How automotive OEMs can create platform-based ecosystems by selectively revealing boundary resources

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Abstract:

Platform-based ecosystems have gained massive attention in the past. However, this attention primarily focused on platform development, architecture, and governance of digital native firms. Nevertheless, mainly product-based industries suffer severe changes in how value is perceived by consumers. Thus, they sense an urgent need for change towards establishing platform-based ecosystems to survive. As recognized in the automotive industry, OEMs miss fruitful guidance on how to make their resources strategically available to external actors and manage them to profit from complements and knowledge spill overs. Certainly, resources once opened are hardly to control and thus automotive OEMs fear hostile misuse. Based on a systematic literature review we derive state-of-the-art knowledge concerning strategic use of boundary resources. By transferring the concept of selective revealing to manage boundary resources to the context of automotive OEMs we provide insights on how to coop with the tensions of openness of resources to enhance value of platform-based ecosystems.