An Approach to Select Partnersin Over-the-Top Initiatives

Over-The-Top (OTT) players aggressively provide applications and contents including potential substitutes for communication services provided by Communication Service Providers (CSPs).To counter this challenge, CSPs have to provide various OTT services under limited capabilities and may consider collaborating with OTT players.This research intends to establish an approach to select OTT partner using a combination of SWOT analysis and reverse logic of interfirm rivalry model.The approach deploys in-depth interviews involving top-level executives from a leading CSP in South East Asia, questionnaires distributed to strategic-level business managers and two FGD sessions as part of Group Model-Building and action research implementation.The research finds that a checklist table modified from the conventional SWOT analysiscombined with awareness, motivation and capability (AMC) aspects from the interfirm rivalry model is very helpful to assist business manager in assessing potential partners for CSPs trying to collaborate with OTT players.