Montalvo de et al (2004) Resource-based interdependencies in value networks for mobile internet services
From Inventiopedia
de Montalvo, Uta Wehn; Els van de Kar and Carleen Maitland (2004) "Resource-based interdependencies in value networks for mobile internet services" in Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Electronic commerce, Delft, The Netherlands, pp. 627-638. Available from the ACM digital library.
This paper provides an interesting comparative case study of five mobile information/entertainment services, with a view to analyze the power relations in the value network of the different actors involved: Network operators, service developers and content providers. 3 of the 5 cases studied are location-based services: Finder lbs, Botfighter and the anonymous 'LBS directory'.
The authors provide the following table as a model of the power structures between actors:
In their cases, they find that the network operators generally place themselves in the top category, providing essential structural resources which cannot easily be replaced, whereas the content providers end up in a supporting role, providing generic resources which are easily exchangeable. As the authors point out, this is somewhat surprising:
‘Content is King’ was the adagio when convergence among telecommunication and media industries seemed inevitable not so long ago. However, analysis of the case studies in this paper shows that this period is gone. Mobile internet services are offered jointly by a network operator, an intermediary and content providers. The network operator is the structural partner who controls the value network. The intermediary plays an important role in coordinating the production of specific services on the network, with resources like application provision, geocoding and content aggregation. The service concept further enhances their position in their network. In every day life, the intermediary is referred to as service or application provider. And the content provider? The activities related to content show a dispersion of effort in which content supply alone can be divided among many actors. But more essential ones, such as content development, are contributed by other actors, typically the intermediaries. ('Conclusions', p. 633)
However, given that none of the cases described in this paper seem to exist any longer, one may flip the coin and view this as a study of failed business projects. The quote above may then serve as an indication that it is necessary to offer content providers an attractive position in the value network in order for a mobile information or entertainment service to succeed - as also the case studies of Japan's i-Mode model seem to indicate (cf. Suri and Sawhney (2008) - The internet and its wireless extensions in Japan and Funk (2007) Solving the startup problem in Western mobile Internet markets).
--Anders Sundnes Løvlie 17:04, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
