Emerging Markets and the IoT

Abstract

Emerging market economies rarely lead the commercialization of emerging technologies. This was understandable when emerging technologies were based on costly physical product technologies that produced products like airplanes, automobiles and more recently semiconductors and MEMS devices. Yet we are now in the information- or knowledge economy-based Schumpeterian cycle where exceptional infrastructure cost no longer apply. Emerging markets today have in many cases both the technological expertise and the infrastructure capital to embrace at least the IoT emerging service product technology base. If this is so, then what are the business models that are appropriate for emerging markets? Our research focuses on adding to the literature by investigating the differences between physical product-based and service product-based emerging technology adoption in emerging markets. We construct and demonstrate a comprehensive policy-based tool for the review of IoT-based (i.e., Software as a Service-based) opportunities.