Enacting Business Models: An Ethnographic Study of an Emerging Business Model Innovation within the Frame of a Manufacturing Company

This is an ethnographic study of business model innovation in an established manufacturing company. The motivation of the thesis is to propose a sensemaking (Weick, 1995), with focus on enactment (Weick, 1979), analysis of a business model innovation process, stepping outside the usual perspectives employed in analysing such a phenomenon, namely activity system, dynamic capability and transaction costs, discovery driven or cognitive perspective. The research question guiding the thesis is: How do established companies enact new business models? The innovation of business models in established companies is an intricate process, and a mountain to climb in the eyes of top management. Often, in the choice between innovation and control the latter wins. Studies have shown that technologies and processes, which have the potential to challenge the exiting model, are being filtered out. In here, the dominant logic, and so-called managerial inertia, is defining the selection criteria. However, in face of perceived serious exogenous factors, such as financial crisis or losing significant market shares, companies are left with nothing else than the choice of innovating their business model.