The Mobile Navigation App 'OsmAnd'. Adaptation for the Development of a Farming Tool for the Agricultural Sector in Thailand

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Analysis of OsmAnd
2.1 Introduction of the application and its basic features
2.2 Analysis of the business model

3. Identification of possible contribution to the e-commerce in a developing country

4. Discussion of the new business model

5. Outline of identified possible risks

6. Conclusion

List of Tables

Table 1: Important application features of OsmAnd

Table 2: SWOT-analysis of OsmAnd

Table 3: PEST-analysis of 11th National Economic and Social Development Plan of Thailand

Table 4: Detailed Farm Data

Table 5: Possible risks carried by OsmAndFarm and their solution approaches

List of Graphics

Graphic 1: Flow chart of OsmAnd’s business process

Graphic 2: Flow chart of OsmAndFarm’s business process

Executive Summary

The first part of the essay introduce the map application OsmAnd. The main business processes will be outlined using a flow diagram before illustrating the applications value proposition and revenue model. Finally a SWOT-analysis will identify the applications strength to be the deployment of mobile map data, the customisation of map rendering and the ability of trip recording, audio and video notes and OSM editing.

The second part of the essay uses a PEST-analysis to identify developing potential in a developing country, which was chosen to be Thailand. In consideration of the identified strengths of OsmAnd, the development of the agricultural sector was chosen for further investigation. A short summary of the current situation of the agribusiness follows.

The third part of the essay matches the insights from SWOT- and PEST-analysis to create a new business model. The model is then outlined in a similar manner than initially OsmAnd. Business processes are outlined with the support of a flow diagram, before the changes in value proposition and revenue model are discussed.

The fourth part of the essay sketches potential risks identified during the design process of the new business model and their solution approaches, before concluding that the new model relies on the contribution of the users and the Thai government. Finally it will be recommended, that a good stakeholder management will be needed to overcome the threat caused by this dependencies.

1. Introduction

A Thai proverb says: a tiger relies on his stripes. It’s the stripes, which makes a tiger, a tiger and allows him to be competitive in his environment. This essay will, in an analogous manner identify the ‘stripes’ of the mobile map application OsmAnd. The analogous ‘stripes’ are here understood as the applications unique value proposition, which allows it to be competitive in a certain business environment. As it is the tigers fade that his stripes bound him to a certain environment, a mobile application can compete globally. Therefore, this essay will outline and analyse the current business model of OsmAnd, before developing a new model based on prior identified strength, to successfully compete in the new environment.

2. Analysis of OsmAnd

On their website, OsmAnd describes their service as a “Global Mobile Map Viewing and Navigation for Online and Offline OSM Maps” (Osmand.net, 2015). This paragraph will outline the essential applications’ features, before closely analysing the applications’ business model, its business processes, value proposition and revenue model.

2.1 Introduction of the application and its basic features

OsmAnd is a mobile map application, which uses the open data from the OpenStreetMaps^[1] project. The application runs on the two market-dominating operating systems, Android and iOS (Osmand.net, 2015); which in the 4th quarter of 2015, with a combined market share of 98.4 % of the global smartphone market (Statista, 2016 a). Therefore, OsmAnd competes with the features listed in Table 1, in a market of approximately 1.8 billion users (Statista, 2016a, 2016b); utilizing the global reach of an e-business.

Table 1: “Important application features of OsmAnd”

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Source: own table based on Osmand.net (2015)

2.2 Analysis of the business model

OsmAnd’s business model combines the content provider model with elements of a community provider (Laudon & Traver, 2015). Graphic 1 shows a flow chart of the applications’ main business processes, which will be used to explain the notion of both business models as well as the process of value creation.

Graphic 1: “Flow chart of OsmAnd’s business process”

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Source: own graphic

The graphic illustrates three aspects of OsmAnd’s business model. Firstly, as all business processes are transformation steps of map data, it demonstrates how the app is to be a content provider. Secondly, the appearance of the external entity “User 1…n” at both ends of the value creation process, indicates that a sub group of end-users might be identical with cartographers, who initially generated the map data for OpenStreetMap. This gives OsmAnd an element as a community provider. Thirdly, the graphic indicates clearly the subsequent position of OsmAnd in the value creation process; their focus is set on the supply of mobile map data, rather than the data generation, data aggregation or data management.

After outlining the general business model and its main processes the following paragraph will analyse, how the created value is proposed to consumers and how it is transformed into revenue.

