Practice Questions (2022)
1. Transitapp (http://transitapp.com/)Links to an external site. is a startup
specialized in real-time multimodal trip planning. The mobile app developed by
the company allows the users to plan their urban transit using the best
available method, including not only public transport, but also bikesharing,
ridesharing and carpooling services. To this end the company works with
public authorities as well as multiple transport partners in 125 metropolitan
areas to pull the relevant data and ingest them for use by the app users. If
Tranitapp claims to be a “data-driven company” which element of their
business model do you think is most important for Transitapp. On answering
this question address at least three elements of their business model.
2. In his 2003 article in Harvard Business Review, Nicholas Carr claims that IT
investments may not add competitive advantage at the corporate level,
although their influence is still felt at the macroeconomic level. In an upcoming
debate in HBR several scholars and executives have debated this idea. Bring
three arguments for and three arguments against Carr’s idea. What is your own
take on the debate? Do you think this debate is dated or still applies today?
Why?
Answers:
Answer 1
1. Business Models of Transit-App
· Mobility-as-a-service Platform (MAAS)
· Data-Driven Mobility Insights
· OpenAPI provider for 3rd Party
In terms of the most crucial part of their business model, Transitapp’s MAAS platform is one of
its greatest strengths and the most important part of its business model.
, According to Dhar and Sundarajan’s (2007) Technology-centric view of IT in Business model,
the shared infrastructures of increasing power that emerge as a consequence of the
technological invariants (i.e Transit’s MAAS Platform’s Modularity) often lead to the emergence
of platforms where the scope of its value proposition expands beyond its functionality. Transit’s
Platform connects various stakeholders (Government Transit Association and Private
Ridesharing and BikeSharing providers) and provides a new combination of channel access as
well as new functionality embedded in an IT system (Dhar and Sundarajan, 2007). In turn, it
may well be that transit will become a crucial part of the Ecosystem and become both an owner
and provider of the ecosystem (Van Alstyne et al, 2016), there will be an indirect network effect
where Transit is able to create Value and Data exchange as well as feedback (Van Alstyne et al,
2016) where the data collected will leverage Transit’s position in the ecosystem as a major
player and also providing the necessary resources for their other business models, namely their
Mobility Insights for the partners as well as developing their 3rd Party API.
Answer 2:
1. Transitapp (http://transitapp.com/)Links to an external site. is a startup
specialized in real-time multimodal trip planning. The mobile app developed by
the company allows the users to plan their urban transit using the best
available method, including not only public transport, but also bikesharing,
ridesharing and carpooling services. To this end the company works with
public authorities as well as multiple transport partners in 125 metropolitan
areas to pull the relevant data and ingest them for use by the app users. If
Tranitapp claims to be a “data-driven company” which element of their
business model do you think is most important for Transitapp. On answering
this question address at least three elements of their business model.
2. In his 2003 article in Harvard Business Review, Nicholas Carr claims that IT
investments may not add competitive advantage at the corporate level,
although their influence is still felt at the macroeconomic level. In an upcoming
debate in HBR several scholars and executives have debated this idea. Bring
three arguments for and three arguments against Carr’s idea. What is your own
take on the debate? Do you think this debate is dated or still applies today?
Why?
Answers:
Answer 1
1. Business Models of Transit-App
· Mobility-as-a-service Platform (MAAS)
· Data-Driven Mobility Insights
· OpenAPI provider for 3rd Party
In terms of the most crucial part of their business model, Transitapp’s MAAS platform is one of
its greatest strengths and the most important part of its business model.
, According to Dhar and Sundarajan’s (2007) Technology-centric view of IT in Business model,
the shared infrastructures of increasing power that emerge as a consequence of the
technological invariants (i.e Transit’s MAAS Platform’s Modularity) often lead to the emergence
of platforms where the scope of its value proposition expands beyond its functionality. Transit’s
Platform connects various stakeholders (Government Transit Association and Private
Ridesharing and BikeSharing providers) and provides a new combination of channel access as
well as new functionality embedded in an IT system (Dhar and Sundarajan, 2007). In turn, it
may well be that transit will become a crucial part of the Ecosystem and become both an owner
and provider of the ecosystem (Van Alstyne et al, 2016), there will be an indirect network effect
where Transit is able to create Value and Data exchange as well as feedback (Van Alstyne et al,
2016) where the data collected will leverage Transit’s position in the ecosystem as a major
player and also providing the necessary resources for their other business models, namely their
Mobility Insights for the partners as well as developing their 3rd Party API.
Answer 2:
