Business Network Re-Design during the Commercialization of B2B Innovations 

Commercialization of innovations and business networks are topics that have had a lot of interest in the last decades. This research concerns how firms make use of business networks during the commercialization of innovations. The research focuses on a situation where a firm has to enter to an existing business network and to try to find a position in the business network for its new innovation. The firm has to analyze and design a target area business network during the commercialization of the innovation. The firm having the innovation has to make an intervention to the existing business network, and try to manipulate the network to enable the business of its new innovation. Extant literature addresses how to carry out value network analysis, business ecosystem design and business reengineering, but they do not explicitly cover how to reengineer or re-design existing business networks. The research elaborates how firms manage business analysis and design in the business network re-design situation. A framework for business network re-design is created using a case study analyzing eight cases. Furthermore, the framework is tested with one more case using action research approach. The present research contributes to theories by proposing a new framework for business network re-design. The research extends three different extant approaches in the literature to business network re-design situations. The research also proposes some new guidelines for value network analysis, and it shows how co-operation with other parties differ in reorganizing existing business networks compared to designing new ecosystems. Previous studies have suggested that business reengineering can be applied to business network level. The current research shows how this takes place in practice. The present research contributes to practice by introducing a useful construct to practitioners. Entering to a new market might be an unfamiliar and risky issue for many managers. The business network re-design framework helps the managers to take care of the new situation.