Ecosystem Changes in the Automotive Industry : Electric Vehicles and the Increased Importance of Networked Business Models

Platform ecosystems are becoming the locus of innovation-driven economies as technology-based platform within the ecosystem acts as the foundation for innovative product and services developed by the networked business community around that platform. At its core, a technology platform shows architectural properties, which once emerged in an industry could play as the de facto template for defining the role of business community in the platform ecosystem. This paper discusses the importance of architectural properties of a technology platform in order to understand its criticality in the innovation-driven industries. Finally, the paper analyzes Tesla’s patent-mitigation strategy from the perspective of technology platforms, arguing how such a move can play a role in structure the future of electric vehicle industry. (Less)