Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze, from a dynamic capabilities perspective, the role of big data analytics in supporting firms' innovation processes.Design/methodology/approachRelevant literature is reviewed and critically assessed. An interpretive methodology is used to analyze empirical data from interviews of big data analytics experts at firms within digitally related sectors.FindingsThis study shows how firms leverage big data to gain “richer” and “deeper” data at the inter-sections between the digital and physical worlds. The authors provide evidence for the importance of counterintuitive strategies aimed at developing innovative products, services or solutions with characteristics that may initially diverge, even significantly, from established customer/user needs.Practical implicationsThe authors’ findings offer insights to help practitioners manage innovation processes in the physical world while taking investments in big data analytics into account.Originality/valueThe authors provide insights into the evolution of scholarly research on innovation directed toward opportunities to create a competitive advantage by offering new products, services or solutions diverging, even significantly, from established customer demand.
Highlights
Digitization is profoundly reshaping the way firms think and go about creating a competitive advantage (Baden-Fuller and Haefliger, 2013; Huarng et al, 2015; Lanzolla and Giudici, 2017) in the so-called “digital world” (e.g., Alberti-Alhtaybat et al, 2019) and in the “physical” world (i.e., ‘real-traditional world’, Chen and Zhang, 2014; Hartmann et al, 2016; Tian, 2017)
A specific literature stream analyzing the importance of capabilities and providing further theoretical and empirical elaboration on issues related to technology, strategic management and innovation in today's digitally enabled networked contexts (Kouropalatis et al 2019; Mikalef, 2019) has developed, yet still, little is known about how firms develop and implement digital innovative strategies, and many firms have been left in the dark about how to invest effectively in big data analytics capabilities to drive their innovation agenda (Bean, 2016)
This paper advances a comprehensive view aimed at supporting an innovation process based on big data analytics
Summary
Digitization is profoundly reshaping the way firms think and go about creating a competitive advantage (Baden-Fuller and Haefliger, 2013; Huarng et al, 2015; Lanzolla and Giudici, 2017) in the so-called “digital world” (e.g., Alberti-Alhtaybat et al, 2019) and in the “physical” world (i.e., ‘real-traditional world’, Chen and Zhang, 2014; Hartmann et al, 2016; Tian, 2017). Among smart technologies (Lu and Weng, 2018), prior studies have emphasized the growing role of big data analytics as a cornerstone of firm performance and competitive success (Ferraris et al, 2018; Wamba, 2017; George et al, 2014) and argued that a firm’s capacity to leverage them can be a powerful dynamic capability (Giudici and Reinmoeller, 2012; Teece, 2018; van Rijmenam et al, 2018). A specific literature stream analyzing the importance of capabilities and providing further theoretical and empirical elaboration on issues related to technology, strategic management and innovation in today's digitally enabled networked contexts (Kouropalatis et al 2019; Mikalef, 2019) has developed, yet still, little is known about how firms develop and implement digital innovative strategies, and many firms have been left in the dark about how to invest effectively in big data analytics capabilities to drive their innovation agenda (Bean, 2016). The lack of capabilities or awareness of benefits often prevents the adoption of big data analytics in strategic decision making by executives (Merendino et al, 2018)
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