Abstract
Digitalisation has revolutionised health service delivery, which has provided global business opportunities for start-ups that specialise in digital innovations. Such start-ups challenge the traditional healthcare service industry by introducing radical and sustainable innovations in the agile product development cycle and the creative acquisition of resources within their networks. Starting up is the most critical period in establishing a new digital health service company. However, little is known about the critical early growth processes of newly established digital healthcare service businesses. The aim of this study is to clarify the experience-based priorities of managers of digital health service businesses in California during the critical start-up stage. Based on this multiple case study, the qualitative and contextual characteristics of growth in California-based digital health service start-ups were clarified, and a framework of management priorities was formed. Network management is a high priority in digital service start-ups that are focused on bringing radical innovations to the complex and hard-to-access market where fundraising is an integral part of success.
Highlights
Starting up is the most critical period in establishing a new digital health service company, and the decisions that are made during the early stages of growth have a definitive influence on a company’s success (Bennett 2016; Furlan and Grandinetti 2014)
To clarify the critical management processes of the start-ups in the context of healthcare in California, this study focuses on the management priorities of five digital health service start-ups
This study opened the qualitative and contextual characteristics in the growth process of digital health service start-ups in California by clarifying the managerial priorities based on experience
Summary
Starting up is the most critical period in establishing a new digital health service company, and the decisions that are made during the early stages of growth have a definitive influence on a company’s success (Bennett 2016; Furlan and Grandinetti 2014). A recent meta-analysis by Muhos et al (2017) provides a synthesis of nine recent empirically based service-business-focused stages-of-growth models (see Auzair 2010; Empson 2012; Ferreira et al 2011; Greiner and Malernee 2005; Masurel and Van Montfort 2006; Shim et al 2000; Teeter and Whelan-Berry 2008; Van Tonder and McMullan 2010; Witmeur and Fayolle 2011). This metaanalysis integrates the results of these models into a four-stage framework with reference to the early stages of service-based companies. The previously described framework functions as the reference framework for the current study, and we use it to analyse and reflect on the experiences of managers in the context of digital health service businesses
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