Software platform establishment: effectuation and entrepreneurial awareness

• Purpose Faced with environments rife with technological uncertainties, software platforms have gained interest as enablers of innovative businesses and development processes. While extant research has focused on mature platforms, the authors know less about the early phases in a platform's life cycle. Drawing inspiration from the effectual perspective on entrepreneurship, the purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of how software platforms are established. Design/methodology/approach The authors develop a framework that describes four types of entrepreneurial awareness and then apply it to a qualitative case study of a platform that has emerged from the initial "creation" phase and is now in a period of rapid growth. Findings The study indicates that successful establishment of a software platform depends upon the provider's ability to integrate business acumen with technical proficiency and leverage these combined skills to ensure short-term viability and long-term relevance in the market. Originality/value The paper highlights the dependence of software platform establishment on the ability to enact both explorative and exploitative activity patterns, and embrace both strategic foresight and systemic insight cognitive patterns. The combined patterns of activity and cognition form four types of awareness, pertaining to markets, resources, technology and contexts.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Skills

Case study

Business value of IT

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

information-technology

systems-development

life-cycle

innovation

ecosystem

discovery

diffusion

business

creation

logic

Information Science & Library Science

akin e

2002

transport res rec

p1

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)