The role of information and communication technology in the transformation of consolidated business model: A study of taxi cooperatives in Brazil

The first radio taxi service in Brazil was created in Curitiba in 1976. The business model used that time was still in place until the creation of taxi service online applications for mobiles in 2012. Taxi cooperatives and associations saw their traditional business model being run over by the new technology. The final objective of this investigation is to verify how the cooperative business models adaptation happened in an innovation scenario generated by the use of technology. In this first work is presented a description of the changing face of how taxi cooperatives in Brazil operate before and after the proliferation of taxi mobile apps. A qualitative study was undertaken in Sao Paulo – biggest city in the country – and Curitiba – first Brazilian city with a radio taxi association. Among the interviewees there were taxi service customers, taxi drivers, cooperatives and taxi service online app companies’ representatives. Changes generated by the new technology were mainly perceived on customers’ value aggregation and on cost model. The transition from one model to another had many steps and not all cooperatives went through all of them. The duration of each one also varied among the cooperatives analyzed. Special attention was given to the steps that allowed the transition from one model to another.