Consumer-Based Ranking for Strategic Selection of IoT Business Models

Cristina A. Mihale-Wilson, Goethe University Frankfurt
Jan Zibuschka, Robert Bosch GmbH
Michael Kubach, Fraunhofer IAO

Description

The digitization of business environments requires companies to be more consumer-centric than before. In the course of these adjustments, managers operate in the area of conflict between value creation for the firm, consumers’ limited willingness to pay for products and services, and the need to gain and maintain consumers’ trust. To support managers in the challenge to redefine their business models to fit the new digitized business environment, we suggest that managers should incorporate consumer's attitudes towards Internet of Things (IoT) business models in their strategic business model choice. Based on a choice experiment with 301 individuals, we identified a set of business models ranked according to the probability that users are most likely to agree with, and thus accept. The results of the study provide direct indications about which IoT business models are from a consumer perspective desirable and which not so that managers can directly implement these insights in practice.

 

Consumer-Based Ranking for Strategic Selection of IoT Business Models

The digitization of business environments requires companies to be more consumer-centric than before. In the course of these adjustments, managers operate in the area of conflict between value creation for the firm, consumers’ limited willingness to pay for products and services, and the need to gain and maintain consumers’ trust. To support managers in the challenge to redefine their business models to fit the new digitized business environment, we suggest that managers should incorporate consumer's attitudes towards Internet of Things (IoT) business models in their strategic business model choice. Based on a choice experiment with 301 individuals, we identified a set of business models ranked according to the probability that users are most likely to agree with, and thus accept. The results of the study provide direct indications about which IoT business models are from a consumer perspective desirable and which not so that managers can directly implement these insights in practice.