Exploring the digital transformation in the automotive industry to design an improved mobility service ecosystem for Mercedes-Benz

Schell, Roland (2020) Exploring the digital transformation in the automotive industry to design an improved mobility service ecosystem for Mercedes-Benz. DBA thesis, University of Worcester.

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Abstract

The automotive industry is simultaneously facing various forces of change and challenges. The broad aim of the research is to explore these forces of change and
how they are impacting the automotive industry, to analyse and interpret their implications for Mercedes-Benz and to apply the insights gained to develop a new service innovation process. The digital transformation is responsible for an important paradigm change in many industries, but this is certainly true for the automotive sector.
Digitalization and behavioural alterations of consumers opens new mobility service opportunities not only to the traditional automotive industry, but also to technology
corporations. The qualitative research was performed with the philosophical stance of pragmatism and an explorative, inductive approach. The strategy of an embedded single case study with in-depth interviews and workshops, as methods for data collection, assured a focused but flexible qualitative research design. The research investigated intelligent mobility solutions, as well as future automotive connected
services. The study captured the voice of the customer and the expertise of internal and external automotive managers via the introduction of an open service innovation
approach. The research elaborated a stream of empirical research which resulted in original contributions to theory and practice in the field of service innovation management. The actual body of literature is still limited and generic on this topic. The findings detected political, economic, demographic, ecological, social, technological and legal changes that are affecting the automotive sector. Moreover, the study revealed that future, smart mobility solutions are linked to digital services and connectivity. Furthermore, the study discovered the importance of flexible finance
solutions, electric cars, premium product-services and alternative, cleaner powertrain technologies. The findings confirmed the relevance of open innovation and co-creation
as a methodology to introduce new mobility solutions in the automotive sector, which in general still operates in a closed innovation environment. Correspondingly, the
research focused on the development of a customised service innovation process model, which valued integrated digital services. As a result of the study, the novel service innovation process model, entitled “DOING”, was developed to transform customer needs into valuable mobility services in the Mercedes-Benz ecosystem. Furthermore, this novel “DOING” process was implemented in a real-world business environment to design an improved mobility service ecosystem for Mercedes-Benz.

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