مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Better understanding of how businesses leverage digital technology to create value is of prime interest (Wheeler, 2002; Yoo et al., 2010). Mobile applications (apps) particularly provide organizations new opportunities to create value, for example by meeting new demands, increasing efficiency, supporting knowledge sharing and improving competitiveness (Sheng et al., 2005; Unhelkar and Murugesan, 2010). Several calls have been made to investigate how the strategic opportunities of apps can be achieved (e.g. Anthes, 2011; R.C. Basole, 2007; Ladd et al., 2010; Sheng et al., 2005).

When dealing with opportunities relating to digital technologies in new and dynamic markets, as in the case of apps, start-ups are often the first who identify and explore these opportunities (Hitt et al., 2001). Start-ups are ventures in the process of discovering, developing and implementing a viable and scalable business model to exploit market opportunities. Despite the dominance of start-ups in app development, previous theory on net-enabled value creation focuses on the value creation process of large organizations (Wheeler, 2002). Therefore we focus our research on app-enabled value creation by start-ups. Many studies investigating the value of IT have their roots in the field of production economics. These studies investigate what part of the value at the output of a production system can be accounted for by IT related inputs (Zhu and Kraemer, 2005). However, recent studies on IT business value contest the ‘black box’ production models, and aim at investigating the dynamics inside the production process (Kohli and Grover, 2008). We argue that looking inside a highly dynamic production system, as in the case of apps, there is need to focus on the Dynamic Business Capabilities (DBC) that shape an IT input and ultimately create value. For this purpose, the approach to the study takes a Dynamic Capabilities Perspective (DCP) that adjusts Wheeler (2002) DBC theory to the practice of app entrepreneurs.

Following the call of DCP, the goal of this study is to explain how app-enabled business value is created by start-ups, and what the business value of apps is. Consequently, we formulate two research questions. First, we want to know how start-ups create value by using apps for business purposes. Second, we aim to answer the question what type of value is created by start-ups that use apps for business purposes. We will answer both questions by combining insights of existing theory of e-business development and the experiential insights of eight app entrepreneurs. First, we develop an App-enabled Business Innovation Cycle (ABIC) model, which gives a new theoretical perspective on processes for transforming app business opportunities into real business value. This model is a variant of Wheeler’s Net Enabled Business Innovation Cycle Model (NEBIC) such that it becomes relevant for the specific context of startups and apps. Second, we present cases that ground the propositions of the ABIC model in the practice of start-ups that create business value through apps. Last, implications are drawn for further research and for practice.