Assessing the opportunities and risks of different short-range wireless strategies for an automotive manufacturer

Abstract

Recent innovations in wireless technology enable devices that were once stand-alone to be "connected". Today, connected products are changing the way people access information, communicate with others and live their lives. In the automotive industry, the notion of a connected automobile is now commonplace because of widespread adoption of pioneering telematics products. As wireless technology advances, automobile manufacturers must recognize new applications for their products and implications for their customers in order to maintain a competitive advantage. Now that cellular technology is established as the medium through which vehicles are connected, the next frontier is to understand the opportunities for an automotive manufacturer in broadband wireless. This thesis focuses on a subset of wireless technologies referred to as short-range wireless, also often referred to as broadband wireless. It studies the opportunities and risks a large automotive OEM faces when committing to a broadband wireless strategy. First, it delineates the technology alternatives, identifying strengths, weaknesses and industry trends. Then, it analyzes several applications, taking a customer-centric viewpoint of the players along the automotive value- chain. It studies each player in terms of the overall value short-range wireless creates, the value an automotive OEM may capture, the differentiation or strategic control that can be sustained and the required product scope. After clarifying these strategically relevant unknowns, it describes alternatives through which a large automotive manufacturer can maximize its value.

(cont.) The analysis confirms that suitable strategies exist for a large cost-conscious automotive manufacturer. These strategies differentiate between applications with known demand and those with high-risk latent demand, using business design to mitigate risks and to address the target market's cost structure and size. In the case of low risk applications, forecasts are sufficiently narrow to point toward a single strategic direction. In the case of higher-risk applications, the outcomes may lie anywhere along a bounded range.