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

6.3 Limitations and Future Research Directions
Our research has three limitations that can be addressed in future research. First, this
research cannot capture the complexity and compatibility issues during the adoption of
ESL and the co-evolution of the device, due to data limitations. Future studies can help

extend the current investigation by capturing the complexity and compatibility issues in
the digital transformation and co-evolution of the digital device. We expect a prospective
study to raise the existing three stages of digital transformation and help reevaluate the

model by considering the issues regarding complexity and compatibility.
Second, we cannot capture the dynamic governance relationship between three focal
actors to co-evolve and co-create ESL from hardware to connected labeling solutions.
Thomas and Tee (2022) mention that a collective of generative actors generates innovation
in the ecosystem. Nonetheless, we lack sufficient supporting data sources to understand

how actors collaborate in the co-evolution and co-creation processes. Specifically,
according to the ecosystem theory perspective (Autio and Thomas, 2020; Jacobides et
al., 2018; Thomas and Autio, 2019), there are two views on value co-creation processes:

orchestrator-centric and system-community views. Orchestrator-centric views mainly
depend on the key orchestrators, which in our case might be retailers. Another view is
system community, which postulates that innovation comes from complementors and
contributors. We believe that firsthand data from interviews and in-field observation might
benefit future studies addressing this governance issue.

Lastly, ESL is one of the applications of e-paper technology. Recently, a critical
player has been developing the core technology of e-paper, e-ink. ESL system integrators
are also part of the e-Ink ecosystem. However, in this study, we do not capture the role of

e-Ink as the owner of e-paper core technology. Therefore, future research can understand
how e-Ink participates in implementing ESL. Further, the prospective study can also
uncover the implementation of e-paper technology in other sectors, such as automotive,
healthcare, and logistics.

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