Platform strategies: how the position in the network drives success

ABSTRACT Scholars have focused on platform strategies for a long time, moving from a product perspective to an industry-wide one. In particular, the decision to open the platform to external complementors has been studied through the perspective of platform leadership. The digital age is now moving from a closed approach versus an open approach. Is being a platform leader still imperative or is participating in a network of existing platforms still a suitable strategy as well? What kind of collaborations within an ecosystem leads to better performances? Leveraging social network analysis is performed within the network formed by mobile apps in the Health and Fitness category; this research shows how the decision of being (or not) a platform provider has an impact on the performances, but the position within the network mediates this impact. Based on the results obtained, research and managerial implications can be established.

[1]  Chandrasekar Subramaniam,et al.  Determinants of open source software project success: A longitudinal study , 2009, Decis. Support Syst..

[2]  S. Hunt.  Competing through relationships: Grounding relationship marketing in resource‐advantage theory , 1997 .

[3]  Marc H. Meyer,et al.  The Power of Product Platforms , 1997 .

[4]  Erik Brynjolfsson,et al.  Big data: the management revolution. , 2012, Harvard business review.

[5]  Dennis F. Galletta,et al.  Individual Centrality and Performance in Virtual R&D Groups: An Empirical Study , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[6]  Melissa A. Schilling.  Technology Success and Failure in Winner-Take-All Markets: The Impact of Learning Orientation, Timing, and Network Externalities , 2002 .

[7]  Stephen P. Borgatti,et al.  Centrality and network flow , 2005, Soc. Networks.

[8]  Christian Nitzl,et al.  Mediation Analyses in Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling: Guidelines and Empirical Examples , 2017 .

[9]  Silvia Martelo-Landroguez,et al.  Absorptive capacity and value in the banking industry: A multiple mediation model , 2016 .

[10]  Geoffrey G. Parker,et al.  Pipelines, platforms, and the new rules of strategy , 2016 .

[11]  D. Straub,et al.  Editor's comments: a critical look at the use of PLS-SEM in MIS quarterly , 2012 .

[12]  Carliss Y. Baldwin,et al.  Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation , 2010, Organ. Sci..

[13]  Elena Pellizzoni,et al.  Give Away Your Digital Services: Leveraging Big Data to Capture Value , 2017 .

[14]  Wynne W. Chin,et al.  Handbook of Partial Least Squares , 2010 .

[15]  M. Sobel.  Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models , 1982 .

[16]  Robert K. Perrons,et al.  The open kimono: How Intel balances trust and power to maintain platform leadership , 2009 .

[17]  Antonio L. Leal-Rodríguez,et al.  An explanatory and predictive model for organizational agility , 2016 .

[18]  Wynne W. Chin.  The partial least squares approach for structural equation modeling. , 1998 .

[19]  L. Kosmin Langford,et al.  Platform leadership: how Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco drive industry innovation [Book Review] , 2003 .

[20]  Marko Sarstedt,et al.  PLS-SEM: Indeed a Silver Bullet , 2011 .

[21]  Robin Teigland,et al.  How Internet Technologies Impact Information Flows in R&D: Reconsidering the Technological Gatekeeper , 2010 .

[22]  P. Doreian.  Causality in Social Network Analysis , 2001 .

[23]  Marsha L. Richins,et al.  The Role of Evolvement and Opinion Leadership in Consumer Word-Of-Mouth: an Implicit Model Made Explicit , 1988 .

[24]  Nader A. Salman,et al.  Indirect Networks: An Intangible Resource for Biotechnology Innovation , 2005 .

[25]  Gary L. Lilien,et al.  First in, First out? The Effects of Network Externalities on Pioneer Survival , 2004 .

[26]  Elena Pellizzoni,et al.  Exploring the Inbound and Outbound Strategies Enabled by User Generated Big Data: Evidence from Leading Smartphone Applications , 2018 .

[27]  M. Armstrong,et al.  Two-sided Markets, Competitive Bottlenecks and Exclusive Contracts , 2004 .

[28]  Alison Watts,et al.  A Dynamic Model of Network Formation , 2001, Games Econ. Behav..

[29]  Dominique M. Hanssens,et al.  Advertising and Word-of-Mouth Effects on Pre-launch Consumer Interest and Initial Sales of Experience Products , 2017 .

[30]  Gunwoong Lee,et al.  Determinants of Mobile Apps' Success: Evidence from the App Store Market , 2014, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[31]  Evangelos P. Markatos,et al.  Rise of the planet of the apps: a systematic study of the mobile app ecosystem , 2013, Internet Measurement Conference.

[32]  Thomas Scherngell,et al.  R&D internationalisation patterns in the global pharmaceutical industry: evidence from a network analytic perspective , 2015, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[33]  S. D. Berkowitz,et al.  Social Structures: A Network Approach , 1989 .

