Do Contextual Factors Matter? A Missing Link Between Competitive Strategies–Dynamic Capabilities Alignment and e‐Business Value

Abstract

Technological, organizational, and environmental contextual factors alter the ability of e‐businesses to derive value from competitive strategies–dynamic capabilities alignment.

The Adoption and Impact of ICT in South African SMEs

“…The complexity of a technology creates uncertainty for successful implementation, and therefore increases the risk in using that technology (Premkumar and Roberts, ). It is important to investigate the extent to which changes and innovations brought about by technology affect the ability of a firm to derive value from its configuration of strategies (Rashidirad et al ., ).…”

‘Reductionistic’ and ‘Holistic’ Views of Resource‐Based Theory: A Review of the Literature

“…However, most of the studies have failed to explicate how the relationship between RBT constructs may moderate in different contexts. While there are a few studies (e.g., Drnevich and Kriauciunas, ; Pavlou and El Sawy, ) which address the impact of environmental and market dynamics from a reductionistic approach, we could hardly find any studies (e.g., Rashidirad et al ., ) from a holistic perspective to evaluate the moderating impact of contextual factors on the relationship between RBT constructs and performance or value.…”

Emerging digital business models in developing economies: The case of Cameroon

“…By demonstrating that many businesses cannot describe what their business model is, Baden‐Fuller and Morgan ( ) suggest the need to focus on the extent to which a firm’s owner‐manager’s decisions are consciously or unconsciously in line with business model thinking. This is where contextual factors (technology, environment, and organizational) can be crucial (Rashidirad et al, ), especially in under‐researched developing world contexts providing added lens to review existing theories (Gomes et al, ; Vendrell‐Herrero, Gomes, et al, 2017). Contextual factors can either facilitate or constrain the use of business models by entrepreneurs to choose a “path to follow to refine their positioning, choice of product‐service features to emphasize to attract potential investors” (Doganova & Eyquem‐Renault, 2009, p. 1566) and customers (DaSilva & Trkman, 2014).…”

“…Empirically, we draw on Cameroon as our research context, from which we content‐analyzed interviews with entrepreneurs and owner‐managers (Kimbu & Ngoasong, ), leading to the development of 12 mini case studies of digital business models. Therefore, in addition to applying the business model framework to uncover the nature of digital business models in under‐researched settings, this article also contributes to strategic change literature by showing the effects of contextual factors (technology, environment and organizational) (Bustinza, Gomes, Vendrell‐Herrero, & Baines, in press; Gomes, Angwin, Peter, & Mellahi, ; Rashidirad, Soltani, & Salimian, ; Vendrell‐Herrero, Gomes, Mellahi, & Child, ) in the success, or otherwise, of “the strategies, structures, and decision‐making processes” (Brady & Saranga, , p. 340) that microdigital businesses use to attempt to create and capture revenue (Schlie et al, ). The study is organized as follows.…”