Abstract
This chapter analyzes five Japanese software small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to better understand how their decision-making pathways inside the organization evolve as they develop new business models. Event-state mapping method was applied to analyze the business model pathways of the case firms. We found that once triggered, pathways included various actors and a series of steps until an outcome, the new business model, was reached. The findings indicate that the decision pathways to new models became increasingly complex over the years and the number of individuals and teams involved increases as business model evolved further.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
2017 White Paper on Small Enterprises in Japan. (2017). Tokyo.
Achtenhagen, L., Melin, L., & Naldi, L. (2013). Dynamics of business models – strategizing, critical capabilities and activities for sustained value creation. Long Range Planning, 46(6), 427–442. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2013.04.002. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Al-Debei, M. M., & Avison, D. (2010). Developing a unified framework of the business model concept. European Journal of Information Systems, 19(3), 359–376. Available https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2010.21. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Alvarez, S. A., & Barney, J. B. (2007). Discovery and creation: Alterantive theories of entrepreneurial action. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 1(1), 11–26. Available https://doi.org/10.1002/sej. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Baber, W. W., Ojala, A., & Martinez, R. (2019). Transition to digital distribution platforms and business model evolution. In Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (Vol. 6, pp. 4997–5006). Maui.
Baden-Fuller, C., & Morgan, M. S. (2010). Business models as models. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 156–171. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2010.02.005. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Bhagat, C., Hirt, M., Huyett, W., Kehoe, C., & Matson, E. (2012). Twelve questions every new director should ask Twelve questions every new director should ask. MacKinsey & Company. Strategy and Corporate Finance – Our Insights. Available https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/twelve-questions-every-new-director-should-ask. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Bohnsack, R., Pinkse, J., & Kolk, A. (2014). Business models for sustainable technologies: Exploring business model evolution in the case of electric vehicles. Research Policy, 43(2), 284–300. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.10.014. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Casadesus-Masanell, R., & Ricart, J. E. (2011). How to design a winning business model. Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2), 100–107.
Chesbrough, H. (2007). Business model innovation: It’s not just about technology anymore. Strategy & Leadership, 35(6), 12–17. Available https://doi.org/10.1108/10878570710833714. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Chesbrough, H. (2010). Business model innovation: Opportunities and barriers. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 354–363. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.010. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Chesbrough, H., & Rosenbloom, R. S. (2002). The role of the business model in capturing value from innovation: Evidence from Xerox Corporation’s technology spin-off companies. Industrial and Corporate Change, 11(3), 529–555. Available https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/11.3.529. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Clemons, E. K. (2009). Business models for monetizing internet applications and web sites: Experience, theory, and predictions. Journal of Management Information Systems, 26(2), 15–41. Available https://doi.org/10.2753/mis0742-1222260202. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Collier, D. (2011). Understanding process tracing. PS – Political Science and Politics, 44(4), 823–830. Available https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096511001429. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Demil, B., & Lecocq, X. (2010). Business model evolution: In search of dynamic consistency. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 227–246. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2010.02.004. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Deodhar, S. J., Saxena, K. B. C., Gupta, R. K., & Ruohonen, M. (2012). Strategies for software-based hybrid business models. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 21(4), 274–294. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2012.06.001. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1), 25–32. Available https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2007.24160888. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
George, A. L., & Bennett, A. (2005). Case studies and theory development in the social sciences. MIT Press. Retrieved from Available https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=JEGzE6ExN-gC. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Gerring, J. (2006). Case study research: Principles and practices. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Huber, G. P., & Power, D. J. (1985). Retrospective reports of strategic-level managers: Guidelines for increasing their accuracy. Strategic Management Journal, 6(2), 171–180. Available https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250060206. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Huse, E. F. (1980). Organization development and change. St. Paul: West Publishing Company. Retrieved from Available https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=EFH_twEACAAJ. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Khan, N., & Fitzgerald, G. (2014). Dimensions of offshore outsourcing business models. Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 6(3), 35–50. Available https://doi.org/10.1080/15228053.2004.10856048. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. Retrieved from Available https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=xpGX1EWL_EMC. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics: Concept, method and reality in social science; Social equilibria and social change. Human Relations, 1(1), 5–41. Available https://doi.org/10.1177/001872674700100103. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Luoma, E. (2013). Examining business models of software-as-a-service companies. Jyvaskyla: University of Jyväskylä.
Maybury, M. T. (1995). Generating summaries from event data. Information Processing and Management, 31(5), 735–751. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4573(95)00025-C. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2018). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Mintzberg, H., Raisinghani, D., & Theoret, A. (1976). The structure of “unstructured” decision processes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21(June), 246.
