A platform business model for collaborative additive manufacturing

Abstract

Modern manufacturing is caught in a trade-off between maximizing efficiency and staying flexible in dynamic markets. Inter-organizational sharing of manufacturing capacities on a digital marketplace could contribute to gain flexibility, reduce cost and capital employed as well as provide further business opportunities. Although current research has already prepared the ground for its technical conceptualization, research on such a marketplace's implementation in a business model is scarce. However, since an efficient matching of supply and demand requires a sufficient number of platform users, attracting corporate customers with a suitable business model is crucial. The present research aims to address this problem by developing and evaluating a business model for a marketplace provider, illustrated for the case of additive manufacturing.