In 2015, Automaten Technik Baumann (ATB) was dismayed to learn that Volkswagen Financial Services had acquired a 92 per cent stake in Sunhill Technologies, one of Europe's largest providers of mobile parking and ticketing solutions. ATB had focused on the production of parking meters for several decades, but was now seeing a threat to its existing business due to the rise of mobile parking providers. Consumers could now use their smartphone to pay for parking-making parking meters obsolete. Should ATB take the rise of new entrants seriously? Would ATB need to adjust its business model?

In 2015, Automaten Technik Baumann (ATB) was dismayed to learn that Volkswagen Financial Services had acquired a 92 per cent stake in Sunhill Technologies, one of Europe’s largest providers of mobile parking and ticketing solutions. ATB had focused on the production of parking meters for several decades, but was now seeing a threat to its existing business due to the rise of mobile parking providers. Consumers could now use their smartphone to pay for parking—making parking meters obsolete. Should ATB take the rise of new entrants seriously? Would ATB need to adjust its business model?