Using Fractal Enterprise Modeling in Strategic Analysis with Focus on Intangibles: Empirical Study in Product Innovation

Abstract

This article presents a new meta-modeling approach for intangible resources. The method combines Enterprise Modeling (EM) and the resource value innovation model from the knowledge management (KM) field. In particular, fractal enterprise modeling (FEM) language has been used for constructing the intangible resources’ level of development. The practical application of the proposed method deploys a real case example in the strategic analysis of the organizational change within the product innovation activities. The results imply that the proposed method has a good potential to incorporate the intangibles into EM. First, it has been possible to represent the intangible resources’ level of development. Second, the FEM models produced in the study have been useful in the analysis of how tacit knowledge is acquired and appropriated within the organization’s strategic capability building. The study resulted in producing modeling and analyzing patterns that can be reused in similar situations. The research followed the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology.