Business model innovation and digital technology: The perspective of incumbent Italian small and medium-sized firms

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the article was to conduct an explorative study on the relationship between business model innovation and digital technologies in incumbent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Research Design & Methods: A qualitative methodology supported the study by providing a novel perspective of analysis. Ten cases were selected from a sample of seventy SMEs engaged in a university-industry collaboration programme.

Findings: The study aimed to explore the implications of the business model innovation process in incumbent SMEs when they adopt digital technologies. This perspective helped to understand how digital technologies act as enabling factors that support SMEs in innovating their business models.

Implications & Recommendations: This study developed a conceptual framework to depict business model innovation when SMEs adopt digital technologies. Digital technology emerged as a necessary but not sufficient condition to achieve business model innovation.

Contribution & Value Added: The study shed light on the relationship between business model innovation and digital technologies in incumbent SMEs and unfolded its major underlying factors.

Keywords

business model, digital technology, SMEs, entrepreneurship, business model innovation

Author Biography

Andrea Sabatini

Professor of Applied Economics at Università Politecnica delle Marche and director of the PhD in Economics. He is the Secretary General of the Italian Economic Association and Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the University of Pittsburgh (USA). His research interests include entrepreneurship, innovation, and corporate finance. He is an Associate Editor of the JSBM, JSBE and the Italian Economic Journal (ItEJ).

Marco Cucculelli

PhD in Economics from the University of Rome – Tor Vergata, Italy. He is Professor at the Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche. he has been a Visiting Professor at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University (USA), the School of Economics and Finance, St. Andrews University (Scotland), the Cracow University of Economics - Dept of European Studies (Poland) and the George Washington University - Dept of Management (Washington DC, USA). In 2016, Marco was the Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the University of Pittsburgh. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Small Business Management, co-editor of the EM-Journal of Applied Economics and sits on the editorial board of L'Industria. he is the Director of the Giorgio Fuà Foundation, a member of the Money and Finance Research Group (MoFiR), and Research Director of the ISTAO Business School. in 2011 he has been elected as Director at-large to the Board of the International Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship – ICSB, Washington, D.C. (USA).

Gian Luca Gregori

Rector of Università Politecnica delle Marche, Professor of Marketing and Management. His research interests include marketing and business management, entrepreneurship, and small business development. He has published in Technovation, Industrial Marketing Management, and Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing.