Abstract
To successfully launch complex new technology platforms, sponsors must attract partners to develop enabling and complementary technologies. Yet, potential partners face risks particular to the interdependence of platform ecosystems and little is known about how sponsors attenuate these risks to attract partners. Research on the diffusion of innovations suggests that wide bridges (multiple indirect ties between a sponsor and potential partners) could lower the perceived risk of joining a new platform ecosystem. We theorize that wide bridge ties with firms that are technologically prominent, engaged in multiparty alliances, and have diverse alliance portfolios can attenuate ecosystem risks for potential partners. Consistent with our theory, we find that, in an effort to establish CDMA as a cellular communications platform, Qualcomm was more likely to gain the cooperation of partners to which it was indirectly tied, through firms with these characteristics.
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