Platform ecosystems as meta‐organizations: Implications for platform strategies

Abstract

Research summary: Platform ecosystems have spurred new products and services, sparked innovation, and improved economic efficiency in various industries and technology sectors. A distinctive feature of the platform architecture is its modular and interdependent system of core and complementary components bound together by design rules and an overarching value proposition. Accordingly, we conceptualize platforms as metaorganizations, or "organizations of organizations" that are less formal and less hierarchical structures than firms, and yet more closely coupled than traditional markets. To function successfully, however, platforms require coordination among multiple participants not all of whose interests are aligned. These organizational features of platforms raise many interesting and complex strategic challenges and hold implications for how platforms compete. In this paper, we discuss some of the most salient features of platform ecosystems as meta-organizations, specifically in terms of the sources of authority or power in the ecosystem, the motivation and incentives a platform creates to attract participants, and its governance and coordination structures. We then consider how papers appearing in this special issue inform us about the effects of these features on platform competition along three distinct dimensions:

Co-evolution of platform architecture, platform services, and platform governance: Expanding the platform value of industrial digital platforms

“…Finally, in contrast to the B2C context where the winner-takes-all approach prevails, we argue that the B2B context is vastly different. We display that the high switching cost of the industrial equipment as well as narrow platform scope and platform size would encourage platform coopetition rather than platform competition (Cennamo, 2019;Kretschmer et al, 2020;Pellizzoni et al, 2019).…”

“…A platform ecosystem is an evolving meta-organizational form where the platform architecture is a shared technological core that supports the ecosystem's members to create and capture value (Hou and Shi, 2020;Kretschmer et al, 2020). A platform ecosystem is usually organized around a hub firm that owns or sponsors the platform (Rietveld and Schilling, 2020).…”

“…Based on a review of studies, a platform ecosystem can be viewed as an evolving meta-organizational form characterized by enabling platform architecture, supported by a set of platform governance mechanisms necessary to cooperate, coordinate and integrate a diverse set of organizations, actors, activities, and interfaces, resulting in an increased platform value for customers through customized platform services (Cennamo, 2019;Constantinides et al, 2018;Hou and Shi, 2020;Jacobides et al, 2018;Kretschmer et al, 2020). The mirroring hypothesis suggests that a technological architecture and associated governance mechanisms "mirror" one another in the sense that the structure of one will correspond to the structure of the other (Colfer and Baldwin, 2016).…”

Reconciling and reconceptualising servitization research: drawing on modularity, platforms, ecosystems, risk and governance to develop mid-range theory

“…Platforms are a form of modularity (Kretschmer, et al, 2020), and these are examined in the following section.…”

“…Platforms are an extended form of modularity and a specific type of business model. They are sometimes referred to as meta-organisations, or 'organisations of organisations', that are less formal and less hierarchical structures than firms, and yet more closely coupled than traditional markets (Kretschmer, et al, 2020).…”