Digital Entrepreneurship in a Traditional Production Firm: A Longitudinal Case Study

Through a longitudinal case study this paper explores the repercussions from introducing a mobile commerce platform as just another instrument in the marketing toolbox in a traditional sales-oriented firm. Findings suggest that the implementation of the M-platform in addition to its intended purpose spawns a digital business model that allows the company to change its relations to distributors, retailers and customers enabling access to direct communication with end-users. However, the emerging new business model has the potential to change the organization entirely. This paper argues that although the emerging business model was indeed a success seen from a sales-, marketing-, innovative-, and relational perspective, it was perceived as a disaster from an organizational perspective. Consequently, top management abandoned the new platform. The paper highlights the importance of not underestimating resistance in an organization when implementing a new marketing instrument such as M-commerce platforms.