Abstract
Platform owners face complex decisions in managing an ecosystem of third-party application developers. Little is known about the effect platform governance has on the productivity, or degree of interaction, among complementors in the ecosystem. The presented study of the Microsoft Office365 ecosystem investigates the extent to which participation in the partnership model of Microsoft influences productivity and embeddedness of complementors by means of network analysis and statistical inference. Results show the Office365 ecosystem is populated by 550 complementors that developed 1204 applications and initiated 787 interfirm relationships. Statistical inference reveals that increased productivity and participation in the Microsoft Certified Partner Network coincide with increased embeddedness, implying retention of complementors results in more cohesive ecosystems. Yet, partnership model participation does not result in increasing productivity of complementors. Results presented in this paper provide increased understanding of the influence of partnership models on ecosystem structure, to the benefit of practitioners and academia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Gawer, A.: Platform dynamics and strategies: From products to services. In: Gawer, A. (ed.) Platforms, Markets and Innovation, pp. 45–76. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham (2009)
Rochet, J.C., Tirole, J.: Platform Competition in Two-Sided Markets. Journal of the European Economic Assosication 1(4), 990–1029 (2003)
Jansen, S., Brinkkemper, S., Finkelstein, A.: Business Network Management as a Survival Strategy: A Tale of Two Software Ecosystems. In: Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Software Ecosystems, pp. 34–48 (2009)
Boudreau, K.J., Hagiu, A.: Platform rules: Multi-sided platforms as regulators. In: Gawer, A. (ed.) Platforms, Markets and Innovation, pp. 163–191. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham (2009)
Boudreau, K.J.: Open Platform Strategies and Innovation: Granting Access vs. Devolving Control. Management Science 56(10), 1849–1872 (2010)
Zhu, F., Iansiti, M.: Entry into platform-based markets. Strategic Management Journal 33(1), 88–106 (2012)
Scott, J.: Social Network Analysis: A Handbook, 2nd edn. Sage Publications, Inc., Gateshead (2000)
Hanneman, R.A., Riddle, M.: Introduction to social network methods. University of California, Riverside, CA (2005)
van Angeren, J., Blijleven, V., Jansen, S., Brinkkemper, S.: Complementor Embeddedness in Platform Ecosystems: The Case of Google Apps. In: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Digital EcoSystems and Technologies, pp. 37–42 (2013)
West, J.: How Open is Open Enough? Melding Proprietary and Open Source Platform Strategies. Research Policy 32(7), 1259–1285 (2003)
Gawer, A., Cusumano, M.A.: How companies become platform leaders. MIT Sloan Management Review 49(2), 28–35 (2008)
Boudreau, K.J.: Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom? An Early Look at Large Numbers of Software App Developers and Patterns of Innovation. Organiation Science 23(5), 1409–1427 (2012)
Iansiti, M., Levien, R.: Strategy as Ecology. Harvard Business Review 82(3), 68–78 (2004)
den Hartigh, E., Tol, M., Visscher, W.: The health measurement of a business ecosystem. In: Proceedings of the European Network on Chaos and Complexity Research and Management Practice Meeting (2006)
van Angeren, J., Kabbedijk, J., Jansen, S., Popp, K.M.: A Survey of Associate Models used within Large Software Ecosystems. In: Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Software Ecosystems, pp. 27–39 (2011)
van Angeren, J., Kabbedijk, J., Popp, K.M., Jansen, S.: Managing software ecosystems through partnering. In: Jansen, S., Brinkkemper, S., Cusumano, M.A. (eds.) Software Ecosystems: Analyzing and Managing Business Networks in the Software Industry, pp. 85–102. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham (2013)
Iyer, B., Lee, C.H., Venkatraman, N.: Managing in a Small World Ecosystem: Some Lessons from the Software Sector. California Management Review 48(3), 28–47 (2006)
Basole, R.C.: Visualization of interfirm relations in a converging mobile ecosystem. Journal of Information Technology 24, 144–159 (2009)
Schilling, M.A., Phelps, C.C.: Interfirm Collaboration in Networks: The Impact of Large-Scale Network Structure on Firm Innovation. Management Science 53(7), 1113–1126 (2007)
Freeman, L.C.: Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification. Social Networks 1(3), 215–239 (1979)
Watts, D.J., Strogatz, S.H.: Collective dynamics of small world networks. Nature 393, 440–442 (1998)
Burkard, C., Widjaja, T., Buxmann, P.: Software ecosystems. Business and Information Systems Engineering 4(1), 41–44 (2012)
Gawer, A., Henderson, R.: Platform owner entry and innovation in complementary markets: Evicdence from Intel. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 16(1), 1–34 (2007)
Blondel, V.D., Guillaume, J., Lambiotte, R., Lefebvre, E.: Fast unfolding of communities in large networks. Journal of Statistical Mechanics 5(10) (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
van Angeren, J., Jansen, S., Brinkkemper, S. (2014). Exploring the Relationship between Partnership Model Participation and Interfirm Network Structure: An Analysis of the Office365 Ecosystem. In: Lassenius, C., Smolander, K. (eds) Software Business. Towards Continuous Value Delivery. ICSOB 2014. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 182. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08738-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08738-2_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08737-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08738-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)