Disruptive innovation in an incumbent ecosystem : A case study of Vipps, Mobilepay and mCash

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how an incumbent can benefit from an existing ecosystem in order to stay competitive in a disrupted market. In Norway, mobile payment apps have been a market with rapid changes since mCash first launched its mobile payment app in 2014. The regulatory changes that comes with the new payment services directive, from EU, PSD2 has also been a factor that has made this competitive landscape an interesting case to follow. Data for this study was gathered by interviews with DNB/Vipps, MobilePay/Danske Bank, Nets, BankAxept and Bits, as well as secondary data to support the interviews. Mobile payment apps, are in research terms, a relatively new topic and there is therefore little previous research to look at. Since, previous research has not focused on the impact of regulatory changes, our findings show that when it comes to the impact of regulation, and the regulatory actor’s role as an active member of the ecosystem there is a gap in the theory. Further, our findings contribute to the theory on the Incumbent’s curse, and that it may not be as strong as previous studies suggests. The market of mobile payment apps is in constant change and the impact of PSD2, with its full effect from 2018, will further change and affect the situation we see today.