From Conexa to Docpass: The Competitive Environment of Telemedicine Platforms

ABSTRACT

The case reports the trajectory of a telemedicine platform in Brazil. Conexa, a company that already operated with a telemedicine B2B model, took advantage of the regulatory change during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and launched Docpass, a B2C platform. The pandemic not only brought about a change in legislation, but also provided a context that reduced cultural barriers to the adoption of such a service for both doctors and patients. The case is recommended for Strategy and Innovation disciplines, more specifically in sessions dedicated to business models based on platforms, when the following learning objectives are worked on: (a) diagnosis of COVID-19 effects in a telemedicine business by comparing before, during, and after the pandemic; (b) understanding the network effects present on the platforms and their reflections in terms of value; (c) understanding the competitive dynamics in a platform ecosystem.

Keywords:
platform; network effects; coopetition; telemedicine