Platforms, Open/User Innovation, and Ecosystems: A Strategic Leadership Perspective

Abstract

Platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies that embrace and enable external entities are changing the way firms conduct business and interact with the world around them. As organizations that adopt these concepts grow in profitability and impact, the notions of openness, engagement, interdependence, and co-opetition gain in importance. Further, these approaches frequently lead to tensions within organizations, especially as mature incumbent organizations transition to new business models and execute hybrid strategies with multiple conflicting institutional logics. This paper considers similarities and differences between platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies. We focus on managerial and organizational challenges, such as those of strategic leadership, and explore the questions: What are strategic leadership challenges associated with platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies in the context of incumbent transitions and the management of hybrid businesses? How do these challenges differ from those in traditional closed (non-platform and non-ecosystem) organizations? We discuss theoretical implications, and consider future directions and research opportunities.