Global Business Team Projects, GlobalMBA Cohort 2019/20

Exploring Current Changes in Business Models and Strategy in Waste Management

Hunter Horstman, Rachel Jones, Emma Raphel, Sarah Runzheimer, Joy Wang

This thesis explores the changes in business models and strategy of three players within the waste management industry: FCC Citizen Services, Suez and Veolia. Europe is expected to dominate the market due to technology implementation and government support (Chinchane and Sumant, 2019). After considering external influences such as climate change, the circular economy, new technologies, regulations, the resale market, and the coronavirus pandemic, the companies are analysed using Business Model Canvases considering key activities, value propositions, key resources, revenue streams, customer segments and relationships, key partners, channels, cost structures and research and development. The three companies integrate regulations and circular economy demands into their strategic planning. FCC pursues smaller geographic operations focusing on the European and Spanish market, while France-based Suez and Veolia actively seek to internationalize. The companies’ services are similar, though FCC focuses on the municipal market and Suez and Veolia seek to increase their share of industrial and commercial customers. Veolia is focused on offering business customers holistic consultancy for the entire product life cycle, implementing the extended producer responsibility. Suez is concerned with transforming the company into a leader in environmental services and expert for circular economy issues. Suez has shown the largest investments into research and development initiatives. It is recommended the companies internationalize into Nigeria and Senegal, which both have high populations, increasing demand, growing economies, and already import waste without sustainable waste management practices in place. It is also recommended the companies utilize their strengths in collection services to enter the resale market. Both of these recommendations offer opportunities for new revenue streams.

The Development of Digital and Mobile Payments: What Can Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa Learn from the Case of China?

Alexandra Clark, Dan Han, Jasmine Rasberry, Emna Sarmiento, Adam Wietrzykowski

There is uncertainty surrounding whether digital and mobile payment methods can be developed in African countries based on China’s development. This study investigates if Kenya’s, Nigeria’s, and South Africa’s Payments Industry can learn from the growth and development of China’s. The study is structured around the well-known PEST framework, which allows for comprehensive insights into political, economic, social, and technological aspects of the problem. Through examining the past, present, and future of digital and mobile payments in China, success factors of the industry have been formulated. Consecutively, the potential application of the success factors has been reevaluated with data from Africa. Ultimately, comparative analysis has been carried out to answer the research question. The study finds that generalization of current conditions in selected countries is not possible. Every analyzed country can indeed learn something from the case of China, but the results are case-specific. For instance, Kenya is somewhat likely to follow China’s example in terms of political factors and Nigeria fulfills many of the economic prerequisites, but both have substantial deficiencies in technological factors. Conversely, South Africa has a favorable social situation, but the political environment has an adverse effect. Overall, the study concludes that Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are unlikely to follow China’s path towards digital and mobile payments development, but each is offered some takeaway. Policymakers, businesses, and consumers can learn from the findings and implement corresponding changes to their operating models. The potential growth of digital and mobile payments provides an opportunity for economic prosperity.

Who Will Win The Streaming War? An explorative analysis on the Subscription Video-on-Demand Ecosystem with a Focus on the Top Five U.S. Platforms and the Future Industry Landscape

Alina Reinhard, Chyler Lingo, Liesa Sprungmann, Xukun Wang

Each day, 164.8 million hours of Netflix are consumed. The subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) market size has been predicted to double in value reaching US$85.74 billion by 2025. It is a fast-paced, dynamic environment, lacking detailed and holistic academic assessments. Against this background, this thesis analyzes the SVoD ecosystem with a focus on the top five U.S. platforms and the future industry landscape, striving to answer the question: “Who will win the streaming war?” In this context, the industry was explored focusing on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix. These companies were compared along six dimensions: product, platform, market positioning, unique selling points, growth strategies, and affiliation with the parent company. The market analysis identified five common characteristics: (1) content, (2) price, (3) competition, (4) strategies, and (5) challenges. These characteristics were discussed utilizing insights from quantitative and qualitative analysis. This study integrated literature review, surveying, and expert interviews, with findings indicating a saturated and competitive market. Netflix emerged with advantages in product favorability, price, and market share. Two potential future outcomes were explored following a “steady” and a “fast” growth scenario. This thesis contributes to the general understanding of the competitive landscape of the SVoD industry and gives valuable insights into the key differentiators of streaming platforms. Further research needs to be conducted to satisfactorily answer the research questions.

Past, present and future outlook of the bottled water industry in India. A comparative analysis of India, China and USA

Agnieszka Harbuz, Alexis Dangar, Wanying Chen

This paper is an overview of the bottled water market, with a specific focus on providing an outlook for India, by comparing it to the two biggest markets in the world - China and USA. The global market is expected to reach 354 billion USD by 2025. Currently, India is the fastest growing market with a CAGR of 20.75%. The research question of this paper is, therefore, how will the Indian bottled water market fragmentation level develop? To assess the possibilities, PESTLE analysis, Porter’s Diamond and case studies were utilized. The data allowed for an in-depth comparison and identification of factors shaping the industry. The analysis reveals that the factors with the greatest impact on market fragmentation, have a high level of government dependency. This paper provides a recommendation for the companies wishing to profit from the Indian bottled water market - lobby the government in order to align their decisions and actions with their long-term goals.