How Do Market Standards Inhibit the Enactment of Digital Capabilities?

Authors

Daniel Fürstenau, Freie Universitat BerlinFollow
Catherine Cleophas, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu KielFollow
Natalia Kliewer, Freie Universität BerlinFollow

Document Type

Research Paper

Abstract

Digital capabilities can improve organizations’ performance by supporting complex decision-making processes. However, when market standards constrain their enactment, the potential benefits promised by digital capabilities do not realize. The paper explores this tension by means of the critical case of a European airline, which had difficulty to enact a novel pricing approach and finds that market standards are entrenched in the airline’s pricing and distribution ecosystem. This causes the organization to focus on local improvements and IT-based workarounds instead of enacting a dramatically new and potentially improved digital pricing capability.

Recommended Citation

Fürstenau, Daniel; Cleophas, Catherine; and Kliewer, Natalia (2020) "How Do Market Standards Inhibit the Enactment of Digital Capabilities?," Business & Information Systems Engineering: Vol. 62: Iss. 4, 279-287.
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/bise/vol62/iss4/2