The general contractor response to platform ecosystems

Abstract

Platforms enable value-creating interactions between producers and customers by mediating between their users. Supported by digitization, platforms use large datasets and integrated production systems to enhance the customer and producer experience. The platform's business model is expanding in the economy as digitization increases. In the context of the completion of building projects producers and customers find themselves in a complex tender and order process. On the producer side, the aim is to use resources as efficiently as possible and on the customer side to process orders as efficiently as possible. Digital platforms offer the potential to simplify the interaction between producers and customers and challenge the status quo of the classical general contractor (GC) business. Therefore, this paper investigates the impact on GCs by analysing expert interviews regarding business model implications for GCs through the development and emergence of digital platforms.