Purpose: Because of the attention increasingly being focused on digital transformation, interest in business models of platform-enabled ecosystems is rising rapidly. Although there are different theoretical views on the role of ecosystems, a synthesis of research, with a focus on governance and orchestration in dynamic, multi-industry eco-systems, is lacking. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was conducted by following a rigorous search protocol in the scholarly databases covering both journal articles and conference papers These papers were subsequently filtered, and finally, 48 relevant papers were selected for analysis. Findings: The review identifies five key aspects of platform governance design that need close consideration: the meta-organisation or ecosystem design, coordination mechanisms, mechanisms for value co-creation, value appropriation mechanisms and architectural principles. To achieve balance among a set of competing demands, platform leaders need to devote adequate attention to these aspects. Practical implications: Based on a literature review, the authors provide an overview of underlying theoretical views, research methods and key trends to develop a sound theoretical grounding for research on platform governance design. The paper also suggests research gaps in the existing literature and sets directions for researchers to strengthen the understanding of effective platform governance design. The paper also provides valuable information to managers in developing or leading a successful platform ecosystem. Originality/value: The paper uses existing literature published in this topic and original in nature.@en

The efficient delivery of government services to the poor, or Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP), faces many challenges. While a core problem is the lack of scalability, that could be solved by the rapid proliferation of platforms and associated ecosystems. Existing research involving platforms focus on modularity, openness, ecosystem leadership and governance, as well as on their impact on innovation, scale and agility. However, existing studies fail to explore the role of platform in scalable e-government services delivery on an empirical level. Based on an in-depth case study of the world's largest biometric identity platform, used by millions of the poor in India, we develop a set of propositions connecting the attributes of a digital platform ecosystem to different indicators for the scalability of government service delivery. We found that modular architecture, combined with limited functionality in core modules, and open standards combined with controlled access and ecosystem governance enabled by keystone behaviour, have a positive impact on scalability. The research provides insights to policy-makers and government officials alike, particularly those in nations struggling to provide basic services to poor and marginalised. This is also one of the few studies to apply platform theory empirically to the e-government domain.

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The flexibility offered by the combination of platform and enabling ecosystems allows multiple competing and collaborating organizations from different industries to achieve rapid innovations. This article highlights key technical and business model attributes of the platform and how these can be exploited by the platform leader for achieving improved performance with limited coordination overhead. Research shows that only a few platforms are managed effectively; as it involves balancing conflicting demands related to the platform owner’s interest and overall health of the ecosystems. We discuss the key governance challenges for a sustainable platform leadership strategy that leads to benefits for the platform leader as well as for the ecosystem partners. Research shows that an effective platform governance i.e. decision rights and accountability to encourage desirable behavior in the use of the platform, addresses the above challenges effectively. This article goes on to identify different types of control mechanisms used in the context of platform ecosystem. While doing so, we highlight the important contextual differences related to the application of control mechanism in platform-centric ecosystems. Unlike other inter-organizational partnership (i.e. outsourced software development); ecosystem leaders do not have formal authority over a large number of application developers and other partners (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2016a). We conclude by proposing several complementary research questions for better understanding of the control–governance dimensions of platform ecosystem business models.

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Existing literature on control in software development considers only the principal-agency relationship between controller and controlee and this view does not hold true between ecosystems leader and partners, which are independent organizations. This chapter aims to study the critical role played by inter-organizational control mechanisms in the context of mobile platform ecosystems. By utilizing opinions of 38 experts and employing an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach, this chapter identifies and ranks the most important roles played by control mechanisms in digital platform. The findings show that ecosystems? leaders primarily use control to manage or improve its central position in the network to capture a higher share of value of the service. The findings provide further insights on two other roles of control in platform ecosystems: (1) accessing complementary resources and (2) managing interdependency between partners. This chapter contributes to organizational control theory in the context of emerging platform-based ecosystem. @en

Existing literature on control in software development considers only the principal-agency relationship between controller and controlee and this view does not hold true between ecosystems leader and partners, which are independent organizations. This chapter aims to study the critical role played by inter-organizational control mechanisms in the context of mobile platform ecosystems. By utilizing opinions of 38 experts and employing an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach, this chapter identifies and ranks the most important roles played by control mechanisms in digital platform. The findings show that ecosystems? leaders primarily use control to manage or improve its central position in the network to capture a higher share of value of the service. The findings provide further insights on two other roles of control in platform ecosystems: (1) accessing complementary resources and (2) managing interdependency between partners. This chapter contributes to organizational control theory in the context of emerging platform-based ecosystem. @en

Existing literature on control in software development context considers only the principal-agency relationship between controller and controlee. However, the principal-agency relationship cannot be assumed between ecosystems leader and partners, which are independent organizations. This paper aims to study the critical role played by inter-organizational control mechanisms in a mobile platform ecosystems. Based on an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach with 38 experts with diverse backgrounds, this research aims to identify and prioritise the most important roles of control portfolio in the platform ecosystems. Though traditionally controls are primarily used to coordinate between partners with divergent objectives, ecosystems leaders use control primarily to capture a higher share of value of the service. The findings provide further insights on two other roles of control in platform ecosystems: (i) accessing complementary resources and (ii) managing interdependency between partners. This research extends organizational control theory to the context of emerging platform-based ecosystem. @en