Richard Hagl
Waterford Institute of Technology
Richard is a Munich, Germany based entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Phaenom, an innovative company concentrating on the digital transformation. His entrepreneurial focus centres on emerging digitally-based technological innovations – such as augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, computer-generated images, and 3d-printing – and their application to new business opportunities. He graduated with a MSc Systems Engineering from Munich University of Applied Sciences, and BSc Electrical Engineering, and Computer Sciences (second major) from the University of Wisconsin, US. He is the author of “Das 3D-Druck-Kompendium”, a guide to 3d-printing for entrepreneurs,consultants and innovation drivers.
Innovation is vital for the survival of every organisation (Eveleens, 2010). Innovation must be managed because an ill-fitting innovation process may result in a failure to capture value from innovation (Chesbrough, 2003). Companies may approach the management of innovation, particularly with respect to high-potential technological innovations, through the development of dynamic business models (Chesbrough, 2010). However, many new high-potential technologies, such as 3D technologies, may initially have no business model (Chesbrough, 2010). 3D-technologies are based on 3D digital representations of reality including rendered images/movies, augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D-printing.
Business models serve “as a mediating construct between technology and economic value” (Chesbrough and Rosenbloom, 2002). These business models can become a source of competitive advantage (Magretta, 2002; Boons and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013), as they are more difficult to imitate than product-, service-, or process-innovations (Schallmo, 2013). Ultimately, “a mediocre technology pursued within a great business model may be more valuable than a great technology exploited via a mediocre business model” (Chesbrough, 2010). From another perspective, the business model can be used as a conceptual instrument to articulate the business logic (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2004), as a “method to structure related critical functions” (Al-Debei and Fitzgerald, 2010), or as a tool to analyse existing or envisioned businesses in respect of environmental sustainability (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013); innovation of a health care system (Hwang and Christensen, 2008), or indeed, the potential commercial success of augmented reality (Van Kleef et al., 2010).
In a ‘high velocity environment’, such as that of high potential technologies, business models must be frequently altered to meet new challenges and to remain competitive (Wirtz et al., 2010). Actively exploring business model alternatives may identify new opportunities such as “distributed co-creation” (Bughin et al., 2008). However, “it is ill-understood how changing market, technology and regulation drive revisions in business models” (De Reuver et al., 2009). Palo and Tähtinen (2013) suggest that it is time to look beyond the firm level and examine business models as dynamic devices in a net of actors where business is conducted through collective business models. While there is a “growing consensus that 3D technologies will be one of the next major technological revolutions”, relatively little research has been conducted in respect to the technology’s impact on business models and their innovation (Rayna and Striukova, 2016).
This study explores the development of a framework to support entrepreneurs in the creation of dynamic business models for high-potential technological innovations, such as 3D-technologies. The focus of the study lies with start-up scenarios and new business/new product development, potentially in an intrapreneurial or spin-off setting. This research adopts a subjectivist, phenomenologist, interpretivist research approach, using multiple case studies of German business-to-business 3D technology companies, underpinned by multiple data collection approaches. This paper presents the conceptual model underpinning the study and the research design adopted to execute it.
Keywords: dynamic business modelling, applied innovation, high potential technologies, 3D-technologies.
