Strategic Management in Platform Enterprises A Delta model Analysis

The number of emerging global brands is increasingly dominatedby platform businesses. Unlike the traditional Pipe-line modelthat was shaped based on resources, platform enteprises havefound their value in consumers. This has made researchers to bewitnessing a paradigm shift in which the strategic approaches aregoing to redirect their attention from competition and resources,to consumer. On the other hand, the novelty of platromenterprises sheds more lights on the new models that are in touchwith the dynamic environment of the Internet. Delta model is theone that cares about the consumer and exploits opportunities byemploying IT means. The model contains three main points. Thefirst one is Best Product that deals with Low-cost anddifferentiation. Total customer solution seeks to satisfy theconsumer by concepts like Horizontal Breadth and CustomerIntegration. At last, System Lock-in ensures customer retentionby concepts like restricted access, dominant exchange andproprietary standard.Research method is based on Multiple-case study and qualitativeapproach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ninemanagers of platform enterprises. Theme analysis was used fordata analyzing. After an analysis based on found concept, it wasproved and shown that Best Product , seeks to attract theconsumer by concepts like User Interface and UserExperience . Second point of model is to convince the users byputting emphasis on categories like Customer relationship andBusiness partners. At last, System Lock-in deals with customerretention by holding concepts like Community, Innovation andGamification. It was proved that System lock-in plays asignificant strategic role in business and is known as the end ofbusiness cycle. It was shown that the customer’s transactionwhich was considered as a project till before is going to be knowna process in which each transaction, leads the customer to thenext one.

Keywords:

Customer , Delta Model , Lock-in , Platform enterprise , Strategic Analysis