Abstract
Large keystone organizations use partnership models to manage their software ecosystem partners. Although several partnership models have been developed by platform owners, smaller companies willing to create a new ecosystem may experience difficulties to define the appropriate features of partnership models when switching from an independent software product to an ecosystem. This study proposes a partnership meta-model and four strategic patterns to operationalize it. We adopted the Design Science Research (DSR) method. The partnership meta-model was built in the first cycle of DSR, using a Systematic Mapping Study, and validated through case studies of SAP, Eclipse, and Microsoft Azure ecosystems. In the second cycle of DSR, the strategic patterns were defined through a Multivocal Literature Review and validated by using interviews with professionals. The meta-model presents the key characteristics to define partnership models for emerging software ecosystems. The strategic patterns aim to operationalize the meta-model and, consequently, assist the keystone in defining the features that the partnership model will have and select suitable strategies. The meta-model and the strategic patterns help managers creating and evolving software ecosystems from a software product considering the impact of that transition on the partnership model.
Highlights
The platform business model has made companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, SAP, and Airbnb global leaders
The meta-model and the strategic patterns help managers creating and evolving software ecosystems from a software product considering the impact of that transition on the partnership model
As part of the proposed solution, we developed a meta-model to guide the creation of specific partnership models for software ecosystems
Summary
The platform business model has made companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, SAP, and Airbnb global leaders. That model gave these companies rapid growth and made them powerfully disruptive In this scenario of platforms, the software ecosystem has become essential to support organizational collaboration and competition. Software ecosystems can be defined as “the software and actor interaction in relation to a common technological infrastructure, that results in a set of contributions and influences directly or indirectly the ecosystem” [3]. Such actors can be classified as clients (consumers), external developers (complementors), and platform providers (keystone). The alliance formation allows partners to acquire news assets, create innovative solutions, and share risks and costs [7] These alliances are orchestrated through partnership models
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