Events

Professor Vanitha Swaminathan
Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Initiatives
Thomas Marshall Professor of Marketing
University of Pittsburgh

ABSTRACT

Digital platform businesses, such as mobile application markets, rely heavily on the success of platform complementors, such as app developers, for their growth. Innovation plays a crucial role in enabling complementors to thrive in hypercompetitive marketplaces. Existing research has identified various complementor strategies for achieving innovation success. However, studies focusing on understanding the role of platform support in facilitating innovation and how the interaction of such support with innovation strategies such as timing and benefit influences innovation outcomes are scarce. Drawing from research on platform ecosystems and the assemblage approach of digital platforms, the authors propose a platform support metric comprising complementor-related “technical guidance” and “developer community” factors. Using the adoption of augmented reality in mobile apps as an example context for innovation, they show that innovation timing and benefit have distinct impacts on app performance. They also find that greater platform support affects these innovation strategies differently. These findings offer novel insights into the value of platforms as facilitators of innovation and the underlying mechanisms for maximizing innovation outcomes.