4 COVER STORY COVER STORY 5 Fighting Back How Corporates Are Combating Super Apps BY JENNIFER L.SCHENKER Grab, a South East Asian ride-sharing app active in eight banks, oil companies and industrial conglomerates. Grab was one of the star of steel and metal products, to energy com- countries, has rapidly added financial services such as digi- Grab is just one example of how challenges to established attractions at the Forum’s Digital pany Vattenfall are trying to build marketplaces tal payments, rewards, lending and insurance, on-demand companies are increasingly coming from unexpected Platforms executive workshop of their own. Henkel, a 144-year-old German services like food delivery, grocery delivery and places. Along with Grab and Ant Financial, an Alibaba in Singapore last July and Grab conglomerate, has launched HenkelX, an package delivery as well as hotel bookings, on-demand spin-off, applicants for full banking licenses in Singapore CEO Anthony Tan and co-foun- open innovation platform that seeks to help Eu- video, a ticketing platform and health services to the list of include a platform play led by gaming hardware com- der Ling are both invited to the ropean companies be competitive in the platform its offerings. Now it is preparing its next move: obtaining pany Razr, which has teamed up with a local supermarket Forum’s annual meeting in Davos economy. Europe is also home to Fightback, a new a full banking license in Singapore in partnership with operator, an insurance business, an Internet company and this year. movement that aims to enable business leaders to leverage telecom operator Singtel. a regional wholesale marketplace for cars with the aim of Thriving in the digital economy is top platform business models, digital ventures and the special “With over 70 % of the region unbanked or underban- creating a bank for millennials. on executives’ minds and some are making bold moves to skills of tech entrepreneurs (see the story) ked there is tremendous opportunity for us to grow our Boundaries between industries have been blurring for fight back. Examples include Sberbank in Russia, which is But it is still early days. Most companies have still not presence in payments and financial services in order to some time. But few would have guessed just a short time investing heavily in an ambitious integrated ecosystem of figured out how to turn themselves into platforms or figure improve financial inclusion in Southeast Asia,” says Hooi ago that a ride-sharing firm or a gaming company could platform ventures across multiple adjacent verticals (see out how to work with existing ones. Ling, co-founder of Grab, which operates in 339 cities, become a bank. The providers of super apps can come the separate story), Reliance Industries in India (see the At the Platform Economy Summit in September, an annual has a $14 billion valuation and boasts that it has added from anywhere as long as they do a good job identifying separate story), China Merchant Bank (see the separate conference in Frankfurt on business model transformation $5.8 billion to Southeast Asia’s economy. Since Grab’s pain points, provide great customer service, add on story) and retailer Magalu in Brazil, which is turning into an for incumbents, successive panels of leaders from Europe’s founding in Malaysia in 2012 it has helped over 1.7 million adjacent offers within the same app, and do it seamlessly open platform business and growing its valuation like cra- chemicals, industrial manufacturing, financial services and micro-entrepreneurs open their first bank accounts, she across geographies and industries. “Today if you smartly zy, notes Simon Torrance, a member of the Forum’s Digital automotive sectors, bemoaned the lack of true commit- says, noting that “our financial services business is now the combine established and emerging technologies with a Platforms & Ecosystems Executive Working Group. ment to and breakthrough impact from digital investments only platform to have access to e-money licenses across all data-driven and customer-centric approach organizations Some established companies are considering breaking and the fundamental human challenges they faced in six major markets.” have a major opportunity for exponential growth,” says away from platforms controlled by tech giants. Ikea just turning around their supertankers, says Torrance, the or- Super apps like Grab, along with WeChat, Alipay, Go-Jek, Cristian Citu, the World Economic Forum’s Digital Trans- announced that it will no longer work with Amazon and is ganizer of the conference and a senior advisor on business Paytm, Kakao, Line in Japan, or Rappi in South America, formation Lead. rumored to be building its own platform. model transformation. Many said they felt like they were are examples of the platform business model on steroids More than 80 organizations are participating in the Fo- Others are partnering with challenger platforms. running fast just to stay still, but not making any major and are especially applicable for mobile-first markets. rum’s Digital Platforms and Ecosystems executive working Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan have formed a joint progress. “They increasingly recognize that they lack key Facebook, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple incorpo- group, part of the Forum’s Digital Economy and New Value venture in healthcare with Amazon while ICBC - the wor- capabilities that the ‘new, digital incumbents’, who have rated the platform business model years ago and, along Creation platform, to learn about super apps and emerging ld’s largest bank in terms of assets – has partnered with taken over their crowns as the world’s most powerful with Tencent and Alibaba are the most valuable companies business models in geographies as diverse as South Ameri- China’s Alibaba and its spin-off Ant Financial. organizations with the most effective business models, in the world, having taken over this position from the ca, Africa and Southeast Asia. In Europe, companies ranging from Klockner, a distributor have developed, says Torrance. “Their leaders have found