Abstract
Purpose: This qualitative research proposal aims to examine how digital transformation reshapes value logic in business-to-business (B2B) professional service firms operating in complex, regulation-intensive environments. Specifically, the study seeks to explore how a China-based professional service provider in the firefighting, emergency safety, and intelligent industrial solutions sector reconfigures its value proposition, service delivery mechanisms, and value capture strategies amid ongoing digital transformation.
Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative single-case study design. Data will be collected through semi-structured interviews with organizational leaders and key stakeholders, supplemented by internal documents, strategic reports, and archival materials. Data analysis will employ process tracing and pattern matching techniques to identify critical transformation phases, decision points, tensions, and adaptive responses associated with the firm’s digitalization efforts.
Theoretical Framework: The study is guided by an integrated theoretical framework that draws on service-dominant logic, dynamic capabilities theory, and business model innovation. Together, these perspectives provide a lens for understanding how digital technologies, such as datafication, platformization, and AI-enabled tools, interact with organizational capabilities, service design, and evolving customer expectations in B2B professional service contexts.
Findings: It is anticipated that the analysis will reveal a non-linear evolution of value logic characterized by experimentation, internal tension, and iterative realignment of service offerings, delivery models, and pricing mechanisms. Preliminary expectations suggest that digital transformation will be associated with shifts toward more modularized services, enhanced data-enabled value propositions, and reconfigured governance and monetization practices shaped by trust, compliance, and ecosystem constraints.
Conclusions and Recommendations: The proposed study is expected to contribute to the literature on digital transformation and B2B services by offering a mechanism-based explanation of how value logic evolves in knowledge-intensive, safety-critical environments. Practically, the findings are anticipated to inform managers and policymakers on how to better align digital initiatives with sustainable value creation, service innovation, and long-term value capture in professional service firms undergoing digital transformation.