Multi-Layer Governance in Platform Ecosystems of Established Companies

In recent years, established companies across different industries have launched platform ecosystems. By collaborating with numerous third-party developers, these companies seek to benefit from innovative solutions created outside of their organizations. To establish fruitful collaboration with third-party developers, they apply platform governance. However, established companies face a high degree of internal and external complexity such as heterogeneous product portfolios, fragmented markets, and existing partner networks. This makes platform governance a more challenging endeavor for established companies than for digital-native companies that create platform ecosystems on the green field. Literature on platform governance so far is based on a core-periphery model that considers relationships between the platform owner and third-party developers but does not capture the complexity of platform ecosystems implemented by established companies. Therefore, we conduct a multiple case study based on four established companies from different industries. We show that these companies apply multi-layer governance to manage the collaboration among (1) internal business units, (2) core partners, and (3) peripheral partners. Thereby, internal and external complexity affects the way companies govern these three groups. Our work enhances literature on platform governance by detailing the core-periphery model and proposing complexity as antecedent for platform governance.     «

In recent years, established companies across different industries have launched platform ecosystems. By collaborating with numerous third-party developers, these companies seek to benefit from innovative solutions created outside of their organizations. To establish fruitful collaboration with third-party developers, they apply platform governance. However, established companies face a high degree of internal and external complexity such as heterogeneous product portfolios, fragmented markets,...     »