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

This article investigates the birth phase of a platform-ecosystem’s life cycle. Building on the case of a Near Field Communication platform-ecosystem, it explores how the development of architectural knowledge shapes the birth stage of the business ecosystem’s organizational form. The results of the case study 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 sequential process shapes 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.
JEL Codes: M21, O32, O34