MIS Distinguished Speaker Series

Temple University

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amrit tiwana

September 29 – Amrit Tiwana to Present: “Platform Synergy: Architectural Origins and Competitive Consequences”

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Platform Synergy: Architectural Origins and Competitive Consequences

by

Amrit Tiwana

Professor of Management Information Systems

Terry College of Business, University of Georgia

 Friday, September 29, 2017

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Speakman Hall Suite 200

Abstract

The internal architecture of apps has yet to receive attention in platform studies, which predominantly study apps’ platform-facing, external architecture. We develop a theory of how the interplay between an app’s internal and external architecture shapes its ability to leverage the platform to outcompete rival apps. Primary and archival data spanning four years from 618 BlackberryOS apps show how internal architecture’s complementarity with external architecture influences an app’s competitive lead. Apps fare better in a competitive race when they are modular monoliths—externally modular but internally monolithic.

Bio

Amrit Tiwana (people.terry.uga.edu/tiwana) is a Professor of MIS at UGA’s Terry College of Business. He serves or has served on the boards of Information Systems Research, Strategic Management Journal, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. His work has appeared in various MIS, strategy, software engineering, finance, and marketing journals including ISR, MISQ, JMIS, SMJ, and ACM Transactions on Software Engineering.

March 5: Amrit Tiwana to speak on The Influence of Software Platform Modularity on Platform Abandonment: An Empirical Study of Firefox Extension Developers

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Amrit Tiwana

Associate Professor,

Iowa State University

March 5, 2010

Alter Hall 405, 1000am – 1130am

Abstract

With competition increasingly among rival software platforms, retaining third-party developers outside firm boundaries is increasingly important. Such “module” developers often provide critically-differentiating technical innovations and new ideas, thus are vital to a platform’s success. This study addresses the underexplored question of how and why platform modularity—both technical and organizational—influences platform abandonment by developers. We introduce the notion of systems integration costs—which comprise both cross-module integration and module-platform integration—as a key explanatory construct in our nomological network.

We develop three ideas, building on modular systems theory. First, a decrease in systems integration costs decreases the likelihood of platform abandonment by module developers. Second, different facets of technical modularity differentially impact systems integration costs. Third, these relationships are moderated by organizational modularity i.e., how authority over technical decisions is shared between a module developer and the platform owner. Tests using data from developers of 342 modules for Mozilla’s Firefox browser platform largely support the proposed ideas.