[34]  Frédéric Dalsace,et al.  Brand Magic: Harry Potter marketing”, Harvard Business Review, février 2007, vol. 85, n° 2 , 2007 .

[35]  Ilenia Fronza,et al.  Better Code for Better Apps: A Study on Source Code Quality and Market Success of Android Applications , 2015, 2015 2nd ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems.

[36]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[37]  Kevin J. Boudreau,et al.  Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom? An Early Look at Large Numbers of Software 'Apps' Developers and Patterns of Innovation , 2011, Organ. Sci..

[38]  Ephraim R. McLean,et al.  Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable , 1992, Inf. Syst. Res..

[39]  J. Utterback.  Patterns of innovation , 1992 .

[40]  Upkar Varshney,et al.  Mobile health: Four emerging themes of research , 2014, Decis. Support Syst..

[41]  Samer Faraj,et al.  Why Should I Share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice , 2005, MIS Q..

[42]  FarajSamer,et al.  Why should i share? examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice , 2005 .

[43]  Thomas Klueter,et al.  Is There an Ebay for Ideas? Insights from Online Knowledge Marketplaces , 2011 .

[44]  Min Zhang,et al.  Analysing customer behaviour in mobile app usage , 2017, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[45]  M. Sarstedt,et al.  A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling , 2015 .

[46]  A. Gawer,et al.  Industry Platforms and Ecosystem Innovation , 2013 .

[47]  Thomas R. Eisenmann,et al.  Platform Envelopment , 2010 .

[48]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[49]  SubramaniamChandrasekar,et al.  Determinants of open source software project success , 2009 .

[50]  Rahul C. Basole,et al.  On the Evolution of Mobile Platform Ecosystem Structure and Strategy , 2011, Bus. Inf. Syst. Eng..

[51]  Michael A. Cusumano,et al.  Platform Leadership How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation , 2002 .

[52]  Antonio Sánchez-Esguevillas,et al.  Easing the assessment of emerging technologies in technology observatories. Findings about patterns of dissemination of emerging technologies on the internet , 2018, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[53]  J. Hoseason.  Pricing: Making Profitable Decisions , 2003 .

[54]  A. Petruzzelli,et al.  A literature review on markets for ideas: Emerging characteristics and unanswered questions , 2014 .

[55]  Roberto Verganti,et al.  Unveiling the Potentialities Provided by New Technologies: A Process to Pursue Technology Epiphanies in the Smartphone App Industry , 2015 .

[56]  F. Bookstein,et al.  Two Structural Equation Models: LISREL and PLS Applied to Consumer Exit-Voice Theory , 1982 .

[57]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  Defining Open Source Software Project Success , 2003, ICIS.

[58]  Michael A. Cusumano,et al.  Technology strategy and managementThe evolution of platform thinking , 2010, CACM.

[59]  C. Shapiro,et al.  Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility , 1985 .

[60]  F. J. Arenas-Márqueza,et al.  Electronic word-of-mouth communities from the perspective of social network analysis , 2014 .

[61]  Katherine Faust.  Centrality in affiliation networks , 1997 .

[62]  M. Bengtsson,et al.  ”Coopetition” in Business Networks—to Cooperate and Compete Simultaneously , 2000 .

[63]  Fujun Lai,et al.  Using Partial Least Squares in Operations Management Research: A Practical Guideline and Summary of Past Research , 2012 .

[64]  BENEFITING FROM MARKETS FOR IDEAS — AN INVESTIGATION ACROSS DIFFERENT TYPOLOGIES , 2013 .

[65]  Sang M. Lee,et al.  Success factors of platform leadership in web 2.0 service business , 2010 .

[66]  Mohanbir Sawhney,et al.  Orchestration Processes in Network-Centric Innovation: Evidence From the Field , 2011 .

[67]  Maria Petrescu.  Marketing research using single-item indicators in structural equation models , 2013 .

[68]  D. Trabucchi,et al.  Give Away Your Digital Services , 2017 .

[69]  Venkatesh Shankar,et al.  Network Effects and Competition: An Empirical Analysis of the Home Video Game Industry , 2002 .

[70]  G. Kaa,et al.  Platform control during battles for market dominance: The case of Apple versus IBM in the early personal computer industry , 2016 .

[71]  Henry Chesbrough,et al.  Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology , 2003 .

[72]  L. Freeman.  Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification , 1978 .

[73]  Fernando Suarez,et al.  Network Effects Revisited: The Role of Strong Ties in Technology Selection , 2005 .

[74]  A. Gawer.  Bridging differing perspectives on technological platforms: Toward an integrative framework , 2014 .

[75]  W. Reinartz,et al.  An Empirical Comparison of the Efficacy of Covariance-Based and Variance-Based SEM , 2009 .

[76]  S. Mazzocchi.  Open Innovation: The New Imperative For Creating and Profiting From Technology , 2004 .