Managing Platform Ecosystem Evolution through the Emergence of Micro-strategies and Microstructures

Digital platform ecosystems evolve rapidly in an attempt to address both internal inefficiencies and turbulent environment, where new opportunities and threats arise on ongoing basis. However, rather than being well planned and predictable, the evolution of a digital platform ecosystem resembles an uncharted path with frequent shifts in strategic direction. While recent studies have enriched our understanding about digital platform ecosystem evolution, researchers are yet to propose a comprehensive understanding of how platform owners manage the evolution of a digital platform ecosystem. Adopting emergence perspective, this research argues that platform owners manage the evolutionary process through engaging in multiple micro-strategies and microstructures, instead of relying on a long-term strategy and fixed organizational structure. Utilizing a longitudinal case study of a digital payment platform ecosystem, this study seeks to propose a process model for managing digital platform ecosystem evolution and a set of micro-strategies and microstructures, which practitioners can choose from when addressing various strategic challenges.