The Impact of Business Model Innovation on the Performance of Digital Startups
The use of digital technology such as the Internet,cloud computing,and big data has resulted in an influx of digit-al startups.These digital startups have not only generated many new professions,but have also aided in the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries,promoting economic and social progress.The ongoing innovation and breakthrough of their business models is the key to the vitality of digital startups.For example,digital startups such as Amazon and Ali-baba have changed the traditional retail industry through platform-based business model innovation.However,even with innovation in their business models,not all digital startups are successful,and many companies become bogged in the mud and,regrettably,depart the market.Thus,digital startups are facing the practical challenge of how to innovate business models to promote performance.Existing research on this topic has focused on the positive effects of business model inno-vation,while disregarding the negative implications,which may result in increased R&D expenses,a larger likelihood of product failure,and more employee turnover.Digital startups,in particular,are pronouncedly service-oriented,and higher cost investment and increased revenue risk amplify the negative impact of business model innovation.Simultaneously,dig-ital startups are clearly digital-oriented,and digital technology influences the process of business model innovation,but pre-vious research has not focused on the role of technological innovativeness.The aforementioned lack of focus on the distinc-tiveness of business model innovation in digital startups is not favorable to in-depth examination of new laws of innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital economy.Drawing on the data from 760 firms in the Chinese Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Development(CPSED Ⅱ)data-base,this study investigates the different mechanisms of the impact of efficiency-centered and novelty-centered business model innovation on the performance of digital startups,as well as the moderating role of technological innovativeness.The results show that in digital startups,efficiency-centered business model innovation has a positive impact on firm per-formance,while novelty-centered business model innovation has a negative impact on firm performance,and technological innovativeness negatively moderates the positive impact of efficiency-centered business model innovation on firm perform-ance and the negative impact of novelty-centered business model innovation on firm performance.This is because digital startups that adopt efficiency-centered business model innovations facilitate value creation and capture by restructuring transactions and controlling key resources,whereas firms that adopt novelty-centered business model innovations face the challenge of attracting new transactional players and continuously locking in stakeholders,which is detrimental to firm per-formance.When technological innovativeness is high,however,digital startups must develop novel value propositions to maximize the unique features of their products,which contradicts the value claim of cost minimization pursued by efficien-cy-centered business model innovations and is thus detrimental to firm performance;adopting novelty-centered business model innovations,on the other hand,makes it easier to attract new trading entities to build a new trading system and sus-tainably lock in users,investors,and other stakeholders,thus positively affecting firm performance.This paper investigates the"black box"of negative effects in the cost-value structure of business model innovation in digital startups.It confirms that the service-oriented character of digital startups increases the potential risk of business model innovation.This risk is reflected in novelty-centered model innovations in the context of low technological innova-tion,and in efficiency-centered business model innovations in the context of high technological innovation.Second,the pa-per emphasizes the importance of matching business models and technological innovation in digital startups.When techno-logical innovation is low,digital startups are more conducive to firm performance through efficiency-centered business mod-el innovation,whereas when technological innovation is high,digital startups are more conducive to firm performance through novelty-centered business model innovation.Finally,this paper emphasizes the dual role of value creation and val-ue capture in digital startup business model innovation,providing a novel theoretical perspective for the discussion of busi-ness model innovation concerns.Overall,the findings are enlightening for digital startups in implementing business model innovations that are compatible with technical innovations,thereby promoting the digital economy's growth.
Digital StartupsEfficiency-centered Business Model InnovationNovelty-centered Business Model Innova-tionTechnology InnovativenessFirm Performance
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万方数据
