Start Date
10-12-2017 12:00 AM
Description
APIs are the foundation of digital platform ecosystems. Based on APIs, platforms can explore growth opportunities to expand the scope of ecosystem at an unprecedented scale. Although APIs can facilitate the app development, there is also a resulting dilemma between innovation and imitation, suggested by the resource deployment perspective and the modularity perspective. Motivated by the tension between the effects of APIs on innovation and imitation, we examine the impacts of APIs on both innovation and imitation, and how these impacts may be dependent on market conditions and product complexity. We will conduct an empirical study using a unique dataset about a web browser platform: Firefox. We will employ the release of SDK APIs in platform as a quasi experimental setting, and use a difference-in-difference (DID) approach to identify the impact of APIs on app innovation and imitation. We will generate important theoretical and practical implications about platform ecosystems.
Recommended Citation
Song, Peijian; Xue, Ling; Zhang, Cheng; and Rai, Arun, "APIs in Software Platform: Implications for Innovation and Imitation" (2017). ICIS 2017 Proceedings. 2.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2017/DigitalPlatforms/Presentations/2
APIs in Software Platform: Implications for Innovation and Imitation
APIs are the foundation of digital platform ecosystems. Based on APIs, platforms can explore growth opportunities to expand the scope of ecosystem at an unprecedented scale. Although APIs can facilitate the app development, there is also a resulting dilemma between innovation and imitation, suggested by the resource deployment perspective and the modularity perspective. Motivated by the tension between the effects of APIs on innovation and imitation, we examine the impacts of APIs on both innovation and imitation, and how these impacts may be dependent on market conditions and product complexity. We will conduct an empirical study using a unique dataset about a web browser platform: Firefox. We will employ the release of SDK APIs in platform as a quasi experimental setting, and use a difference-in-difference (DID) approach to identify the impact of APIs on app innovation and imitation. We will generate important theoretical and practical implications about platform ecosystems.