Platforms, Markets and Innovation: An Introduction

The emergence of platforms, whether used inside firms, across supply chains, or as building blocks that act as engines of innovation and redefine industrial architectures, is a novel phenomenon affecting most industries today, from products to services. This book, the first of its kind dedicated to the emerging field of platform research, presents leading-edge contributions from top international scholars from strategy, economics, innovation, organizations and knowledge management. This book represents a milestone for the vibrant field of platform research. It is the outcome of an ambitious international collaboration, regrouping and making connections between the research work of 24 scholars, affiliated with 19 universities, in seven countries over four continents. The novel insights assembled in the 14 chapters of this volume constitute a fundamental step towards an empirically based, nuanced understanding of the nature of platforms and the implications they hold for the evolution of industrial innovation. But what exactly are platforms? Why should we care about them? And, why do we need a book about them

Institutional Work as Logics Shift: The case of Intel's Transformation to Platform Leader

In this article, we explore some of the forms of institutional work that organizations perform as they participate externally in the processes that drive change in the institutional logic that characterizes their field, and as they respond internally to the shift as it occurs. More specifically, we present the results of an in-depth case study of Intel Corporation, a firm that was implicated in a fundamental shift in the institutional logic of its field in the late 1980s and 1990s as the field moved from a traditional supply chain logic dominated by computer assemblers to a new platform logic following very different organizing principles. Through the qualitative analysis of 72 interviews with Intel employees, complemented by extensive archival data from 1980 to 2000, we identify two forms of institutional work that Intel performed externally – external practice work and legitimacy work – and two forms of work that they carried out internally – internal practice work and identity work – as the organization worked to simultaneously influence the shift in logic that was occurring and to deal with the ramifications of the shift

Innovation policy within private collectives: Evidence on 3GPP׳s regulation mechanisms to facilitate collective innovation

This article provides insights on how to manage collective innovation in the digital economy, an innovation regime which is riddled with complex regulatory challenges and increasing litigation over intellectual property rights. Private collective organizations face two main challenges: (1) to promote collective innovation while preserving the private interests of the firms within the collective, and (2) to ensure that collective innovation does not weaken healthy competition. Through a case study of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an exemplary private collective federation of organizations composed of standardization bodies, industry consortia and technology producers, we identify organizational solutions to these challenges. We find that a combination of specific IP rights instruments is key to manage these trade-offs. We also find that the combined policies of essential patenting, FRAND, and maximum royalty rate help overcome the specific challenges associated with collective innovation within competitive contexts. Finally we discuss the implications of our findings for managers and for policy. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

What Managers Need to Know About Platforms

A new and powerful way to compete has taken shape in our business landscape: Platform competition Whether we are talking about Google, Apple’s iPhone, iTunes and iPad, or Facebook, platforms seem to have taken our business landscape by storm. Firms that provide these platforms are able to orchestrate and take advantage of innovation coming from myriads of other firms that operate in coalitions sometimes called innovative business ecosystems. This article aims to present succinctly the essential ideas that managers need to understand about platforms, whether they are attempting to pursue a platform strategy or defending themselves against a platform attacke

Innovation policy within private collectives: Evidence on 3GPP's regulation mechanisms to facilitate collective innovation

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordThis article provides insights on how to manage collective innovation in the digital economy, an innovation regime which is riddled with complex regulatory challenges and increasing litigation over intellectual property rights. Private collective organizations face two main challenges: (1) to promote collective innovation while preserving the private interests of the firms within the collective, and (2) to ensure that collective innovation does not weaken healthy competition. Through a case study of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an exemplary private collective federation of organizations composed of standardization bodies, industry consortia and technology producers, we identify organizational solutions to these challenges. We find that a combination of specific IP rights instruments is key to manage these trade-offs. We also find that the combined policies of essential patenting, FRAND, and maximum royalty rate help overcome the specific challenges associated with collective innovation within competitive contexts. Finally we discuss the implications of our findings for managers and for policy. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

How do Digital Platforms Organize Immaturity: Towards an Integrative Framework for Platform Power

The power of digital platforms is increasingly raising concern in civil society and in policy circles. A recent surge of research has separately documented various forms of platform power and power abuse. However, there are surprisingly scant attempts in providing a holistic perspective on platform power. We address this issue by developing a socio-symbolic perspective on platforms’ power dynamics, and by asking the guiding question of how platforms organize immaturity. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capitals, and habitus, we explain how socio-symbolic structures shape power relations and transform the field in which platforms operate. We characterize the digital habitus and identify three stages in field transformation, each explained by the predominance of specific forms of power. Our analysis derives that while a subset of these forms of power increase organized immaturity, another subset can also empower the field’s actors. Thus, we make two main contributions: (1) We develop a novel socio-symbolic view of platforms’ power dynamics and an integrative framework conceptualizing the multifaceted dimension of platform power. (2) We exploit and enrich the concept of organized immaturity

ESAO: A holistic Ecosystem-Driven Analysis Model

The growing importance of software ecosystems and open innovation requires that companies become more intentional about aligning their internal strategy, architecture and organizing efforts with the ecosystem that the company is part of. Few models exist that facilitate analysis and improvement of this alignment. In this paper, we present the ESAO model and describe its six main components. Organizations and researchers can use the model to analyze the alignment between the different parts of their business, technologies and ways of working, internally and in the ecosystem. The model is illustrated and validated through the use of three case studies

Externalities and complementarities in platforms and ecosystems: From structural solutions to endogenous failures

Platforms and ecosystems provide structures for constellations of economic actors to engage and interact as they seek to create and capture value. We consider how the constructs of platforms and ecosystems relate and explore why they have become more ubiquitous by focusing on the nature of their value-add. We propose that they emerge as a response to distinct market failures, which we identify, and we explain which specific externalities they help overcome. We also identify post-hoc endogenous functional and distributional failures that platforms and ecosystems, in turn, generate. We discuss implications for theory and practice