Myles, A. J., & Brown, S. D. (2004). Decision pathway modeling. Journal of Chemometrics, 18(6), 286–293. Available https://doi.org/10.1002/cem.870. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Najmaei, A. (2016). How do entrepreneurs develop business models in small high-tech ventures? An exploratory model from australian IT firms. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 6(3), 297–343. Available https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2014-0037. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Nambisan, S. (2017). Digital entrepreneurship: Toward a digital technology perspective of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 41(6), 1029–1055. Available https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12254. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Ojala, A. (2016a). Business models and opportunity creation: How IT entrepreneurs create and develop business models under uncertainty. Information Systems Journal, 26(5), 451–476. Available https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12078. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Ojala, A. (2016b). Discovering and creating business opportunities for cloud services. Journal of Systems and Software, 113, 408–417. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2015.11.004. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Ojala, A., & Tyrväinen, P. (2007). Business models and market entry mode choice of small software firms. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 4(2–3), 69–81. Available https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-006-0001-z.
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, 15(1), 1–43. Available https://doi.org/10.1.1.83.7452. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., & Clark, T. (2010). Business model generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. Wiley. Retrieved from Available https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=ACWGX8pK8kQC. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Pateli, A. G., & Giaglis, G. M. (2005). Technology innovation-induced business model change: A contingency approach. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 18(2), 167–183. Available https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810510589589. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Pettigrew, A. M. (1990). Longitudinal field research on change: Theory and practice. Organization Science, 1(3), 267–292. Available https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1.3.267. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Rajala, R., & Westerlund, M. (2007). A business model perspective on knowledge-intensive services in the software industry. International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship, 1(1), 1–20.
Saebi, T., Lien, L., & Foss, N. J. (2017). What drives business model adaptation? The impact of opportunities, threats and strategic orientation. Long Range Planning, 50(5), 567–581. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2016.06.006. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Sarasvathy, S. D. (2001). Causation and effectuation: Toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency. The Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 243–263. Available https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2001.4378020. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Sarasvathy, S. D. (2008). Effectuation: Elements of entrepreneurial expertise. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Simon, H. A. (1979). Rational decision making in business organizations. The American Economic Review, 69(4), 493–513.
Standing, C., & Mattsson, J. (2016). Fake it until you make it: Business model conceptualization in digital entrepreneurship. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 24(October), 1–15. Available https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2016.1240218. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Tansey, O. (2007). Process tracing and elite interviewing: A case for non-probability sampling. PS – Political Science and Politics, 40(4), 765–772. Available https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096507071211. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Teece, D. J. (2007). Explicating dynamic capabilities: The nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strategic Management Journal, 28, 1319–1350. Available https://doi.org/10.1002/smj. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Teece, D. J. (2010). Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 172–194. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.003. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Trochim, W., Urban, J. B., Hargraves, M., Hebbard, C., Buckley, J., Archibald, T., Johnson, M., Burgermaster, M. (2016). The guide to the systems evaluation protocol. Ithaca, NY. Retrieved March 3, 2019 from https://core.human.cornell.edu/documents/SEPGuide3.1covered.pdf
Veit, D., Clemons, E., Benlian, A., Buxmann, P., Hess, T., Kundisch, D., … Spann, M. (2014). Business models: An information systems research agenda. Business and Information Systems Engineering, 6(1), 45–53. Available https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-013-0308-y. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Velu, C. (2017). A systems perspective on business model evolution: The case of an agricultural information service provider in India. Long Range Planning, 50(5), 603–620. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2016.10.003. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Weick, K. E., & Quinn, R. (2004). Organizational change and development. In J. Boonstra (Ed.), Dynamics of organizational change and learning (pp. 177–196). Chichester: Wiley.
Welch, C., Piekkari, R., Plakoyiannaki, E., & Paavilainen-Mäntymäki, E. (2011). Theorising from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 42(5), 740–762. Available https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2010.55. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Weske, M. (2012). Business process management: Concepts, languages, architectures. Heidelberg: Springer.
Yin, R. K. (2013). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Zollo, M., & Winter, S. G. (2002). Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities. Organization Science, 13(3), 339–351. Available https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.13.3.339.2780. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Zott, C., & Amit, R. (2010). Business model innovation: Creating value in times of change (No. WP-870). Navarra. Available https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.004. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Zott, C., Amit, R., & Massa, L. (2011). The business model: Recent developments and future research. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1019–1042. Available https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311406265. Accessed 13 Mar 2019.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Baber, W.W., Ojala, A., Martinez, R. (2020). Digitalization and Evolution of Business Model Pathways Among Japanese Software SMEs. In: Khare, A., Ishikura, H., Baber, W. (eds) Transforming Japanese Business. Future of Business and Finance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0327-6_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0327-6_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-0326-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-0327-6
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)