Interorganizational relations and organizational capabilities in Internet of Things businesses

The purpose of this research is to quantitatively clarify interorganizational relations and organizational capabilities suitable for IoT (Internet of Things) business. Moreover, we also proposed to look for the reasons why Japanese IoT-related businesses are not necessarily successful. According to prior research, it is thought that open innovation is useful in IoT business. This is because system cooperation and various types of technological knowledge are required of IoT business. Then, there are two general possibilities for the form of open innovation: selection with a large network and a narrow network. That there is much opportunity for outside encounters increases the opportunity for innovation. On the other hand, in reducing the number of cooperation partners and investing strategically in business resources, the success rate of a technological development may increase. Moreover, to utilize an open innovation, an organizational capability that fits an open innovation may be required. According to previous research, in interorganizational relations, selective ability and integration capability are important. It is thought that a high level of selective ability is very important. As compared with typical businesses, it is thought that there is much opportunity to select an external technology in which a company is inexperienced. On the other hand, it is also thought that the integration/coordination ability to advance the cooperation process steadily against the uncertain technology challenges among external organizations becomes important. As a methodology, a questionnaire was carried out to IT-related companies that undertake IoT business. As a result, the character of the interorganizational relations and the organizational capabilities related to profitability in IoT businesses became clear. The study also showed the challenge against organization management of the former type of Japanese firm.