Title: Infocom business models innovation with the development of corporate universities

Authors: Louis Rhéaume; Mickaël Gardoni

Addresses: École de technologie supérieure, 1100 Notre-Dame West, H3C 1K3, Montréal, QC, Canada ' École de technologie supérieure, 1100 Notre-Dame West, H3C 1K3, Montréal, QC, Canada

Abstract: Since the mid-90s, the infocom industry has gone into a period of sustained disruptive innovations which, combined with deregulation, led to a lot of turbulence and a sometimes difficult redefinition of business models. A Schumpeterian wave of innovation enhanced by competition leads to creation of wealth as an unprecedented investment boom occurs in the infocom sector sustained by overly optimistic and sometimes fraudulent forecasts of internet traffic. We provide a strategic framework by explaining which types of infocom business models are better adapted to cope with the challenges of the new developments related to the digital economy, in order to shape the corporate innovation strategy. We also analyse how the development of a corporate university must be linked to the development of such innovation strategy. The first section of the article deals with the wave of disruptive innovations in the communications industry over the last few years and pinpoints the ubiquity of IT in all aspects of the economy and society. The next section focuses on the search for profitable business models for infocom providers. The links between business model innovation and the development of corporate universities is analysed in the next section. It is followed by a discussion section.

Keywords: infocom industry; business models; business strategy; innovation management; corporate universities; digital economy; communications industry; higher education; information technology; ICT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2017.080755

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2017 Vol.21 No.1, pp.98 - 113

Received: 23 Apr 2015
Accepted: 22 Jun 2015

Published online: 06 Dec 2016 *

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