From digital capability to digital product innovation: trajectories in a non-digital native spatial design company

Digital capabilities and product innovation are essential for the innovative development of non-digital native enterprises. This study investigates J Company's AI design platform from the perspective of opportunity-resource interaction, analysing how such enterprises navigate digital innovation barriers during the ‘0 to 1’ phase of digital product development. The research results show that the digital product innovation process involves integrating multiple resources, constructing, optimising, and realising opportunities. This process consists of three stages: (1) The initial concept development stage emphasises identifying ‘digital DNA’ aligned with the enterprise's characteristics to guide product innovation; (2) The product prototype design stage addresses the enterprise's digital deficiencies through restructuring its digital architecture while refining the product proposal; (3) The rapid product iteration stage integrates co-created digital intelligence modules with various resources and capabilities to ensure efficient product development. Additionally, digital product innovation follows a ‘continuous iteration’ logic, where evolving collaborations with external organisations and iterative advancements in digital capabilities drive dynamic adjustments in resource allocation and opportunity recognition. By leveraging the interplay between resources and opportunities, enterprises optimise their resource allocation structures and opportunity sets, thereby advancing the innovation process systematically.