Connected community - a new approach to business strategy
Ion, Elena (2015)
Ion, Elena
Oulun ammattikorkeakoulu
2015
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201501051027
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201501051027
Tiivistelmä
Last 50 years have been witness significant changes in production processes fuelled by rapid technological advances, easy access to information and an ongoing trend towards globalization. As the level of commercial exchanges between countries grew, competition between firms became more intense, concurring to increased and improved product offers and need for continuous innovation. Most firms faced the dilemma of either becoming global players or vanish. In their endeavours to survive or gain supremacy on the market, firms further developed not only their product offering, but also worked out new business models and strategies that helped them to use their resources at their best and strengthen market position. Consequently, last decades have been witness significant shifts from traditional strategic approaches, based on vertical integration, towards promotion of collaboration and innovation in inter-firm relationships, and also visible trends towards diversifying firms' business strategies. As prestigious scholars had noticed correlations between company's success rate and its business model, the study of strategies employed by modern businesses became more wide-spread than before.
The present thesis tries to bring into light one strategic approach that is becoming more and more popular among firms: connected community, also know as open business ecosystem strategy. It involves collaboration between business partners and competitors, for the research and development of innovative products and services that suits best customer's needs. By fostering collaboration and sharing principles, the strategy changes somehow the paradigm that implies the fact that only fierce competition can increase a firm' market share, showing that cooperation and fair practices have potential to play a significant role in an enterprise success.
Using methods specific to case study research, the thesis make the reader understand what is a connected community strategy, how the strategy is applied in real-life situations, what are its benefits, and what kind of challenges could be meet when applying it. Aiming to offer an easy to understand guide about connected community strategy, the thesis combines a wide range of theoretical sources acquired from the works of well-acknowledged scholars, with practical examples from ARM Corp, the case-study company. By being able to offer a comprehensive image about the strategy, the thesis can be used as a stating point for the study of connected community concept, or for the ones willing to adopt an connected community approach in their business environment.
The present thesis tries to bring into light one strategic approach that is becoming more and more popular among firms: connected community, also know as open business ecosystem strategy. It involves collaboration between business partners and competitors, for the research and development of innovative products and services that suits best customer's needs. By fostering collaboration and sharing principles, the strategy changes somehow the paradigm that implies the fact that only fierce competition can increase a firm' market share, showing that cooperation and fair practices have potential to play a significant role in an enterprise success.
Using methods specific to case study research, the thesis make the reader understand what is a connected community strategy, how the strategy is applied in real-life situations, what are its benefits, and what kind of challenges could be meet when applying it. Aiming to offer an easy to understand guide about connected community strategy, the thesis combines a wide range of theoretical sources acquired from the works of well-acknowledged scholars, with practical examples from ARM Corp, the case-study company. By being able to offer a comprehensive image about the strategy, the thesis can be used as a stating point for the study of connected community concept, or for the ones willing to adopt an connected community approach in their business environment.