Chapter | Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Platforms | 2017

Platforms, Open/User Innovation, and Ecosystems: A Strategic Leadership Perspective

by Elizabeth J. Altman and Michael Tushman

Abstract

Platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies embrace and enable interactions with external entities. Firms pursuing these approaches conduct business and interact with environments differently than those pursuing traditional closed strategies. This chapter considers these strategies together highlighting similarities and differences between platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies. We focus on managerial and organizational challenges for organizations pursuing these strategies and identify four institutional logic shifts associated with these strategic transitions: (1) increasing external focus, (2) moving to greater openness, (3) focusing on enabling interactions, and (4) adopting interaction-centric metrics. As mature incumbent organizations adopt these strategies, there may be tensions and multiple conflicting institutional logics. Additionally, we consider four strategic leadership topics and how they relate to platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies: (1) executive orientation and experience, (2) top management teams, (3) board-management relations, and (4) executive compensation. We discuss theoretical implications, and consider future directions and research opportunities.

Keywords: platforms; open/user innovation; Ecosystems; crowdsourcing; strategic leadership; top management teams; CEO role; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Managerial Roles;

Format: Print Find at Harvard

Citation:

Altman, Elizabeth J., and Michael Tushman. "Platforms, Open/User Innovation, and Ecosystems: A Strategic Leadership Perspective." In Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Platforms. Vol. 37, edited by Jeffrey Furman, Annabelle Gawer, Brian Silverman, and Scott Stern, 177–207. Advances in Strategic Management. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2017.

About the Author

Photo
Michael L. Tushman
Baker Foundation Professor, Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, Charles B. (Tex) Thornton Chair of the Advanced Management Program
Organizational Behavior

View Profile »
View Publications »

 
Campus Map
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→ Map & Directions
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College