Towards a More Comprehensive Understanding of Emergence of Platform Based Ecosystems

Abstract

Though the burgeoning literature on platform ecosystem has sought to understand different aspects of this emerging phenomenon, the topic of ecosystem emergence has not received enough attention. In this paper, we identify the conditions under which ecosystems emerge and explain why they emerge in different formats. We focus on the problem as the unit of analysis, such that the solutions to the problem create the value propositions of the ecosystem. We extend the problem-solving perspective to ecosystems and identify conditions for ecosystem emergence around problem dimensions, platform sponsors’ resource configuration and capabilities, and market attributes employed. Finally, we introduce the construct of marketness to ecosystems to explain the emergence of heterogenous ecosystems by mapping the different conditions for ecosystem emergence at various levels of marketness. Our paper is one of the few to fully explain ecosystem emergence as it overcomes the challenges of explaining the emergence of ex-ante unknown actors.