Abstract

The shift from a stand-alone innovation approach to networked innovation can pose several challenges to a Small Business with reference to the resources, competencies and capabilities (R&C&C) leveraged on to achieve competitive advantage. The present study analyzes this issue, proposing a resource-based fuzzy framework to investigate the effect of such change on a Mobile Small Business’ resource endowment. The focus at the empirical level is on the rise of the mobile application store model as a substitute to the original mobile portal model, carrying out multiple case studies and applying fuzzy set theory on an extensive set of significant companies. The original framework first focuses on identifying and categorizing Mobile SMEs’ R&C&C through the case studies; these R&C&C are then turned into fuzzy numbers, and their core status is assessed by means of linguistic scales. The framework’s results show how some traditionally fundamental resources in the Operators-centric paradigm (e.g. portal access; responsiveness to Operators’ requests) fell to a non-core status, while others, largely related to open innovation, external partnerships orchestration and resilience, are gradually becoming key to create and consolidate competitive advantage.

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