Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background and Motivation
In the last decade we still talked about building a platform for your service, however, platform thinking is not completed enough to sustain the novel service nowadays. Digital disruption, which been come up with in 2015, is a process as the business world is rapidly digitizing, breaking down industry barriers and creating new opportunities while destroying long-successful business models (Weill & Woerner, 2015). For instance, Uber, Airbnb, FordPass, they all created its new digital business models and subverted the value exchange that we have been impressed for a long time ago. With the flourishing of technology, it becomes a trend that is irreversible. And we believe this kind of transformation can happen in every industry based on the ecosystem thinking.
Ecosystem, which is component of living organisms and also the nonliving constituents of environment, has its own interacting mechanism and is also a self-sustainable system. The concept of ecosystem highly catches the public’s attention not only in the biological community, but also the commercial community. Digital ecosystems transcend the traditional, rigorously defined, collaborative environments from centralized, distributed or hybrid models into an open, flexible, domain cluster, demand-driven, interactive environment (Boley & Chang, 2007). At present, there are some businesses designing or already provided service like a digital ecosystem, such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Ford. With the spectacular service ecosystems and the new service options created by those business, it is time for every business to think about the trend of building a digital ecosystem.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
While having a concept of designing a service digital ecosystem is not enough to launch successfully and become a gorgeous business that is able to be considered as a destination. Destinations are regarded as well-defined geographical areas before;
nevertheless, the concept of destination is also seen as the perceptual notions that can be interpreted by the participants subjectively (Buhalis, 2000). The same as the digital ecosystem, participants share the common consensus of the ecosystem and identify it with most of the other would become a destination.
Due to platform businesses add value by facilitating interaction of various sorts between customers who are attracted to the platform at least in part by network externalities (Evans & Schmalensee, 2010). The reason why to reach the critical mass is owing to what previous research had mentioned. If the costs vary little with group size, larger groups should exhibit more collective action than smaller ones because larger groups have more resources and are more likely to have a critical mass of highly interested and resourceful actors (Oliver & Marwell, 1988). Reaching the critical mass, which means to have the ability to cause the network effects, is the basic requirement of being a destination of digital ecosystem.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
1.2 Research Question
Collective action usually depends on a "critical mass" that behaves differently from typical group members. Sometimes the critical mass provides some level of the good for others who do nothing, while at other times the critical mass pays the start-up costs and induces widespread collective action (Oliver, Marwell & Teixeira, 1985).
From the point of view, we believe that critical mass is an end point of a phase equilibrium curve, that can be viewed as a critical point going to explode an exponential growth of the participants.
The fulfillment of critical mass is correlation to the probability of reaching exploded stage of the designed ecosystem. To realize the measurement of critical mass, we consider the destination of digital ecosystem design based on the Customer-Domain Logic and the de-centralized concept of blockchain, which can provide a cheaper, less preparation, and efficient infrastructure to build the digital ecosystem. Then, we put forward a research model constructed with three dimensions: Operant, Operation, and Empowerment, that are related to the design thinking of digital ecosystem. (Figure 1.1)
Figure 1.1 Design Thinking of Digital Ecosystem
Operant: Measure the share of voice in each domain to inspire service designers to sketch out the stakeholders of digital ecosystem.
Empowerment: To enhance the motivation of participants co-creating in the digital
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
ecosystem, enhance the feasibility of empowerment strategies, and make sure all operants are beneficial and necessary.
Operation: Confirm the digital ecosystem design provide a smooth, unhindered, effortless service procedure by designing a linkware towards flow experience.
As each dimension that has be mentioned above, we have come up with our research questions as below:
1. “What are the meanings of the score of each dimension, can they lead to the critical mass?”
The first research question is for connecting three dimensions and the critical mass, also defining how the information can help service designers to do their digital ecosystem design. The dimension of operant is the first step for designing a digital ecosystem that is performed by the blockchain technology. Besides, empowerment is fundamentally a motivational process by which an individual experiences a sense of enablement (Yagil, 2006). And flow research provides an understanding of experiences during which individuals are fully involved in the present moment, that constitutes a good life (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). On account of those concepts above and the Customer-Domain Logic, differ from Service-Domain Logic, user’s willingness to be the participant of digital ecosystem is somehow interconnected to the empowerment degree and the flow experience. The connection between critical mass and those dimensions is what our research is going to find out.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
2. “What are the relationship between fulfillment of three dimensions and the critical mass of the digital ecosystem?”
