Research Commentary ---Information Technology-Enabled Business Models: A Conceptual Framework and a Coevolution Perspective for Future Research

Arun Rai () and Xinlin Tang ()
Additional contact information
Arun Rai: Center for Process Innovation and Department of Computer Information Systems, Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Xinlin Tang: Department of Management, College of Business, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306

Information Systems Research, 2014, vol. 25, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: There is growing recognition that firms' information technology (IT)-enabled business models (i.e., how interfirm transactions with suppliers, customers, and partners are structured and executed) are a distinctive source of value creation and appropriation. However, the concept of business models' (BMs) “IT enablement” remains coarse in the information systems and strategic management literatures. Our objectives are to introduce a framework to elaborate the concept of IT-enabled BMs and to identify areas for future research that will enhance our understanding of the subject. We introduce the idea that two business-to-business (B2B) IT capabilities--- dyadic IT customization and network IT standardization ---are the mediating execution mechanisms between the strategic intent of interfirm collaboration and the (re)configuration of BMs to both create and appropriate value. We develop the logic that B2B IT capabilities for BM (re)configuration operate at two levels---IT customization at the dyadic relationship level and IT standardization at the interfirm network level---that together provide the complementary IT capabilities for firms to exchange content, govern relationships, and structure interconnections between products and processes with a diverse set of customers, suppliers, and partners. We discuss how these two complementary B2B IT capabilities are pivotal for firms to pursue different sources of value creation and appropriation. We identify how a firm's governance choices to engage in interfirm collaboration and its interfirm networks coevolve with its B2B IT capabilities as fruitful areas for future research.

Keywords: IT-enabled business model; B2B IT capabilities; interfirm collaboration; governance choices; design elements; value creation; value appropriation; coevolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2013.0495 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orisre:v:25:y:2014:i:1:p:1-14

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Information Systems Research from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().