Kambil, Ginsberg and Bloch (1998) define ‘Value Proposition’ as the degree to which a product or service satisfies consumers’ needs. In the widest sense, OsmAnd satisfies the need for geographical information. As this need is attempted to be satisfied by all products in the market, the added value of OsmAnd has to be identified. Kambil (1997) and Bakos (1998), suggest personalisation and customisation, amongst other things, to be successful e-commerce value propositions (Laudon & Traver, 2015). The in Table 1 listed application features indicate that OsmAnd has positioned themselves with a mass customisation strategy in the market, while the value creation takes places in, what Doligalski (2015) calls a ‘Do-it-yourself-customisation’. OsmAnd is a non-diversified mass product, delivering identical value propositions to all users, which can then be adjusted to personal needs to finally create a customised product (Doligalski, 2015). The high degree of customisability of the rendering process, appears to be the unique value proposition of the application.

After identifying the applications value proposition, the applied revenue model has to be evaluated. Google Play as well as Apple’s App Store offer the download of the application for free (Play.google.com, 2016; App Store, 2016). The application comes with full online service, customisable settings and ten regional offline maps. Further offline data, the nautical map as well as the information of counter lines are optional in-app purchases (Play.google.com, 2016; App Store, 2016). The use of in-app purchases to generate revenue corresponds with, what Liu, Au and Choi (2014, p.2) referring to (Hayes, 2008) describe as freemium; “a business model by which a service or a product is offered free of charge, but a premium is charged for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services”.

Table 2 aggregates above-noted results in the form of a SWOT-analysis (Awais, 2012).

Table 2: “SWOT-analysis of OsmAnd”

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Source: own table

3. Identification of possible contribution to the e-commerce in a developing country

This paragraph attempts to identify possible contributions of OsmAnd, to the e-commerce of a developing country. For this purpose it is referred to Laudon and Traver’s (2015, p.49) notion on e-commerce, as “the use of the internet, […] and mobile apps to transact business”, where a transaction “involves the exchange of value […] in return for products and services”.

To draw a more specific case, this essay will refer to Thailand as a developing economy. The Worldbank classifies Thailand, with a GNI per capita of 5,780$, to be a middle-income economy (Data.worldbank.org, 2016). As “[l]ow- and middle-income economies are sometimes referred to as developing economies” (Data.worldbank.org, 2013), Thailand can be identified as a developing country.

To identify possible contributions, a PEST analysis (Shabanova et al., 2015) was carried out to identify developing potential in the country; the results were subsequently matched with the strengths of OsmAnd, which where prior identified in a SWOT analysis.

For a more efficient identification of developing potential, the scope of the PEST analysis was narrowed down to ‘The Eleventh National Economic and Social Development Plan’.

The results are displayed in Table 3.

Table 3: “PEST-analysis of the Eleventh National Economic and Social Development Plan of Thailand”

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Source: own table based on The Eleventh National Economic and Social Development Plan 2012-2016, (2011)

The SWOT-analysis identified the deployment of mobile map data, the customisation of map rendering, the ability of trip recording, audio and video notes and OSM editing, to be strength of OsmAnd. These technological capabilities regarding the management of geographical information could be utilized to strengthen the agricultural sector of the Thai economy, a development goal, identified by the PEST-analysis. The linkage between the capabilities of OsmAnd and the development of Thai agribusiness could be ‘the usage of land’.

To develop further insights in the current situation of the Thai agricultural sector, the conceptions of the Eleventh National Economic and Social Development Plan 2012-2016, (2011, pp. 58-61) were summarised as follows:

The agricultural sector accounts to 8.3% of the GDP and provides income for approximately 6.9 million households. In recent years the agribusiness was weakened, on the basis of low production and unsustainable framing. Major divers for the low productivity were the high share of farmers living under the poverty line and the farmer decline of 1.9% p.a. Unsustainable farming methods recorded by the government were the exploitation of natural resources without consideration of restoration as well as the use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Drought, infertile land, water shortage and an inadequate infrastructure lead to further deterioration.

On the basis of the above-noted analysis was a business model developed, which will help the development of the agricultural sector, by gathering farm specific information, enriching them with an up-to-date market data and information about sustainable framing, to deliver customized farming plans to every user. The following paragraph will outline the business model in more detail.

4. Discussion of the new business model

First and foremost, Graphic 2 will be used to provide a summary of the new business model^[2] and its process of value creation. It follows a discussion on essential modifications of the value proposition and the revenue model, before potential risks and challenges will be identified.

Graphic 2: “Flow chart of OsmAndFarm’s business process”

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: own graphic

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^[1] The project is the collaborative work of approximately two million active users, who continuously generate map data all over the world. Hereinafter OSM

^[2] Conceptually named “OsmAndFarm”