Development of an Ecosystem Model for the Realization of Internet of Things (IoT) Services in Supply Chain Management

Information services based on the Internet of Things (IoT) help to integrate information and material flows and to optimize supply chain management (SCM). However, the design, implementation and operation of such services require strong cooperations between different types of company. Firms that are actively involved in SCM, such as logistics service providers, have to set up their own ecosystem in order to realize and run such services. Following this line of thinking, the aim of this paper is to support logistics companies with recommendations for the design of their own IoT ecosystem and the realization of IoT services. The grounded theory methodology is used to develop a theoretical IoT ecosystem model. A model with 19 different roles, their relationships and value contributions emerged during the research process. Our findings help companies to understand the implementation of IoT services, to find the right partners with which to cooperate, and to establish their own ecosystem.

[1]  J. F. Moore,et al.  Predators and prey: a new ecology of competition. , 1993, Harvard business review.

[2]  C. Carter,et al.  Increasing the rigor of grounded theory research – a review of the SCM literature , 2012 .

[3]  Zach G. Zacharia,et al.  DEFINING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT , 2001 .

[4]  Marco Iansiti,et al.  The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability , 2004 .

[5]  Daniel J. Flint,et al.  A REFINED VIEW OF GROUNDED THEORY AND ITS APPLICATION TO LOGISTICS RESEARCH , 2009 .

[6]  J. Mentzer,et al.  Logistics Innovation: A customer Value-Oriented Social Process , 2005 .

[7]  Stephan M. Wagner.  Innovation Management in the German Transportation Industry , 2008 .

[8]  Soumaya Ben Letaifa.  The uneasy transition from supply chains to ecosystems: The value-creation/value-capture dilemma , 2014 .

[9]  Jing,et al.  Business Ecosystem Strategies of Mobile Network Operators in the 3G Era , 2011 .

[10]  Thierry Isckia,et al.  Amazon's evolving ecosystem: A cyber-bookstore and Application Service Provider , 2009 .

[11]  Ke Rong,et al.  Nurturing business ecosystems to deal with industry uncertainties , 2013, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[12]  Elgar Fleisch.  What is the Internet of Things , 2010 .

[13]  T. Corsi,et al.  Supply chain disruption management: Severe events, recovery, and performance , 2013 .

[14]  Antonio Iera,et al.  The Internet of Things: A survey , 2010, Comput. Networks.

[15]  Rahul C. Basole.  Visualization of interfirm relations in a converging mobile ecosystem , 2008, 2008 7th International Conference on Mobile Business.

[16]  Michael A. Cusumano,et al.  Platform Leadership How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation , 2002 .

[17]  Michael Lütjen,et al.  Reducing food losses and carbon emission by using autonomous control – A simulation study of the intelligent container , 2015 .

[18]  Charles C. Ragin,et al.  Redesigning social inquiry , 2008 .

[19]  Yong Lin,et al.  Understanding business ecosystem using a 6C framework in Internet-of-Things-based sectors , 2015 .

[20]  Harry Bouwman,et al.  Smart Home: Aligning Business Models and Providers Processes: A case survey , 2010 .

[21]  Walter Lang,et al.  The “Intelligent Container”—A Cognitive Sensor Network for Transport Management , 2011, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[22]  Karim R. Lakhani,et al.  Digital Ubiquity: How Connections, Sensors, and Data Are Revolutionizing Business , 2014 .

[23]  Ron Adner.  Match your innovation strategy to your innovation ecosystem. , 2006, Harvard business review.

[24]  Peter H. Reingen,et al.  Evolving Patterns of Organizational Beliefs in the Formation of Strategy , 1994 .

[25]  Mark de Reuver,et al.  Governance mechanisms for mobile service innovation in value networks , 2012 .

[26]  Barney Tan,et al.  Harnessing collective IT resources for sustainability: Insights from the green leadership strategy of China mobile , 2015, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[27]  Gunnar Stefansson,et al.  Criteria for temperature alerts in cod supply chains , 2012 .

