Perspectives on business model experimentation in internationalizing high-tech companies
Rissanen, Tommi (2019-05-10)
Väitöskirja
10.05.2019
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT
Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis
School of Business and Management
School of Business and Management, Kauppatieteet
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-369-5
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-369-5
Tiivistelmä
The main research question addressed in this doctoral dissertation is “How do high-tech companies employ business model experimentation in their internationalization processes?” As the business model concept is itself complex and diverse, this issue is approached from five distinct perspectives, yielding differing interpretations of business model experimentation. For present purposes, the five chosen perspectives are (1) company development stage; (2) application of business model ambidexterity; (3) effects of home market context; (4) approach to internationalization; and (5) relation to technical debt as an outcome of business model experimentation in high-tech companies.
Digitalization and the Internet has made most industries more prone to change and disruption. As high-tech companies are especially vulnerable to disruptive forces, they must find new ways of staying competitive in a changing business environment. Among these companies, internationalization is now commonplace and further increases the uncertainties they face, requiring them to find ways of rapidly changing their business model. As a process of trying out new methods to find the best solution, experimentation is a useful way of identifying a new business model through an iterative cycle of exploration and exploitation.
Using qualitative methods, the purpose of the present research was to provide new insights into this process of experimentation for both practitioners and academics. The data were collected through interviews with relevant actors from internationalizing companies in high-tech industries. The main findings indicate that the contextual factors of company development stage and home market maturity strongly affect how these firms approach business model experimentation. In addition, it emerged that companies may follow different routes by experimenting with multiple business models at the same time when entering international markets. It became clear that business model experimentation could not be done in isolation, as it affects and is in turn affected by product innovation.
Digitalization and the Internet has made most industries more prone to change and disruption. As high-tech companies are especially vulnerable to disruptive forces, they must find new ways of staying competitive in a changing business environment. Among these companies, internationalization is now commonplace and further increases the uncertainties they face, requiring them to find ways of rapidly changing their business model. As a process of trying out new methods to find the best solution, experimentation is a useful way of identifying a new business model through an iterative cycle of exploration and exploitation.
Using qualitative methods, the purpose of the present research was to provide new insights into this process of experimentation for both practitioners and academics. The data were collected through interviews with relevant actors from internationalizing companies in high-tech industries. The main findings indicate that the contextual factors of company development stage and home market maturity strongly affect how these firms approach business model experimentation. In addition, it emerged that companies may follow different routes by experimenting with multiple business models at the same time when entering international markets. It became clear that business model experimentation could not be done in isolation, as it affects and is in turn affected by product innovation.
Kokoelmat
- Väitöskirjat [806]