The impact of digital technologies on the value creation of companies in the manufacturing industry

This research answers following research question: "How do digital technologies impact value creation of companies in the manufacturing industry?" Therefore, the key digital technologies that impact companies in the manufacturing industry have been identified by a systematic literature review. In the following, a focus was set on the value creation of companies in the manufacturing industry. A defining feature of the digital transformation is that networks of firms, instead of individual firms, are competing with each other. Thus, the author of this work created a role model with key cooperation partners of companies in the manufacturing industry by application of grounded theory. Platforms that leverage the digital technology Internet-of-Things (IoT), have the potential to profoundly change the manufacturing industry by disrupting established and enabling new business models. Therefore, the value creation in Industrial-Internet-of-Things (IIoT) platform business models was investigated by the creation of a multiple case study of ten IIoT platform offerings. Thereby, the business model construct has been applied as structuring frame for the investigation. Value creation sources of business models (Novelty, Lock-in, Complementarities and Efficiency) have been identified for IIoT platforms.