Ecosystem Strategies for IoT Service Platform Ecosystems: A Case Study of RFID Linen Tags and the Japanese Linen Supply Market

The importance of Internet of Things (IoT) platforms and services has frequently been emphasized. This study focused on radio frequency identifier (RFID) linen tags and investigated Japanese linen supply markets regarding the application of RFID technology, expected IoT services, and approaches to platform ecosystem evolution. A total of 1,176 questionnaires were sent to Japanese linen supply firms and 136 responses were received. The results identified a promising business area in which the RFID platform provider cultivates an IoT service platform ecosystem in the Japanese linen industry. This has several implications for transportation management and services for hotels, restaurants, medical, and nursing, and firms in these sectors tend to show a high willingness-to-pay and willingness regarding the introduction of RFID. Additionally, since this area is located in the center of the linen firms’ network, the platform provider can extend the ecosystem in several ways. Based on these results and a consideration of eco-systemization based on previous literature, the authors suggest a method for the realization of IoT service platform ecosystems with RFID linen tag technology.