In the time with the widespread Internet, which is developed by the telecommunication, the power of effect it caused is so immense that we even can not neglect it. According to the literature, telecommunication services are distinctive in that their adoptions are influenced by network effect resulting in the late take-off phenomenon and the critical mass problem (Lim, Choi & Park, 2003). We believe that it is able to cause the network effect in the world of the Internet while the digital ecosystem reaches the critical mass. Furthermore, that is the foundation of our second research question, which is going to talk the problem of relations between those dimensions and the network effect over. Based on our research, digital ecosystem designers can take the network effect into account without complicated computing as well.
1.3 Research Method
As we have known, there are only few of businesses have the sense of building a destination of digital ecosystem. For the purpose of filling up the gap between the supply and demand, we intend to propose an ecosystem design assistance system, which is based on the blockchain technology, aims at achieving a better world of stabilize supply-demand equilibrium. Our value proposition will be realized in building a service design system, which is called D3 Accelerator which D3 represent the Destination of De-centralized Digital ecosystem, and develop a useful, thoughtful, and valuable system.
‧
Empowerment Module, Operation Module, and Verification Module. First of all, the Operant Module analyze the value supplier’s share of voice based on the value proposition and inspire ecosystem designers to do the value design. Then to weight the completeness of the designed ecosystem by measuring the service desirability, service disruption, and smart contract consistence.Next is the Empowerment Module, this module examines the operants and entities of the designed ecosystem by the proposed AIA model and its sub-modules: Service Operant Evaluation Module and Service Operant Analysis Module. The examinations can help designers to come up with an appropriate empowerment strategy rely on the assay of operant ability, operant intention, and resource availability.
The third one, the Operation Module, provides an implement which named as Flow Experience Maximization System for designers to optimize their service procedure and the user experience. Realized by four sub-modules: Measurement Module, Linkware Design Module, Resource and Pattern Management Module, and Aided Design Module, in order to achieve the goal of maximum flow experience of the designed ecosystem.
The last but not least, the Fulfillment Testing Module, which high level the vision to arrange the network effect caused by other module with the concept of Nash Equilibrium. In addition, to testify that the outcome of the system is qualified to reach the critical mass and grow into a prosperous, and self-sustainable ecosystem. That would help designers recognize the gap between design and reality, and to accomplish the prospect desired as well.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
1.4 Purpose and Contribution
Digital ecosystem designers can devise a service ecosystem that is corresponds to the demand of the market and is sustainable in reality through our D3 Accelerator system. This research will be concentrated on the Verification Module that has be mentioned above. Without the Verification Module, designers can not be sure whether their design is qualified to realize or to survive, whether the situation in each dimension is sufficient or not, whether the design has the opportunity to become the killer application. The following shows the contribution of this research:
1. Shorten the gap between the design and the reality.
2. Make sure the variations of each dimension will not cause any negative effect in the digital ecosystem design.
3. Fulfill the digital ecosystem design pattern implemented by blockchain into a factual service architecture.
In order to make the digital ecosystem design more feasible to be launched, the Verification Module consider the Nash Equilibrium of economics, putting the concept of cost and effect in the module. We expect to provide a concise, effortless guideline for service designers to make use of, for the entrepreneurs to reorganize their business, and for all service can gaining ground as well.
‧
motivations, research inquiries, research methods, research intentions, research contributions, and the content organization will all be described in this chapter as well.Next in the literature review of Chapter two, we are going to introduce the previous research, that is related to the concept of destination of digital ecosystem and the decentralized blockchain value. Also, the architecture of destination of digital ecosystem, and the measurement of being a destination. The principles and the construction of our research are developed and based on those literatures.
The third comes to Chapter three, in this chapter, we will display the whole framework of our system, D3 Accelerator. Show the system architecture and the using procedure, briefly introduce the modules of our system.
The forth is Chapter four, the complete system portray will be illustrated in this chapter, including conceptual framework, system architecture, system modules, and algorithms. The entire mechanism of our system will be described as well.
The fifth in Chapter five, we simply give an application scenario to show how our system works, in order to make readers more comprehensive to our system and to provide our system’s value to them.
The sixth in Chapter six, we illustrate the implementation and questionnaire result of our project, so as to verify the proposed theory of our research.
The last in Chapter seven, we conclude our research and simply summarize the ambition and contribution of our research.