The developing role of telecommunication firms from technology enablers to strategic players in the smart factory
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s103.2017.10Keywords:
smart factory, Telcos, business models, innovationAbstract
Purpose of the paper: The aim of this research is to investigate the role of telecommunication firms as technology partners in smart factory deployment and the potential impact on their own business model.
Methodology: We adopted a qualitative methodology based on multiple-case study analysis with the purpose of theory-building.
Results: i) Identification of three business model trajectories that are triggered by smart factory deployment both for recipient firms and for technology enabling firms; (ii) proposition of a directional framework that enables both smart factory recipient firms and technology partners to understand their options both in terms of Smart factory deployment and business model options and of the interconnections between them.
Research limitations: Selected cases have been used according to the state of development of the project. A larger number of cases, as well as a more in depth analysis, would increase confidence in the findings.
Practical implications: Identification of unexplored opportunities in the new, smart factory deployment paradigm that could transform the business model of the recipient firm as well as the role of the technology partners.
Originality of the paper: We identify the central role of the technology partners focusing on Telecommunication companies, who can enable the evolution of the business model transformation of recipient firms as well as its own. Moreover, the identification of the ownership and accessibility of data produced by the Smart factory is considered the main barrier for technology partners to make their business model evolve beyond business model trajectories.
References
ALMADA-LOBO F. (2015), “The Industry 4.0 revolution and the future of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)”, Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 3, n. 4, pp. 16-21.
ANDERSON C. (2006), The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More, Hyperion, New York.
ANTHONY S. (2012), “Kodak and the Brutal Difficulties of Transformation”, Harvard Business Review, Blog, 17th January.
BADEN-FULLER C., MORGAN M. (2010), “Business models”, Long Range Planning, vol. 43, n. 2, pp. 156-171.
BADEN-FULLER C., HAEFLIGER S. (2013) “Business Models and Technological Innovation”, Long Range Planning, vol. 46, n. 6, pp. 419-426.
BLANK S. (2012), The Startup Owner’s Manual, K&S Ranch, Pescaredo, California.
BROWN M.E., GIOIA D.A. (2002), “Making things click: Distributive leadership in an online division of an offline organization”, The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 13, n. 4, Aug, pp. 397-419.
CAUTELA C., PISANO P., PIRONTI M. (2014), “The emergence of new networked business models from technology innovation: an analysis of 3-D printing design”, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, vol. 10, n. 3, pp. 487-501.
CHESBROUGH H. (2006a), Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge (MA).
CHESBROUGH H.W. (2010) “Business model innovation: opportunities and barriers”, Long Range Planning, vol. 43, n. 2-3, pp. 354-363.
CHRISTENSEN C.M. (1997), The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
CISCO SYSTEMS (2013), “Cisco Industrial Smart Solution: la connessione tra fabbrica e azienda”, white paper.
D’AVENI R. (2015), “The 3-D Printing Revolution”, Harvard Business Review, May, n. 5, pp. 40-48
DELMAR F., SHANE S. (2003), “Does business planning facilitate the development of new ventures?”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 24, n. 12, pp. 1165-1185.
DEMIL B., LECOCQ X. (2010) “Business model evolution: in search of dynamic consistency”, Long Range Planning, vol. 43, n. 2-3, pp. 227-246.
EISENHARDT K.M. (1989b), “Building theories from case study research”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 14, n. 4, pp. 532-550.
“Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends” (2015), Gartner’s Report.
GEORGE G., BOCK A.J. (2011), “The Business Model in Practice and its Implications for Entrepreneurship Research”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, vol. 35, n. 1, pp. 83-111.
GOODNESS E. FOONG K., WALLIN L, RUUD K. (2015), Magic Quadrant for Managed Machine-to-Machine Services, Worldwide, 26 August.
“Great expectations: The evolution of the chief data officer” (2015), PwC, Report.
HERMANN M., PENTEK T., OTTO B. (2016) “Design Principles for Industrie 4.0 Scenarios”, 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 3928-3937.
