Platform-based Ecosystems Research Articles

Follow the flow: An exploratory multi-case study of value creation in e-commerce ecosystems

Platform-based ecosystems dominate e-commerce, generating value through participant growth and resulting network effects. However, research has lacked any conceptualization of value creation in e-commerce ecosystems. This paper fills this gap by providing a theoretically grounded and empirically validated conceptualization of value creation and exchange, including roles, value creation activities, and value flows among participants. The model integrates insights from a systematic literature review and a multi-case study of ten leading e-commerce ecosystems. Furthermore, an extension to the e3-value notation is proposed by introducing ecosystem segments, allowing for a higher level of abstraction of meta-roles and individual ecosystem participants.

Linking supply chains to ecosystems in the era of supply chain management 4.0

Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing supply chain management, prompting a significant shift toward Supply Chain Management 4.0 (SCM 4.0). This transformation facilitates traditional supply chains evolving into platform-based ecosystems, thereby fundamentally redefining the processes of value creation, delivery, and capture. This study recognizes the divergence in empirical research between supply chains and ecosystems and aims to integrate these research streams by focusing on technological platforms. The study offers a comprehensive theoretical framework designed to dissect the evolutionary trajectories of supply chains into ecosystems in the SCM 4.0 context. By doing so, this research unveils the profound strategic implications of digital transformation, paving the way for groundbreaking research in SCM 4.0.

Tech play and global play in the automotive industry - mediating goal conflicts with platform-based ecosystems

Tech play and global play in the automotive industry - mediating goal conflicts with platform-based ecosystems

Higher-order networks for Business Ecosystems Computational Modeling

Ecosystems are nowadays a dominant organizational form in the digital age. But this construct lacks consensus on its empirical scope, its key theoretical features and its theoretical roots. The paper proposes an integrative framework as well as a method and a tool for calculating an ecosystem based on simplicial complexes and the HYPE platform. It concludes that a data-driven and visualization approach is needed to the study of the dynamic, emergent and adaptive dimensions of today’s platform-based ecosystems.

Platform collaboration patterns, network structure, and innovation performance: An NK simulation approach

Prior research lacks understanding about how collaborative arrangements and network structures influence innovation outcomes in platform-based ecosystems. This paper addresses this gap by using an NK simulation model to investigate the impacts of different collaboration patterns and network structures on innovation performance. The NK simulation approach overcomes the shortcomings of empirical methods and enables examining the dynamic impacts. The results reveal that the “special platform + generic complementor” pattern leads to the highest innovation output. The impact of component correlations on the innovation performance follows an inverted U-shape. The small world network structure promotes innovation versus regular or random networks. The results provide novel theoretical insights into strategically configuring platform partnerships and network connections to optimize innovation. The findings offer practical guidance for firms to choose beneficial collaboration pattern and design proper network structure.

Benefiting From a Shock: Innovation in Connectedness in Platform-based Ecosystems

Benefiting From a Shock: Innovation in Connectedness in Platform-based Ecosystems

How Coopetition among Complementors Stimulates Innovation in Platform-based Ecosystems?

How Coopetition among Complementors Stimulates Innovation in Platform-based Ecosystems?

How does competition influence innovative effort within a platform-based ecosystem? Contrasting paid and unpaid contributors

Unpaid individuals are an important source of contributions to many ecosystems. An understudied phenomenon is how such contributions are shaped by competition. In this paper, we study how the rate and type of new product creation are shaped by competition. We contrast its impact on “paid” developers that profit by selling their products to that on “unpaid” developers that release their software for free. Using a hand-collected dataset on the jailbreak ecosystem, we find that increasing competition has a stronger negative effect on the rate of innovation by paid developers than that of unpaid developers. We also find that increasing competition is associated with a reduction in the reuse of existing technological components by unpaid developers, relative to paid developers, suggesting that the types of products developed also shift as competition increases. The results suggest that competition has an important role in shaping innovation in platform-based ecosystems, but that it differs for paid and unpaid contributors.

Evolutionary Game and Simulation Analysis of Collaborative Innovation Mechanisms of Industrial Internet Platform-Based Ecosystem

Digital platforms are transforming almost every industry today. To gain insight into the innovation mechanism of the industrial Internet platform-based ecosystem, combining its nature of sustainability, this paper investigates strategic factors, such as the intensity of platform governance, the eco-efficiency of cooperation, and the input costs of complementors. A platform ecological system game model comprised of the industrial Internet platform enterprise, industry chain complementors, and innovation chain complementors is then established. The results of game playing and simulation highlight four important facts as revealed by a Chinese COSMOPlat case. First, there are four evolutionary paths for collaborative relations among innovation entities in an ecosystem. Second, platform enterprise may utilize various strategies in the several stages of ecosystem evolution. Third, complementors in the industrial chain and innovation chain have different degrees of dependence on platform enterprise and distinct incentive factors. Finally, investment of platform enterprise in data security drives the construction and upgrading of the ecosystem. In this context, collaborative innovation in platform ecosystems is associated with a self-evolving, self-growing, self-driven, and sustainable cooperation and win–win mechanism. This study provides new ideas for the governance of the industrial Internet platform-based ecosystem.

