LOOKING FOR RESOURCE DENSITY AND LIQUIDITY IN DIGITAL BUSINESS NETWORKS
(A2023-114318)

AUTHORS

Ruiqi Wei, EMLYON Business School; catherine PARDO, emlyon business school

ABSTRACT

In a digital business network, a digital platform connects different actors and combines their resources for value creation. Resource density is key to value co-creation. Resource density is enhanced when the number and variety of resources and/or their combinability at the opportune time and place are boosted. Yet the process of how the platform owner, module providers and suppliers interact to make this happen is still unclear. This research aims to explore how the three actors interact to build a resource density situation that guarantees satisfactory value creation in digital business networks. Based on a qualitative study of a B2B e-commerce digital platform, we identify three ‘strategies’ that are applied by these actors to achieve resource density. The findings demonstrate the usefulness of considering the density concept to explain the role of digital platforms in business networks. ‘Searching for resource density’ is an important driver of business network dynamics.