3. Methodology 23
3.2 Data collection and analysis 24
3.2.1 Study 1 − Surviving Disruptive Innovation 24
The first study that was performed within the scope of this PhD research concerned the problems incumbent firms face under conditions of disruptive technological change. The main purpose of this study was to gain practical and detailed insight into the challenges related to this kind of shifts. Additionally, the study aimed to address how and why disruptive innovations prosper in an established value network and what challenges incumbent firms encounter in these situations.
In order to explore this further, a camera manufacturer named Hasselblad was targeted. The firm was approached since it had gone through a technological shift recently and encountered significant difficulties when doing so. The change from analog to digital imaging implied that the company went from stable profits to collapsing revenues within only a couple of years. An additional reason for studying a firm that had experienced the shift to digital imaging is that Christensen (1997) stated that this was a disruptive technology vis-à-vis analog photography. 20
While many articles had been written in the popular press about how Hasselblad had ‘overslept’ the digital revolution, no one had really performed a detailed investigation of what actually happened to the company. This fact created further reason to study the fate of Hasselblad. An additional reason for targeting this company was its geographical proximity and the opportunity to approach key persons who had been working at the company. It turned out that the firm had explored digital imaging in various applications since the late 1970s. In order to fully understand the problems that were encountered, a historical study of the company was deemed to be the right method. By doing so, insights could be gained regarding how a disruptive innovation emerges and what challenges a firm encounters when trying to commercialize it. Given that disruption is a relative phenomenon and that these events take place during a long period of time, a study of this firm provided an opportunity to study the dynamics of the process in a comprehensive way.
20
Christensen (1997, p. xxix) stated that digital imaging was a disruptive technology that would displace silver halide photographic film. While it is clear that a technological shift has occurred and that it has caused a lot of industrial turbulence, it is still interesting to look at this shift in retrospective and see how the transition took place and why some established firms encountered problems.
Study 5 Disruptiv
e
innovation and business mo
del
renewal
Explore barriers and enablers of business model rene
wal in
rela
tion to disruptiv
e
innovation Product and business model Qualita
tive
: multiple
case study Interv
iews
Table 1 gives an overview of the studies that have
been conducted within th
e scope of this thesis.
Study 4 Facit and th e displacemen t of mechan ical calcu lato rs
Investigate how and why a disruptive innovation may emerge in a high-end or mains
tre
am marke
t
Firm level Qualita
tive
: in-dep
th
historical case study Interv
iews, archiv
al
studies
Study 3
Inhibitors and trigg
ers of
discontinuous innovation
Explore what factors influ
ence th
e success
or failure of discontinuous innovations Product and business model Qualitative s
tudy of
nine discontinuous product innovations and their success or failure Interv
iews,
discussions, workshops
Study 2 Managing
discontinuous innovation
To understand how firms work a
ctive
ly
with generating discontinuous innovations Firm level and product level Qualita
tive
: multiple
case study, combined with some quantitative data Interv
iews,
discussions, workshops, access to innovation idea databases
Study 1 Surviving disruptive innovation
Explore disruptive innovation empirically Firm level Qualita
tive
:
in-dep
th
historical case study Interv
iews,
access to inte
rnal
documents
Though no formal relationship with Hasselblad has been maintained, extensive amounts of information have been accessed. After having performed a couple of open-ended interviews with people who have been in top management positions at Hasselblad over the years, plenty of internal documents such as annual reports, strategy documents, business plans and mail conversations were reviewed (see Table 2 and 3 on the following pages). Archival sources can be regarded as a good complement to other sources of data. Such data can help the researcher to comprehend how certain events unfolded over time and to understand what certain actors did at a certain point in time. But when only using such sources, it may lead to a fragmented view with a lack of contextual understanding (Flick, 2006).
In this study, archival data were mainly used in order to ensure the accuracy of the information obtained from the conducted interviews. Former CEOs and managers of R&D and business development have been accessed in order to understand the specific challenges they faced when shifting from analog to digital imaging. The field research interviews began with general open-ended questions, asking the interviewees how they perceived the challenges posed by the disruptive technology and how they tried to deal with them. Follow- up interviews and discussions also took place in order to confirm that the gathered information had been interpreted correctly. This interaction has taken place over more than two years, and often the follow-up discussions have been held by phone. It is difficult to estimate how much time this work sums up to, but it is clear that these sessions have helped to verify and sometimes nuance certain findings. Additionally, some email correspondence with photographers who had experienced the technological shift has taken place, mainly in order to confirm the firm-internal sources.
The data collection and analysis have largely been conducted in parallel, thus following an abductive approach to research (Dubois and Gadde, 2002). After the first round of data collection in 2007, the data were discussed and analyzed during several sessions together with the other authors of the first appended article. Based on these interactions, a first write- up and within-case analysis was performed, which eventually resulted in the first paper. One way of structuring such an analysis is to put information in chronological order and to identify certain key events (Miles and Huberman, 1994). This approach was employed and a couple of critical events were identified by observing that many interviewees referred to certain incidents. These include for instance when Sony launched one of the first cameras not using film in 1981, the founding of Hasselblad Electronic Imaging in 1985, the attempts at developing a digital camera in the 1990s, the ownership changes that took place and the development of a new camera system in the late 1990s.
