Impact of Mobile Business Model on Firm 'Competitiveness'

This article considers the following: First, drawing on Porter (1980) and the structural embeddedness perspective (Granovetter 1985), we review developments to understand how the structure of the value chain is evolving and using the trend towards packet switched mobile networks, we identify a generic value net for the mobile space. Second, using a set of mobile atttractiveness criteria that include (a) market facing criteria and (b) firm related implementation criteria that influence the use of the mobile platform across the value chain, we identify how the mobile platform adds value compared to other access modes for these two sets of criteria. Third, we combine the value set and the mobile attractiveness criteria to generate a framework that enables analysis of the competitiveness of the mobile model. Fourth, for illustrative purposes, we apply the model in the retail banking context to understand the implications of the model.