LEAN STARTUP FOR SUCCESSFUL CORPORATE DIGITAL BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION – A CASE STUDY WITHIN THE GERMAN AUTOMOTIVE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY

Digital technologies increase market dynamics and lead to digital business convergence. They are pushing incumbents to pursue digital business model innovation (BMI). Incumbents employ effectuation logic through the application of the Lean Startup approach (LSA) to achieve digital BMI under such market uncertainties. Although the LSA has proven useful in the field of digital entrepreneurship, its application within incumbents and the concomitant challenges associated with its divergence from prevailing causal logic remain under-explored. This longitudinal embedded single-case study elaborates on the challenges that arise during Lean Startup application in incumbents and how to overcome them. Our results propose two effectual balancing mechanisms to achieve successful corporate digital BMI through the LSA. Furthermore, we contribute to literature by advancing the discussion about the applicability of the LSA to the creation of business model artifacts by not only showing that the LSA is an operational model of effectuation, but also of causation.