Global platforms and ecosystems: Implications for international business theories

Abstract

The emergence of digital platforms and ecosystems (DPE) as a venue for value creation and capture for multinational enterprises holds considerable implications for the theory and practice of international business. In this paper, we articulate these implications by considering the dual perspectives of cross-border platforms and ecosystems – as a venue for multifaceted innovation and as multisided marketplace – and focusing on three overarching themes at the intersection of DPEs and international business, that is, DPEs as affording new ways of internationalization, as facilitating new ways of building knowledge and relationships, and as enabling new ways of creating and delivering value to global customers. We explain specific DPE-related concepts and constructs that underlie these themes and discuss how they could be incorporated into existing IB theories in ways that would enhance their richness and continued relevance as well as their ability to better predict a multitude of emerging IB phenomena.