Evaluating Platform Business Models in the Telecommunications Industry via Framework-based Case Studies of Cloud and Smart Home Service Platforms

摘要

The rise of digital platforms is changing organizations, markets and the logic of innovation in the digital economy. In particular, telecommunication companies re-structure their business models to gain control of innovative services and digital platforms. In this light, we aim to advance research on digital platform business models conducting a framework-based case study analysis of telecommunication operators' platforms for enterprise cloud and smart home services. Besides the contribution of an analysis framework, our work provides insights on platform business models and strategies. In particular strong similarity between platforms for enterprise cloud services is confirmed, while a dominant design of smart home platforms has not yet emerged. Further, the analysis reveals that the telecommunication companies intend to foster platform adoption through different strategies regarding customer ownership and degrees of freedom for complementary participation. Finally, we find that complementary innovation is challenged by costly quality assurance measures imposed by the telecommunication companies.