Thomas Clauss

Measuring Business Model Innovation: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Proof of Performance

Business model innovation is a topic that has received much attention from academia as well as from business practice. After extensive research on the definition and conceptualization of the concept and publication of many case-based results, recently scholars have been calling for more generalizable results, large-scale investigations and greater empirical sophistication. Despite the great importance of measuring business model innovation for various purposes, a validated measurement scale is still not available. I fill this gap by systematically developing a new scale for business model innovation. I follow a rigorous scale development approach to ensure validity and reliability. Specifically, I collected two large-scale samples of 126 and 232 firms to specify and assess the scale. As a result, I provide a hierarchical three-level scale for measuring business model innovation. At the first level, 41 reflective items are provided to measure ten subconstructs of business model innovation. These can be used as formative measures of three dimensions of business model innovation at the second level, namely value creation innovation, value proposition innovation and value capture innovation. At the third level, these three dimensions form the metaconstruct of business model innovation.

Business model innovation in the aviation industry

In response to changing sources of value creation, business model innovation has recently emerged as a concept that allows dealing with volatile environments. Focusing on the aviation industry, we aim at enhancing the understanding of drivers, elements and forms of business model innovation. We use an inductive, theory-building design that allows patterns of business model innovation to come to light across multiple case studies of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) companies in the aviation industry. In line with prior theory, we find that a range of supply and demand-driven effects trigger the need for business model innovation in the aviation sector. We identify aircraft manufacturer market characteristics and structural airline industry characteristics as drivers of MRO business model innovation. New MRO value offerings and MRO value creation were set as constituting elements of innovating MRO business models resulting in customer benefit-oriented and value co-creation-oriented business model innovation.

Treat Your Suppliers Right! Aligning Strategic Innovation Orientation in Captive Supplier Relationships with Relational and Transactional Governance Mechanisms

Buyer-supplier relationships are regarded as a source of competitive advantage, as suppliers can contribute valuable but imperfectly tradable resources. To coordinate these resources in the course of joint value creation and mitigate the risks of opportunism, buyers are required to establish transactional and relational governance mechanisms. While recent research showed that these mechanisms are intertwined with each other, little is known about the effects of different governance mechanisms in relationships with captive suppliers. Especially in case of captive suppliers, which are highly dependent on the buyer, the governance approach of the buyer affects the relationship and the supplier on a long-term base. Based on unique data of 101 suppliers in the aviation industry, we show that transactional and relational governance mechanisms exert different effects on the efficiency and effectiveness of relationships with captive suppliers. While transactional governance is primarily suited to foster buyer-supplier efficiency (e.g. cost or lead time reduction), relational governance strengthens buyer-supplier effectiveness (e.g. product customization or joint innovation). Additionally, the choice of a governance mechanism indirectly affects the strategic innovation orientation of captive suppliers. Focusing on buyer-supplier effectiveness stimulates strategic innovation orientation of captive suppliers; high buyer-supplier efficiency leads to opposite effects. Our paper emphasizes that misalignment of governance mechanisms and the objective of buyer-supplier relationships can limit strategic innovation orientation.

Directing the wisdom of the crowd: the importance of social interaction among founders and the crowd during crowdfunding campaigns

ABSTRACT Crowdfunding plays an important role as an alternative funding source for technology ventures. No earlier studies particularly investigated the importance of social interactions during such crowdfunding campaigns. Hence, we particularly take the interaction between the project owner and the community as well as among community members into account. We empirically investigated potential success factors for crowdfunding projects of entrepreneurs on the base of 430 projects from the German crowdfunding platform Visionbakery. Our results show that social interaction during a crowdfunding campaign indeed increases the likelihood of its success. As comments from crowd members on particular projects might be positive or negative and can also provide additional argumentation or raise questions, comments can cause a dialog among crowd members. This shows that herding might not only be related to the number of contributors but also to their shared attributes and perceptions. Our discussion of theoretical and managerial implications closes with recommendations for future research on this evolving topic.

Governance of open innovation networks with national vs international scope

Purpose The realisation of joint innovation outcomes in open innovation networks is closely related to an efficient utilisation of governance mechanisms, which coordinate joint processes (e.g. knowledge sharing) and eliminate undesired behaviours (e.g. opportunism). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the complex effects of multiple governance approaches on outcomes of open innovation networks with a national and an international scope. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on a large-scale survey-based study of 100 mechanical engineering firms involved in open innovation networks. Hypotheses are tested by means of PLS structural equation modelling. Findings The evidence shows that the three governance mechanisms: transactional governance, relational governance and institutionalised governance significantly foster innovation outcomes of open innovation networks. In national open innovation networks, only relational governance exerts positive effects, internationally transactional and institutionalised governance is necessary. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to research in multiple ways. First, it shows that governance of open innovation networks is crucial for their innovation performance, thereby providing some explanations for the performance differences between certain networks. Second, the results indicate that the effects of governance mechanisms depend on the scope of the network. By showing that the effect of governance mechanisms varies under different contextual conditions the study also contributes to the ongoing debate on combined effects of governance mechanisms. Originality/value The paper fills important gaps in the existing research on the link between governance and performance in open innovation networks and delineates interesting areas for further research.