Only senior managers lead business model innovation, or do they? : Levels of management and dynamic capability deployment

Abstract

Previous research has provided valuable insights into the connection between market-driving strategies, business model innovation, and dynamic capabilities. However, several open questions remain. In this abductive study of a leading medical devices manufacturer, we investigate the roles various employees play in market-driving firms. We focus on how senior and middle managers as well as non-managers contribute to a firm's sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring to drive business model changes towards digital servitization and customer centricity. Our primary contributions lie in filling the knowledge gap in understanding the role employees at different levels of management play in market-driving strategies, as enacted through dynamic capability deployment, to support BMI. Second, we advance knowledge by stressing that a sole focus on senior managers provides an incomplete understanding of how firms engage in market-driving strategies.