Navigating uncertainty in a nascent ecosystem: How shifting cognitive frames influence an incumbent firm's platform scope strategies

Strategic Management Journal, 2025 (with F. Putra, S. Khanagha, and K. Pandza)

We examine how an incumbent firm navigates internal and external uncertainties when entering a nascent platform ecosystem. Drawing on a longitudinal study of a large telecommunication firm's transition into an evolving IoT ecosystem, we advance a cognitive perspective on platform strategy. We explain how managers' cognitive frames shape platform scope decisions based on shifting assumptions and interpretations of ecosystem dynamics and  internal capabilities.Our process model shows how deviations between expected and actual developments trigger changes in managers' attitudes toward uncertainty, thereby shifting their cognitive frames and prompting them to modify platform scope strategies, leading to oscillation between shaping and adapting strategic postures. Our theorization sheds light on the cognitive foundations of platform strategy and the dynamics of incumbent platform transitions in a nascent ecosystem.

Managerial Summary: Incumbents often enter nascent digital ecosystems by introducing a platform, yet uncertainty complicates decisions about the appropriate platform scope. Our nine-year study of TELECO’s IoT platform reveals three takeaways. First, scope is not a one-off decision; it evolves as managers revisit assumptions about opportunities and constraints. Second, scope decision rarely move linearly; firms oscillate between broad and calibrated scopes, creating episodes of overreach and retrenchment. Third, interpretations of uncertainty steer these shifts: reading uncertainty as an opportunity supports shaping bets, whereas interpreting it as a constraint encourages adaptation and selective coopetition. Overall, platform decisions in uncertain ecosystems reflect organizational tensions as firms balance ambitions for dominance against market realities and the actions of ecosystem members.

Smart Timing for Smart Products? Complementor Multihoming in Nascent Platform Markets

Journal of Product Innovation Management, 2025 (0:1-25) (with S. Aydin, D. Libaers and Y Bart)

In multi-platform markets, complementors often choose to offer their products or services across several platforms—a strategy known as complementor multihoming. This approach has gained significant attention from both industry practitioners and management scholars. Building on existing research regarding the factors that influence complementors' decision to multihome and the associated performance implications, this study examines the timing strategies involved in complementors' multihoming decisions. Specifically, we investigate the drivers of the timing of complementors' sequential multihoming, focusing on the factors that affect the timing of their first and subsequent multihoming. The empirical context of our research is the ecosystem of platforms and complementors in the nascent smart home market. Our results show that early entrants transition more quickly from single-homing to multihoming (i.e., joining a second platform) than late entrants, suggesting that they adopt a hedging strategy in response to the high uncertainty present in the early stages of the ecosystem. We also find that the drivers of the timing of multihoming may differ for the first and subsequent multihoming. For the first multihoming, the market traction of non-adopted platforms is associated with how quickly complementors multihome. However, this relationship dissipates in subsequent multihoming decisions. Nevertheless, certain factors influence the timing of all multihoming: when joining a second or third platform, complementors are faster to adopt platforms that are technologically similar to those they have already joined. We discuss the managerial implications of these findings for platforms and complementors navigating multi-platform ecosystems.

"Emotional Brightness and Crowdfunding Performance"

Research Policy, 54 (1), 2024 (with J. Sitruk, S. Grodal and L. Dibiaggio)

The use of emotions in the communication content of entrepreneurial projects on crowdfunding platforms has been associated with fundraising performance. Other studies have suggested that the extensive use of emotions can have a detrimental effect on their perception as a trustworthy information source. Bringing these two streams of literature together, we theorize that the level of emotional brightness—that is, the tone of a project’s content on the continuum from negative to positive emotions—generates both perceptions of empathy and inauthenticity. The interplay between these perceptions produces an inverted U-shaped relationship between the level of emotional brightness of a crowdfunding project and the project’s performance. Drawing on a dataset of 2,500 Kickstarter projects, we find support for this hypothesis. We also find that the goal amount moderates this relationship because funders pay more attention to projects with higher goal amounts due to their salience; the higher the goal amount is, the steeper the inverted U-shape is. Finally, considering both written text (the description of the project) and images (the photo on the project’s landing page), we find that the moderating effect of the project’s goal amount is stronger for emotions conveyed through images than those conveyed through text. Our paper contributes to deepening the understanding of the relationship between emotions and crowdfunding performance by revealing the benefits and limitations of using emotions in crowdfunding projects. Attempts to manipulate an audience’s perception by arousing its emotions is a double-edged sword that entrepreneurs should use cautiously.

"Platform Owner Entry Into Complementor Spaces Under Different Governance Modes"

Journal of Management, 49 (5), 2023 (with Hye Young Kang)

The phenomenon of a platform owner entering its complementor spaces has been growing and, given its potential impact on the dynamics of competition in platform-mediated industries, has captured the interest of entrepreneurs, scholars, and policy makers. Empirical studies on the consequences of such platform owner entry have been scant so far and show mixed results for complementors. Drawing on competitive dynamics theory, our paper revisits an implicit assumption held in extant studies that allows us to hypothesize on dissimilar entry modes across owners, to study the implications of entry mode differences. We argue that how an owner enters its complementor spaces drives the level of competitive pressure that such an entry exerts on the affected complementors. In turn, this determines the size and valence of the repercussions on complementors’ product performance, as well as their responses. Drawing on platform theory, we argue that an owner’s mode of entry into complementor spaces relates to that owner’s approach to platform governance. Using a unique panel dataset of health and fitness mobile apps in the Apple iOS and Google Play store, our results support our prediction that the mode of entry plays a significant role in the resulting complementor dynamics. We find contrasting modes of entry and resulting dynamics that arise between a platform that follows a closed and reigning approach to governance and one that follows an open and laissez-faire approach. Our findings help explain apparent contradictions in prior studies and extend our understanding of this increasingly common phenomenon in platform-mediated industries. 

"Building Organizational Resilience"

Harvard Business Review, November-December 2020 (with Juan Montes)

Successful organizations all have well-established routines for getting things done. The task may be as lofty as acquiring a competitor or as prosaic as filling out a time sheet, but if you look closely, you’ll find a reliable process to guide you through it. These routines are often taken for granted in stable periods. However, they tend to break down when a company faces high levels of uncertainty or needs to move quickly in a crisis. Organizations scramble to make adjustments on the fly—with varying degrees of success. Before the next crisis hits, it’s wise to spend time thinking systematically about the granular nuts-and-bolts processes you use—and to experiment with alternatives