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Platform Thinking: Considerations for establishing third-party developer-centric ecosystems

Karanja, Sylvia LU and Arvesen, Björn LU (2018) INFM10 20181
Department of Informatics
Abstract
There has been a dramatic growth in organizations aiming to leverage the power of platform business models and capture the vast amounts of value stemming from external innovation. Thus, actors are required to open up their innovation processes to third-party developers, and make sure these external resources are incentivized to both enter and remain in the ecosystem. So far, there has been a limited understanding of what considerations have to be made to cre-ate an optimal developer environment, with research being limited to specific aspects of plat-form establishment. By applying a process perspective, this study has identified the three high level phases of such platform establishment as (1) Understanding Developers, (2) Platform Design... (More)
There has been a dramatic growth in organizations aiming to leverage the power of platform business models and capture the vast amounts of value stemming from external innovation. Thus, actors are required to open up their innovation processes to third-party developers, and make sure these external resources are incentivized to both enter and remain in the ecosystem. So far, there has been a limited understanding of what considerations have to be made to cre-ate an optimal developer environment, with research being limited to specific aspects of plat-form establishment. By applying a process perspective, this study has identified the three high level phases of such platform establishment as (1) Understanding Developers, (2) Platform Design and (3) Governance and Control, which all come with certain considerations. The pro-cess has been examined through six interviews with different experts in the field, to create a comprehensive list of the key considerations for each phase. Using diffusion of innovation theo-ry, the study does not only list various factors, but also explains their impact on platform diffu-sion. Key findings highlight discrepancies between literature and empiricism, with addressable market and brand equity of a firm being the primary motivations for third-party developers. Additionally, the study identifies strategic partnerships as an impactful factor in all phases and a necessity for successful platform establishment. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Karanja, Sylvia LU and Arvesen, Björn LU
supervisor
organization
course
INFM10 20181
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
platform business models, boundary resources, third-party developers, platform governance, developer marketing, external innovators, lean communication, complementors, integrators, organizational identity
report number
INF18-009
language
English
id
8950792
date added to LUP
2018-06-19 13:32:00
date last changed
2018-06-19 13:32:00
@misc{8950792,
  abstract     = {{There has been a dramatic growth in organizations aiming to leverage the power of platform business models and capture the vast amounts of value stemming from external innovation. Thus, actors are required to open up their innovation processes to third-party developers, and make sure these external resources are incentivized to both enter and remain in the ecosystem. So far, there has been a limited understanding of what considerations have to be made to cre-ate an optimal developer environment, with research being limited to specific aspects of plat-form establishment. By applying a process perspective, this study has identified the three high level phases of such platform establishment as (1) Understanding Developers, (2) Platform Design and (3) Governance and Control, which all come with certain considerations. The pro-cess has been examined through six interviews with different experts in the field, to create a comprehensive list of the key considerations for each phase. Using diffusion of innovation theo-ry, the study does not only list various factors, but also explains their impact on platform diffu-sion. Key findings highlight discrepancies between literature and empiricism, with addressable market and brand equity of a firm being the primary motivations for third-party developers. Additionally, the study identifies strategic partnerships as an impactful factor in all phases and a necessity for successful platform establishment.}},
  author       = {{Karanja, Sylvia and Arvesen, Björn}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Platform Thinking: Considerations for establishing third-party developer-centric ecosystems}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}