Design Capital and Design Moves: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy

As information technology becomes integral to the products and services in a growing range of industries, there has been a corresponding surge of interest in understanding how firms can effectively formulate and execute digital business strategies. This fusion of IT within the business environment g...

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Main Authors: WOODARD, C. Jason, RAMASUBBU, Narayan, TSCHANG, F. Ted, Sambamurthy, V.
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2013
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3427
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/4426/viewcontent/43825922.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.lkcsb_research-44262020-03-26T08:36:27Z Design Capital and Design Moves: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy WOODARD, C. Jason RAMASUBBU, Narayan TSCHANG, F. Ted Sambamurthy, V. As information technology becomes integral to the products and services in a growing range of industries, there has been a corresponding surge of interest in understanding how firms can effectively formulate and execute digital business strategies. This fusion of IT within the business environment gives rise to a strategic tension between investing in digital artifacts for long-term value creation and exploiting them for short-term value appropriation. Further, relentless innovation and competitive pressures dictate that firms continually adapt these artifacts to changing market and technological conditions, but sustained profitability requires scalable architectures that can serve a large customer base and stable interfaces that support integration across a diverse ecosystem of complementary offerings. The study of digital business strategy needs new concepts and methods to examine how these forces are managed in pursuit of competitive advantage. We conceptualize the logic of digital business strategy in terms of two constructs: design capital (i.e., the cumulative stock of designs owned or controlled by a firm), and design moves (i.e., the discrete strategic actions that enlarge, reduce, or modify a firm’s stock of designs). We also identify two salient dimensions of design capital, namely option value and technical debt. Using embedded case studies of four firms, we develop a rich conceptual model and testable propositions to lay out a design-based logic of digital business strategy. This logic highlights the interplay between design moves and design capital in the context of digital business strategy and contributes to a growing body of insights that link the design of digital artifacts to competitive strategy and firm-level performance. 2013-06-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3427 info:doi/10.25300/MISQ/2013/37.2.10 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/4426/viewcontent/43825922.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Digital business strategy design capital design moves digital options technical debt IT architecture Computer Sciences Management Information Systems Strategic Management Policy
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Digital business strategy
design capital
design moves
digital options
technical debt
IT architecture
Computer Sciences
Management Information Systems
Strategic Management Policy
spellingShingle Digital business strategy
design capital
design moves
digital options
technical debt
IT architecture
Computer Sciences
Management Information Systems
Strategic Management Policy
WOODARD, C. Jason
RAMASUBBU, Narayan
TSCHANG, F. Ted
Sambamurthy, V.
Design Capital and Design Moves: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy
description As information technology becomes integral to the products and services in a growing range of industries, there has been a corresponding surge of interest in understanding how firms can effectively formulate and execute digital business strategies. This fusion of IT within the business environment gives rise to a strategic tension between investing in digital artifacts for long-term value creation and exploiting them for short-term value appropriation. Further, relentless innovation and competitive pressures dictate that firms continually adapt these artifacts to changing market and technological conditions, but sustained profitability requires scalable architectures that can serve a large customer base and stable interfaces that support integration across a diverse ecosystem of complementary offerings. The study of digital business strategy needs new concepts and methods to examine how these forces are managed in pursuit of competitive advantage. We conceptualize the logic of digital business strategy in terms of two constructs: design capital (i.e., the cumulative stock of designs owned or controlled by a firm), and design moves (i.e., the discrete strategic actions that enlarge, reduce, or modify a firm’s stock of designs). We also identify two salient dimensions of design capital, namely option value and technical debt. Using embedded case studies of four firms, we develop a rich conceptual model and testable propositions to lay out a design-based logic of digital business strategy. This logic highlights the interplay between design moves and design capital in the context of digital business strategy and contributes to a growing body of insights that link the design of digital artifacts to competitive strategy and firm-level performance.
format text
author WOODARD, C. Jason
RAMASUBBU, Narayan
TSCHANG, F. Ted
Sambamurthy, V.
author_facet WOODARD, C. Jason
RAMASUBBU, Narayan
TSCHANG, F. Ted
Sambamurthy, V.
author_sort WOODARD, C. Jason
title Design Capital and Design Moves: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy
title_short Design Capital and Design Moves: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy
title_full Design Capital and Design Moves: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy
title_fullStr Design Capital and Design Moves: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy
title_full_unstemmed Design Capital and Design Moves: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy
title_sort design capital and design moves: the logic of digital business strategy
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2013
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3427
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/4426/viewcontent/43825922.pdf
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