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Publications

Publications

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  • All HBS Web  (43)
    • News  (1)
    • Research  (37)
  • Faculty Publications  (24)

Show Results For

  • All HBS Web  (43)
    • News  (1)
    • Research  (37)
  • Faculty Publications  (24)
Page 1 of 43 Results →
  • 2017
  • Working Paper

Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market

By: Feng Zhu
We examine how app developers on the Android mobile platform adjust their innovation efforts (rate and direction) and value-capture strategies in response to Google’s entry threat and actual entry into their markets. We find that, after Google’s entry threat increases,... View Details
Keywords: Platform-owner Entry; Entry Threat; Innovation; Complementors; Mobile App Industry; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Innovation Strategy; Market Entry and Exit
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Wen, Wen, and Feng Zhu. "Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 18-036, October 2017.
  • 2018
  • Article

Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market

By: Wen Wen and Feng Zhu
We examine how app developers on the Android mobile platform adjust their innovation efforts (rate and direction) and value-capture strategies in response to Google’s entry threat and actual entry into their markets. We find that, after Google’s entry threat increases,... View Details
Keywords: Platform-owner Entry; Entry Threat; Innovation; Complementors; Mobile App Industry; Digital Platforms; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Price; Innovation and Invention; Applications and Software
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Wen, Wen, and Feng Zhu. "Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market." Strategic Management Journal 40, no. 9 (September 2019): 1336–1367.
  • Article

Friends or Foes? Examining Platform Owners' Entry into Complementors' Spaces

By: Feng Zhu
As platform owners continue to expand their ecosystems, many of them have started to provide consumers with their own complementary applications. These moves position the platform owners as direct competitors to their complementors. This paper surveys empirical studies... View Details
Keywords: Platform; Complementors; Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Competition
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Zhu, Feng. "Friends or Foes? Examining Platform Owners' Entry into Complementors' Spaces." Special Issue on Platforms. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 28, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 23–28.
  • September 2006
  • Article

With Friends Like These: The Art of Managing Complementors

By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak
Keywords: Management
Citation
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Yoffie, David B., and Mary Kwak. "With Friends Like These: The Art of Managing Complementors." Harvard Business Review 84, no. 9 (September 2006).

    Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market

    This paper studies the impact of platform-owner entry threat on complementors in platform-based markets. We examine how app developers on the Android mobile platform adjust innovation efforts (rate and direction) and value-capture strategies in response to the threat... View Details
    • October 2018
    • Article

    Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com

    By: Feng Zhu and Qihong Liu
    Platform owners sometimes enter complementors' product spaces to compete against them directly. Prior studies have offered two possible explanations for such entries: platform owners may target the most successful complementors so as to appropriate value from their... View Details
    Keywords: Amazon; Complementors; Co-opetition; Entry; Platform-based Markets; Competition; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy
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    Zhu, Feng, and Qihong Liu. "Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com." Strategic Management Journal 39, no. 10 (October 2018): 2618–2642.
    • 2014
    • Working Paper

    Product to Platform Transitions: Organizational Identity Implications

    By: Elizabeth J. Altman and Mary Tripsas
    Organizations are increasingly recognizing that value they once derived from offering standalone products can be significantly enhanced if they transition to platform-based businesses that harness the innovative capabilities of complementors. While the competitive... View Details
    Keywords: Organizational Change; Organizational Identity; Ecosystems; Complementors; Managing Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Multi-Sided Platforms; Innovation and Management; Organizational Culture
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    Altman, Elizabeth J., and Mary Tripsas. "Product to Platform Transitions: Organizational Identity Implications." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-045, December 2013. (Revised September 2014.)
    • 11 Sep 2008
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Competing Complements

    Keywords: by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Barry Nalebuff & David B. Yoffie
    • February 2021
    • Article

    Platform Diffusion at Temporary Gatherings: Social Coordination and Ecosystem Emergence

    By: Tommy Pan Fang, Andy Wu and David R. Clough
    Software platforms create value by cultivating an ecosystem of complementary products and services. Existing explanations for how a prospective complementor chooses platforms to join assume the complementor has rich information about the range of available platforms.... View Details
    Keywords: Innovation Ecosystems; Technology Diffusion; Hackathon; Contagion; Software Applications; Software Development; Software Engineering; Technology Strategy; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Innovation Strategy; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Applications and Software; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry; Video Game Industry
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    Fang, Tommy Pan, Andy Wu, and David R. Clough. "Platform Diffusion at Temporary Gatherings: Social Coordination and Ecosystem Emergence." Art. 1. Strategic Management Journal 42, no. 2 (February 2021): 233–272. (Lead article.)
    • July 2021
    • Article

    Information Transparency, Multihoming, and Platform Competition: A Natural Experiment in the Daily Deals Market

    By: Hui Li and Feng Zhu
    Platform competition is shaped by the likelihood of multi-homing (i.e., complementors or consumers adopt more than one platform). To take advantage of multi-homing, platform firms often attempt to motivate their rivals’ high-performing complementors to adopt their own... View Details
    Keywords: Platform Competition; Multi-homing; Information Transparency; Daily Deals; Groupon; LivingSocial; Digital Platforms; Information; Competition
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    Li, Hui, and Feng Zhu. "Information Transparency, Multihoming, and Platform Competition: A Natural Experiment in the Daily Deals Market." Management Science 67, no. 7 (July 2021): 4384–4407.
    • June 21, 2019
    • Article

