Roles in the platform ecosystem
The platform business model can only utilize the power of the ecosystem if it consists of a unified and clearly defined core value transaction between the actors based on co-specialization, complementarities, and different roles. In platform ecosystems, we find actors that contribute with co-specialization, complementarities, where they all have different roles in delivering this core value transaction. The platform owner is the orchestrators, and then we have integrators, complementors, and users, where each role is defined AND respected!
An ecosystem is a community of organizations, institutions, and individuals that impact the enterprise and the enterprise’s customers and suppliers. An ecosystem is composed of firms organizing and depend on each other’s activities. In addition to business and innovation ecosystems, one example is platform ecosystems describing firms interacting around a platform. This ecosystem captures links between sponsors, its stable core components, its variable complementary products and services (complements), providing the value proposition for users, and complementing providers (complementors).
Digital platform firms can coordinate external resources in their platform ecosystem without internalizing them, as Uber has famously done with taxis and drivers. However, platform firms should internalize and take roles in key activities central to their value creation like data analytics, user support services, platform interface, R&D, and stakeholder relations.
There must consist a joint value creation between the actors based on co-specialization, complementarities, and different roles. In platform ecosystems, we find orchestrators (the platform owner), integrators, and complementors, where the interdependencies between each role are defined and standardized. And with these roles and standardized interdependencies, there will be a need for different special skills, capabilities, and strategies in each role.
If a platform owner searching for more revenue streams starts offering an internalize services that compete with integrators or complementors, several problems will arise. First of all, the interdependency balance change and there will be a lack of trust in the ecosystem as the orchestrator mixes roles. Secondly, since value creation is based on co-specialization, “specialists” that act solely on their special capabilities will offer higher quality and focus than an orchestrator who internalizes the service into the platform. Thirdly, the negative network effects that transpire when the orchestrators mix roles and lose trust will eventually hamper the network growth and maybe even implode the ecosystem.