Disruption in Platform-Based Ecosystems

We study intergenerational platform-technology transitions as instances of potentially disruptive innovation at the ecosystem level. Examining the launch of 12 platform technologies in the U.S. videogame industry covering three console generations from 1993 until 2010, we show that incumbents introd...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cennamo, C. (Author), Gawer, A. (Author), Ozalp, H. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
LEADER 01800nam a2200217Ia 4500
001 10.1111-joms.12351
008 220706s2018 CNT 000 0 und d
020 |a 00222380 (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a Disruption in Platform-Based Ecosystems 
260 0 |b Blackwell Publishing Ltd  |c 2018 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12351 
520 3 |a We study intergenerational platform-technology transitions as instances of potentially disruptive innovation at the ecosystem level. Examining the launch of 12 platform technologies in the U.S. videogame industry covering three console generations from 1993 until 2010, we show that incumbents introducing next-generation platform technologies with advanced capabilities increase the challenges of developing complements for the platform technology, steepening complementors’ learning curves and disrupting the very same complementors that platform owners need to thrive in the next-generation competition. We find that, because of these struggles, platforms with advanced capabilities but high complement-development challenges show a pattern of defection of complementors toward rival, less challenging platforms. Our study extends mainstream disruptive-innovation theory to the context of platform-based ecosystems by offering a systemic view that accounts for disaffection on the part of technology complementors—rather than end users—as the main reason for disruption. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for the Advancement of Management Studies 
650 0 4 |a disruption 
650 0 4 |a ecosystem 
650 0 4 |a innovation 
650 0 4 |a platform 
650 0 4 |a technological transition 
700 1 |a Cennamo, C.  |e author 
700 1 |a Gawer, A.  |e author 
700 1 |a Ozalp, H.  |e author 
773 |t Journal of Management Studies