Towards an Integrated View of Multi-Sided Platforms Evolution

How do Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) evolve over time? Although MSPs are perceived as highly evolvable socio-technical systems, Platform Evolution remains an elusive topic in the MSP literature with many unanswered questions. In particular, Platform Evolution (PE) as a concept has not been explicitly defined in the MSP literature. Rather, there is multiplicity of views, which contributes to the lack of conceptual clarity. In order to address this shortcoming, we put forward a new, integrated conceptualization of PE as a complex, multi-faceted and dynamic process. Rather than proposing yet another view on PE, we adopt a “concept reconstruction” approach, which allows us to integrate the existing work on PE in a coherent manner, and to propose a comprehensive conceptualization of PE.

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