Abstract

Accessing data is a key problem to solve for firms to deliver value when service delivery depends on ecosystems of multiple actors. An ecosystem consists of actors coordinated around a central value proposition. The focal firm can exploit data abundance but this first requires intensive data sourcing to have the requisite data pool. As such, strategies for data sourcing are a key capability to being competitive. We examine the data needed for energy management services and describe two phases of development where the focal company solved challenges with data sourcing. These phases exposed the strategies employed for data sourcing in a platform ecosystem where three distinct strategies were found: to piggyback on open APIs; to partner with complementors, and; parasitic behavior on IoT-providers data through reverse engineering on data sources unattainable for partnerships. Together they form a comprehensive set of strategies, with parasitic behavior being our contribution to ecosystem and data sourcing theorizing.

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