Start Date
10-12-2017 12:00 AM
Description
Shared platforms form a stable foundation for the integration of digital components by heterogeneous actors. These platforms are an emergent organizational form whose members seek interoperability through technological architectures constituted of a modular core, a standardized interface, and complementary extensions. Although extant IS research on such platforms primarily emphasizes the social aspects of platforms, there is a growing literature that also takes their material aspects into account. Here our objective is to contribute to this trend in sociomaterial theorizing of platforms by undertaking an imbricational analysis of a twelve-year shared platform initiative in the Swedish Road Haulage industry. Hence, we attempt to answer the following research question: “How do the participants’ coopetitive behavior and the platform’s technology architecture reciprocally shape the evolution of a shared platform?”We identify three organizational forms that are likely to emerge in the evolution of a shared platform and assess their respective implications for platform innovation
Recommended Citation
Saadatmand, Fatemeh; Lindgren, Rikard; and Schultze, Ulrike, "Evolving Shared Platforms: An Imbrication Lens" (2017). ICIS 2017 Proceedings. 20.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2017/DigitalPlatforms/Presentations/20
Evolving Shared Platforms: An Imbrication Lens
Shared platforms form a stable foundation for the integration of digital components by heterogeneous actors. These platforms are an emergent organizational form whose members seek interoperability through technological architectures constituted of a modular core, a standardized interface, and complementary extensions. Although extant IS research on such platforms primarily emphasizes the social aspects of platforms, there is a growing literature that also takes their material aspects into account. Here our objective is to contribute to this trend in sociomaterial theorizing of platforms by undertaking an imbricational analysis of a twelve-year shared platform initiative in the Swedish Road Haulage industry. Hence, we attempt to answer the following research question: “How do the participants’ coopetitive behavior and the platform’s technology architecture reciprocally shape the evolution of a shared platform?”We identify three organizational forms that are likely to emerge in the evolution of a shared platform and assess their respective implications for platform innovation