Platform Thinking: Considerations for establishing third-party developer-centric ecosystems

Abstract: There has been a dramatic growth in organizations aiming to leverage the power of platform business models and capture the vast amounts of value stemming from external innovation. Thus, actors are required to open up their innovation processes to third-party developers, and make sure these external resources are incentivized to both enter and remain in the ecosystem. So far, there has been a limited understanding of what considerations have to be made to cre-ate an optimal developer environment, with research being limited to specific aspects of plat-form establishment. By applying a process perspective, this study has identified the three high level phases of such platform establishment as (1) Understanding Developers, (2) Platform Design and (3) Governance and Control, which all come with certain considerations. The pro-cess has been examined through six interviews with different experts in the field, to create a comprehensive list of the key considerations for each phase. Using diffusion of innovation theo-ry, the study does not only list various factors, but also explains their impact on platform diffu-sion. Key findings highlight discrepancies between literature and empiricism, with addressable market and brand equity of a firm being the primary motivations for third-party developers. Additionally, the study identifies strategic partnerships as an impactful factor in all phases and a necessity for successful platform establishment.