Decentralized platforms and human relationships

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This research paper concentrates on three design dimensions surrounding the formation of robust platform ecosystems like Uber and Udemy, namely: governance decentralization, shared context, and engagement. All these contribute to embedding trust and connection to a platform, by facilitating human relationships forming through them. Knowledge sharing and collaboration are core facets of building-in ever-increasing layers of innovation, and at one extreme platform governance could be completely decentralized, although this risks destabilizing the benefits of the other facets. Managers can gain plenty of commitment by involving many actors in decisions, without leaving the platform like a ship without a rudder… directionless. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The Engagement of Complementors and the Role of Platform Boundary Resources in e-Commerce Platform Ecosystems

The success of digital platforms can be attributed to the engagement of autonomous complementors as exemplified by e-commerce Content Management System (CMS) platforms such as WordPress and Shopify. Platform owners provide Platform Boundary Resources (PBRs) to stimulate and control complementor engagement. Despite the increasing scholarly interest in digital platform ecosystems, their exact role in facilitating and channeling complementor engagement remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted an embedded case study on CMS platform ecosystems, comprising a total of 24 interviews with platform owners and complementors. We inductively derive five types of complementor engagement and their respective manifestations and two overarching engagement goals of complementors. Moreover, we determine the different types of PBRs utilized, including their critical effects, and distinguish between uniform and individual PBRs reflecting their respective generalizability and scalability. We discuss the findings by introducing the concepts of complementor resourcing and complementor securing and shed light on the standardization-individualization tension of PBRs faced by platform owners.

Designing platform ecosystems for collaboration, innovation and growth

PurposeThis paper explores the design dimensions that foster identity construction, legitimation, and growth of digitally mediated platform ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachA midrange theorizing approach was adopted to assimilate and induct the extant literature on ecosystems, platform business models and innovation, yielding testable propositions on ecosystem design for empirical testing.FindingsThe paper suggests that decentralized governance, partner engagement and shared context are three dimensions of criticality for designing a distinct platform ecosystem. These design dimensions nurture interactions, transactions, relationships between platform participants and external actors to make ecosystems authentic and legitimate. Decentralization is relevant for inducing flexibility and autonomy of participants on the platform. Engagement impacts the intensity of relationships the platform has with other firms in the ecosystem, while shared context is essential for creating knowledge and harnessing innovation on the platform.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper identifies a set of three testable propositions on ecosystem design for further empirical analysis by ecosystem researchers.Practical implicationsTo achieve future readiness, organizations must become resilient to the market environment. With that intent, traditional businesses are revising their operating models to become more collaborative, integrative and efficient. Adoption of digital initiatives for redesigning towards platform ecosystems will make traditional models more relevant as markets evolve. But as a new organization form, platform ecosystem faces the challenge of legitimacy. Author suggests that managers use the organization design lever to meet the challenge.Originality/valueEmergence of platform-based businesses and transformation of existing models to platform ecosystems are impacting today's competitive environment. During initial phases of evolution, ecosystems aim for identity and legitimacy. The authors contribute to organizational aspects of the platform ecosystem design literature by identifying decentralization of governance, engagement and shared context as dimensions of criticality for future-ready platforms. Secondly, these dimensions are associated with identity and legitimation of platform ecosystems. Decentralization is relevant for supply-side producers of goods and services on the platform, engagement has impact on both supply and demand-side participants of platforms, and shared context is essential for knowledge creation and harnessing innovation.

Services on Platform Ecosystems in the Smart Home 2.0 Era: Elements Influencing Consumers’ Value Perception for Smart Home Products

Recently, smart home products have shown signs of rapid development and increasing awareness of smart home platforms. In order to make smart home enterprises enter the era of Smart Home 2.0, it is necessary to consider the elements related to smart home platforms. This study examines the relationship between consumers’ value perception and the platform ecosystem theory and how this relationship contributes to their perception of smart home products’ value. This study aims to reveal the influence of smart home platform elements on the value perception of consumers regarding consumers’ perception of the smart home products’ value. To achieve this goal, an online survey (n = 595) was implemented to collect data from Japanese respondents. The analytical results presented in this study indicated that consumers, who sense the value of modularization of smart home products and inter-consumer connectivity, can sense the value of smart home products. In addition, consumers who can perceive the value of a platform service can indirectly feel the value of smart home products through modularity and inter-consumer connectivity. The results presented in this study provide new insights into product development in Smart Home 2.0.

Service Research Priorities: Designing Sustainable Service Ecosystems

This article utilizes input from service scholars, practitioners, reviews of published literature, and influential policy documents to identify service research priorities that push the boundaries of extant research. In a companion piece, we focused on four service research priorities related to managing and delivering service in turbulent times. Further, we identified a set of stakeholder-wants from the literature and included research questions that tie key stakeholder-wants to each of the three priorities in this article and the four priorities in the companion article. Here, we highlight the critical importance of scholarship and practice related to the design of sustainable service ecosystems and discuss three key service research priorities: large-scale and complex service ecosystems for transformative impact (SRP5), platform ecosystems and marketplaces (SRP6), and services for disadvantaged consumers and communities (SRP7). We call for an engaged service scholarship that considers the interrelationships among consumers, organizations, employees, platforms, and societal institutions and pursues transformative goals.