How automotive OEMs can lever platform-based ecosystems through the strategic use of boundary resources

How automotive OEMs can lever platform-based ecosystems through the strategic use of boundary resources

How automotive OEMs can lever platform-based ecosystems through the strategic use of boundary resources

How automotive OEMs can lever platform-based ecosystems through the strategic use of boundary resources

Platform Sponsor Scope, Ecosystem Structure and Heterogeneity: A Configurational Approach

The literature on platform-based ecosystems has focused extensively on the influence of platform structure and governance on the growth of the ecosystem. However, such a focus has remained largely discrete with little understanding of the nature and implications of the platform sponsors simultaneous choice of ecosystem structure and governance elements. We develop a configurational approach to holistically understand how elements of platform ecosystem structure and platform sponsor scope combine to shape performance. We examine how such choices differ across different types of platform ecosystems and at different stages of the ecosystem lifecycle. Our findings shed light on heterogeneity in platform ecosystems in terms of their structure and governance and contribute to the platform literature by advancing a configurational approach to understanding platform ecosystems.

Bounded to the Buy Box: Entrepreneurial Strategies and Power within Platform-based Ecosystems

Contemporary entrepreneurs operate in a consumer culture mediated by a growing number of platform ecosystems. Furthermore, platform survival is dependent upon attracting such entrepreneurial complementors to their ecosystems. Yet, scholars are only recently beginning to grapple with the fundamental differences between traditional and platform-dependent entrepreneurship, particularly the fundamental power asymmetry between platform owners and platform dependent entrepreneurs. To explore power within platform ecosystems, I conducted a field-level ethnography of Amazon seller conferences, complemented by “zooming into” interview and archival data of platform-dependent entrepreneurs. Qualitative analysis revealed ambiguous understandings by all ecosystem members about the domains of actions and interests between the seller, Amazon as the platform owner, and other members of the ecosystems, such as third-party Amazon couriers and overseas manufacturers who often operate on other platforms such as Alibaba. Seller strategies for coping with the ambiguity required manipulation of the boundaries of the platform ecosystem to create a domain for action and shared interest. This research is particularly relevant because the impact of entrepreneurial firms’ embeddedness in platform ecosystems is largely unknown from a sociological perspective.

Tackling the Grand Challenge of Climate Change with Ecosystem Innovation

Reflected in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global climate change is one of the grand challenges faced by humanity. While substantially more progress is required, technological developments in renewable electricity generation and complementary digital technologies in the electricity sector are opening up a path towards reaching climate-related SDGs. Yet, how heterogenous actors innovate and coordinate to translate these interdependent technological developments into value propositions at the necessary speed and scale remains elusive. To make sense of this puzzle we introduce an ecosystem innovation perspective incorporating multiple interdependent dimensions at both the technology and strategy level, enabling us to better capture the complex structural changes within the electricity sector. We calibrate our analysis through the study of 57 different collaborative pilots between 10 large international incumbent electric utilities and startups over a four-year period, in which they collaboratively experiment with different alignments of technologies and strategic roles adopted by incumbents, startups and customers (i.e. ecosystem configurations). Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis and additional interviews we identify three ecosystem configurations that contribute highly to climate-related SDGs: (1) digital platform innovation enhancing resource efficiency, (2) physical complementor innovation enabling renewable generation scaling, and (3) new orchestrator innovation allowing actors to share, trade and leverage information and resources. In a complementary analysis we further illuminate trade-offs that incumbents face between allocating resources towards ecosystem innovation for grand challenges versus linear value chain enhancements for capturing short term economic value. This study contributes to the literature by elaborating on (1) how ecosystem innovation may help to tackle the inherent interdependencies of grand challenges (2) the role of incumbent firms and their approach to innovation for managing grand challenges, and (3) the management of platform-based ecosystems in infrastructure-intensive settings. For managers we offer insights regarding how to innovate ecosystems for tackling grand challenges.

