Ecosystem Strategies for IoT Service Platform Ecosystems: A Case Study of RFID Linen Tags and the Japanese Linen Supply Market

The importance of Internet of Things (IoT) platforms and services has frequently been emphasized. This study focused on radio frequency identifier (RFID) linen tags and investigated Japanese linen supply markets regarding the application of RFID technology, expected IoT services, and approaches to platform ecosystem evolution. A total of 1,176 questionnaires were sent to Japanese linen supply firms and 136 responses were received. The results identified a promising business area in which the RFID platform provider cultivates an IoT service platform ecosystem in the Japanese linen industry. This has several implications for transportation management and services for hotels, restaurants, medical, and nursing, and firms in these sectors tend to show a high willingness-to-pay and willingness regarding the introduction of RFID. Additionally, since this area is located in the center of the linen firms’ network, the platform provider can extend the ecosystem in several ways. Based on these results and a consideration of eco-systemization based on previous literature, the authors suggest a method for the realization of IoT service platform ecosystems with RFID linen tag technology.

[1]  T. Takenaka,et al.  Effectiveness of Ecosystem Strategies for the Sustainability of Marketplace Platform Ecosystems , 2019, Sustainability.

[2]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Institutions and axioms: an extension and update of service-dominant logic , 2016 .

[3]  T. Takenaka,et al.  Sustainability of Service Intermediary Platform Ecosystems: Analysis and Simulation of Japanese Hotel Booking Platform-Based Markets , 2019, Sustainability.

[4]  J. Rochet,et al.  Two-sided markets: a progress report , 2006 .

[5]  Marc H. Meyer,et al.  Technology Strategy in a Software Products Company , 2015 .

[6]  David Gann,et al.  Architectural Leverage: Putting Platforms in Context , 2014 .

[7]  J. Rochet,et al.  Platform competition in two sided markets , 2003 .

[8]  Xing Wan,et al.  Unraveling Platform Strategies: A Review from an Organizational Ambidexterity Perspective , 2017 .

[9]  Ron Adner,et al.  Ecosystem as Structure , 2017 .

[10]  David S. Evans.  Some Empirical Aspects of Multi-sided Platform Industries , 2003 .

[11]  Philip J. Cook,et al.  The Winner-Take-All Society: Why the Few at the Top Get So Much More Than the Rest of Us , 1996 .

[12]  Julian Wright,et al.  Multi-Sided Platforms , 2015 .

[13]  M. Armstrong.  Competition in Two-Sided Markets ¤ , 2005 .

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

[15]  Yuki Inoue.  Winner-Takes-All or Co-Evolution among Platform Ecosystems: A Look at the Competitive and Symbiotic Actions of Complementors , 2019, Sustainability.

[16]  Matthew T. Clements,et al.  Indirect Network Effects and the Product Cycle: Video Games in the U.S., 1994-2002 , 2004 .

[17]  S. Ulgiati,et al.  Ecosystem Services and Ecological Restoration in the Northern Shaanxi Loess Plateau, China, in Relation to Climate Fluctuation and Investments in Natural Capital , 2017 .

[18]  L. Jeppesen,et al.  Unpaid Crowd Complementors: The Platform Network Effect Mirage , 2014 .

[19]  Oscar Hauptman,et al.  Platform leadership , 2002 .

[20]  Marc H. Meyer,et al.  The power of product platforms : building value and cost leadership , 1997 .

[21]  M. Iansiti,et al.  Entry into Platform-Based Markets , 2012 .

[22]  A. Gawer.  Bridging differing perspectives on technological platforms: Toward an integrative framework , 2014 .

[23]  Masaharu Tsujimoto,et al.  New market development of platform ecosystems: A case study of the Nintendo Wii , 2017, Technological Forecasting and Social Change.

[24]  Peng Huang,et al.  Co-Creation of Value in a Platform Ecosystem: The Case of Enterprise Software , 2011, MIS Q..

[25]  N. Nohria,et al.  Are leaders portable? , 2006, Harvard business review.

[26]  Masaharu Tsujimoto,et al.  Genres of Complementary Products in Platform-Based Markets: Changes in Evolutionary Mechanisms by Platform Diffusion Strategies , 2017, Digital Disruptive Innovation.

[27]  Carmelo Cennamo,et al.  Platform competition: Strategic trade‐offs in platform markets , 2013 .

[28]  A. Gawer,et al.  Towards a Theory of Ecosystems , 2018, Strategic Management Journal.

[29]  Thomas R. Eisenmann,et al.  Strategies for Two Sided Markets , 2006 .

[30]  Moreno Muffatto,et al.  Developing product platforms:: analysis of the development process , 2000 .

[31]  Saurabh Gupta,et al.  Special Issue on Design and Development: Appropriateness and Impact of Platform-Based Product Development , 2001, Manag. Sci..