPRG-07-2017-0039

CITATIONS READS

196 6,229

4 authors:

Harry Bouwman Shahrokh Nikou

Delft University of Technology Åbo Akademi University
270 PUBLICATIONS   7,252 CITATIONS    115 PUBLICATIONS   1,715 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Francisco-Jose Molina-Castillo Mark de Reuver

University of Murcia Delft University of Technology
77 PUBLICATIONS   2,850 CITATIONS    133 PUBLICATIONS   3,853 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Consumers materialism View project

Data marketplaces View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Shahrokh Nikou on 19 March 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance
The impact of digitalization on business models
Harry Bouwman, Shahrokh Nikou, Francisco J. Molina-Castillo, Mark de Reuver,
Article information:
To cite this document:
Harry Bouwman, Shahrokh Nikou, Francisco J. Molina-Castillo, Mark de Reuver, (2018) "The impact of digitalization
on business models", Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, Vol. 20 Issue: 2, pp.105-124, https://doi.org/10.1108/
DPRG-07-2017-0039
Permanent link to this document:
https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-07-2017-0039
Downloaded on: 08 March 2018, At: 05:32 (PT)
References: this document contains references to 76 other documents.
To copy this document: [email protected]
The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 138 times since 2018*
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:280440 []
For Authors
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service
information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit
www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of
more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online
products and additional customer resources and services.
Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication
Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.

*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

 The impact of digitalization on business
models
Harry Bouwman, Shahrokh Nikou, Francisco J. Molina-Castillo and Mark de Reuver

Abstract Harry Bouwman is

Purpose – This paper aims to explore how digital technologies have forced small- to medium-sized Professor at the Delft
enterprises (SMEs) to reconsider and experiment with their business models (BMs) and how this University of Technology,
contributes to their innovativeness and performance. ICT, TBM, Delft, The
Design/methodology/approach – An empirical study has been conducted on 338 European SMEs
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Netherlands and Faculty of

actively using social media and big data to innovate their BMs. Four in-depth case studies of companies Social Sciences, Business
involved in BM innovation have also been carried out.
and Economics, Abo
Findings – Findings show that the use of social media and big data in BMI is mainly driven by
Akademi, Turku, Finland.
strategic and innovation-related internal motives. External technology turbulence plays a role too.
Shahrokh Nikou is PhD
BMI driven by social media and big data has a positive impact on business performance. Analysis of
the case studies shows that BM is driven by big data rather than by social media. Graduate at the Faculty of
Research limitations/implications – Research into big data- and social media-driven BMs needs more Social Sciences, Business
insight into how components are affected and how SMEs are experimenting with adjusting their BMs, and Economics, Åbo
specifically in terms of human and organizational factors. Akademi University, Turku,
Practical implications – Findings of this study can be used by managers and top-level executives to Finland.
better understand how firms experiment with BMI, what affects business model components and how Francisco J. Molina-Castillo
implementation might affect BMI performance. is Marketing Professor at
Originality/value – This paper is one of the first research contributions to analyse the impact of the Department of
digitalization, specifically the impact of social media and big data on a large number of European Marketing, University of
SMEs. Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
Keywords Business model, Business model innovation, Social media, Big data, Digitalization Mark de Reuver is PhD
Paper type Research paper Student at the Faculty of
Technology, Policy and
Management, Delft
1. Introduction University of Technology,
Delft, The Netherlands.
Attention to business model innovation (BMI) is increasing in both entrepreneurial
practice and research (Zott and Amit, 2010). In this paper, the concept of BM is
defined as the business logic to create and capture value for both consumers and
businesses. In other words, it refers to the way a single organization or a network of
firms collaborates at strategic and operational levels to bring products and/or
services (bundles) to the market. A single organization or a network of firms makes
use of technical platforms and architectures to create and capture value for both Received 15 July 2017
Revised 5 November 2017
(networked) organization and the customer (Bouwman et al., 2008). BMI is defined as Accepted 16 November 2017
a change in a company’s BM that is new to the firm and results in observable changes
The work leading to these
in its practices toward customers and partners. The focus of our research, however, is results has received funding
how companies and specifically small- to medium-sized enterprises (SME) from the European
Community’s Horizon 2020
experiment with BMs as a result of digital transformation, specifically with regard to Program (2014-2020) under
social media and big data. BM experimentation is defined as activities related to grant agreement 645791. The
content herein reflects only the
discussing and trying out changes in BMs carried out by a manager or a team with a authors’ view. The European
Commission is not responsible
budget specifically allocated for BM experimentation. In this paper, we focus on BM for any use that may be made
practices, defined as the way the team in charge of the experimenting process makes of the information it contains.

DOI 10.1108/DPRG-07-2017-0039 VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018, pp. 105-124, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2398-5038 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 105
 the transition from strategy to BMs in practice through digital transformation. It is
about how strategy is actually implemented while experimenting with social media-
and big data-driven BMs.
Much research attention has been devoted to SMEs, which are considered to be the driving
force in most economies. Research has had very diverse foci, such as industry, size, phase
of maturity and ownership. It is often emphasized that SMEs are responsible for much of the
employment, innovation and growth in national economies, as indicated by the Organization
of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Union and national
governments. Therefore, study of SMEs and changes in their BMs is important. From the
perspective of telecommunications, information technology (IT) and information systems
(IS), innovations such as social media and big data are important topics of study. Social
media can offer an extra channel to communicate with customers, but it can also be
developed as a service in itself. Similarly, big data can affect SMEs’ BMs, with regard to not
only marketing but also business processes. For instance, in the industry 4.0 domain,
monitoring production and production quality affect many SMEs’ BMs. BMI is not about
optimizing internal processes or incorporating and implementing new technologies in an
organization; innovation has to affect the core business logic of SMEs and be observable to
others.
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Advanced technologies such as social media and big data are considered to play a
core role in BMI in most firms and therefore also in SMEs. However, what drives BM
innovations based on digital technology and how experiments with BMI affect
performance is, to our knowledge, not yet researched. Therefore, in this paper, the
main questions are as follows:
Q1. How digital technologies, specifically social media and big data, have forced SMEs
to reconsider their BM? How BMI mediates the impact of digital technologies on
innovativeness and performance?
In the context of the H2020 Envision Project, quantitative data were collected and case
studies of BMI as executed by SMEs were carried out. Based on a mixed-method
approach, a data set of 338 European SMEs engaged in BMI related to social media and
big data were analysed, and a number of in-depth case studies were performed. The
quantitative data set is a subset of a larger sample of companies engaged in BMI (N = 586).
Data were collected in 2016. The conceptual model under investigation relates to BM
incentives and experimentation with (subjective) performance indicators. Several sample
cases in which social media and big data (analytics) affect BMs were conducted to deepen
the insights obtained from the quantitative data.
In the next section, mainstream BM factors from extant literature are drawn to build our
research model. In Section 3, based on the discussion laid out in Section 2, the research
hypotheses are developed. Section 4 discusses the research methodology, data collection
process and the measurement development, followed by research results in Section 5.
Section 6 presents the discussion of findings. Section 7 outlines the research’s theoretical
contributions, conclusions, limitations and considerations for future work.

2. Theoretical background
Here, we briefly discuss some main concepts from the BM innovation literature.
Conventionally, research on BMs can be categorized into three main areas:

1. the use of internet, mobile and IT on an infrastructure and its application level
(Bouwman et al., 2008);

2. strategic issues concerned with firm performance and value creation (Casadesus-
Masanell and Ricart, 2010; Hedman and Kalling, 2003; Methlie and Pedersen, 2007;
Teece, 2010; Zott and Amit, 2008, 2010); and

PAGE 106 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 3. innovation and technology management (Chesbrough, 2010, 2006; Waldner et al.,
2015; Zott et al., 2011).

With the aim of not replicating the existing BM literature reviews (Lambert and
Davidson, 2013; Zott et al., 2011), our focus is limited to empirical studies on BMI. BMI
is defined as the changes made in the business logic for creating and capturing value.
BM changes need to be evident for stakeholders, including customers and/or end
users and are often explicit due to change in BM components. BM components are the
building blocks of a BM, such as value proposition, activities of actors supporting the
ecosystem, pricing or revenue model and risk attribution. Studies of BMs are mostly
based on cases, specifically in the domain of internet, mobile and IT (Ballon, 2007;
Bouwman et al., 2008). Extant quantitative studies are within the strategic and
innovation management domain. From these studies, conceptual papers on
entrepreneurship (Doganova and Eyquem-Renault, 2009), strategic management (Zott
et al., 2011) or IS literature (Schneider and Spieth, 2013), as well as empirical papers
on BMI and performance (Aspara et al., 2010; Aziz and Mahmood, 2011; Clausen and
Rasmussen, 2013; Huang et al., 2012) have often unclearly defined BMs and BMI (Foss
and Saebi, 2017). Although we agree with Wirtz et al. (2016) that BMI requires a crucial
transformation of the existing value proposition and/or value constellation, the problem
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

is that core characteristics, components or concepts of the value constellation are often
ambiguously defined, depending on the specific ontology used (Hartmann et al., 2016;
Souto, 2015). Some authors, for instance, offer a rather arbitrary list of components
(Hartmann et al., 2016). These components are unrelated to other concepts such as
value proposition, customer segment and key partners as used in the BM CANVAS
(Osterwalder et al., 2005). Other components such as service, technology platform/
architecture, ecosystem and finance and risk-related uncertainties are used in the
STOF (service, technology, organization and finance) model (Bouwman et al., 2008),
while components such as interface or service platform have been proposed by the
VISOR (value proposition, interface, service platform, organizing model and revenue)
model (El Sawy and Pereira, 2013). The disagreement about what a BM is reflects also
on the definitions of what BMI entails; thus, definitions in empirical papers are unclear
or not provided. Some authors use revenue models as synonymous with BMs (Aspara
et al., 2010; Aziz and Mahmood, 2011; Brettel et al., 2012).
Our approach is in line with Osterwalder et al. (2005) and Wirtz et al. (2016) that define BMI
as the result of the rearrangement of a BM’s components. Some authors such as Bucherer
et al. (2012), Bonakdar (2015), Hartmann et al. (2016) and Frankenberger et al. (2013) also
follow this view and define BMI as the deliberate modification of one or more firm’s core
components, or the introduction of new components. Björkdahl and Magnus (2013) stress
that BMI can be the result of new combinations of new and old products or services, as well
as changes in the firm’s market position and process management. Lindgardt et al. (2009)
focus on value delivery and define BMI as the reinvention of two or more BM components
that can lead to novel ways of value delivery. The definition of Amit and Zott (2010)
suggests that BMI can be the adoption of novel activities that define the BM of a firm, the
adoption of new linkages between the existing activities or the replacement of business
actors in the firm’s value network.
Most studies are vague about how core concepts are measured (Aziz and Mahmood,
2011). Velu (2016) considers diversification/product launch and external funding as two
indicators of BMI. Others use dummy variables for consulting BM, technology BM, software
BM, etc. (Clausen and Rasmussen, 2013). Kim and Min (2015) define BMI simply as adding
online retail activities. Souto (2015) uses unspecified two-item scales. Huang et al. (2012)
use a random list of components as indicators. Clauss’s (2017) valuable paper focuses on
developing a validated scale for BMI.

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 107
 Moreover, the data used in empirical studies show some limitations. Some studies make
use of the European Common Innovation Survey data as a proxy (Barjak et al., 2014;
European Union, 2017) or data from the existing databases (Cucculelli and Bettinelli, 2015;
Hartmann et al., 2016; Kim and Min, 2015). Original data are seldom collected. Therefore,
there is great diversity conceptually, both at the definition and operational levels, as well as
in the use of data collected for other reasons.
In general, empirical studies are drivers in their research focus, based on strategic
management perspectives and linear econometric data analysis (Cucculelli and
Bettinelli, 2015; Guo et al., 2015, 2013; Hartmann et al., 2016; Kim and Min, 2015; Zott
and Amit, 2007). Performance is the key dependent variable and, most of the time,
linear regression analyses are used; some studies apply structural equation
modelling.
It can be concluded that research on digital transformation and BMI is still rather
scattered and sometimes lacks an in-depth understanding of what BMI implies, what
its antecedents are and how it affects firms’ performance and innovativeness.
Moreover, to our knowledge, research by Barjak et al. (2014) alone specifically
addresses SMEs. Therefore, a generic BMI model taking into account the
antecedents of BMI as well as outcomes is developed and tested. Literature on BM
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

and BMI in relation to the role of social media (Hanna et al., 2011) and big data
(Hartmann et al., 2016) is limited and often industry specific (Friedrichsen, 2013;
Sigala et al., 2012). The focus of this paper, therefore, is on the relation between these
technologies and BMs. Publications on the relation between social media and BMs
are industry-specific and relate to smart tourism, media or health care. Social media
are often associated with new digital channels. The wide use of digital media, and
especially of social media, led to the generation of big data that, according to several
studies (Fosso-Wamba et al., 2015; Jin et al., 2015), can be analysed and used to
create relevant information for businesses.

3. Hypothesis development
The overall leading theoretical model (Figure 1) posits that both internal (innovation
activity and strategy) and external (competitiveness intensity and technology
turbulence) factors directly influence BM experimentation. This paper proposes that BM
experimentation – discussing and trying out changes in BMs – positively influences BM
practices, that is, the transition from strategy to BM in practice. In addition, this paper
proposes that BM practices positively influence both innovativeness and the overall
business performance of a firm. Finally, this paper proposes that innovativeness

Figure 1 Research conceptual model

Innovation Activity
H1

Innovativeness
H2
H6

Strategy
H5
Business Model Business Model
H8

Experimentation Practices
H3
H7

Competitive
Intensity Overall
Performance
H4

Technology
Turbulence

PAGE 108 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 influences the overall business performance. These concepts are introduced in the
following subsections.
Innovation activity in an organization is defined as all the activities undertaken by a
company to add value to its products and services. Therefore, the use of technologies such
as social media and big data – which are perceived as innovative in themselves by most
SMEs – can affect BM experimentation. An internal driver like innovative activity, when
explicitly pursued by the firm (Hurley and Hult, 1998; Utterback and Abernathy, 1975), is
expected to lead to experimentation and therefore, budget allocation and team activities in
relation to BM will be supported. Companies that score high on innovation – whether it is
product, marketing or organizational innovation – are generally expected to be prepared to
experiment with their BM. This will also be the case when technologies such as social media
and big data are considered.
H1. Innovation activity has a direct effect on business model experimentation.
Strategy is a concept that is often associated with BMs or business planning. BMs
involve the implementation of a strategy in the business logic on a more operational
level. Therefore, an orientation toward strategic decisions in a firm will enable their
implementation in the BM, and therefore, BM experimentation will be relevant
(Casadesus-Masanell and Ricart, 2010; Chesbrough, 2010; Chesbrough and
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Rosenbloom, 2002). Openness to discussion on strategy will translate into SME’s

