Inter-industry innovations in terms of electric mobility: Should firms take a look outside their industry? Research Paper Inter-industry innovations in terms of electric mobility: Should firms take a look outside their industry? Stephan von Delft* * University of Münster, Institute of Business Administration at the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Leonardo-Campus 1, 48149 Münster, Germany,
[email protected] The beginning electrification of the automotive powertrain is supposed to have a major impact on the automobile value chain - reshaping it significantly and brin- ging up new alliances, business models and knowledge bases. Such a transforma- tion of the value chain might fade boundaries between hitherto distinct knowled- ge bases, technologies, or industries. Over the past decades, the blurring of indus- try boundaries – the phenomenon of industry convergence – has gained attenti- on from researchers and practitioners. The anticipation of a convergence process plays an important role for strategic and innovation management decisions, e.g. for new business development, mergers and acquisitions or strategic partnerships. However, despite the relevance of convergence, it is often challenging for incum- bent firms to (1) foresee such a transformation of their environment, and (2) res- pond strategically to it. Hence, this study presents a tool to anticipate convergen- ce and strategic implications are discussed. 1 Introduction stitute rules of conducting business” (Hacklin et al., 2009, p. 723). Firms facing such a situation, thus Technological change is known as a key driver have to adapt to new knowledge bases and new of economic growth and prosperity (Schumpeter, technologies which do not belong to their former 1947; Abernathy and Utterback, 1978; Kondratieff, core competences or their traditional expertise 1979).