Type of document Time
Hasselblad annual reports, Hasselblad Electronic Imaging Annual reports 1984-1994, 1985-1992
Minutes from board meetings 1989-1995
2 Internal company presentations regarding digital imaging 1997, 1997 Mail conversation between the R&D manager and the CEO 1995; 14/2, 1996;
8/10,1995
Internal memorandums regarding digital imaging 27/10, 1992; 14/6,
1997; 14/8, 1995; 1996*21; 13/1, 1997; 1994-95; 16/6, 1996; 6/1, 1997; 9/10, 1996
Report concerning Hasselblad Electronic Imaging June, 1993
Minutes from meetings at the division for digital photography 24-25/3, 1994, 18/8, 1995
The Tokyo Meeting (on product strategies for the future) Short summary 1996
New Camera – Market Research and Concept Studies 7/4, 1997
Minutes from 14 product board meetings 1996-1998
A proposal for a new analog camera system 4/7, 1997
Product Proposal – Wedding photographer’s digital camera system 13/5, 1996
Mail conversations between the digital and analog R&D managers 19/2, 1998; 3/4, 1997 Business plans − technical photography and digital imaging 14/5, 1998; 27/2, 1998
Mail conversation between Hasselblad and Philips 4/9 – 22/11 1997
Requirements and preferences in the Project Crystal Ball 30/8, 1995
The “Facit” crisis of Hasselblad, internal PM 1/1, 1994
A proposal regarding tasks for the division of digital photography 27/2, 1997
Mail conversation between an R&D manager and UBS 16/1, 1997
Agreement for a CCD sensor component between Hasselblad and Philips 3/11, 1994 PM “The exclusivity issue of the Philips FT19 CCD-sensor” 2/9, 1996
Hasselblad product development process 6/6, 1995
Summary of the Hasselblad International Marketing Conference 19/4, 1991 Report to the Hasselblad foundation about the future of digital imaging November, 1997
PM regarding corporate culture at HEIAB 10/9, 1990
Meeting notes: Distribution Strategy & Hasselblad Customer Care 23,4, 1996
Interaction with Leaf Systems 9/4, 1996; 29/3, 1996
Hasselblad “Works” − Digital Photography Business Concept 22/4, 1996
Area sensors for High Quality Digital Cameras 1996*
Minutes from meeting regarding Digital Photography Strategy 24/4, 1996
Concept study of digital flexbody and an internal PM on the subject 1997*; 19/6, 1996 Definition and positioning of products for digital imaging 11/5, 1993
The mK*nK image sensor, by Philips Imaging Technology 1995
Table 2 provides an overview of some of the most important archival sources that have been accessed in this study.
21 The documents which are marked with a * in the right hand column do not have a date on them, they have been dated according to where in the archives they have been found.
Respondent title Respondent function Interaction Three CEOs from the
period 1976-2004 In charge of creating and enacting the corporate strategy. Four interviews, totaling approximately twelve hours.
CFO, 1978-2004 Responsible for financial issues. Three interviews, totaling more than ten hours, extensive discussions and follow-up interaction. Board member, 1990-2006 Labour union representative Two interviews, totaling
about five hours, discussions by phone. R&D Manager, 1979-1998 Founder and CEO of the subsidiary
Hasselblad Electronic Imaging (HEIAB), 1985-1992, responsible for digital photography, 1992- 1996.
Three interviews, in total more than ten hours. Several follow-up discussions both by phone, mail and in person.
Market Manager and developer of digital business strategy, 1996- 2004
Area manager in South America during the 1990s, in charge of digital business development for several years.
Three interviews of about 10 hours in total. Several mail conversations and discussions by phone. Three electronics
engineers
Worked at HEIAB and then on digital imaging in the 1990s.
Three interviews, in total about five hours.
Hasselblad manager In charge of the Swedish
operations for several recent years. One interview, about one hour. Table 3 contains information about some of the people who were interviewed within the scope of this study as well as their functions and the kinds of interactions that have taken place.
After this first round of data collection and analysis, theory on disruptive innovation was revisited and it became clear that this case exhibited some characteristics that made it theoretically interesting. Digital imaging had unlike many historical examples emerged in the established value network of the incumbent firm Hasselblad. Hence, the case presented an interesting contrast to the typical pattern of low-end disruption as described by Christensen (1997), and therefore offered an opportunity to explore how a disruptive technology prospers in an established value network. Moreover, the fact that Hasselblad’s customers demanded digital photography at a rather early point as a complement to analog photography made it possible to study other parameters than the customer, and thereby to address in what ways a disruptive innovation is a business model problem. These observations triggered additional research into the case. The study therefore went into further detail regarding how and why
digital imaging prospered in this value network and what challenges the studied firm encountered. Questions related to these issues were asked to at least two senior managers from one era and compared to the internal documents that had been accessed.
The case descriptions about Hasselblad emerged once similarities had been observed between the archival data and the interview data, thereby triangulating the findings. The large amounts of primary and secondary sources of evidence along with the follow-up sessions should most likely have resulted in an accurate interpretation of the studied events. A detailed case description of approximately 50 pages was written based upon these data and another within-case analysis was performed. The second appended paper and the description of the Hasselblad case in the third paper emerged from this analysis.