experimentation with its BM.
H2. Strategy has a direct effect on business model experimentation.
Competitiveness intensity of a company defines its position in the business ecosystem and
shows how it manages to compete with its rival companies. The more competitive the
external environment is, the more discussions on what to do on a strategic as well as a BM
level will be initiated (Carayannis and Provance, 2008; Casadesus-Masanell and Ricart,
2010; Pauwels and Weiss, 2008).
H3. Competitiveness intensity has a direct effect on business model experimentation.
Technology turbulence has a direct effect on business (Johnson et al., 2008). The
evaluation and advancement of technological innovations over the past decades have
been the fastest growing trend in business in recent history. SMEs have to adjust to IT
applications continuously and therefore will try to find out how new technologies affect
their BMs. Moreover, they will experiment with IT applications and what they could
mean for their BMs. This is also true, ceteris paribus, for new IT applications like social
media and big data.
H4. Technology turbulence has a direct effect on business model experimentation.
BM experimentation entails all the activities that a company conducts and supports in
terms of changes to its business logic. Although previous studies have discussed on
either incremental change in parts of the BM or radical overhaul, this study focuses on
enabling experimentation by allocating budget to teams engaged in experimentation
and the management of those teams, rather than the kind of experimentation carried
out.
H5. Business model experimentation has a direct effect on business model practices.
The concept of BM practices involves the way the strategy of the company is
expressed in its BM and the way that strategy is implemented. Innovativeness is seen
as a dependent variable that represents the overall innovative output of the firm.
Therefore, the more a SME transfers strategy to its BM, the more innovations it will be
able to spin out.
H6. Business model practices have a direct effect on innovativeness.

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 109
 Business performance can be significantly affected by BM practices, as firms that are
more focused on BMI outperform firms that do not, in terms of profit (Giesen et al.,
2010, 2007). Besides, the IBM CEO study reported that CEOs from top firms
acknowledge the impact of BMI on the operating margin growth in their companies
(Pohle and Chapman, 2006). BMI has become one of the three main foci of innovation
for these CEOs to improve their firms’ business performance. By innovating their BMs,
firms can also gain competitive advantage, as BMs might be hard to replicate; thus, this
allows firms to continue being profitable (Chesbrough, 2006). Market share of a
small–medium firm or start-up can also be positively affected by BM practices as a
novel BM can recombine the existing internal resources or use external partners’
resources (Zott and Amit, 2007).
H7. Business model practices have a direct effect on the overall performance of a
company.
It is clear that innovation output will also affect the overall performance of a firm. Innovation
can have a positive effect on business performance as it can enable firms to develop
competitive advantage (Hult et al., 2004; Hurley and Hult, 1998). Firms willing to innovate
will focus on activities that give them better capacity to do so (Hurley and Hult, 1998). This
willingness to innovate is mainly driven by market, learning and entrepreneurial orientation
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

(Hult et al., 2004). This orientation drives firms to improve continuously to adapt to the
constantly changing market, which, if their competitors cannot keep up, will give them a
competitive advantage and improved business performance. Hence, we propose the next
hypothesis:
H8. Innovativeness has a direct effect on the overall performance of a company.
Considering the above-defined concepts and their effects on the overall performance of a
firm, the following research model is proposed to be tested via an empirical research
(Figure 1).

4. Research methodology: quantitative data

In this section, the method used in this study to examine and evaluate the proposed
research model is elaborated. Based on the above discussion, an empirical research is
performed to examine how digitalization enables firms to change or innovate their current
BMs.

4.1 Developing a measurement model

To ensure the reliability of the measurement and have a comprehensive list of
measures, an extensive review of the existing literature on several disciplines such as
entrepreneurship, strategic management and BMs was executed. All survey items for
each latent construct were selected from previously validated measures. Data were
collected on internal and external drivers, type of innovations, the changes in BM and
their management, familiarity with and use of BM ontologies and tools and performance
and background characteristics. The overall performance of the firm was measured
subjectively according to the model proposed by Venkatraman and Ramanujan (1986).
Due to ethical concerns, merging the firms’ data with data from statistical offices to use
objective reported performance information could not be done. McDermott and Prajogo
(2012) suggest that the use of subjective measures of performance is a valid proxy for
objective performance measures.
Sales volume and revenue growth were used as control variables. Next, Likert-type scales
were used (1 = totally disagree, 7 = totally agree) based on well-known studies on
innovation, entrepreneurship and strategic management with regard to firms’ BMs
(Subramanian, 1996; Zott and Amit, 2008; see also Table I).

PAGE 110 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 Table I Question items used in the study
Construct and source Items

The following internal factors motivate a change on your business model during the past 12 months
Innovation activity New product development, innovation and R&D activity
(CIS Survey, 2016) Innovation and/or R&D activities
Advertising products and services in a new way
The following internal factors motivate a change on your business model during the past 12 months
Strategy Scale up your business
(Zott and Amit, 2008) Focus your product offering
The following internal factors motivate a change on your business model during the past 12 months
Competitive intensity Price competition
(Jaworski and Kohli, 1993) Competitors starting to offer similar products/services
Competitor’s reactions to your initiatives
The following internal factors motivate a change on your business model during the past 12 months
Technology turbulence Rapid changing technology
(Jaworski and Kohli, 1993) Rapid increasing technological development
How did you deal with business model innovation during the past 12 months
Business model experimentation (Sosna et al., 2010; Teece, 2010) Experimented with the (implementation of) their business model
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Had a specific team to manage business model changes

Allocated budgets for business model experimentation
In your enterprise, business models are. . .
Business model practices Used to gain competitive advantages
(Ireland et al., 2009; Osterwalder et al., 2005) Designed in response to market circumstances
Derived from enterprise’s strategy
In our enterprise
Innovativeness We aim to create multiple innovations annually
(Subramanian, 1996) We introduce innovations that are completely new to the market
Creating more than one innovation at the same time is common
practice
In our enterprise, we are very satisfied with
Overall performance The sales growth
(Venkatraman and Ramanujam, 1986) The profit growth

To find and identify the relationship among constructs, the data set was analysed using
SEM techniques. SEM is especially applicable when dealing with relationships among
constructs such as in BM experimentation and subjective assessment of overall
business performance. The purpose of covariance-based SEM is to “reproduce the
theoretical covariance matrix, unlike the PLS-SEM which focuses on improving the
explained variance” (Hair et al., 2011, p. 139). In this paper, partial least squares (PLS)-
SEM method, which is a component-based estimation, is used. Table I provides a list of
the items used.

