Business model innovation and networks: A case study research

Firms need to consider not only how to better sell new products and services, but also how to capture value from providing new products and services. This means that without a suitable business model (BM), innovators could fail to either deliver or to capture value from their innovations. The present paper investigates how the creation of inter-organizational networks impact on the BM of the participating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The research is based on interviews to entrepreneurs and advisors of eight Italian SMEs that established a network in the Italian sector of furniture. The analysis show that the companies’ engagement in inter-organizational collaborations determines a substantial change in their BMs.