Skype's Disruptive Potential in the Telecom Market: A Systematic Comparison of Business Models

Identifying how insurgents disrupt established markets is a major challenge. In this paper we study the disruptive potential of Skype, which is an Internet start-up company and potential insurgent to the telecom market. Our analysis is composed of two parts. First, we describe a Delphi study based on an analytical instrument developed by Rafii and Kampas that shall help us to discover Skype’s disruptive potential. Second, we aim at identifying which elements in Skype’s business model contribute to its likelihood to succeed in the quest of conquering the telecom market. We achieve this by comparing Skype’s business model to the one of a fictional traditional Telco. Both models are described with the Business Model Ontology (BMO) and the evalue ontology, in order to systematically identify their similarities and differences. Finally, by combining the results of the Delphi study and the business model comparison we outline our conclusions about Skype’s disruptive potential in the telecom market and how this potential is rooted in its particular business model.