Pages: 12

This volume clarifies topical knowledge about the digital business strategies of companies that integrate digital techniques and business strategy. Accordingly, the volume presents a review of contemporary studies, a meta-analysis of topics treated by the studies, illustrative in-depth company cases, and ways to develop a digital business strategy practically. Advanced technologies using the Internet, a general familiarity with digitalization, and intensive competition pave way for the growing interest in digital business strategies. However, the field grows in various directions and it is difficult to understand what is important practically and academically. First, the review concludes that strategy scope and direction, competitive advantage, and resource and capability reliance are central categories of the strategy content. Second, the meta-analysis establishes that context in terms of company character makes a difference in the content and relationships with relevant factors. Third, comprehensive company cases illustrate generic and contextually grounded strategy issues. The cases concern mobile payment platforms, the Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) fashion retailer, the Ericsson telecommunication company, Volvo Cars, the hotel booking platform https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003401384/090adb02-a753-400f-99df-a6812b5b4681/content/www.Booking.com">Booking.com, and open audio platforms. In the end, the volume presents guidance on how to develop a digital business strategy practically in a stepwise manner.

Pages: 48

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 22

A company wishing to exploit the ongoing digitalization in business settings needs a competitive digital business strategy building on awareness of strategy content and crucial relationships. However, research on digital business strategy is fragmented and it is difficult for a company to get advice from research. Therefore, this chapter presents a systematic review of research on such strategies. The review examines 77 articles published from 2008 to 2021. It follows sequential concepts consisting of antecedents, strategy content, implementation, and outcome of the strategy. The review identifies categories of strategy content in terms of strategy scope or direction, competitive advantage, and capability or resource reliance. The ensuing discussion of what signifies digital business strategies compared to general business strategies underscores specific digital business features such as servitization in terms of developing advantages for digital services and timely entry into digital markets. Also, reliance on crucial digital capabilities such as smooth handling of digital infrastructures and related knowledge resources is typical for digital business strategies. In addition, the review found that a company's prior digital knowledge is the dominant category of antecedents. Obstacles and enablers are the categories of implementation factors, while operational and financial categories represent the outcome of strategy implementation.

Pages: 24

This chapter presents a meta-analysis of the reviewed studies reported in Chapter 2. The findings reveal that company context matters in the design of digital business strategies. Thus, the chapter develops contingency models showing that the strategic issues are not universal, but contingent on the context. The analysis detected statistically significant differences between topics of studies of companies not specializing in digitalization and what topics studies of digitally specialized companies focus on. Manufacturing companies, companies offering financial services or other services, and retailers belong to the first group. For these companies, the most typical category of strategy content consists of embedded resources and capabilities. Relationships between that content and the antecedents of digital knowledge and competitive dynamics dominate regarding links. The second group comprises digital content providers, digital platforms, and companies offering various other digital services. The strategy category of competitive advantage dominates for such companies, while the operational and financial outcome of strategy implementation is the most relevant relationship. Based on the findings of the meta-analysis, this chapter presents separate models adapted to companies that do not specialize in digitalization and specialist companies. Minor company cases and other empirical information illustrate how the models work practically.

Pages: 48

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 13

Dynamism applies to markets of companies offering financial technology making it troublesome to find appropriate scopes for services and customers. This chapter displays what is relevant to digital start-up companies wishing to establish themselves in financial technology markets. Initially, the chapter accounts for the essence of a service and customer scope of a digital start-up. The subsequent parts of the chapter concern what is decisive when a fictive start-up company chooses a scope for a mobile payment platform. Ways to expand a customer base and what competitive dynamics the company may have to face follow the general characteristics and challenges of mobile payment platforms. The end of the chapter presents questions to discuss in teaching or in other situations.

Pages: 11

The case of the Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) fashion retailer reveals the search for an international digital competitive advantage. Before the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, H&M emphasized the expansion of the number of country markets and the number of physical stores parallel to an increasing engagement in the digitalization of business offerings. After a profitability drop in 2020, H&M stressed the importance of implementing the omnichannel concept further by accelerating the integration of physical and digital channels to enhance the experiences of customers. In essence, the case illustrates the benefits and drawbacks of the standardization strategies in comparison with responsiveness strategies initially discussed in the chapter together with the omnichannel concept that is central to retailing. Discussion questions accompany the case presentation.

