Transcending Organizational Boundaries: Exploring intra- and inter-organizational processes of business model innovation in a port authority

This thesis explores how processes of business model innovation can unfold
in a port authority by transcending organizational boundaries through
inter-organizational collaboration. The findings contribute to two fields of
academic inquiry: the study of business model innovation and the study of
how the roles of port authorities evolve. This contribution is made by combining
the two fields, where the study of business model innovation is used
as an analytical concept for understanding the evolution of port authorities,
and where the study of port authorities is used as a contextual setting for
elaborating the understanding of business model innovation processes.
The findings are advanced based on real-time process studies and iterations
of abductive and retroductive research cycles founded in a critical realist
perspective. These research cycles have unfolded through real-time process
studies by applying the engaged scholarship approach, thereby providing
a methodological contribution to both port and business model research.
Emphasizing the interplay of intra- and inter-organizational business model
innovation, the thesis adds insight into the roles of port authorities, business
model trends in port development, the interplay of macro, meso, and
micro-levels in port development and business model innovation, and the
concept of collaborative business model innovation.