The role of capabilities in digital service development and delivery: the case of start-up organisations

PurposeDigital technologies create myriad innovation opportunities and have inspired the establishment of many new start-ups in recent years. Despite the growing knowledge on digital entrepreneurship, few studies explore how start-ups exploit these opportunities to achieve entrepreneurial success. The purpose of this paper is to explore start-ups' capabilities for successful delivery of digital artefacts in a cloud computing infrastructure.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were collected during a qualitative case study of an established start-up in the Chinese market by interviewing 41 interviewees. Informed by the notion of dynamic capabilities and using the Gioia methodology, the case firm's life cycle was analysed in detail.FindingsThe study identifies start-ups' ordinary and dynamic capabilities for successful development and delivery of digital services. The findings provide insights into a portfolio of start-ups' capabilities, namely adaptation, networking, reengineering and refinement.Originality/valueThe study suggests that start-ups' capabilities and underlying entrepreneurial actions determine the degree to which adoption of digital technologies create and transfer value to customers. The study offers specific insights into how start-ups successfully develop and deliver digital artefacts in a cloud infrastructure based on entrepreneurs' prior expertise, vision and accumulated experience.