Pages: 22

This chapter presents the case of Ericsson's acquisitions of companies possessing dynamic innovation capabilities that strengthen the digital business strategy of Ericsson. Questions for discussions in teaching and other situations follow the case. Ericsson applies a digital business strategy that essentially provides mobile connectivity to operators of telecommunications networks and to other enterprise customers. The product range comprises networks, digital services, and managed services as a response to customers' need for digitalization. The case displays the acquired innovative companies during the period 1998–2021. These companies received Ericsson's attention because they possessed desirable dynamic innovation capabilities central to the digital business strategy. The capabilities referred to technology infrastructure, network content technologies, and technologies for business support. Initially, the chapter accounts for what generally makes the dynamic capabilities of innovativeness and responsiveness effective. The discussion particularly stresses the importance of market knowledge, adaptation to institutional settings, and ownership of the relevant organizational unit. In addition, the background reports lessons that refer to the importance of experience in acquisitions and lessons regarding the integration of acquired capabilities.

Pages: 28

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 12

This chapter deals with the digital business strategies of companies not specializing in digitalization. For this company category, the meta-analysis presented in Chapter 3 revealed that knowledge gained from digitalization and competitive dynamics constitute major antecedents of the strategies, and customer preferences moderate the relationships. Embedded resources and capabilities constitute the most distinguishing content of a strategy. Thus, after an introductory specification of the links between the Internet of Things, Big Data, and a digital business strategy, this chapter accounts for the digital business strategy of a car manufacturer, namely Volvo Cars. Insights into competitive dynamics in the car industry and preferences of car buyers precede illustrations of Volvo's digital knowledge relevant to manufacturing and supply chains. The digital offering follows and particularly digital resources and capabilities embedded in the cars and in online sales. The case ends with discussion questions that are pertinent in, for example, teaching situations.

Pages: 14

In regards to a digital specialist company such as a digital platform, the meta-analysis of Chapter 3 shows that competitive advantage is a crucial category of strategy content. Hence, this chapter initially presents and illustrates details of a digital platform's profile in terms of four types of competitive advantages. These are contingent on the character of competitive dynamics and the breadth of the company's scope of value-adding activities. Co-operations of Google's digital platform Android Automotive OS then exemplify the services of an ecosystem that add to a platform profile. The following case clarifies relationships relevant to a platform. Due to the intensive rivalry among hotel booking platforms and the importance of marketing and sales, the case accounts for advantages relying on the marketing innovativeness of https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003401384/090adb02-a753-400f-99df-a6812b5b4681/content/www.Booking.com">Booking.com. From the perspective of a hotel, the case also presents ways to handle relationships with digital platforms and hotel guests. Finally, a case highlights examples of competitive advantages put forward by open audio platforms that offer services for uploading digital content such as music and blogs. Questions to discuss accompany both cases.

Pages: 16

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 12

This chapter condenses results from the review of previous research, the meta-analysis of the studies, and the in-depth company cases presented in the preceding chapters. Accordingly, the chapter puts forward practical advice regarding how to develop a company's digital business strategy. First, the company needs to address the extent of its digital knowledge and if anything can be learned from competitors. This lays the ground for assessing whether the knowledge is enough to develop the strategy or if more knowledge needs to be acquired. After that comes the specification of the content of the strategy followed by the implementation. Provided everything works smoothly, the outcome of the strategy implementation meets the goals of the company. Practically useable tools illustrate the handling of each step. Any company can apply the tools, no matter if is a non-specialist or a digital specialist.

Pages: 2

This chapter puts forward and motivates five suggestions for further research on the digital strategies of companies. The suggestions include the exploration of what resources and capabilities are crucial to a digital business strategy and a non-digital strategy of the same company, the examination of the impact of competitive dynamics on the strategy content, and extending the understanding of the impact of moderating factors on direct relationships. Two suggestions particularly concern digital specialist companies, namely what makes a competitive advantage effective and how an advantage unfolds over time.