Can a High-Tech Breakthrough Approach Deliver Novel Supply and Demand Solutions? A Study of Digital Cinema Rollout.
Author
Culkin, Nigel
Attention
2299/19052
Abstract
Digitalization
is
the
process
of
making
digital
everything
that
can
be
digitised
to
change
a
business
model
and
provide
new
revenue
and
value-‐producing
opportunities.
However,
difficulties
exist
in
evaluating
the
value
created
by
digital
technology
investments
in
organisations,
industry
structures,
economies
and
society,
at
large.
My
dissertation
illustrates
how
the
distinct
characteristics
of
digital
technologies
are
implicit
in
an
evolution
from
stable
to
fragile
product
innovation;
while
highlighting
the
need
for
a
dynamic
approach
to
entrepreneurial
innovation
within
national
innovation
systems.
The
foundations
for
my
work
are
bound
up
in
the
digitalization
of
value
networks,
and
the
context
for
this
research
is
digital
cinema
–
a
process
that
began
in
2000.
Digital
cinema
offered
a
new
value
proposition
to
distributors
and
significant
cost
reductions
for
the
US
studios.
With
a
reliance
on
a
highly
developed
value
chain
to
protect
intellectual
property,
these
studios
sought
to
learn
from
the
disruption
digitalization
caused
to
the
music
industry,
by
cultivating
digital
technology
as
an,
incremental
innovation,
in
replacing
celluloid
with
bytes
to
project
content
to
cinema
audiences.
Global
digital
cinema
penetration
in
2014
stood
at
90
per
cent
of
the
total
screen
footprint.
The
dissertation
assesses
features
of
this
digital
rollout
that
have
been
under-‐
explored;
including
the
role
digital
technology
has
assumed
in
process
and
product
innovation;
and,
the
behavioural
responses
of
both
incumbents
and
new
entrants
during
the
diffusion
and
adoption
phase.
My
dissertation
is
supported
by
eight
published
papers,
which
highlight
the
need
for
domestic
policymakers
to
focus
their
attention
on
emerging
entrepreneurial
innovations;
the
utilisation
of
current
knowledge
and
strategies
for
novel
solutions
in
order
to
strengthen
their
respective
national
innovation
systems.
Taken
together
they
help
explain
the
creation,
diffusion
and
adoption
of
digital
cinema,
explore
the
new
content
creation
opportunities
they
support,
and
explain
how
three
nations
in
particular
have
sought
to
innovate
and
reorientate
themselves
in
relation
to
these
novel
phenomena.
The
wider
implications
of
the
findings
of
the
project
build
on
the
innovation
literature
in
examining
the
diffusion,
adoption
and
knowledge
acquisition
during
the
rollout
of
digital
cinema
technology.
These
findings
suggest
a
radically
different
reading
of
both
disruptive
innovations
and
national
innovation
systems
than
has
been
offered
in
previous
accounts,
viewing
the
digital
cinema
rollout
as
a
case
study
of
an
increasingly
mobile
sector,
in
which
technological
factors
retreat
in
importance
behind
entrepreneurial
innovation
as
a
key
driving
force
in
reaching
audiences.
Finally,
in
exploring
the
phenomenon
of
the
digitalization
of
value
networks
I
have
made
a
significant
contribution
to
knowledge
in
the
design
of
an
innovative
mixed
method;
specifically
in
the
area
of
field
research
-‐
a
qualitative
data
collection
method
designed
for
considering,
observing,
and
interacting
with
individuals
in
their
natural
environments.
Over
time,
I
have
established
that
digital
cinema
was
capable
of
delivering
novel
supply
and
demand
solutions
-‐
starting
with
a
few
unrelated
scraps
of
data,
through
the
establishment
of
personal
networks
with
communities
of
practice
(in
the
UK,
US
&
Norway)
to
building
rich,
and
complex
quantitative
data
sets
capable
of
measuring
the
entire
diffusion
and
adoption
phase
of
the
digital
cinema
rollout,
right
across
Europe.
Publication date
2017-07-24Published version
https://doi.org/10.18745/th.19052https://doi.org/10.18745/th.19052