Technological Convergence and Market Creation: Making Connected Cars in China

The fifth generation of mobile technologies known as 5G has been pushing a deep convergence between communication technologies (CT), information technologies (IT) through incorporating and standardizing internet of things (IoT) where the IoT application scenarios using deeply-converging technologies. How do firms respond to such deep technological convergence in 5G era? This study uses Chinese technology firms’ making connected cars as a case to explore their roles in the deep convergence driven by 5G. Particularly, the study concerns how firms from information and communication technology (ICT) industry, namely Huawei, Xiaomi and Baidu, seize the opportunities of deep convergence to create connected-car markets under 5G transition. By analyzing the in-depth interviews with industrial experts, and the text analysis of patents, contracts as well as policy documents, it is tentatively found that firms may respond the convergence through: (a) creating markets through defining and institutionalizing new scenarios; (b) defining the core problem of the new scenarios based on incumbent core technological capabilities; and (c) transferring incumbent core technological capabilities in the defining stage of the new IoT scenarios.