Business models based on co-opetition in a hyper-connected era: The case of 5G-Enabled smart grids

Abstract

This paper aims at introducing a new perspective on devising business models based on the logic of the networked and hyperconnected technological and business environment. The empirical data combines two technological areas: 5G and smart grids. The 5G technology provides rudimentary knowledge about how to create a networked infrastructure for ubiquitous, reliable, and high-speed connectivity. The outcome will enable the utilization of innovative and hyperconnected technologies in the smart grid sector. In the context of the smart grid, we apply a 4C-layered business model that builds on the functional logic of the commercialization of technologies in the 5G era. This eco-systemic business model illustrates how different actors interact in each layer, giving the possibility to identify existing and potential smart grid applications that could be enabled by 5G. We expanded hyperconnectivity into four dimensions, including hyperconnectability, hyper-memorisability, hyper-diffusibility, and hyper-scalability, through an empirical study that can further be developed for a stronger theoretical model of hyperconnectivity.