Investigating the impact of digital transformation on manufacturers’ Business model: Insights from Swedish industry

Abstract

Digital transformation (DT) triggers a fundamental technological shift in industry enabling the creation of smart and connected factories. DT is not only a technology-driven innovation approach: it also requires changes of the Business Model (BM). Despite this, there is a lack of comprehensive studies that examine how aspects of manufacturing digitalisation align with the Business Model Innovation (BMI) process. To address this gap, this paper analyses the DT journey of several Swedish medium and large firms through semi-structured interviews with staff involved in such process. The empirical findings reveal that the BM elements addressing value creation and strategy aspects are the most affected by DT. Additionally, this study identifies the links among such elements. The findings are compiled in a holistic framework that can serve as a blueprint for practitioners seeking to adopt digital technologies in their production environments. This holistic approach aims at supporting practitioners to understand the BMI process triggered by DT and consequently aligning their manufacturing strategy with the BM’s components.

Keywords

• Digital transformation
• Manufacturing
• Business model
• Business model innovation
• Digitalization level
• Semi-structured interviews