4.2 Survey administration, sample and data collection

The questionnaire contains several concepts related to BM and BMI, as laid out in the
theoretical section of this article. The questionnaire starts with a generic selection
question, asking if the company under study has changed its BM in the past 24 months.
Next, four specific selection questions were posed giving examples of BMI related to
value proposition and market; ecosystem; IT, that is, the use of social media and/or big
data; and pricing and related financial issues. The third question was used as a
selection question to obtain a subsample of 338 SMEs involved in social media and big
data. These questions were included to make sure firms were actually involved in BMI
(Langerak et al., 2004; Lee and O’Connor, 2003). Next, the key respondent from each

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 111
 firm had to prove that he/she was knowledgeable about BMI practices in their company
(Atuahene-Gima, 2005).
The questionnaire was iterated and pretested, reading it aloud to managers and academics
to improve clarity of questions. The questionnaire was developed in English and then
translated into 11 languages (i.e. Dutch, French, Finnish, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish,
Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish). The German questionnaire was used for
Austria. To detect potential problems (e.g. ambiguous expressions) and cultural issues,
back translation of the questionnaire into English was performed to ensure translation did
not introduce any bias in the measures. Moreover, a final check on translations and
consistency between them was made by a research agency. The questionnaire was
pretested in every one of the 11 countries.
Data were collected through a professional research agency based in the Netherlands. This
agency has extensive experience in data collection in multiple countries. They use native
speakers and computer-assisted telephone inquiry. The countries included in this research
are spread over Europe and contain, for all European regions (North, West, Central, South
and East), a large country with a large number of SMEs and a small country. Quota for
micro, small and medium enterprises was established as 33, 33 and 33 per cent,
respectively. No quota has been defined for industry sectors. Agriculture, public
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

administration and nonmarket activities in households are excluded in this paper. The
sample was based on Dun and Bradstreet database. Dun and Bradstreet collects data on
companies, their executives, industry classification and contact information on a regular
basis from chambers of commerce and other organizations. Companies were randomly
selected from the database and key respondents (owner or BMI manager) were
interviewed. Identification data were not known to the researchers. The research agency
also took into account the incidence rate that provides the hit rate, that is, the number of
times a company is asked if they are involved in BMI before founding one that fulfils this
requirement. Results obtained showed similarity patterns between countries. As a further
test, respondents’ suitability (Atuahene-Gima, 2005) to answer the questionnaire and their
degree of knowledge (1 = very limited knowledge, 7 = very substantial knowledge)
regarding the product/service on offer, business process and new product/service
development was assessed. The mean responses were 6.7, 6.6 and 5.9, respectively,
which indicates adequate knowledge levels.

5. Data analysis and results

5.1 Validity and reliability
Composite reliability (CR) test examines internal consistency and reliability of latent
constructs. The CR threshold is 0.70 or higher. More specifically, values between 0.60
and 0.70 are recommended in exploratory research and between 0.70 and 0.90 in
other stages of research; values under 0.60 are considered lacking reliability (Hair et
al., 2011; Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). Table II shows that each construct satisfied
the recommended value and indicates that all constructs have reliability.
Cronbach’s alpha is a common test for internal reliability of latent constructs (Bryman and
Bell, 2011) and recommended to be greater than 0.70 (Hair et al., 2011; Urbach and
Ahlemann, 2010). Statistics from Table II show that reliability of all constructs, except for one
(strategy), is satisfied.
Convergent validity is presented by average variance extracted (AVE) and should be
greater than 0.50 (Hair et al., 2011). All of the latent constructs in Table II have sufficient
convergent validity: AVE > 0.649. Factor loading accounts for nondimensionality of the
measuring items (Awang, 2012). The value of factor loading for an established item
should be 0.6 or higher. It is necessary to remove items from the measurement model if
their factor loadings are low, one item at a time. The remaining eligible items, listed in

PAGE 112 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 Table II Descriptive statistics, convergent validity and internal consistency and reliability of items
Factor
Construct Items loadings Mean SD t-Statistic a CRb AVEa

Innovation activity Q11_1 0.81 4.10 2.11 35.00 0.728 0.847 0.649
Q11_2 0.87 3.74 2.06 64.04
Q11_3 0.74 4.09 2.05 25.93
Strategy Q11_6 0.87 4.25 2.02 47.22 0.615 0.828 0.721
Q11_7 0.83 4.40 1.96 33.63
Competitive intensity Q12_2 0.79 4.26 2.01 20.87 0.783 0.869 0.690
Q12_3 0.80 3.92 2.01 20.98
Q12_4 0.90 3.47 1.89 39.91
Technology turbulence Q12_7 0.89 3.86 2.03 127.78 0.892 0.949 0.903
Q12_8 0.88 3.84 2.02 143.87
Business model experimentation Q3_1 0.86 3.60 2.11 65.02 0.785 0.874 0.700
Q3_2 0.80 3.10 2.24 37.70
Q3_3 0.84 3.06 2.19 58.98
Business model practices Q4_1 0.85 4.98 1.98 54.02 0.811 0.888 0.725
Q4_2 0.84 5.06 1.85 44.00
Q4_4 0.86 4.74 1.97 54.40
Innovativeness Q13_7 0.88 4.11 1.96 58.60 0.802 0.883 0.716
Q13_8 0.83 3.55 1.99 47.28
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Q13_9 0.84 4.02 2.03 46.40

Overall performance Q14_1 0.93 4.30 1.62 94.96 0.816 0.915 0.844
Q14_2 0.91 4.05 1.65 67.66
Notes: aAverage variance extracted; bComposite reliability

Table II, show an acceptable convergent validity, internal consistency and reliability of
measuring items and are all consistent with the recommended threshold values.

5.2 Discriminant validity

Assessing discriminant validity is a building block of model evaluation (Hair et al., 2010).
Discriminant validity guarantees the uniqueness of a measuring construct and indicates that
the phenomenon of interest is not captured in other measures (latent variables) within the
research model (Hair et al., 2010; Henseler et al., 2015). This paper uses both
Fornell–Larcker and heterotrait–monotrait ratio (HTMT) criteria for discriminant validity
assessment. Table III shows that AVE value satisfies the constraints and shows that the
constructs and the measuring model are adequately discriminated.

Table III Correlation among constructs and square root of the AVE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
BMP BME COMI INNAC INNO OPER STR TT

Business model practices 0.85

Business model experimentation 0.52 0.84
Competitive intensity 0.24 0.21 0.83
Innovation activity 0.41 0.47 0.40 0.81
Innovativeness 0.44 0.45 0.30 0.60 0.85
Overall performance 0.32 0.29 0.13 0.28 0.33 0.92
Strategy 0.36 0.44 0.42 0.61 0.44 0.25 0.85
Technology turbulence 0.33 0.40 0.43 0.55 0.41 0.20 0.45 0.95
Notes: Italic values show square roots of the AVE; BMP = business model practices; BME = business
model experimentation; COMI = competitive intensity; INNAC = innovation activity; INNO =
innovativeness; OPER = overall performance; STR = strategy; TT = technology turbulence

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 113
 The second criterion for discriminant validity assessment, HTMT, is generally used for
assessing discriminant validity in PLS-SEM. However, literature on PLS-SEM shows that
scholars predominantly use the Fornell–Larcker criterion and cross-loadings for
discriminant validity assessment in variance-based SEM. The classical criterion (i.e.
Fornell–Larcker criterion) for discriminant validity assessment requires the square root of
AVE to be greater than the correlation of the construct with all other constructs in the
structural model. For example, the square root of the AVE is 0.74; however, if the correlation
between constructs C1 and C2 is 0.80, it can be concluded that discriminant validity has
not been established.
HTMT is an alternative to the classical criterion for assessing discriminant validity. Monotrait-
heteromethod is the correlation of indicators measuring the same construct and heterotrait-
heteromethod is the correlation of indicators across constructs measuring different
phenomena. HTMT value close to 1 indicates lack of discriminant validity; however, some
authors such as Henseler et al. (2015, p. 129) suggest a conservative value of 0.85 for
HTMT and a more liberal value of 0.90. According to this recommendation, if HTMT values
are less than 0.85, one can establish that discriminant validity is not an issue. Table IV
shows that HTMT values satisfy even the more conservative criterion, as all the values are
below 0.85.
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Table IV The threshold for HTMT is based on HTMT.90 criterion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
BMP BME COMI INNAC INNO OPER STR TT

