Factors Affecting API Monetization Strategy
Pourbarzegar, Faezeh (2021)
2021
Master's Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management
Tekniikan ja luonnontieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-02-25
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202102081966
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202102081966
Tiivistelmä
Nowadays, businesses tend to benefit from technology and use it to interact better with their customers, improve their internal processes, and take advantage of it. Besides, exposing the value of their business asset also become very trending. APIs are at the center of these changes. Plus, APIs are able to add new revenue streams and change the whole business model, which is a considerable step toward digital transformation. APIs can change the whole business model and add new revenue streams as they can provide value to their customers. Understanding APIs and how they can add value to businesses and the process to do so is essential.
This dissertation aims to study the principal factors that affect the API monetization strategy besides recognizing how these affecting factors play their role and how they influence each other and the whole intention as a system. The problem statement relies on investigating the root causes of affective elements and examining the API monetization strategy as a system to see how the system and its components are running.
The thesis adopts a methodological literature review about critical concepts like API definition, the different kinds of it, the value chain and how they perform in the ecosystem, business model, API revenue model. Moreover, a theoretical framework is provided by applying two methods from the system thinking approach: cause and effect diagram and causal loop diagram. Furthermore, in order to conduct the research, two interviews were accomplished. The framework comprises the outcomes of these two interviews.
This study identified seven cause and root causes: (1) strategic planning as the primary cause and its root causes are value proposition and need identification, (2) market segmentation as the primary cause and two root causes as business partners and developers, (3) API payment method, (4) maturity level in digital transformation, (5) customer dominant logic, (6) co-innovation and co-value creation, and (7) API management-service bundling strategy. Furthermore, a sys-tem thinking analysis with the causal loop diagram is provided that finds the API monetization strategy as a system and illustrates how this system is performing and how different component of this system is affecting the whole system.
Key findings shed light on the digital transformation journey and give insight into the pre-req-uisites to earn money with a business’s digital assets. This study also straightens out the API monetization process, which is nearly less investigated in academic papers. Further, the concepts discussed in this thesis present the main aspects of APIs even when the purpose is not about monetizing them. The gathered theories and the findings in this the
This dissertation aims to study the principal factors that affect the API monetization strategy besides recognizing how these affecting factors play their role and how they influence each other and the whole intention as a system. The problem statement relies on investigating the root causes of affective elements and examining the API monetization strategy as a system to see how the system and its components are running.
The thesis adopts a methodological literature review about critical concepts like API definition, the different kinds of it, the value chain and how they perform in the ecosystem, business model, API revenue model. Moreover, a theoretical framework is provided by applying two methods from the system thinking approach: cause and effect diagram and causal loop diagram. Furthermore, in order to conduct the research, two interviews were accomplished. The framework comprises the outcomes of these two interviews.
This study identified seven cause and root causes: (1) strategic planning as the primary cause and its root causes are value proposition and need identification, (2) market segmentation as the primary cause and two root causes as business partners and developers, (3) API payment method, (4) maturity level in digital transformation, (5) customer dominant logic, (6) co-innovation and co-value creation, and (7) API management-service bundling strategy. Furthermore, a sys-tem thinking analysis with the causal loop diagram is provided that finds the API monetization strategy as a system and illustrates how this system is performing and how different component of this system is affecting the whole system.
Key findings shed light on the digital transformation journey and give insight into the pre-req-uisites to earn money with a business’s digital assets. This study also straightens out the API monetization process, which is nearly less investigated in academic papers. Further, the concepts discussed in this thesis present the main aspects of APIs even when the purpose is not about monetizing them. The gathered theories and the findings in this the