Smartness battle : how and why do businesses smart-up their products and services

By creating ever-smarter products and services, businesses are engaging in a smartness battle. While extant research provides guidance for developing technology-based innovations, it remains unclear how and why businesses smart-up their offerings. Therefore, this research investigates (1) the dimensions of smartness in which businesses invest, (2) the patterns along which these smartness dimensions develop over time, and (3) the strategies underlying these development decisions. This research relies on a multiple case study design to provide insight into how (smartness dimensions and smartness patterns) and why (smartness strategies) businesses develop ever-smarter offerings. Case analyses identified awareness, connectivity, actuation and dynamism as key smartness dimensions and unraveled smartness patterns ranging from no to continuous increases. Further analyses revealed that each pattern goes along with specific strategies, including survival, protection, experience, growth, and leadership strategies. The identified patterns can guide businesses to develop smartness along the four dimensions to effectuate their envisioned strategy.

Publication year:2020

Accessibility:Open