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The transition to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) poses significant challenges for automotive suppliers, particularly in the Northern Black Forest Region, Germany's largest industrial area. This study examines the risk of falling into the commodity trap and the impact of platform economics on these suppliers. A VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) analysis is used to assess the consequences of the open platform approach promoted by the Mobility in Harmony (MIH) Consortium. The methodology is based on a comprehensive literature review on commodity traps and platform economies, as well as an analysis of the MIH Consortium's strategies for standardizing BEV components. The results show that while the MIH Consortium's modularization and standardization efforts can reduce costs and facilitate mass production, they also intensify competition and limit differentiation, threatening the profit margins of smaller suppliers. The study highlights the importance of strategic positioning and innovation to counter these risks. It concludes with recommendations on how automotive suppliers can adapt to the evolving environment and be agile in responding to new technological standards and market dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on quantifying the economic and financial viability of NB-IoT and LoRaWAN technologies, two low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies with unique characteristics that make them suitable for IoT applications. The purpose of this study is to propose a "pragmatic" artifact for performing life cycle cost analysis and demonstrate its application to these technologies. The methodology uses pragmatic computational tools to facilitate the analysis and considers all relevant economic and financial factors, such as operating costs, equipment costs, and revenue potential. The main finding of this study is that Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) technologies have different cost structures and revenue potentials, which may affect their economic and financial viability for different IoT applications. Ultimately, the study concludes that a comprehensive life cycle cost analysis is critical to making informed decisions about technology adoption, and that the proposed methodology can be applied to other IoT technologies to gain insight into their economic and financial viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]