Autonomous Driving and the Emergence of New Ecosystems: Cognitive Antecedents, Forms of Ecosystem Strategies, and Corporate Resource Mobilization

Abstract

In times of emerging technologies and increasingly intertwined ecosystems, traditional incumbents are confronted with radically changing environments. They may gain or lose positions from their initial situation, depending on their adaptability to novel ecosystem structures and new market entrants. They face in particular challenges in ecosystems characterized by multifaceted complexities across technological, market, legal, and societal dimensions. Empirical studies of incumbents like the case of Kodak, Blockbuster, and Polaroid have shown how large firms that were successful in the past failed to make sense of the emerging technology and became obsolete. To complement the research on incumbents, I aim to shed light on the incumbents’ conditions in the context of emerging ecosystems and their ability to create and capture value. This dissertation studies strategic management as well as corporate entrepreneurship inquiries in an incumbent setting during the ecosystem emergence. The context of autonomous driving—a technology that stimulates new forms of ecosystems—builds the framework of the dissertation. Paper 1 focuses on the intra-corporate sensemaking of a single incumbent. It addresses the research question of how incumbents define important components and bottlenecks of an emerging ecosystem and how they construct their strategic response to important ecosystem events. The study examines the cognitive antecedents and potential bias of an incumbent’s ecosystem strategy. The in-depth empirical study of a single firm points at four themes which influence the incumbent’s sensemaking and thus the strategic response in forming the ecosystem strategy: the established business model logic, the overvaluation of the firm’s core competences, the distinct patterns of intra-corporate sensemaking, and the embedded resource allocation tactics. Paper 2 deals with the hype dynamics of autonomous driving, how these lead to changing corporate strategic foci and a challenge for corporate entrepreneurs in mobilizing resources. Corporate entrepreneurs with novel ideas that require a long-time horizon to commercialize may struggle to meet short-term oriented corporate performance criteria and stakeholder expectations. This study examines a decade-long case of a specific innovation project and suggests that corporate entrepreneurs can leverage both multiple hypes and material proof to navigate changing stakeholder expectations in case of hype disillusionment and the resulting risk of terminating the project too early. Paper 3 outlines a teaching case of a corporate innovation project applying the autonomous technology in the parking domain. The case describes the shifting paradigms in the automotive industry as well as the digital transformation within the incumbent firm. The teaching case addresses the challenges of a corporate entrepreneur in meeting stakeholder expectations while pursuing a novel idea that demands longer commercialization period against corporate expectations. This setting is particularly conducive for MBA students to learn how to strategically position innovation projects in a corporate setting to cushion hype dynamics, overcome hype disappointment, and still gain stakeholder interest. Paper 4 represents an outside-in view on the ecosystem strategies of incumbents as well as new market entrants. It takes stock of the maturity of the autonomous driving ecosystem and examines the opportunities and risks of the identified value creation strategies. It also addresses the value capture options of either integrating incumbents into the ecosystem building or constructing a entirely new blueprint of the ecosystem. This paper emphasizes the importance of the time in the market to experiment as well as build its ecosystem position. Taking all four papers into consideration, this dissertation presents empirical insights contributing to the ecosystem, cognition, hype, and corporate entrepreneurship literature. It aims to create in particular an understanding of the interplay of incumbent sensemaking and ecosystem strategy as well as the interplay of cultural and material practices in corporate entrepreneurship.