New technological ecosystems in productive systems: A Review and Research Agenda for digital business platforms

• Grant number: 17/22202-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2018
• End date: April 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Tsuguio Okano
• Grantee: Marcelo Tsuguio Okano
• Host Institution: Unidade de Pós-Graduação, Extensão e Pesquisa. Centro Paula Souza (CEETEPS). Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Eliane Antonio Simões

Abstract

Companies are adapting to new technologies and becoming digitalized and organized into a new form of digital organizations of the future, according to CHEW (2015), called DOOTF (digital organizations of the future) .Digital transformation is profoundly changing the ways in which value is created and how value is captured. New companies with new and innovative business models are born. Existing companies need to rethink their business models when they become the digital age (ITÄLÄ, 2015).Digital business transformation (business scanning) refers to the incorporation of advanced technologies such as the cloud, mobile systems, Internet of Things (IOT), bigdata and artificial intelligence (AI) in products, services and business models. This can improve product competitiveness, strengthen customer relationships or improve business efficiency on a different scale from conventional forms of improvement (YOSHIDA, 2017).In the business model literature, an emerging model is the business platform (business platform), whereas business models on the one hand have one or several customer segments, which are distinct from one another, the model platform has two or several customer segments, which interact with each other using the business platform (ITÄLÄ, 2015). We can highlight as examples of this type of business model Facebook and Google.Another type of model is called the ecosystem, which compares emerging commercial networks with biological ecosystems. According to ITÄLÄ (2015), this combination of a device manufacturer, operating system provider, store, application provider and content provider is called an ecosystem, in this example, a smartphone ecosystem, figure 1. All members of the ecosystem benefit each other and, of course, the client benefits more. And, of course, customers belong to the ecosystem.Figure 1 - Example of an ecosystem (ITÄLÄ, 2015).Venkatraman et al. (2014) defined as digital enterprise innovation platforms "actions of a network of companies with complementary skills to co-innovate new business models that are intrinsically based on information and technology functionalities."First, they conceptualized innovation as a platform beyond the conventional framework of innovation as a process. Innovation platforms enable innovations of business models driven and supported by information technology.Second, digital innovations are not created by autonomous companies, but by a network of companies in a business ecosystem that groups their complementary skills. Consequently, Android or iOS are not digital innovations from Google and Apple, respectively. They are commercial ecosystems involving hardware, applications and complementary services orchestrated by Google and Apple and involving several companies that compete and cooperate in dynamic networks (Iansiti and Levien 2004).Digital business platforms are changing the way products and services are created and delivered. They are threatening established companies within many industries, see figure 2 (ITÄLÄ, 2014).Figure 2 - Layered business platforms (Itälä, 2014)Itälä (2014) illustrated with the following events:AirBnB is a platform that connects these ordinary people who are willing to provide a room and those travelers who need cheap accommodation.Uber is a platform that connects ordinary people who are willing to offer a taxi drive and customers who need somewhere to go. Interestingly, neither AirBnB nor Uber own their rooms or cars; They only connect owners and users in an interaction. Both AirBnB and Uber also create trust on both sides: service buyers can write reviews of their experience, and service providers can write customer feedback. (AU)