Architectural knowledge and the birth of a platform ecosystem: A case study

Amel Attour (1) , Pierre Barbaroux (2)

1 GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion
2 CReA - Centre de Recherche de l'École de l'air

This article investigates the birth phase of a platform-ecosystem’s life cycle. Building on the case of a Near Field Communication platform-ecosystem where, in the upstream phase, the keystone is not identified beforehand, it explores how the development of architectural knowledge shapes the birth of a business ecosystem’s organizational form. The case study results provide evidence that the birth of a business ecosystem relies on a collaborative process of exploration made up with four sequences: ideation, test and experimentation, value expansion and reflective inquiry. This process results in the development of the various tangible and intangible assets encapsulated in the architectural knowledge that enables the definition of the business ecosystem’s organizational form.

Mots clés: life-cycle theory; Keywords. Architectural knowledge; platform-ecosystem; Near Field Communication services.

Domaines: Gestion et management

Amel Attour, Pierre Barbaroux. Architectural knowledge and the birth of a platform ecosystem: A case study. Journal of Innovation Economics & Management, 2016, 2016/1 (19). ⟨halshs-01244407⟩