NEBIC: A Dynamic Capabilities Theory for Assessing Net-Enablement

We propose the Net-Enabled Business Innovation Cycle (NEBIC) as an applied dynamic capabilities theory for measuring, predicting, and understanding a firm's ability to create customer value through the business use of digital networks. The theory incorporates both a variance and process view of net-enabled business innovation. It identifies four sequenced constructs: Choosing new IT, Matching Economic Opportunities with technology, Executing Business Innovation for Growth, and Assessing Customer Value, along with the processes and events that interrelate them as a cycle. The sequence of these theorized relationships for net-enablement (NE)¹ asserts that choosing IT precedes rather than aligns with corporate strategy. The theory offers a logically consistent and falsifiable basis for grounding research programs on metrics of net-enabled business innovation.