Business model practices

Business model experimentation 0.648
Competitive intensity 0.294 0.254
Innovation activity 0.538 0.618 0.513
Innovativeness 0.541 0.556 0.348 0.778
Overall performance 0.386 0.357 0.151 0.358 0.41
Strategy 0.507 0.631 0.589 0.89 0.62 0.342
Technology turbulence 0.39 0.472 0.504 0.684 0.478 0.23 0.612
Notes: BMP = Business model practices; BME = business model experimentation; COMI =
competitive intensity; INNAC = innovation activity; INNO = innovativeness; OPER = overall
performance; STR = strategy; TT = technology turbulence

Figure 2 Results of the research model

Innovaon Acvity

Innovaveness
(R2 = 20%)
Strategy 0.52(17.66)
*** 0.24 (5.4)
Business Model Business Model ***
Experimentaon (R2 = 28%) Pracces (R2 = 27%)
Compeve
Intensity Overall Performance
(R2 = 15%)

Technology
Turbulence

Notes: ***p-value < 0.001; **p-value < 0.005; and *p-value < 0.01

PAGE 114 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 Table V Model fit indices
Model fit indices GFI AGFI CFI NFI TLI RMSEA

Cut-off value >0.90 >0.80 >0.90 >0.80 >0.90 <0.080

Obtained value >0.91 >0.88 >0.92 >0.89 >0.91 <0.048

5.3 Structural model analysis

To test the hypotheses and figure out the statistical significance of the path coefficients
in the research model, SEM was used. The fit of the model is satisfactory, chi-square
( x 2) = 669.87 and degree of freedom (df) = 216. The overall performance is explained
by a variance of 15 per cent, innovativeness is explained by a variance of 20 per cent
and BM experimentation and practices are explained by variances of 28 per cent and
27 per cent, respectively. Figure 2 shows the relationships between constructs in the
model; bold lines represent significant relationships and dotted lines insignificant
relationships or unsupported hypotheses. Six different fit statistics such as root mean
square error of approximation (RMSEA), goodness-of-fit index (GFI), adjusted GFI
(AGFI), normed fit index (NFI), Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) and comparative fit index (CFI)
were computed. These model fit indices satisfy the recommended guidelines and show
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

that our research model has a good fit with the data (Browne and Cudeck, 1993; see
Table V).

5.4 Hypothesis testing

Different alternative models were tested, and the model presented in Figure 2 is the
optimal model and fits best the data. Table VI shows the research hypotheses and
analysis results. The results reveal significant relationships between innovation activity
( b = 0.26, p < 0.001) and strategy ( b = 0.23, p < 0.001) with business experimentation,
thus supporting H1 and H2, respectively, in the model. The results show no significant
relationship between competitiveness intensity (H3) and BM experimentation, thus not
supporting H3. The analysis shows that technology turbulence drives BM
experimentation and reveals a significant path ( b = 0.17, p < 0.001), thus supporting H4
in the model.
Moreover, the results show a significant path between BM experimentation and
practices ( b = 0.52, p < 0.001), and thus supporting H5 in the model. A strong
significant relationship between BM practices and innovativeness is observed ( b =
0.44, p < 0.001), thus supporting H6 in the model. BM practices also have a significant
relationship with the overall business performance ( b = 0.21, p < 0.001), thus
supporting H7 in the model. Finally, analysis shows that innovativeness has a
significant relationship with overall business performance ( b = 0.24, p < 0.001), and
thus supporting H8 in the model.

Table VI Hypotheses and results

# Hypotheses Results

H1 Innovation activity has a direct positive effect on BM experimentation Supported

H2 Strategy has a direct positive effect on BM experimentation Supported
H3 Competitive intensity has a direct positive effect on BM experimentation Not supported
H4 Technology turbulence has a direct positive effect on BM experimentation Supported
H5 BM experimentation has a direct positive effect on BM practices Supported
H6 BM practices has direct positive effect on innovativeness Supported
H7 BM practices has direct positive effect on overall performance of a company Supported
H8 Innovativeness has a direct positive effect on overall performance of a company Supported

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 115
 5.5 Case studies
This research is based on a case study approach (Yin, 2013). As research on BMI in the
context of SMEs is a new phenomenon, our approach is relatively inductive. As part of a
large European project, a database of 85 BMI cases in SMEs was built. To collect the
data, a common case study protocol was used, which is available on request; it
included SMEs relevant to the sample and the information collected and also how data
from different sources (triangulation) were used. Data sources include interviews,
relevant documents and BM descriptions and/or pictures. Data were structured
according to an existing template (case study protocol) that contains information on
topics such as:
n background characteristics of the firm (information sheet);
n validation of interviews by interviewees and case reviews by other researchers involved
in the project;
n assessment of the firm’s strategy focus and innovativeness;
n information on factual R&D information (if available) and market focus;
n information on the value proposition and BM (innovation); and
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

n information on the impact of BMI on the business logic and business performance of the
firm.

Depth and detail of case descriptions vary. Because of the diversity of SMEs in terms of size
(from very small to medium sized), industry (from personal services and retail to high-tech
industries), maturity (from start-ups to well-established family businesses with more than
300 years of experience) and country within Europe, a wide range of information is

Table VII Design of case studies

ICT users ICT producers

Social media Hamburger restaurant Social media marketing full service provider (FSP)
Big data Digital marketing solution provider Provider of analytics for Brick stores

Figure 3 Case studies mapped on the conceptual model

PAGE 116 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 available. Moreover, the cases deal with diverse topics such as new pricing strategies for a
pastry shop, the impact of servitization on the BM of a mechanical engineering firm and BM
design for social innovation in health care. Thus, most of the cases are not related to digital
transformation. From the total set of cases, we selected four with a clear focus on BM in
combination with social media or big data to enrich the quantitative results with more in-
depth insights. Theoretical sampling was used to select our cases based on two
dimensions: the technology at stake, social media or big data, and whether the companies
were users or producers of social media- or big data-based applications (Table VII for
information on the case; Figure 3).

5.6 Case study results

1. This case is about a Spanish family business with multiple hamburger restaurants in
Madrid. The second generation of owners is pushing BMI using social media. The
first restaurant was opened in 1981 and is a typical American-style hamburger joint
venture. Food ratings are very positive, while negative reviews were received for
poor service. The owners rely strongly on a loyal customer base. The restaurant has
a social media manager who uploads three to four posts per day. Social media use
is not focussed on interaction with customers, but only on promotions. Based on the
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

analyses of reviews on Facebook, Twitter and other channels such as Instagram and
Foursquare, the problem of the company is mainly related to service delivery. For
instance, there are long queues for the restaurant due to its poor reservation system,
which relies on telephone and website reservations. People have to wait up to 1 h
even if they made a telephone or online reservation, especially during weekends.
The BMI concerns the integration of social media in the reservation process. The
objective is to develop a reservation system that is able to handle reservations in
real time via multiple channels including Facebook and Twitter and connect the
reservation system to the in-restaurant point of-sales and table management
system. For instance, Twitter can be used to give updates on table availability, invite
people to make reservations and respond to possible service-related problems.
Making use of data collected through these media, the reservation system can be
optimized to reduce mismatch between reservations and table availability. From a
BMI perspective, it can be concluded that promoting a value proposition without
branding via Facebook and Twitter is in itself not good enough to achieve impact.
This Spanish hamburger restaurant is exploring possibilities to combine their social
media presence with their in-house restaurant systems. This example illustrates how
social media can be used. The case organization is open to innovative activities but
not actively reconsidering their BM. Their core business remains the same, and
social media only optimize one of their activities.

