Conduit versus content: a model of the firm’s market involvement and organizational competitiveness

This paper proposes a new model of the fundamental makeup of the firm. The model is a typology of the firm as conduit versus content. Firms are classified in this model by their function in the marketplace and the contributions they bring to their environment. The firm as conduit has a function of intervening in a market transaction as a go-between or facilitator. The firm as content has a function as a provider of its outputs to the market. The CVC model also describes the strategic competitiveness of the firm as CVC, and the differences between how the firm as conduit conjures its attributes into a competitive architecture, versus how the firm as content behaves. The unique contributions of the CVC model to the strategy and organisational analyses are described. Examples of the explanatory power of the CVC model are given in the case of the Uber transportation company, and in the case of the failed merger between AOL and Time-Warner. Further research is suggested to empirically test the CVC model, and the paper concludes with the potential applications of the model in a variety of sectors and industries, including the area of technology management.