
Product details

Subject category:
Marketing
Abstract
The Dutch firm TomTom was founded in 1991 as a small software development company in the B2B market. At the turn of the century, TomTom started to focus on digital mapping and GPS navigation, which resulted in the world's first Portable Navigation Device (PND) for the mass market. In just three years, TomTom grew to become a billion euro a year company. The introduction of the iPhone and of Google's free mapping and navigation services in the 2000s however disrupted the market. TomTom had to diversify into telematics and 'location technology' where it sold and licensed its software to the automotive industry and to tech companies. In the second half of 2018, TomTom was in the process of winding down its PND business. After nearly 30 years of evolution, TomTom had returned to its root and was seeing itself once again as a B2B company. Thanks to the success of the PND, TomTom had created a strong consumer brand that was still imprinted in people's mind as being about fun and ease of use. But now TomTom had to find new ways to communicate with its business customers and showcase its advanced technologies. How could TomTom best do that?
Teaching and learning
This item is suitable for postgraduate and executive education courses.Topics
Marketing, branding, innovation; Disruption; Technology; Automotive; Navigation; B2B; Google; Self-driving cars; Autonomous drivingSetting
The events covered by this item took place in 2018.Geographical setting
Region:
World/global
Countries:
The Netherlands; United States
Featured company
Company name:
TomTom
Employees:
1001-5000
Turnover:
EUR 687 million
Type:
Public company
Industry:
Automotive
Featured protagonist
- Corinne Vigreux (female), Co-founder
Access this item
Awards, prizes & competitions

2020 - The Case Centre Awards - Outstanding Case Writer Competition winner
2019 - EFMD Case Writing Competition - category winner
Reviews & usage

Extra information

- Visit RSM's dedicated case website to see video interviews and other support material.
- This case has been featured on our website, click to view the article.
