Wearable Devices : A Technological Trend with Implications for Business Models

Sammanfattning: Background Wearable technology, which is a part of the Internet of Things (IoT), appears to be an upcoming trend with increasing importance within the business world. Nevertheless, no clear business model for companies working with wearables had been defined yet taking the influences wearables have on businesses and especially their value proposition into consideration. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to offer input to the lack of existing literature within business models and wearables technology. The aim is to unfold a general business model that can be used within wearable companies/IoT businesses and show the influence these technologies have on them. Methodology In order to conduct an empirical research a multiple case study has been conducted, based on semi-structured interviews with eight companies, which core business consists out of wearable technology. The frameworks on business models by Gassmann et al (2014) and Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) serve as the basis for this study and its analysis, which is based on a grounded theory approach. Results It appears that a great amount of similarities can be found through the cross-case analysis between the cases. This makes the construction of a new business model possible. The unfolded model gives also a new contribution to the theory of Hui (2014) regarding a new area of value creation and value capture within IoT businesses.