Abstract

While companies in the IT industry—particularly the big tech companies—have profited from digital platform strategies, whether companies across industries also benefit from such strategies remains contested. Focusing on the S&P1500 companies, we show that digital platform strategies positively affect a company’s profitability, albeit after a lag of several years. To further explore the relationship between digital platform strategies and profitability, we considered the impact of the type of digital platform strategy and the presence of a chief digital officer (CDO). First, the positive effect of a digital platform strategy is stronger for companies that implement the digital platform organically ("build strategy") rather than for companies that acquire a platform ("buy strategy"). Second, the presence of a CDO positively moderates the effect of digital platform strategy in the long but not in the short run. Overall, implementing digital plat- forms is not a quick-win strategy for companies, but it requires careful consideration.

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