Sandbox vs. Toolbox – Analyzing Boundary Resource in B2B Software Platforms

With business-to-business (B2B) software platforms, firms leverage ecosystems of third-party developers that create applications for the platform. To support developers in this process, platform owners provide boundary resources. Implementing a suitable set of boundary resources thereby remains a challenge for platform owners. In this study, we examine two B2B software platforms, Salesforce and IBM Bluemix, which pursue different strategies regarding boundary resources. While Salesforce creates a delimited “sandbox” in which developers can quickly create solutions, IBM offers a “toolbox” for seemingly unlimited possibilities to create applications, making development more complex for the developers. We discuss the implications of these strategies.     «

With business-to-business (B2B) software platforms, firms leverage ecosystems of third-party developers that create applications for the platform. To support developers in this process, platform owners provide boundary resources. Implementing a suitable set of boundary resources thereby remains a challenge for platform owners. In this study, we examine two B2B software platforms, Salesforce and IBM Bluemix, which pursue different strategies regarding boundary resources. While Salesforce creates...     »