Data-driven Business Model for a breakthrough technological product

Data-driven Business Model for a breakthrough technological product

Ganapathi Shanbhag, Avin (TU Delft Technology, Policy and Management; Royal HaskoningDHV)

de Reuver, G.A. (mentor)
van de Kaa, G. (graduation committee)
Tiago de Almeida, João (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Management of Technology (MoT)

2019-08-14

Problem: Lack of Water Sanitation is a global problem due to the experiment-based research required in its field, hindering scientific progress. Commercializing breakthrough technologies in Water Sanitation into the market is uncertain and there comes a requirement to design to appropriate business models. The emergence of Big Data has led firms to potentially gain a competitive advantage and firms need to understand how Big Data creates changes in business models. Managers in the Wastewater industries aim to diffuse breakthrough technologies by leveraging big data. 
Goal/Objective: The objective of this thesis is to understand and study how Big data creates changes in Business Models for firms. This study helps firms diffuse breakthrough technological products and contribute to the niche literature on Data-driven Business Models (DDBM).
Design/Methodology/Approach: This thesis consists of a Single Case Study Design within a firm with a breakthrough technological product. The study consists of 17 semi-structured interviews across various units of analysis and a Focus Group exercise with 6 participants of a business unit with a breakthrough technological product. The interviews and archival records are transcribed, coded and analysed through a qualitative data software and a logical chain of evidence is maintained for validity and reliability.
Findings: The Case Study research has dealt deeper into the dimensions of the business model for a firm where there are significant changes in the Value Creation & Value Proposition phase of a Business Model. The study showcases how a Datatized Organization can be achieved by leveraging Big Data, what the organization management and governance changes are required, what the various data-driven activities are in order to leverage big data, and what the data-driven competencies that are needed to perform the various data-driven activities. Furthermore, a Data-driven Value Proposition has been derived for a business unit.
Research Limitation/Implications: Due to the lack of a team of investigators to collect the necessary data from multiple cases and coding the qualitative data was not possible due to the characteristic of the specific master thesis project. However, various validation and generalization techniques have been used to build the internal, external and construct validity. The thesis provides future researchers to aid the theoretical development of logically consistent explanations of the relationships (linkages) between well-defined components (constructs) of DDBMs.
Originality/Value: This study highlights how Big Data creates changes in the business models of firms with a breakthrough technological product, thereby adding to the body of knowledge of Data-driven business models. The uniqueness of this study is the breakthrough technological product that was chosen to keep the Value Proposition phase of the business model as constant as possible and study the changes in the other phases.

Business models
Big Data
Data-driven business models
Organizational change management
Organization Governance
Data-driven activities
Data-driven competencies
Data-enabled activities
Data-enriched products & services

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c3463d7e-e618-41c8-b7fb-da0fc4078ee6

2021-08-14

Student theses

master thesis

© 2019 Avin Ganapathi Shanbhag