Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
3-2019
Abstract
Disruptive digital innovation (DDI) often creates hypercompetitive market environment that forces firms to be agile to survive and remain competitive. Whereas most studies have focused on larger firms' effort to be agile, few have looked at how small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) respond to DDI. The study attempts to answer the research question of how SMEs achieve agility to respond to DDI. Drawing on a case study of an innovative SME, our study develops a framework on agility based on the processes of mitigating organizational rigidity, developing innovative capabilities, and balancing the tension of organizational ambidexterity. Specifically, our findings show that for SMEs, mitigating organizational rigidity is enabled by the mechanism of achieving boundary openness while developing innovative capability is enabled by the mechanism of achieving organizational adaptability. At the same time, given the inherent challenges of resource constraints, SMEs also need to balance the tension of organizational ambidexterity.
Keywords
agility, capability, case study, disruptive digital innovation, rigidity, small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises, Singapore, Elixir Technology
Discipline
Asian Studies | Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Technology and Innovation
Research Areas
Accounting Information System
Publication
Information Systems Journal
Volume
29
Issue
2
First Page
436
Last Page
455
ISSN
1350-1917
Identifier
10.1111/isj.12215
Publisher
Wiley: 12 months
Citation
CHAN, Calvin M. L.; TEOH, Say Yen; YEOW, Adrian; and PAN, Gary.
Agility in responding to disruptive digital innovation: Case study of an SME. (2019). Information Systems Journal. 29, (2), 436-455.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/1831
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12215
Included in
Asian Studies Commons, Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons, Technology and Innovation Commons