Outside-in thinking, value chain collaboration and business model innovation in manufacturing firms
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing
ISSN: 0885-8624
Article publication date: 4 November 2021
Issue publication date: 22 July 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how manufacturing firms pursue business model innovation (BMI) through their use of outside-in thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected on 175 Chinese manufacturing firms. A regression model was used to verify the research results.
Findings
Manufacturing firms rely on outside-in thinking to develop BMI under different market and institutional environments. From a whole-value-chain perspective, interacting with customers and sharing information with suppliers are two key ways to develop BMI.
Research limitations/implications
Firms focus on customer needs, sense the dynamics of external markets and technology and seize market opportunities to measure outside-in thinking. Empirical results suggest using other measures of outside-in thinking. BMI itself can be multidimensional, so scholars could consider BMI’s diverse dimensions and measurements, which may demand different kinds of outside-in thinking.
Practical implications
Manufacturing firms can use outside-in thinking to overcome inertia and rigidity and increase their knowledge, information and technology. Managers should develop outside-in thinking to respond quickly to emerging economies. Managers should use value chain collaboration and improve the firm’s capacity to interact with customers and suppliers to apply the benefits of outside-in thinking to their BMI.
Originality/value
The study explores how outside-in thinking is a key driver of BMI. Applying the whole-value-chain view, it finds that interacting with customers and suppliers connects outside-in thinking with BMI. It also highlights the effects of intense market competition and volatile government regulation on BMI.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Editor Dr. Wesley J. Johnston and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. The authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71672197; 71802059) and Alabama Credit Union Professorship of Entrepreneurship at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Citation
Wu, L., Liu, H. and Bao, Y. (2022), "Outside-in thinking, value chain collaboration and business model innovation in manufacturing firms", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 37 No. 9, pp. 1745-1761. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-03-2021-0189
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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