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Full-Text Articles in Systems Architecture

Architectural Control And Value Migration In Layered Ecosystems: The Case Of Open-Source Cloud Management Platforms, Richard Tee, C. Jason Woodard Jun 2014

Architectural Control And Value Migration In Layered Ecosystems: The Case Of Open-Source Cloud Management Platforms, Richard Tee, C. Jason Woodard

C. Jason Woodard

Our paper focuses on strategic decision making in layered business ecosystems, highlighting the role of cross-layer interactions in shaping choices about product design and platform governance. Based on evidence from the cloud computing ecosystem, we analyze how concerns about architectural control and expectations regarding future value migration influence the design of product interfaces and the degree of openness to external contributions. We draw on qualitative longitudinal data to trace the development of two open-source platforms for managing cloud-based computing resources. We focus in particular on the emergence of a layered "stack" in which these platforms must compete with both vertically …


The Evolution Of Modular Product Architectures And The Emergence Of Platform Ecosystems, C. Jason Woodard, Eric K. Clemons Apr 2013

The Evolution Of Modular Product Architectures And The Emergence Of Platform Ecosystems, C. Jason Woodard, Eric K. Clemons

C. Jason Woodard

No abstract provided.


Design Capital And Design Moves: The Logic Of Digital Business Strategy, C. Jason Woodard, Narayan Ramasubbu, Ted Feichin Tschang, V. Sambamurthy Apr 2013

Design Capital And Design Moves: The Logic Of Digital Business Strategy, C. Jason Woodard, Narayan Ramasubbu, Ted Feichin Tschang, V. Sambamurthy

C. Jason Woodard

As information technology becomes integral to the products and services in a growing range of industries, there has been a corresponding surge of interest in understanding how firms can effectively formulate and execute digital business strategies. This fusion of IT within the business environment gives rise to a strategic tension between investing in digital artifacts for long-term value creation and exploiting them for short-term value appropriation. Further, relentless innovation and competitive pressures dictate that firms continually adapt these artifacts to changing market and technological conditions, but sustained profitability requires scalable architectures that can serve a large customer base and stable …


Platform Competition In Digital Systems: Architectural Control And Value Migration, C. Jason Woodard Apr 2012

Platform Competition In Digital Systems: Architectural Control And Value Migration, C. Jason Woodard

C. Jason Woodard

Digital systems give rise to complex layered architectures in which products at one layer serve as platforms for applications and services in adjacent layers. Platform owners face a difficult balancing act. On one hand, they need to make their platforms attractive to potential complementors by mitigating the threat of architectural lock-in. On the other hand, platform owners must be careful not to give away too much too soon, or risk being unable to recoup their own investments. This paper presents an agent-based model that explores this tension at both the firm and industry levels. Computational experiments show that boundedly rational …


From Primordial Soup To Platform-Based Competition: Exploring The Emergence Of Products, Systems, And Platforms, C. Jason Woodard, Eric K. Clemons Apr 2012

From Primordial Soup To Platform-Based Competition: Exploring The Emergence Of Products, Systems, And Platforms, C. Jason Woodard, Eric K. Clemons

C. Jason Woodard

We use an agent-based NK model to explore the conditions under which standard platforms emerge among competing products. Our findings were inconclusive. We find that the usual Darwinian conditions needed for the emergence of complexity are sufficient to yield a limited reliance upon platforms with a core of common components, simply because evolution causes the population to converge on a set of products that contain combinations that “work well,” yielding what we call “coincidental platform emergence.” Economies of scale yield more use of common components, or “production platform mergence.” Positive participation externalities initially induce the highest degree of platform emergence …