[28]  F. Sahin,et al.  A model of supply chain and supply chain decision‐making complexity , 2011 .

[29]  B. Bergvall-Kåreborn,et al.  The Apple business model: Crowdsourcing mobile applications , 2013 .

[30]  M. Olson,et al.  The Logic of Collective Action , 1965 .

[31]  Wesley S. Randall,et al.  Grounded theory: an inductive method for supply chain research , 2012 .

[32]  Qiang Lu,et al.  From value chain, supply network, towards business ecosystem (BE): Evaluating the BE concept's implications to emerging industrial demand , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management.

[33]  M. Porter,et al.  How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition , 2014 .

[34]  Frédéric Thiesse,et al.  A comparison of RFID-based shelf replenishment policies in retail stores under suboptimal read rates , 2015 .

[35]  R. Kapoor,et al.  Coordinating and competing in ecosystems: How organizational forms shape new technology investments , 2013 .

[36]  Michael A. Cusumano.  Technology Strategy and Management Platforms and Services: Understanding the Resurgence of Apple , 2010 .

[37]  James F. Moore.  The Death of Competition: Leadership and Strategy in the Age of Business Ecosystems , 1996 .

[38]  Aseem Prakash,et al.  NGO research program: a collective action perspective , 2007 .

[39]  Grant Mccracken.  The long interview , 1988 .

[40]  Christina Goulding.  Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide for Management, Business and Market Researchers , 2002 .

[41]  Carl Marcus Wallenburg,et al.  Innovation management of logistics service providers , 2011 .

[42]  Michael A. Cusumano.  Platforms and services , 2010, Commun. ACM.

[43]  Vassilis Agouridas,et al.  Value creation and capture mechanisms in innovation ecosystems: a comparative case study , 2013, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[44]  Damith Chinthana Ranasinghe,et al.  Taxonomy, technology and applications of smart objects , 2011, Inf. Syst. Frontiers.

[45]  A. Strauss,et al.  Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. , 1992 .

[46]  B. Glaser.  Theoretical Sensitivity: Advances in the Methodology of Grounded Theory , 1978 .

[47]  Peter Friess,et al.  Internet of Things: Converging Technologies for Smart Environments and Integrated Ecosystems , 2013 .

[48]  Stéphane Dauzère-Pérès,et al.  A literature review on the impact of RFID technologies on supply chain management , 2010 .

[49]  Pieter Ballon.  Changing business models for Europe's mobile telecommunications industry: The impact of alternative wireless technologies , 2007, Telematics Informatics.

[50]  Charles C. Ragin,et al.  Fuzzy-Set Social Science , 2001 .

[51]  Alexander Pflaum,et al.  Enhancing supply chain visibility in a pharmaceutical supply chain , 2016 .

[52]  Pedro M. Reyes.  RFID in the Supply Chain , 2011 .

[53]  Iker Mayordomo,et al.  Emerging technologies and challenges for the Internet of Things , 2011, 2011 IEEE 54th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS).

[54]  A. Gawer,et al.  Industry Platforms and Ecosystem Innovation , 2013 .

[55]  Sam Solaimani,et al.  A framework for the alignment of business model and business processes: A generic model for trans-sector innovation , 2012, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[56]  Fredrik Nilsson,et al.  Moving beyond the systems approach in SCM and logistics research , 2012 .

[57]  Mark de Reuver,et al.  Collective action for mobile payment platforms: A case study on collaboration issues between banks and telecom operators , 2015, Electron. Commer. Res. Appl..

[58]  Jie Hou,et al.  Business ecosystem extension: facilitating the technology substitution , 2013, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[59]  Yan-Ru Li,et al.  The technological roadmap of Cisco's business ecosystem , 2009 .

[60]  David L. Miller,et al.  Introduction to Collective Behavior and Collective Action , 2000 .

[61]  Ron Adner,et al.  Value Creation in Innovation Ecosystems: How the Structure of Technological Interdependence Affects Firm Performance in New Technology Generations , 2009 .

[62]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .