Business Model Innovation: A Journey across Managers’ Attention and Inter-Organizational Networks

Abstract

Business model innovation (BMI) is an emergent area of research with the potential to re-structure the pillars of strategy research. Despite the growing interest, the process of how business models change is not clearly described. In fact, only a few empirical studies explain the antecedents of BMI and we do not have a clear understanding of how companies combine external knowledge with internal capabilities for innovating. Moreover, scholars have not been able to describe the steps that managers undertake to innovate their business models. This Dissertation is aimed at addressing these gaps. I find that networks in which companies are embedded function as learning environment for stimulating BMI. At the same time, I highlight specific network dynamics, characterizing BMI as a different phenomenon in respect to other innovation processes. Moreover, I address the analysis of the BMI process, showing the relevance of managers’ attention. Finally, I also show the importance of managers’ goal orientation, looking at how they are influenced by environmental and organizational contingencies. These findings derive from qualitative and quantitative studies conducted in the field of creative industries. This Dissertation has the potential to contribute to research along three dimensions: (1) shedding light on the process of BMI, (2) exploring the relevance of managers’ attention for business model innovation, (3) exploring the effectiveness of different BMI strategies.