Paper ID

2656

Paper Type

full

Description

Openness is often deeply embedded in information technology (IT); it can be both a driver for and a result of new forms of dealing with information resources and can make major differences for businesses. Resource-level theories explain competitive advantages and differences in the performance of firms through their exclusive possession and use of valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources. Increasingly, though, we find an interesting “openness” phenomenon in business practice: firms such as IBM, Google, Tesla, Facebook, and Apple have opened once proprietary VRIN information resources (e.g., digital content, code, and APIs) to public use via the Internet. Such open strategies challenge traditional resource-level theories that suggest protecting such resources rather than giving them away for free. We provide a theoretical explanation based on combining insights in the literatures on openness, value creation, and resource-level theories. We develop (1) the concept of “resources openness” in its two dimensions, access and control, and (2) a theoretical model to explain the impacts of these two openness dimensions on firms’ value creation and value appropriation. The paper increases our understanding of the nature and implications of openness.

Share

COinS
 

Open Resource-Based View (ORBV): A Theory of Resource Openness

Openness is often deeply embedded in information technology (IT); it can be both a driver for and a result of new forms of dealing with information resources and can make major differences for businesses. Resource-level theories explain competitive advantages and differences in the performance of firms through their exclusive possession and use of valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources. Increasingly, though, we find an interesting “openness” phenomenon in business practice: firms such as IBM, Google, Tesla, Facebook, and Apple have opened once proprietary VRIN information resources (e.g., digital content, code, and APIs) to public use via the Internet. Such open strategies challenge traditional resource-level theories that suggest protecting such resources rather than giving them away for free. We provide a theoretical explanation based on combining insights in the literatures on openness, value creation, and resource-level theories. We develop (1) the concept of “resources openness” in its two dimensions, access and control, and (2) a theoretical model to explain the impacts of these two openness dimensions on firms’ value creation and value appropriation. The paper increases our understanding of the nature and implications of openness.