2. The focus of this Spanish company is on social media marketing. Initially, the female
entrepreneur started as a freelancer but later decided to offer social media
marketing services. The company changed their BM from a consultancy agency to a
full-service social marketing provider. They offer online marketing consultancy,
social media management and content creation services. During the economic
crisis in Spain, the company survived mainly due to its expertise in social media
marketing. The BM components affected by the innovation were related to the
change in value proposition, customer relations and key resources. Communication
with clients is intensive and driven by a proactive attitude. Due to their direct
communication with clients, they gain knowledge about and from their customers,
which is a valuable resource also for other projects. In the back end, technical
integration of the products and services offered is crucial. Communication and
discussion on BMI were a continuous process within this small start-up company.
Since its BMI, although operating in a very turbulent market with high competition,

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 117
 the company has grown in terms of business turnover, brand awareness and client
numbers. It is clear from the case that the value proposition change – as BMI –was
based on social media, but this did not affect the BM fundamentally. The change
from an advertisement content creator to a full-service provider was realized mainly
based on market demand and acquiring knowledge on social media marketing.

3. This case relates to a consultancy and digital marketing solution provider operating in
the British market. The company’s main activities entail providing consultancy to boost
clients’ online visibility and training clients on digital marketing issues. The company is
highly dependent on Google Analytics. Changes in algorithms have a huge impact on
the operations and BM of the company. Due to changes in Google Analytics’
algorithms, they had to adjust some components of their BM. Big data and big data
analytics (BDA) could offer opportunities for this company. This change required new
resources such as technological infrastructure and the company’s knowledge base.
The (re)use of data and the use of data from third-party providers is paramount for
them. Thus, new business units were needed and established, which created a new
demand and, consequently, a change in value proposition. These changes have been
reflected, for instance, in the company offering training in BDA. BMI was led by core
managers, that is, the CEO and the Director of Strategy. Radical changes were made in
(a) resources and team management, (b) service offerings, (c) promotion activities and
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

(d) partner network. In the end, these radical changes had only a minor disruptive
impact on performance.

4. The core technology of this Finnish business analytics provider for traditional brick-
and-mortar stores was initially focussed on collecting in-store behavioural data and
providing analytics to help small retailers personalize the customer experience. The
technology used is in-store localization technology based on sensors and Wi-Fi. This
makes it possible to follow customers as they roam around in a store. The
technology can run on existing infrastructure available within stores. The company
started offering customized solutions to small retail stores, which led to impressive
growth rates. However, the company developed an application to improve in-store
design using augmented reality offered through a large technology provider, which
led to increased sales. The company is currently being expanded to use their
technology and analytics in optimization of passenger flows in airports. Thus, the
technology is being reused in a different setting leading to a new customer segment
and a new value proposition no longer supporting sales, but optimizing passenger
flows. The expansion led to partnering with a large traditional services provider as
well as a technology provider. This case illustrates that changes in BMs benefit
companies and change their position in different ecosystems. Also, the company of
this big data and BDA case became a niche resource provider to others, which
shows that the emergence of data-driven BMs enables improvement of sales
(channels) and optimizing of key activities.

5.7 Cross-case comparison

The four cases are mapped onto the conceptual model and confirmed earlier findings.
It is clear from this mapping that the potential of new technologies and the focus on
innovation play an important role in BM innovation experimentation and practices.
Strategic considerations are mainly relevant to the big data cases, more or less
suggesting that the impact of big data is based on the companies’ strategic value. The
social media cases suggest that in cases of both users and providers, social media
played only a minor role. While social media involved collecting or disseminating
information for users, know-how on social media was a key asset for providers. It is also
striking that the impact of big data and BDA on companies’ innovativeness and
performance is also evident in big data cases compared to social media. Social media

PAGE 118 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 cases showed growth, and the impact as compared to that grounded on in-depth
technology know-how is less fundamental and mainly relates to application or
implementation of social media. BM experimentation clearly occurs in three out of the
four cases; however, strategy implementation of the new BM, to the core of BM
practices, is not explicitly mentioned or discussed in all four cases. The cases partially
confirm the validity of the research model.

6. Discussion
Findings from both quantitative data and case studies illustrate that internal drivers
related to innovative activities and strategy, as well as technology turbulence, play an
important role when social media and big data are part of the BMI. The case studies
show some nuances by suggesting that the impact of big data is more extensive than
that of social media. This can be explained by observing that social media usage
relates more to channels, while big data can affect companies in all their core
activities and the activities of their key partners. Making resources and management
structure available for BMI, labelled as BM experimentation, is considered important.
As illustrated by both quantitative data and case studies, this is a condition for the
practice of implementing companies’ strategy in their BMs. It was found that BMI and
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

strategy implementation practices in BM led to more innovations and increased

performance.
The current study only gives a general picture of the relations between BMI drivers,
behaviour and outcomes. The case studies offer more detail; however, more in-depth
understanding of BMI is necessary. Specifically, the order in which BM components are
changed needs to be studied. Understanding BMI paths and roadmaps to implement
them is important for SMEs. BMI paths need to be developed for not only topics such as
market expansion, internationalization and starting companies, but also how BMI works
with certain technologies, that is, how BMI works when certain technologies are
implemented. From the cases, it can be argued that technology characteristics play a
crucial role in the incremental or radical nature of BMI. The social media cases yielded
different results than the big data cases. With regard to big data and BDA, it is
apparent, and discussed by the case companies, that BM experimentation has an
impact on innovativeness and performance; this is not evident in the social media
cases. A possible explanation is that big data is far more specialized and requires an
in-depth mathematical as well as computational know-how, as well as know-how on
analytics software and accompanying capabilities. Know-how in the case of social
media is more related to the communication and marketing domains and therefore
easier to acquire. This would also imply that the conceptual model (Figure 1) needs to
be tested not for specific technologies individually.
Literature on BMI and new digital technologies such as social media and big data for
non-telecommunication or non-IT companies is rather scant, and literature on BM in the
telecom and IT domain is mainly focussed on large companies and high-tech start-ups;
thus, the way technologies drive or impact BMs of traditional SMEs is largely open for
new avenues of research. In the context of understanding businesses’ digitalization,
research on the impact of new technologies on traditional as well as emerging industry
sectors such as digital marketing is highly relevant. Our research contributes to both
fields. It is important to stress that big data might have a huge impact on companies’
BMI and performance. Exploring big data-driven BMs might be a very important
research domain.
From a regulatory or policy perspective, it is important to emphasize that innovation
programs for SMEs should be focussed on not only traditional R&D and innovation
approaches, but also BM and BMI to reap the benefits of technological and product
innovations. European stimulation programs, such as SME instruments in the H2020

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 119
 work program, as well as national programs should pay more detailed attention to BMI
and experimentation. In the current version of the SME instrument, BMI is mentioned
among 12 other topics with a main focus on hard-core technology innovation. It needs
to be stressed that for all these projects, attention to BM needs to be an integral part of
project proposals, not only as a scapegoat, but as a serious contribution to a project.
Including analyses of digital transformation’s impacts on BM is important because
some forms of digital transformation, for instance, block chain or Industry 4.0, will
fundamentally affect SMEs’ BMs, specifically when they operate in a networked
environment.