“IDC Predictive Security in the 3rd Platform Era” (2015), Nuovi scenari della sicurezza IT nell’Era della Terza Piattaforma, 11 marzo, Milano.
YIN R.K. (2008), Case study research: Design and methods, vol. 5, Sage Publications, Incorporated.
“Industrie 4.0. Smart Manufacturing for the Future”, (2014), Germany Trade & Invest, Report.
“Industry 4.0 The New Industrial Revolution: How Europe Will Succeed”, (2014) March, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
JOHNSON G., SCHOLES K., WHITTINGTON R. (2008), Exploring Corporate Strategy Text and Cases, Edition 8, Essex: Financial times prentice hall Pearson education.
LARSSON R. (1993), “Case survey methodology: Quantitative analysis of patterns across case studies”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 36, n. 6, pp.1515-1546.
MAGRETTA J. (2002), “Why Business Models Matter”, Harvard Business Review, May, n. 5, pp. 86-92.
MARKIDES C. (2006), “Disruptive Innovation: in need of better theory?”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 23, n. 1, pp. 19-25.
McGRATH R. (2010) “Business models: a discovery driven approach”, Long Range Planning, vol. 43, n. 2-3, pp. 247-261.
“Mercato Digitale”, (2015), Assinform, Rapporto.
MITCHELL D., COLES C. (2003), “The ultimate competitive advantage of continuing business model innovation”, Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 24, n. 5, pp. 15-21.
NUMAGAMI T. (1998), “The infeasibility of invariant laws in management studies: A reflective dialogue in defense of case studies”, Organization Science, vol. 9, n. 1, pp. 2-15.
OSTERWALDER A., PIGNEUR Y., TUCCI C.L. (2005), “Clarifying Business Models: Origins, Present, and Future of the Concept”, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 16, n. 1, pp. 1-25.
PATUANO M. (2015), “Un nuovo modello di business per le Telco”, Harvard Business Review Italia, Dicembre, n. 12, pp. 85-97.
PISANO P., PIRONTI M., CHRISTODOULOU P. (2014), “The open long tail model between new culture and digital technology”, Sinergie, n. 93, pp. 80-93.
PORTER M.E., HEPPELMANN J.E. (2015), “How Smart Connected Products Are Transforming Companies”, Harvard Business Review, October, n. 10, pp. 96-114.
RADZIWON A., BILBERG A, BOGERS M., MADSEN E.S. (2014) “The Smart Factory: Exploring Adaptive and Flexible Manufacturing Solutions”, Procedia Engineering, vol. 69, n. 1, pp. 1184-1190
REASON P., GOODWIN B.C. (1999) “Toward a Science of Qualities in Organizations: lessons from complexity theory and postmodern biology”, Concepts and Transformations, vol. 4, n. 3, pp. 281-317.
REEVES M., ZENG M., VENJARA A. (2015), “The Self-Tuning Enterprise”, Harvard Business Review, June, n. 6, pp. 76-83.
REEVES M. LOVE, TILLMANS (2012), “Your Strategy Needs A Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, September, n. 9, pp. 1-9.
SOSNA M., TREVINYO-RODRIGUEZ N.R., VELAMURI S.R. (2010) “Business Model Innovation through Trial-and-Error Learning: The NaturHouse Case”, Long Range Planning, vol. 43, n. 2-3, pp. 383-407.
TEECE D.J. (2010), “Business models, business strategy, and innovation”, Long Range Planning, vol. 43, n. 2-3, pp. 172-194.
ZOTT C., AMIT R. (2008), “The fit between product market strategy and business model: implications for firm performance”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 29, n. 1, pp 1-26.
ZOTT C., AMIT R., MASSA M. (2011), “The business model: recent developments and future research”, Journal of Management, vol. 37, n. 4, pp. 1019-1042.
Internet references
www.gartner.com
www.gtai.de
www.rolandberger.it
www.cisco.com
www.effra.eu
www.fabbricaintelligente.it
www.idc.com
www.pwc.com
www.hbr.org
