Business model scaling and growth hacking in digital entrepreneurship
针对数字初创企业规模化阶段缺乏理论指导的问题，提出一种通过仿真建模支持商业模式规模化的方法，并以PayPal案例展示其应用，帮助创业者评估增长黑客策略的有效性。
Creating an innovative product and validating an innovative business model may not be enough for digital startups to be competitive. To grow fast and expand globally, digital startups need to innovate their business model during the scaling phase. A pragmatic approach has recently been proposed to support digital entrepreneurs engaging in business-model innovation during the scaling phase (i.e., business-model scaling), a strategy known as growth hacking. However, we know little about its theoretical grounding and how effective growth hacking is, as businesses lack methodologies to assess its effectiveness before committing resources and investments. To fill this gap, we developed a method for supporting business- model scaling through simulation modeling and provided an illustrative application to the PayPal case. By doing so, we contribute to the ongoing debate on scalability in digital entrepreneurship.