Information Technology-Enabled Business Models: A Conceptual Framework and a Coevolution Perspective for Future Research

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rai, Arun; Tang, Xinlin
• 署名单位: University System of Georgia; Georgia State University; University System of Georgia; Georgia State University; State University System of Florida; Florida State University
• 刊物名称: INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7047
• DOI: 10.1287/isre.2013.0495
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 1-14
• 关键词: supply-chain; Network structure; COLLABORATION NETWORKS; transaction costs; STRATEGY RESEARCH; firm performance; relational value; VALUE CREATION; capabilities; management

摘要

There is growing recognition that firms' information technology (IT)-enabled business models (i.e., how inter-firm transactions with suppliers, customers, and partners are structured and executed) are a distinctive source of value creation and appropriation. However, the concept of business models' (BMs) IT enablement remains coarse in the information systems and strategic management literatures. Our objectives are to introduce a framework to elaborate the concept of IT-enabled BMs and to identify areas for future research that will enhance our understanding of the subject. We introduce the idea that two business-to-business (B2B) IT capabilities-dyadic IT customization and network IT standardization-are the mediating execution mechanisms between the strategic intent of interfirm collaboration and the (re) configuration of BMs to both create and appropriate value. We develop the logic that B2B IT capabilities for BM (re) configuration operate at two levels-IT customization at the dyadic relationship level and IT standardization at the interfirm network level-that together provide the complementary IT capabilities for firms to exchange content, govern relationships, and structure interconnections between products and processes with a diverse set of customers, suppliers, and partners. We discuss how these two complementary B2B IT capabilities are pivotal for firms to pursue different sources of value creation and appropriation. We identify how a firm's governance choices to engage in interfirm collaboration and its interfirm networks coevolve with its B2B IT capabilities as fruitful areas for future research.