CASE SELECTION AND SAMPLING OF INFORMATION DRIVEN INNOVATIONS

The unit of analysis is defined as ‘the what or whom being studied (Babbie, 2010, p. 98).’ In this research, multiple organisations were studied. Cases were selected through purposive sampling in which cases selection is based on judgment of the researchers about which cases will be the most useful or representative (Babbie, 2010). Not every organisation is suitable for this research and, therefore, probability sampling was excluded. First, information driven innovations were studied to derive the patterns.

As introduced in chapter 2, information driven innovations were related to the digital enterprise concept. In order to select the cases, a list with cases was composed through a brainstorm session. Cases should be in line with the definition of an information driven innovation. During this session, cases were selected that applied technology changes to deal with data and information in new ways. It became clear that the focus was more on improvements of operational performances instead of business performances. Business performances could not be studied during the case selection, since these detailed insights were not publicly available. As shown in Table 7 and Table 8, the selected cases were relatively young. Through this, it was hard to state if business performances are well. Cases were also briefly analysed by focusing on the key activities regarding data and how these key activities contribute to create, deliver and capture value. From the initial list of cases, five cases were approached to study through field research (exploration phase). All cases that were approached were willing to contribute to this research.

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Before research was done in the field, three cases were studied through desk research (pilot phase). These were also selected via a brainstorm session and brief analyses. It depended also on the availability of public sources which cases were studied through desk research. Well- known, foreign and (in the scope of this research) unattainable cases were selected for desk research.

In line with the explorative nature of this research, information driven innovations were studied from different industries to generate a broad overview of information driven innovations. Case analyses of the selected cases are included in chapter 5 which also justifies why cases are identified as information driven innovations.

Desk research – Pilot phase

Three case studies were investigated through desk research. The main reason was to test and optimise the research framework to study the other cases through field research. This resulted in the definitive research design to study the cases. As a result, field research was improved. Desk research was also done, because it was impossible in the scope of this research to study several (foreign) cases through field research. These cases were studied through other (public available) sources. Paragraph 4.3 explains which sources were used. In addition, case studies via desk research were done to reach the saturation level efficiently, ‘until additional data collected provides few, if any, new insights (Saunders et al., 2009, p. 235).’

Table 7 contains a concise introduction of the desk research cases that were studied. The Full Time Equivalent (FTE) is the ratio of the number of employees that work full-time at a certain organisation. Company profiles are briefly introduced, since chapter 5 contains detailed explanations of the cases.

Case fte Profile

Facebook 8,350 Facebook, founded in 2004, is a social media platform. Their mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected (Facebook, 2014a). Facebook earns money through advertisements. Based on input from the people, marketers create targeted ads. Facebook has 890 million daily active users on average for December 2014 (Facebook, 2014a).

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Uber >1,000 Uber, founded in 2009, is a ridesharing service that connects, real- time, riders to drivers through their apps. Uber is currently available in 250 cities in 54 countries worldwide. They are rapidly expanding their global presence (Uber, 2014a). Uber identifies themselves as an order service instead of a transport company.

Waze 200 Waze, founded in 2008, is an application that provides real-time traffic updates by combining traffic information that is shared by the community of people who use Waze. The more people who use Waze, the better the real-traffic updates get (Waze, 2014a).

Table 7: Desk research cases information driven innovations

Field research – Exploration phase

Five cases were studied through field research in which the research framework was applied. Table 8 contains a concise introduction of the field research cases, since chapter 5 contains detailed explanations of the cases.

Case fte Profile Chipin/

Fairzekering

4 Chipin, founded in 2013, provides technology that measures individual driving behaviour. Fairzekering is the showcase of Chipin to show that the technology works. They give online feedback about, for example, driving behaviour and technical conditions of a vehicle. Fairzekering rewards ‘good’ driving behaviour through premium discounts. Insurance companies, drivers and the society may benefit via, for example, lower premium costs, less accidents, less damage, and improved fuel efficiency. Coosto 70 Coosto, founded in 2010, delivers a tool for social media monitoring

and webcare for other organisations. Coosto dives into social web data and provides in-depth insights into conversations on social media. They acquire data from more than 400,000 social (dynamic) sites, sites where interaction takes place. Users can engage in these conversations with the engagement module.

47 Quby Smart

Thermostat

30 Quby, founded in 2004, is the developer of the Smart Thermostat, better known as the ‘Toon’ thermostat that is provided by Eneco. The Quby Smart Thermostat provides insights in energy use. Through a smart meter or own measurement devices, the Smart Thermostat collects data about energy consumption and presents it in an understandable way (information). Thereby, they change the way how people experience energy.

Sense Health 25 Sense-Health is founded in 2013. The mission of Sense Health (2015a) is ‘to empower people to take control over their health and wellbeing.’ Sense Health focuses mainly on mental healthcare, chronic deceases and employee wellbeing. They create solutions (applications) to provide insight in behaviour and the consequences on people’s wellbeing. Through sensors and applications is individual data and information measured and analysed.

TomTom Traffic

4,000 TomTom, founded in 1991, gained market share by selling Personal Navigation Devices (PND’s) since 2004. TomTom wants to innovate continuously. An example is TomTom Traffic which is introduced in 2010. This is a real-time traffic information service that ‘gets you there faster.’ In order to suggest faster routes, TomTom Traffic uses crowd-sourced data from more than 400 million data sources around the world.

Table 8: Field research cases information driven innovations

4.3. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS INFORMATION DRIVEN