A multilevel, multi-mode framework for standardization in digital B2B platform eco-systems in international cargo transportation—A multiple case study

Abstract

Standardization is gaining importance for digital platform eco-systems as they try to balance both stability and flexibility of their core as well as their boundary resources. Our knowledge on which factors influence standardization processes in business-to-business (B2B) focused digital platform eco-systems remains limited. Using three B2B platform eco-systems from the cargo transportation and seaport eco-system context, we apply a multiple case study to investigate which factors affect the standardization mode and the standard adoption. Based on 19 interviews and a systematic coding procedure, we identified 24 factors and cluster them into four overarching themes. We show the relatedness between standardization and innovation research, identify standard characteristics as the most important theme of factors and show that standardization has to be seen as a dynamic and interconnected process, as some factors are interdependent but the controllability varies between factors. Lastly, implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.

Supply Chain Finance and Industrial Efficiency: Evidence From ICT Industry

“…According to a scholar (Yu et al, 2019), supply chain finance uses the macro-industrial chain logic to improve communication and cooperation among supply chain partners and encourage benefit sharing and cooperative business growth among enterprises in each node. By providing multi-mode, reliable, and professional financing services to the core enterprises (Tessmann & Elbert, 2022) and customers of the industrial chain (Lu et al, 2022), supply chain finance can reduce commodity risks, price fluctuations, and transaction costs (Pellegrino et al, 2019), significantly improve the efficiency between enterprises, thus enhance the operational efficiency (Bag et al, 2020).…”

Governing digital crisis responses: platform standards and the dilemma of COVID-19 contact tracing

“…Third, we add to the recent stream of literature on standards within platform ecosystems (Hein et al 2019;Tessmann and Elbert 2022) by borrowing the concept of substitution standards from the corporate governance literature (Okhmatovskiy and David 2012) and introducing it as a viable platform strategy. As shown by our case, such substitution responses may be performed by enabling the functions of an externally imposed standard through proprietary boundary resources and coring those features directly into the operating system.…”

“…Standards and software platforms are strongly intertwined (Hein et al 2019;Tessmann and Elbert 2022), especially given that network effects constitute a crucial element in driving the overall success of software platforms (Parker et al 2016;Song et al 2018). Software platforms such as Google's Android or Apple's iOS provide third-party developers (i.e., complementors) access to platform resources to create complementary apps based on the standards defined by the platform (Tiwana et al 2010;Cusumano et al 2019).…”

“…While the standardization of DCT (e.g., Marhold and Fell 2021) and especially the involvement of Google and Apple naturally attracted the attention of researchers from various disciplines (e.g., Michael and Abbas 2020;Sharon 2020;Storeng and de Bengy 2021;Lanzing et al 2022), an extensive investigation based on both the standards and the platform literature addressing the above-mentioned questions and issues remains absent. However, we argue that because DCT apps rely on both software platforms and IT standards to enable their effective development and the exploitation of network effects, the case provides an avenue to advance the recent research stream that combines the aforementioned bodies of literature (e.g., Hein et al 2019;Tessmann and Elbert 2022). In particular, the time constraints introduced by the pandemic resulted in trade-offs between short-term and long-term consequences, which, to the best of our knowledge, have not been the focus of research on standards decisions so far (Shin et al 2015;Lindgren et al 2021).…”