At present, the vast majority of technology-based enterprises attach great importance to the construction of digital technology and regard it as the primary way for enterprise business model innovation. Business models are the fundamental way for technology-based enterprises to obtain and create value. Although the application of digital technology brings great potential for innovation in business models, no digital technology can be separated from enterprise practice. The commercialization capability of technology is an important way to test the application of digital technology, but existing research has rarely explored the mechanism of the interaction between digital technology and business model innovation based on the commercialization capability of technology.
The resource-based view holds that enterprises are composed of a large number of resource bundles containing resources and capabilities, which mainly involve fixed assets, human resources, and organizational resources. Combining with the theory of dynamic capabilities, enterprises must cultivate sustainable advantages in the face of the ever-changing external environment to effectively cope with the uncertainty and resource consumption of the external environment. In the face of uncertain external environments, digital technology can help enterprises reduce the adverse impact of the environment on their economic activities. How to successfully transform the achievements brought by digital technology into services or products that meet market demand, enhance the enterprises' technological commercialization capability, and promote business model innovation is an urgent problem to be solved.
This study summarizes the relationship between digital technology and business model innovation by reviewing previous relevant literature, taking into account the uncertainty of the external environment, and constructing a conceptual model of the relationship between the two based on theories such as dynamic capabilities. A total of 356 valid samples are collected through a questionnaire survey, and an empirical test is conducted using a partial least squares structural equation model. The results indicate that (1) digital technology has a significant positive impact on business model innovation. Digital technology capabilities have a positive impact on enterprise digital product development and business model innovation. Digital technology can indicate the direction for enterprise digital transformation, enhance the sensitivity of enterprise digital strategy, enable enterprises to set more suitable development goals and timely improve organizational structure, thereby driving innovation in business models and anchoring digital direction; (2) the commercialization capability of technology plays a mediating role between digital technology and business model innovation. Digital technology can improve the success rate of technology commercialization in technology-based enterprises. On the one hand, digital technology can provide support for the competitiveness of enterprises and provide a technological platform for the commercialization of enterprise technology. On the other hand, digital technology can transform the production, interaction mode, and product commercialization channels of economic entities, reduce enterprise costs, and innovate business models based on digital technology platforms, which will become the future trend; (3) the relationship between the commercialization capability of environmental uncertainty negative regulation technology and business model innovation. The business model itself is a complex system. When the external environment is highly uncertain, it is difficult for enterprises to obtain resources. Usually, they cannot quickly break through their own resource constraints and barriers in the market and within the enterprise, making innovation activities more complex.
Therefore, first, enterprises need to choose appropriate digital innovation strategies according to their actual production processes, organizational structures for the innovation of their business models. Second, the commercialization capability of technology not only has a direct impact on the innovation of business models in enterprises, but also greatly enhances the positive correlation between digital technology and business model innovation. When a company's technological commercialization capability is improved, its dynamic grasp of the market will be more accurate, and it will be able to timely discover new opportunities in the constantly changing market. Finally, the development of technology-based enterprises is also deeply influenced by the external environment. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor real-time changes in their external environment for technology-based enterprises to better respond to changes in the external environment, improve their technological commercialization capability, and ensure the effectiveness of their business model innovation.