Abstract

The case study “Enemies with benefits: Daimler and BMW’s mobility ecosystem” portrays how the German automotive giants Daimler AG and the BMW Group, strong competitors for decades, bundle different ventures and activities in the field of new mobility solutions to create a joint ecosystem called “YOUR NOW”. The ecosystem entails a variety of different business models covering car sharing, ride-hailing, charging, parking, and mobility-as-a-service offerings. These different divisions (that Daimler and BMW often refer to as “verticals”) oftentimes complement each other, but partly also compete with each other. This situation creates a unique potential to combine complementary resources and capabilities, but also causes tensions from competitive behaviors among the single ventures.

Teaching
- Students will familiarize themselves with the companies’ rationales to join forces in the field of mobility (despite a persistently fierce rivalry in the car-making industry for more than 100 years),
- Students will analyze different business models combined in the ecosystem.
- Students will gain insights into the disruptive forces—caused by existing and new competitors—shaping the mobility industry
- Students will critically assess the ecosystem’s internal structure and interactions with competitors / potential complementors
- Students will derive recommendations on how to develop the ecosystem further in an increasingly demanding environment
Case number:
A08-21-0009
Case Series Author(s):
Pia Neudert
Markus Kreutzer
Subject:
4th Industrial Revolution
Industry & Competitive Strategy
Year:
Setting:
Germany
Length:
25 pages
Source:
Published Sources