Firms, Markets and Platform Ecosystems: Economic Organizing in the 21st Century

Fundamentally new organizing forms such as digital platform-based ecosystems (DPEs) have begun to dominate the 21st-century business landscape and sparked renewed interest in economic organizing. In this paper we propose a novel theoretical framework that advances generativity as the primary organizing logic employed in DPEs to create desirable output variety by facilitating innovative activities of autonomous external actors. We synthesize existing knowledge of economic organizing principles to conduct a comparative generativity analysis of DPEs, markets, and hierarchies. We mirror this analysis by conducting a comparative efficiency analysis of the three organizing forms. Finally, we explore the crucial link between the efficiency of adaptation and generativity optimization by the platform firm in the face of evolutionary forces. The paper bridges dominant thinking of the industrial era with the latest digital era thinking.

Governance of Web-Based Idea Management System Rewards: From the Perspective of Open Innovation

Digitisation of business processes has attracted practitioner attention across a wide range of industries as it enables enterprises to better manage their processes and improve results. The rate of digitisation has grown over the last decade and has become essential for enterprises to handle unforeseen disruptions and promote better management of resources. The COVID-19 pandemic is one example of a recent major disruption that caught enterprises off-guard and had a major impact on their value chains. The adoption of digitisation of business processes has significantly sped up to improve enterprise and their value chain resilience and enable enterprises to survive and potentially thrive in today’s uncertain environment. Through this movement, innovative companies have embraced idea management to develop new business models and achieve competitive advantage. One of the major digital tools that support enterprises in their idea management efforts is web-based idea management systems. This study aims to show how enterprises can manage the rewards of platforms, such as web-based idea management systems, to achieve a first-in-class quality and quantity of ideas sourced from the stakeholders involved in these platform-based ecosystems. To reach this aim, a global survey study was conducted involving over 400 responses from enterprises that use web-based idea management systems and consequent results were analysed. The impact of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards on the results of enterprises is a well-researched area. To further verify the results, the authors have conducted ten expert interviews and a qualitative analysis of a data set sourced from a database that contained 129 company entries that utilise web-based idea management systems and was available for this research that was conducted over a two-year period. Results strongly indicate that mixed and financial reward type tasks result in a higher quantity of ideas created, however, higher idea quality—i.e., ideas selected—is higher for financial reward tasks. The research highlights that there could be differences between different web-based idea management systems application groups.

The Concept of Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for SMEs in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

The digital economy comes with a sloping topography, is inclusive, and offers equal opportunities. This characteristic has the concept of competition which becomes the spirit of the industry that is easily lifted by SMEs players and Start-Ups who prioritize collaboration and synergy. Therefore, to face the challenges as well as opportunities that come simultaneously brought about by the presence of the digital economy and the pandemic situation, it is very important for SMEs to understand the environmental conditions and existing ecosystems, where a digital-based entrepreneurial ecosystem is something that is mandatory for the existence of SMEs. A new platform-based ecosystem framework, also known as the Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (DEE) is proposed which integrates two separate but related ecosystem literature, namely the digital ecosystem and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This new framework places platform-based ecosystems within the broader context of users, agents, infrastructure and institutions, so that two biotic entities (users and agents) drive individual agency, while two abiotic components (digital technology and digital institutions) make up the external environment. The purpose of writing this article is to get an overview of the concept of the Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (DEE) by using a literature study research method. This article will be built and constructed based on empirical research that has been done, mapping articles and related studies to be able to provide an overview of the DEE concept for SMEs in North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The management of four sub-indexes of DEE, namely Digital Technology Infrastructure, Digital User Citizenship, Digital Multi-sided Platform, and Digital Technology Entrepreneurship, is the key to improving the SMEs in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Managing platform-based ecosystems in B2B markets – out-bound open innovation perspective

Managing platform-based ecosystems in B2B markets – out-bound open innovation perspective

Managing platform-based ecosystems in B2B markets – out-bound open innovation perspective

Managing platform-based ecosystems in B2B markets – out-bound open innovation perspective

Accountability of platform providers for unlawful personal data processing in their ecosystems–A socio-techno-legal analysis of Facebook and Apple's iOS according to GDPR

Billions of people interact within platform-based ecosystems containing the personal data of their daily lives. Data which have become rigorously creatable, processable, and shareable. Here, platform providers facilitate interactions between three types of relevant actors: users, service providers, and third parties. Research in the information systems field has shown that platform providers influence their platform ecosystems to promote the contributions of service providers and exercise control by utilizing boundary resources. Through a socio-techno-legal analysis of two high-profile cases and their application on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) we show that the boundary resource design, arrangement, and interplay can influence whether and to what extent platform providers are accountable for platform providers unlawful personal data processing in platform ecosystems. The findings can have a huge impact to account actors for personal data misusage in platform ecosystems and, thus, the protection of personal liberty and rights in such socio-technical systems.