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NTU Management Review Vol. 34 No. 3 Dec. 2024

5. Discussions

According to our findings, we discover three primary stages of digital transformation,
aligning with Bonnet (2022) three stages in digital transformation. However, Bonnet (2022)

does not specify how the information is changing, and in the end, digital transformation
can shift business models with advancing devices into solutions. To extend these three
stages, we redefine them by considering information density, actor interaction, and the
steps of digital transformation. Figure 6 shows those three stages and describes the

development of the device into solutions. It also shows the underlying five layers forming
solutions: hardware, data, applications, services, and solutions.

5.1 The Five Layers: From Hardware to Solutions

Before explaining the three stages, as well as how digital transformation can describe
device evolution in the collaborative network, the authors want to disclose five layers that
compose solutions, as we find in the ESL cases: hardware, data, applications, services, and
solutions. “Hardware” here refers to tangible devices or systems that can contribute to the

solutions. Hardware mainly becomes an interface to gain input or display output from the
whole system. For example, connected labeling solutions include ESLs to display product
and price information, as well as handhelds to help employees input information into the
systems and display stored information.

Data are sent and received by hardware, then processed, organized, and structured
to receive information based on different contexts. Hardware changes data and converts
it into a digital format, free to flow through various platforms, such as web and mobile
applications.

An application is in this context a piece of software developed specifically for use in a
different scenario, such as a mobile or web shopping application for customers. According
to our findings, price and product information are dematerialized and converted into a digital
format. With a digital format, data can be transferred to different application platforms more

easily. As the leading actor in the ecosystem, focal actors can connect various applications,
enhancing interconnectivity and interoperability among those platform applications (Wulfert,
Woroch, Strobel, Seufert, and Möller, 2022). The development of applications can rely on
third-party ecosystem complementors to share their resources.

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