The new business of AI software vendors in the European manufacturing industry - an empirical study on business models of entrepreneurial AI software vendors

Abstract

This thesis’s topic is the business model analysis of entrepreneurial companies that provide artificial intelligence solutions to the manufacturing industry. Additionally, the thesis provides an overview of state-of-the art AI technologies and applications common in the manufacturing industry. In virtue of the 4th industrial revolution, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have found their way into the manufacturing industry. The technology revolutionizes production in a range of applications, from predicting machine downtime to assuring quality through computer vision. With various deployment possibilities, the opportunities of AI in manufacturing are manifold. In many cases this technology is provided by a multitude of vendors that specialize in manufacturing-specific AI software. The vendors range from large technology incumbents to upcoming technology startups. Especially entrepreneurial AI software vendors have been emerging over the last decade, imposing direct competition to well-known technology companies. However, it is yet unclear how entrepreneurial AI vendors employ their offerings to the manufacturing firms and whether there are any identifiable patterns that have emerged. To bring clarity into this uprising research field, a qualitative content analysis was adopted to study the business models of entrepreneurial AI software vendors. The vendors are registered in the crowdsourced Dealroom database and were sampled according to predefined criteria. The business model information was primarily extracted from the websites of those companies and systemized according to a conceptual framework proposed in this thesis. The result of this thesis yielded in a typology of entrepreneurial vendors. The typology provides valuable insights into the emerging world of AI vendors in the European manufacturing industry. Moreover, the thesis recommends a need to further understand the various type of vendors by extending the sample size to a global level and verify the application of the proposed framework.