Orchestrating a Platform Ecosystem. The Effects of Platform Control on Platform Performance

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - Information Management grade: 13 University of Mannheim language: English abstract: This paper examines the effects of control mechanisms on a platform. First the theoretical background of important terms in this field is given to gain a common understanding which is necessary for classification as well as results. In this thesis platforms are defined as products and services which bring together user groups and enable transactions between the groups by providing infrastructure to do so. Second literature dealing with this field of study is processed to provide a comprehensive and transparent overview about current research including the platform type dependent variables and findings. Input output process clan self-control as well as open and closed platforms rules & values and boundary resources are identified as the most relevant control mechanisms. Thereby the first research question what types of control mechanisms are discussed in literature is answered. The findings then are analyzed for these different types of control to address the remaining research questions how control mechanisms effect platforms and when this is useful. It can be pointed out that most mechanisms go along with advantages and disadvantages as theory suggests. Thus decision makers have to be clear about the goal they want to achieve when changing platform governance or control to use these effects for their advantage. If a platform aims at optimizing e.g. the degree of openness this depends on the question: what is optimal for the platform? As ecosystems typically face the trade-off between quality (e.g. apps) and quantity (e.g. number of users) platform owners have to strategically position the platform somewhere along this continuum. The finding that some control mechanisms are superior to others for achieving certain goals however can directly be beneficial to managers. Also the methods a