Seminar – Structuring the Ecosystem: Antecedents of Digital Platforms’ Organisational Boundaries and Technological Interfaces

Professor Annabelle Gawer, University of Surrey

This article explores the under-theorised topic of digital platform boundaries. Can digital platform firms extend their boundaries in ways that are different from traditional, non-platform firms? Are their boundaries different by nature? Do digital platform firms enter new markets and extend their scope for different reasons than non-platform firms? And can we predict whether, when, and how digital platform firms are likely to extend or modify their platform boundaries? Building on economics, strategic management, and information systems research, this research conceptualises digital platform boundaries as firm scope and technological interfaces between platform and ecosystem. The study develops a framework that predicts whether and when digital platforms are likely to extend or modify their platform boundaries. Criteria for choices in boundary extension or modification include whether the platform is a transaction or an innovation platform and whether it is in a pre-dominance or dominance phase within its lifecycle.

Speaker bio

Annabelle Gawer is the Chaired Professor in Digital Economy and Head of the Department of Digital Economy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Surrey Business School, and Director of the Centre of Digital Economy at the University of Surrey.

Professor Gawer is a thought-leader, educator and expert adviser on the business of digital platforms, and on the dynamics of platform-based innovation ecosystems. A graduate of MIT and Stanford, she is the author of four highly-cited books including Platform Leadership (2002), Platform, Markets and Innovation (2009), Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Platforms (2017) and The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation and Power (2019), as well as articles on platform leadership and innovation ecosystems in The Financial Times, The Economist, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, MIT Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Research Policy, Journal for Production Innovation Management and others.

Professor Gawer’s books and articles are translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Bulgarian, and she is regularly invited to address international audiences as a keynote speaker in business and academic conferences. She has great experience in teaching strategy, high-tech strategy, digital platforms economics and strategy and innovation at MIT (1994-2000), INSEAD (2004-2015) and Surrey (2016-present).