Path Dependence In The Mobile Payment Industry

In China,the ubiquity of mobile payment is indisputable.From buying groceries at the supermarket,taxi hailing to food delivery and online shopping to subway ticketing-services;all is simplified through the use of mobile payment services.In the cash and card world of Switzerland,such a system seems utopic.Hence the question: why have these two countries evolved so differently?The purpose of this dissertation is,thus,to provide the reader with a rigorous analysis of the development patterns of the Swiss and Chinese mobile payment industries.As such,this research promotes an understanding of the past,present and future states of mobile payment,with a focus on the point-of-sale in both China and Switzerland.While the past and present developments can be explained thanks to the application of the path dependence theory,the future of mobile payment is discussed based on a scenario evaluation.To approach the topic,this dissertation is divided into several parts: firstly,a broad literature review of the research conducted on mobile payment and the research model employed for this investigation;secondly,a methodological approach based on data collected through interviews and a survey;thirdly,an empirical analysis and discussion on the findings,and lastly,an answer to the research questions raised at the beginning of the dissertation.The results are based on four in-depth interviews with subject-matter experts on mobile payment.For both Switzerland and China,an expert from an academic and executive background was interviewed which resulted in unique findings,especially when evaluating the country-and company-specific success factors.Moreover,a survey to which 177 Swiss and 151 Chinese people responded,was carried out to gain insight into the consumer factors of mobile payment development patterns.One of the main results of this study is that China,with its rapid development of mobile payment solutions,has undergone all the stages of what can be considered path dependence: the initial stage where different payment methods and technologies compete against each other and various countries,companies and consumer factors affecting the industry,the second phase of mobile payment sophistication offering new use cases,and the third stage,consisting of quick response code-based mobile payment solutions locked in and dominating the market.On the other hand,due to various reasons,Switzerland is still at the initial stage.This research further shows that it is extremely unlikely for Switzerland to experience a similar development to China given its country-,company-and consumer-specific differences.Also,the future of the Swiss mobile payment industry is dependent on the implications the European Union's new ‘General Data Protection Regulation' will have on the country.China,on the contrary,has reached the peak of mobile payment adoption at the point of sale.New authentication technologies based on biometric data such as facial recognition,will reduce the importance of both the quick response code and the mobile phone at the point of sale.