Capability development in open data-driven organizations

Abstract

Open data (OD) is increasingly considered as a core resource for many organizations in the emerging data economy. Open data-driven organizations (ODDOs) like any other organizations must develop capabilities for generating value from OD, agility, and competitiveness to survive. This chapter investigates the salient factors for generating value from OD and agility in a dynamic data ecosystem by developing an operationalization of the Resource-based View Theory (RBV) and Dynamic Capability Theory (DCT) for ODDOs. As a first step towards determining the critical factors for developing value capabilities (VCs) and dynamic capabilities (DCs) in these organizations, we analyzed the information gathered from expert interviews on the saliency of the different aspects and stages of VCs and DCs in developing VCs for a down-stream organization and the agility of an up-stream organization or OD supplier in the data ecosystem. Both frameworks were enhanced based on the feedbacks received from interviewees and as a result new open data value capabilities are discovered. Our findings further suggest that critical factors for DCs differ for organizations in the upstream and downstream sectors, albeit some core elements are shared across sectors in data ecosystem.