"Value co-creation in the IoT era"

VALUE CO-CREATION IN THE IoT ERA Maria Colurcio, Monia Melia, Stella Carè, Antonio Verre1 1University of Catanzaro “Magna Graecia”, Viale Europa, Località Germaneto, Catanzaro, Italy. ABSTRACT Purpose –The Internet of Thing (IoT) is a novel paradigm focused on the concept of a complex ecosystem (Leminen et al., 2012) where humans, things and objects interact with each other (Atzori et al., 2010). Specifically, the IoT is a set of connected surrounding objects of human’s living space, such as home devices, smartphones, transportation, big data storage, and equipments…etc (Said and Masud, 2013). It is revolutionizing codes and ways of both social and business communication, information exchange and interaction (Huang and Li, 2010). Given this, the IoT can be considered as a context that enables the process of resource integration (Colurcio and Verre, 2017). The aim of the paper is to investigate the IoT according the marketing perspective of value co-creation (Vargo and Lusch, 2008) in order to draw out key elements for the set-up of a resource integration practice. Design/Methodology/approach – The study adopts a qualitative research approach: the case study method (Yin, 2013). It is consistent with the objective of the analysis and with the complex nature of the phenomenon under investigation. Moreover, it appears the most appropriate in order to deeply investigate and understand contemporary phenomenon. The single case study method is particularly suitable to investigate unique phenomena as Predix, an Industrial Internet platform built by General Electric (GE). Findings – Predix is a service platform that operates, according the PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service), as an open source model and consists of both tangible (i.e. machines and devices) and intangible components (information, processes, experience). “Predix platform provides rapid access to data and timely analytics while minimizing storage and compute costs. It offers a secure model that includes network-level data isolation and encrypted key management capabilities. It also supports the ability to plug in analytic engines and languages to interact and process the data” (Predix – GE, 2016, p.13). In this case the IoT, considered as the technology resource, works both as operand and operant resource (Akaka and Vargo, 2014) that supports the value co-creation process (Vargo and Lusch, 2004; 2008) and enables the resource integration (Lusch and Nambisan, 2015) Predix may enable and empower the three support mechanisms of value co-creation process: i) facilitating interactions among actors; ii) adapting internal processes to accommodate diverse actors and iii) enhancing the transparency of resource integration activities (Colurcio and Verre, 2017). Practical implications– The work advances knowledge in management field about the IoT for the development of new competitive business. It provides interesting insights for the management and the improvement of resource integration process according to the emerging collaborative and technological issues. Originality/value – This study provides new interdisciplinary insight on the role of the IoT in supporting value co-creation process. Specifically, the paper frames the IoT, which has been narrowed to technological and cybernetic field so far, within a marketing perspective advancing the knowledge about both the resource integration in practice and the IoT paradigm. Keywords – IoT, value co-creation, resource integration, ecosystem. Paper type – Research paper