Bachelor Thesis · accadis Hochschule Bad Homburg · 2021
Business model for a dynamic procurement system as platform-as-a-service
How a dynamic, platform-based purchasing system reshapes the economics of B2B procurement — and what it takes to deliver one as a service. The business case behind aleph-n.
- Author
- Alexander Paul
- Year
- 2021
- Institution
- accadis Hochschule Bad Homburg
- Programme
- BA — PRO 302 Bachelor Thesis
- Supervisor
- Prof. Dr. Marcus Oelrich
- Status
- Public abstract · full text under NDA
Premise
Industrial procurement is dominated by static, contract-locked supplier relationships. This works when demand and supply are predictable, but it amplifies friction whenever either side moves — new suppliers cannot be onboarded fast enough, and buyers cannot re-price against changing markets without renegotiating the contract layer. A dynamic procurement system replaces the static relationship with a continuously-clearing matching mechanism between buyers and suppliers, governed by transparent rules.
Approach
The thesis develops the business-model architecture for delivering such a system as a platform-as-a-service: how the platform creates value for both sides of the market, where the revenue model holds, which network effects are real and which are wishful, and what the non-trivial risks are. The framework draws on platform economics, two-sided market theory, and existing B2B procurement literature.
Contribution
- A complete business-model canvas for a dynamic-procurement PaaS, with explicit assumptions and break-even logic.
- A characterisation of the conditions under which the platform creates real surplus for buyers and suppliers — and the conditions under which it would not.
- A go-to-market path consistent with the constraints of an early-stage independent company.
- Risk and ethical-implication analysis: what happens to existing supplier relationships, how data asymmetries can be mitigated, and where the platform must refuse to be neutral.
Why it matters
This thesis is the business-model half of the aleph-n programme. It pairs with the master thesis (which supplies the technical protocol layer) to give the product a foundation in both economic logic and verifiable engineering — rather than starting from one and retrofitting the other.
The full thesis contains internal commercial information of 7R+ GmbH and is held under NDA. Specific sections are available to qualified counterparties on request.