A Theory of Informedness and Business Network Co-Production

In this theory-building research, we develop a set of propositions to examine the existence, the essential workings, and the conditions for value created and borne by business network co-production. We use transaction cost economics and informedness theory to explain why business network co-production exists; how informedness enhances value; and why customers, a network orchestrator and open standards add value to co-production. We use multiple observations from the public transport industry to validate the theoretical perspectives we develop. Triggered by liberalization and enabled by smart cards, this industry is going through a digital transformation from segmented travel to providing networked travel, where service vendors co-produce customer travel services to produce multimodal customer-oriented services.