The unbounded nature of digital innovation requires innovating firms to be agile in the way they manage the processes, governance and outcomes in order to sense and seize the market directly and timely. This study adopts an inter-organizational approach and asks to what extent and in what way does organizational agility impact on innovation performance? This perspective underscores the interdependencies between collaborating partners, which creates a relationship regulating system of workflow to drive value creation in the process of innovation. While the literature has offered a broad conceptual argument for organizational agility in the context of digital innovation, the mechanisms through which value is transformed in the innovation process is still unclear. We contend that an agile innovation process stands on four main cornerstones: (1) joint strategic planning, (2) joint problem solving, (3) joint improvisation and (4) community (market) sensing. The empirical research is set in the video game industry, which is in a largely digitalized and borderless business environment. The data was collected through an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The sampling frame is based on a Swedish trade association database. Usable sample is 113. We performed structural equation modelling to test the hypothesized model, including main and moderation effects, using Mplus. The findings show that while only improvisation has a significantly positive effect on innovation performance, the role of strategic planning and problem solving between two collaborating partners remains unclear. For example, strategic planning has shown to be a negative influence in our empirical research. Problem solving has no effect on innovation performance, but it interacts with community sensing and subsequently facilitates innovation outcome. This highlights the importance of community sensing, which could offer rich, crucial knowledge and resources for problem solving that proves to be effective. The results provide further theoretical arguments for understanding organizational agility and digital innovation, but also raise further questions for future research.

In the business market, prices are typically subject to negotiation between exchange partners and buyers’ perceptions of the relationships with suppliers have a central role for supplier success and for establishing profitable prices (Hinterhuber & Liozu, 2015). Suppliers that seek to achieve price levels above the average market prices of offerings need to convince buyers of a favorable price/quality ratio (Töytäri, Rajala, & Alejandro, 2015). To date, however, research on absolute prices paid by buyers to suppliers, relative prices paid as compared to the average price level in a product category, or exchange partners’ perceptions of prices charged in business relationships remains limited. Extant work on buyer-supplier relationships has most commonly focused on costs rather than prices as economic outcomes of interest (e.g., Cannon & Homburg, 2001; Kalwani & Narayandas, 1995). The purpose of this research is to deepen the understanding of buyers’ price assessments in business relationships. Specifically, this research seeks to further illuminate how relationship inputs provided by suppliers influence buyers’ assessments of the price level charged and their satisfaction with the price/quality ratio provided by the suppliers. The relationship inputs examined include buyers’ perceptions of supplier relationship-specific investments, long-term orientation, and relationship planning. In addition, this research considers two relationship parameters, that is, buyers’ commitment to the supplier and dependence from the supplier. Based on a sample of executives of different buyer firms, this research examines net effects and combinatory effects of the relationship factors on buyers’ evaluations of economic outlay. While the study of net effects offers insights into the effects of single antecedents on the outcomes across a sample of cases, the analysis of combinatory effects delineates (configurations of) antecedents sufficient for bringing about the outcomes of interest (e.g., Leischnig, Henneberg, & Thornton, 2016). Knowledge of these effects helps assess what relationship inputs and what combinations thereof may act as potential remedies for buyers’ price-related resentment in business The findings of this research show alternative configurations of relationship inputs and relationship characteristics sufficient for the two outcomes of interest. In addition, this research shows that individual relationship inputs and characteristics can have opposite effects on the outcomes, depending on how they combine with other antecedent conditions. Moreover, the results of this research reveal that specific antecedent factors differ in terms of causal coreness for the two outcomes of interest. In summary, these findings add to the net effect analysis and provide a more detailed and nuanced understanding of how relationship attributes impact buyers’ price assessments in business relationships.

The purpose of this research is to disentangle the complex causal patterns of factors for explaining venture capital activity. Based on data from 62 countries, this study analyzes net and combinatory effects of three major sets of antecedent conditions of venture capital activity. Findings inform managers and policy makers.