Framework for Firm Strategies in Open Internet of Things Ecosystems

This paper presents a typology for firms’ strategies in Internet of Things (IoT) based on theory on technology platforms, service science and systems sciences. IoT is distributed networks of connected physical objects providing data. As the devices exchange data with each other instead of through an intermediator, IoT increases the connectivity and complexity of business ecosystems and opens up opportunities for new value constellations. When the data is not owned by the platforms any longer, several other actors can utilize the data. Thus traditional platform owner strategy is no longer the dominant logic. We propose a framework with three additional strategies, based on whether the firms’ offering integrates into the specific industrial value chain or contributes to the system of systems as a whole, and whether the offering is by nature a stand-alone or systemic. We use multiple case study, and describe the IoT strategies of the firms in a European commission research project.