From One Context to Another: How Business Models Emerge

In this paper, we expose how managers within one industry leverage interorganizational collaborations to create a new business model. Based on an inductive case study of an automotive GPS navigation company, we develop an emergent theory of how organizations use interorganizational collaborations to develop new business models. Our preliminary findings suggest that organizations enact 3 practices: activation (clash between familiar and unfamiliar knowledge), blending (socially constructed projection of the future), and calibration (alignment of interests among partners). These practices enabled the co-creation of a pioneering business model involving four distinct but highly complementary partners. This study provides preliminary insights on a theory of business model innovation via interorganizational collaboration. More broadly, we help open up organization theory to a fresh conceptual lens—the business model—that highlights how organizations work and create value through collaboration.

本文揭示了某一行业内的管理者如何借助组织间协作（interorganizational collaborations）构建新型商业模式。基于对某汽车GPS导航企业的归纳式案例研究，我们构建了组织如何通过组织间协作开发新型商业模式的涌现理论。初步研究结果表明，组织会采取三种实践方式：激活（熟悉与陌生知识间的碰撞）、融合（未来的社会建构式预测）和校准（合作伙伴间的利益对齐）。这些实践促成了由四家各具特色但高度互补的合作伙伴共同创造的开创性商业模式。本研究为通过组织间协作实现商业模式创新的理论提供了初步洞见。从更广泛层面而言，我们助力组织理论引入一个全新的概念视角——商业模式，该视角凸显了组织如何通过协作开展运营并创造价值。