7. Conclusions, limitations and future work

Our research contributes to a better understanding of internal and external aspects of BMI
and the literature on the impact of BMI on performance and outcomes, specifically when
social media and big data are implied. It is important to understand how BMI occurs in
organizations and how strategies are implemented in the business logic. As suggested,
both quantitative as well as qualitative research on BMI matter. This paper contributes to a
better understanding of how digitalization in BMI works. It offers insights into drivers and
outcomes specifically for BMI driven by digitalization. However, the authors of this paper
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

are aware that this study has only dealt with a small part of a vast area of research. In future,
the aim is to focus in more detail on how companies experiment, how BM components are
affected and how implementation approaches with regard to human and organizational
factors affect BMI performance.
Evidently, this research has some limitations, which are related to both the quantitative
as well as the qualitative studies, and to the fact that SMEs are drivers in their field of
operations. Moreover, this research was conducted in Europe, with many different
languages, cultural and economic differences despite the common market. The case
study research illustrates this diversity. Differences between the cases can be
attributed to many factors other than differences in technology or in IT provision or
usage. Case studies with a focus on SMEs are hindered by the lack of alternative data
sources, which makes them highly dependent on information provided by the owner,
manager or core spokesperson, with less opportunity to access other alternative
interviewees.
The research design has some limitations as well. This paper specifically focuses on
companies that are knowingly of subconscious nature engaged in BMI. Research
comparing companies involved in BMI and companies not engaged in BMI might provide
deeper insights. In addition, measurements used in this paper were based on subjective
judgments; connecting these subjective judgments with real performance data would have
been interesting, but this was not possible due to European regulations in relation to
research ethics and informed consent. In future research, our focus will be on collecting
another wave of data to establish causalities more clearly, as well as expanding our insights
into how BMI actually takes place. This research will entail both quantitative analyses as well
as extending the case studies.

References
Amit, R.H. and Zott, C. (2010), “Business model innovation: creating value in times of change”, IESE
Business School Working Paper No. 870, available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1701660
Aspara, J., Hietanen, J. and Tikkanen, H. (2010), “Business model innovation vs. replication:
financial performance implications of strategic emphases”, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol. 18
No. 1, pp. 39-56.

Atuahene-Gima, K. (2005), “Resolving the capability-rigidity paradox in new product innovation”, Journal
of Marketing, Vol. 69 No. 4, pp. 61-83.

PAGE 120 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 Awang, Z. (2012), A Handbook on SEM: Structural Equation Modelling, 5th edition, Center of Graduate
Studies, Kuala Lumpur.
Aziz, S.A. and Mahmood, R. (2011), “The relationship between business model and performance of
manufacturing small and medium enterprises in Malaysia”, African Journal of Business Management,
Vol. 5 No. 22, pp. 8918-8932.
Ballon, P. (2007), “Business modelling revisited: the configuration of control and value”, Info, Vol. 9 No. 5,
pp. 6-19.
Barjak, F., Es-Sadki, N. and Arundel, A. (2014), “The effectiveness of policies for formal knowledge
transfer from European universities and public research institutes to firms”, Research Evaluation, Vol. 24
No. 1, pp. 4-18.
Björkdahl, J. and Magnus, H. (2013), “Editorial: business model innovation – the challenges ahead”,
International Journal of Product Development, Vol. 18 Nos 3/4, pp. 213-225.

Bonakdar, A. (2015), “Business model innovation”, Doctoral dissertation, University of St. Gallen,
Dufourstrasse.
Bouwman, H., Haaker, T. and De Vos, H. (2008), Mobile Service Innovation and Business Model,
Springer, Heidelberg.
Brettel, M., Strese, S. and Flatten, T.C. (2012), “Improving the performance of business models with
relationship marketing efforts. An entrepreneurial perspective”, European Management Journal, Vol. 30
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

No. 2, pp. 85-98.

Browne, M.W. and Cudeck, R. (1993), Alternative Ways of Assessing Model Fit, Sage focus editions,
New York, Vol. 154, 136-159.
Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2011), Business Research Methods, 3rd ed., Oxford University Press,
New York.
Bucherer, E., Eisert, U. and Gassmann, O. (2012), “Towards systematic business model innovation:
lessons from product innovation management”, Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 21 No. 2,
pp. 183-198.
Carayannis, E.G. and Provance, M. (2008), “Measuring firm innovativeness: towards a composite
innovation index built on firm innovative posture, propensity and performance attributes”, International
Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 90-107.
Casadesus-Masanell, R. and Ricart, J.E. (2010), “From strategy to business models and onto tactics”,
Long Range Planning, Vol. 43 No. 2-3, pp. 195-215.

Chesbrough, H. (2006), Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape,
Harvard Business Press, Boston.
Chesbrough, H. (2010), “Business model innovation: opportunities and barriers”, Long range planning,
Vol. 43 Nos 2/3, pp. 354-363.
Chesbrough, H. and Rosenbloom, R.S. (2002), “The role of business model in capturing value from
innovation: evidence from Xerox Corporation’s technology spin-off companies”, Industrial and Corporate
Change, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 529-555.
Clausen, T. and Rasmussen, E. (2013), “Parallel business models and innovativeness of research based
spin-off ventures”, Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 38 No. 6, pp. 386-849.
Clauss, T. (2017), “Measuring business model innovation: conceptualization, scale development, and
proof of performance”, R&D Management, Vol. 47 No. 3, pp. 385-403.
Cucculelli, M. and Bettinelli, C. (2015), “Business models, intangibles and frim performances: evidence
on corporate entrepreneurship from Italian manufacturing SMEs”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 45
No. 2, pp. 329-350.
Doganova, L. and Eyquem-Renault, M. (2009), “What do business models do? Innovation devices in
technology entrepreneurship”, Research Policy, Vol. 38 No. 10, pp. 1559-1570.

El Sawy, O.A. and Pereira, F. (2013), “VISOR: A Unified Framework for Business Modelling in the Evolving
Digital Space”, Business Modelling in the Dynamic Digital Space, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 21-35.
European Union (2017), “Female entrepreneurs”, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/
promoting-entrepreneurship/we-work-for/women_en (accessed 10 February 2018).

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 121
 Foss, N.J. and Saebi, T. (2017), “Fifteen years of research on business model innovation: how far
have we come, and where should we go?”, Journal of Management, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 200-227.

Fosso-Wamba, S., Akter, S., Edwards, A., Chopin, G. and Gnanzou, D. (2015), “How ‘big data’ can make
big impact: findings from a systematic review and a longitudinal case study”, International Journal of
Production Economics, Vol. 165 No. 2015, pp. 234-246.

Frankenberger, K., Weiblen, T., Csik, M. and Gassmann, O. (2013), “The 4I-framework of business model
innovation: a structured view on process phases and challenges”, International Journal of Product
Development, Vol. 18 Nos 3/4, pp. 249-273.

Friedrichsen, M. (2013), Handbook of Social Media Management: Value Chain and Business Models in
Changing Media Markets, Springer, New York, NY.
Giesen, E., Berman, S.J., Bell, R. and Blitz, A. (2007), “Three ways to successfully innovate your business
model”, Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 35 No. 6, pp. 27-33.
Giesen, E., Riddleberger, E., Christner, R. and Bell, R. (2010), “When and how to innovate your business
model”, Strategy & LEADERSHIP, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 17-26.
Guo, J., Nikou, S. and Bouwman, H. (2013), “Analysing the business model for mobile payment from
banks’ perspective: An empirical study”, Proceedings of the 24th European Regional Conference of the
International Telecommunication Society (ITS), ECONSTOR, Florence, pp. 1-15.
Guo, J., Nikou, S. and Bouwman, H. (2015), “Business model for mobile payment in China”, International
Journal of Systems and Service-Oriented Engineering (IJSSOE), Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 20-43.
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Hair, J.F., Ringle, C.M. and Sarstedt, M. (2011), “PLS-SEM: indeed, a silver bullet”, Journal of Marketing
Theory and Practice, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 139-151.

Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Babin, B.J. and Black, W.C. (2010), Multivariate Data Analysis, 7th ed.,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
Hanna, R., Rohm, A. and Crittenden, V.L. (2011), “We’re all connected: the power of the social media
ecosystem”, Business Horizons, Vol. 54 No. 3, pp. 265-273.
Hartmann, P.M., Zaki, M., Feldmann, N. and Neely, A. (2016), “Capturing value from big data – a
taxonomy of data-driven business models used by start-up firms”, International Journal of Operations &
Production Management, Vol. 36 No. 10, pp. 1382-1406.
Hedman, J. and Kalling, T. (2003), “The business model concept: theoretical underpinnings and
empirical illustrations”, European Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 49-59.
Henseler, J., Ringle, C.M. and Sarstedt, M. (2015), “A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in
variance-based structural equation modelling”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 43
No. 1, pp. 115-135.
Huang, H.C., Lai, M.C., Kao, M.C. and Chen, Y.C. (2012), “Target costing, business model innovation,
and firm performance: an empirical analysis of Chinese firms”, Canadian Journal of Administrative
Sciences, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 322-335.
Hult, G.T.M., Hurley, R.F. and Knight, G.A. (2004), “Innovativeness: its antecedents and impact on
business performance”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 33 No. 5, pp. 429-438.
Hurley, R.F. and Hult, G.T.M. (1998), “Innovation, market orientation, and organizational learning: an
integration and empirical examination”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 62 No. 3, pp. 42-54.

Ireland, R.D., Covin, J.G. and Kuratko, D.F. (2009), “Conceptualizing corporate entrepreneurship
strategy”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 19-46.
Jaworski, B.J. and Kohli, A.K. (1993), “Market orientation: antecedents and consequences”, Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 57 No. 3, pp. 53-70.
Jin, S., Lin, W., Yin, H., Yang, S., Li, A. and Deng, B. (2015), “Community structure mining in big data
social media networks with MapReduce”, Cluster computing, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 999-1010.

Johnson, M.W., Christensen, C.M. and Kagermann, H. (2008), “Reinventing your business model”,
Harvard Business Review, Vol. 86 No. 12, pp. 57-68.
Kim, S. and Min, S. (2015), “Business model innovation performance: when does adding a new business
model benefit an incumbent?”, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 34-57.

PAGE 122 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018
 Lambert, S.C. and Davidson, R.A. (2013), “Applications of the business model in studies of enterprise
success, innovation and classification; an analysis of empirical research from 1996 to 2010”, European
Management Journal, Vol. 31 No. 6, pp. 668-681.
Langerak, F., Hultink, E.J. and Robben, H.S.J. (2004), “The role of predevelopment activities in the
relationship between market orientation and performance”, R&D Management, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 295-309.
Lee, Y. and O’Connor, G.C. (2003), “The impact of communication strategy on launching new products:
the moderating role of product innovativeness”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 20
No. 1, pp. 4-21.
Lindgardt, Z., Reeves, M., Stalk, G. and Deimler, M.S. (2009), Business model innovation. When the
Game Gets Tough, Change the Game, The Boston Consulting Group, Boston, MA.
McDermott, C.M. and Prajogo, D.I. (2012), “Service innovation and performance in SMEs”, International
Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 216-237.
Methlie, L.B. and Pedersen, P.E. (2007), “Business model choices for value creation of mobile services”,
Info, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 70-85.
Nunnally, J.C. and Bernstein, I.H. (1994), Psychometric theory, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y. and Tucci, C.L. (2005), “Clarifying business models: origins, present,
and future of the concept”, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 16
No. 1, pp. 1-25.
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

Pauwels, K. and Weiss, A. (2008), “Moving from free to fee: how online to change their firms market
business model successfully”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 72 No. 3, pp. 14-31.
Pohle, G. and Chapman, M. (2006), “IBM’s global CEO report 2006: business model innovation matters”,
Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 34-40.
Schneider, S. and Spieth, P. (2013), “Business model innovation: towards an integrated future research
agenda”, International Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 17 No. 01, pp. 1-34.
Sigala, M., Christou, E. and Gretzel, U. (Eds.). (2012), Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality:
Theory, Practice and Cases, Ashgate Publishing, Farnham.
Sosna, M., Trevinyo-Rodriguez, R.N. and Velamuri, S.R. (2010), “Business model innovation through trial-
and-error learning: the naturhouse case”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 383-407.
Souto, J.E. (2015), “Business model innovation and business concept innovation as the context of
incremental innovation and radical innovation”, Tourism Management, Vol. 51 No. 2015, pp. 142-155.
Subramanian, A. (1996), “Innovativeness: redefining the concept”, Journal of Engineering and
Technology Management, Vol. 13 Nos 3/4, pp. 223-243.

Teece, D.J. (2010), “Business models, business strategy and innovation”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 43
Nos 2/3, pp. 172-194.

The Community Innovation Survey (CIS Survey) (2016), available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/
microdata/community-innovation-survey (accessed 3 November 2017).

Urbach, N. and Ahlemann, F. (2010), “Structural equation modelling in information systems research
using partial least squares”, Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application, Vol. 11 No. 2,
pp. 5-40.

Utterback, J.M. and Abernathy, W.J. (1975), “A dynamic model of process and product innovation”,
Omega, Vol. 3 No. 6, pp. 639-656.

Velu, C. and Jacob, A. (2016), “Business model innovation and owner-managers: the moderating role of
competition”, R&D Management, Vol. 46 No. 3, pp. 451-463.

Venkatraman, N. and Ramanujam, V. (1986), “Measurement of business performance in strategic

research”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 801-814.
Waldner, F., Poetz, M.K., Grimpe, C. and Eurich, M. (2015), “Antecedents and consequences of business
model innovation: the role of industry structure”, in Baden-Fuller, C. and Mangematin, V. (Eds), Business
Models and Modelling (Advances in Strategic Management, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley,
Vol. 33, pp. 347-386.

Wirtz, B.W., Göttel, V. and Daiser, P. (2016), “Business model innovation: development, concept and
future research directions”, Journal of Business Models, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 1-28.

VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j PAGE 123
 Yin, R.K. (2013), Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Sage Publications, London.
Zott, C. and Amit, R. (2007), “Business model design and the performance of entrepreneurial firms”,
Organization Science, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 181-199.
Zott, C. and Amit, R. (2008), “The fit between product market strategy and business model: implications
for firm performance”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 1-26.
Zott, C. and Amit, R. (2010), “Business model design: an activity system perspective”, Long range
planning, Vol. 43 Nos 2/3, pp. 216-226.
Zott, C., Amit, R. and Massa, L. (2011), “The business model: recent developments and future research”,
Journal of Management, Vol. 37 No. 4, pp. 1019-1042.

Further reading
European Commission (2017), “Female entrepreneurs”, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/
promoting-entrepreneurship/we-work-for/women_en (accessed 03 November 2017).

Corresponding author
Shahrokh Nikou can be contacted at: [email protected]
Downloaded by Åbo Akademis bibliotek At 05:32 08 March 2018 (PT)

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: [email protected]

PAGE 124 j DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE j VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018

View publication stats