Access-based business model innovation in frontier markets: Case study of shared mobility in Timor-Leste

Abstract

Despite the vast amount of research on business model innovation, little is known about what decision-makers must consider while innovating access-based business models in the context of frontier markets. To address this research gap, we develop a comprehensive framework for access-based business model innovation in frontier markets. A participative observation approach is adopted to collect the data on the case study of Microlets, a shared mobility service in Timor-Leste, for validating the framework. We successfully demonstrate the application of the proposed framework to show how access-based business model innovations can minimize issues such as accessibility and affordability, and spur economic growth by giving importance to the factors of contextual intelligence. Three different business model innovation options were compared across the differentiating factors surrounding the contextual requirements of the frontier market to validate the relevance of our framework. By examining factors such as the institutional environment, industry dynamics and infrastructural development, the proposed framework will guide decision-makers to cope up with the inherent uncertainty of frontier markets while developing access-based business models.