Business Model Innovation: How Partnering with a Digital Platform Impacts SMEs

The present manuscript explores the intricate relationship between digital platforms, business model innovation (BMI) and collaborative endeavours amongst small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The authors are motivated by the growing relevance and importance of digital platforms which play a pivotal role in today’s business landscape, thereby deeply impacting products, services, operations and business strategy. Henceforth, SMEs are compelled to engage or embrace digital platforms in an attempt to strengthen their business model. Indeed, part of the scholarly literature underscores the role digital technologies have in nurturing BMI and organisational growth. Nonetheless, due to SMEs limited financial and human resources, it becomes challenging to establish their own digital platform and engage in BMI. Therefore, the foregoing entities can engage in collaborative endeavours such as partnerships and alliances to gain access to the necessary digital instruments and tools to lower the costs associated with BMI while accessing complementary resources and knowledge. However, despite the foregoing notions and concepts, the current body of scholarly literature lacks empirical evidence deepening our understanding of the interplay between digitalization and collaborative partnerships as enabling instruments to SMEs’ BMI. Henceforth, to address the foregoing research gap, the authors of this manuscript seek to gain intel into how cooperating with external stakeholders through a digital platform could impact SMEs’ BMI. Under the framework of dynamic capabilities as their theoretical framework, the authors employ a qualitative approach which focuses on 12 SMEs located within the Piedmont region, Italy. The authors conduct semi structured interviews with various members of the foregoing entities and have adopted the Gioia’ method to ensure this manuscript's methodological rigour and replicability. This manuscript empirical results indicate that: i) partnering with digital platforms nurture the construction of relationship which promote BMI; ii) engaging with partnerships enhances SMEs’ financial and operational performance, thereby fostering BMI; iii) engaging with external stakeholders nurture SMEs’ technological development, thus fostering BMI; and iv) partnering with digital platforms nurtures environmental and social considerations, thereby fostering BMI to address the foregoing notions. The current manuscript presents several predicted implications, both theoretical and practical, that warrant further exploration. Firstly, it enriches our comprehension of SMEs’ BMI in the context of digital platform partnerships, shedding light on previously unexplored aspects of this dynamic relationship. Secondly, it offers valuable insights for practitioners seeking to harness the potential of partnerships and digital platforms to cultivate their BMI and foster long-term sustainability. It is important to note that, due to space constraints and ongoing refinement of the interview and data collection processes, detailed discussions, theoretical implications, managerial insights, and conclusions will be elaborated upon in a forthcoming full-length paper.