    When Tech Companies Compete on Their Own Platforms

    By: Feng Zhu
    One common complaint from third parties about platform businesses is that they see what succeeds on their platforms and then enter the most profitable areas themselves, often decimating third parties in the process. Studies have identified several motivations for... View Details
    Keywords: Platform-based Markets; Platform-owner Entry; Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Competition
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    Zhu, Feng. "When Tech Companies Compete on Their Own Platforms." Harvard Business Review (website) (June 21, 2019).
    • 2005
    • Working Paper

    Wintel: Cooperation or Conflict

    By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and David B. Yoffie
    We study the incentives of complementors (producers of complementary products) to cooperate vs. compete and how these interact. In a system of complements, like the PC, the value of the final product depends on how well the different components work together. This, in... View Details
    Keywords: Investment; Price; Time Management; Product; Product Development; Research and Development; Conflict and Resolution; Motivation and Incentives; Value
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    Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and David B. Yoffie. "Wintel: Cooperation or Conflict." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 05-083, July 2005.
    • January 1998 (Revised February 2006)
    • Background Note

    Creating Competitive Advantage

    By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Jan W. Rivkin
    A firm such as Schering-Plough that earns superior, long-run financial returns within its industry is said to enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals. This note examines the logic of how firms create competitive advantage. It emphasizes two themes: First, to... View Details
    Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Management; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Value Creation; Pharmaceutical Industry
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    Ghemawat, Pankaj, and Jan W. Rivkin. "Creating Competitive Advantage." Harvard Business School Background Note 798-062, January 1998. (Revised February 2006.)
    • July–August 2013
    • Article

    Complementary Goods: Creating, Capturing, and Competing for Value

    By: Taylan Yalcin, Elie Ofek, Oded Koenigsberg and Eyal Biyalogorsky
    This paper studies the strategic interaction between firms producing strictly complementary products. With strict complements, a consumer derives positive utility only when both products are used together. We show that value-capture and value-creation problems arise... View Details
    Keywords: Complementary Goods; Product Development; Royalty Fees; Product Marketing; Competition
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    Yalcin, Taylan, Elie Ofek, Oded Koenigsberg, and Eyal Biyalogorsky. "Complementary Goods: Creating, Capturing, and Competing for Value." Marketing Science 32, no. 4 (July–August 2013): 554–569.
    • 05 Jul 2006
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Wintel: Cooperation or Conflict

    Keywords: by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell & David B. Yoffie; Computer
    • October 2020 (Revised August 2022)
    • Case

    Epic Games: Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite

    By: Andy Wu, Miaomiao Zhang and Christopher Zhang
    In the midst of intensifying public and political attention towards the market power of big technology, Epic Games in 2020 challenged the status quo that has existed for years in the Apple iOS and Google Android mobile application marketplaces and payment systems.... View Details
    Keywords: Mobile Platforms; Mobile App Industry; Mobile Payment Systems; Antitrust; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms; United States
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    Wu, Andy, Miaomiao Zhang, and Christopher Zhang. "Epic Games: Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite." Harvard Business School Case 721-395, October 2020. (Revised August 2022.)
    • 02 Apr 2019
    • First Look

    New Research and Ideas, April 2, 2019

    forthcoming Strategic Management Journal Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market By: Wen, Wen, and Feng Zhu Abstract—We examine how app developers on the Android mobile platform... View Details
    Keywords: Dina Gerdeman
    • 2010
    • Working Paper

    When Open Architecture Beats Closed: The Entrepreneurial Use of Architectural Knowledge

    By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
    This paper describes how entrepreneurial firms can use superior architectural knowledge to open up a technical system to gain strategic advantage. The strategy involves, first, identifying "bottlenecks" in the existing system, and then creating a new open architecture... View Details
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Design; Organizational Design; Competitive Advantage; Technology Industry
    Citation
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    Baldwin, Carliss Y. "When Open Architecture Beats Closed: The Entrepreneurial Use of Architectural Knowledge." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-063, February 2010. (Revised July 2010, October 2010.)
    • January 2022
    • Article

    Artificial Intelligence, Data-Driven Learning, and the Decentralized Structure of Platform Ecosystems

    By: David R. Clough and Andy Wu
    Gregory, Henfridsson, Kaganer, and Kyriakou (2020) highlight the important role of data and AI as strategic resources that platforms may use to enhance user value. However, their article overlooks a significant conceptual distinction: the installed base of... View Details
    Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Data Strategy; Ecosystem; Value Capture; Digital Platforms; Analytics and Data Science; Strategy; Learning; Value Creation; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Advertising Industry
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    Clough, David R., and Andy Wu. "Artificial Intelligence, Data-Driven Learning, and the Decentralized Structure of Platform Ecosystems." Academy of Management Review 47, no. 1 (January 2022): 184–189.
    • Research Summary

    Distributed Innovation in Open Systems—The Role of Modularity

    By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
    Distributed innovation in open systems is an important trend in the modern global economy. As education levels rise and communication costs fall, more people have the means and motivation to innovate. Supply chains now stretch around the world as firms outsource... View Details
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