Rent ‘N Move: a subscription business model applied on used vehicle dealer’s stock

The goal of this thesis is to investigate on how the automotive dealership business is affected by the increasing adoption of the 'as-a-service' approach for physical products, in an era in which the concept of 'owning thing' is evolving from ownership to access. In particular, we explore the actual business appeal from different perspectives, and we provide a solution. We are going to start with the automotive dealership business analysis offering an evaluation of the automotive industry: from actors involved in this study to value chain and competitive advantage highlighting how they can be affected by the shifting paradigm. Then, we move to the industry and competition analysis, zooming on Mergers Acquisition trends that are characterizing also this sector. After this focus on automotive there will be two more theoretical chapters: M&A theory with also mature industries management, and a literature view of digital transformation. The first theory part will give some interesting insights that have to be considered when a study on these kinds of sector should be started. The second part is built in order to give some findings on a macro-trend that is mouth spreading and it is affecting everyone’s daily life: digital transformation. Lastly, the idea behind this thesis is structured on a specific case study that has been designed by Engineering Ingegneria Informatica with a consultancy activity on a new client. The last chapter is created on the service proposed by the company to the client: Rent ‘N Move. It is a new type of business based on a subscription service that enables car dealerships to optimize their used vehicles stock in order to be protagonist of this changing concept.