Platform-Driven Innovation Within and Across Firms

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(Public Law 111-5)资助的。在这组研究中，来自杜兰大学、德克萨斯大学和波士顿大学的研究团队研究了如何通过平台更好地协调创新的问题。他们首先在行业层面开展工作，然后在公司内部层面开展工作，希望了解与外部和内部创新环境相关的原则。这两个项目应该在管理创新方面产生不同但互补的见解。(1)外部平台创新。研究的这一部分考虑了生态系统的最佳增长。诸如个人计算机、手机、游戏和电信系统等常见产品通常充当第三方开发人员构建新功能的平台。研究将进行顺序创新分析，以回答：平台赞助商应该在什么时候向外部开发开放资源？竞争如何影响开放？信息资产再利用的能力如何影响开放水平？如果下游开发者确实增加了价值，公司应该私下将平台转包给某个子集，还是应该向所有开发者开放平台？领先公司是否应该将新功能捆绑到平台中，或者这是否会消除开发人员创建新功能的动机？(2)内部平台创新。该研究的这一部分将探讨如何创建内部知识市场。该项目利用双边网络理论、信息不对称和价格理论的原理来设计市场。该团队将建立和部署实际的市场系统，以寻求以下问题的答案：内部知识市场的启动过程中出现了哪些采用问题？是什么激励了参与和贡献？我们如何验证贡献的信息？我们能否直接用美元来衡量新信息资源的价值，或者间接用白领生产率的提高来衡量？该项目将基于新的软件工具收集新的微观层面的数据。研究将采用建模、数据收集、工具开发和直接干预方法。了解这些问题不仅有利于平台公司，也有助于寻求创造促进创新环境的监管机构。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).In this set of studies, a research team from Tulane, University of Texas, and Boston University examines questions about how to better coordinate innovation by means of platforms. They conduct work first at an industry level and then at a within-firm level, looking to understand principles pertinent to both external and internal innovation environments. The two projects should yield distinct but complementary insights into managing innovation.(1) External Platform Innovation. This portion of the study considers optimal ecosystem growth. Common products such as personal computers, cell phones, games, and telecommunications systems often serve as platforms upon which third party developers build new features. The research will perform analysis of sequential innovation to answer: When should a platform sponsor open a resource to outside development? How does competition affect openness? How does the ability to reuse information assets affect the level of openness? If downstream developers do add value, should the firm privately subcontract with a subset or should the firm open the platform to all developers? Should the lead firm bundle new features into the platform or does this eliminate developers' incentives to create new features?(2) Internal Platform Innovation. This portion of the study will explore the creation of internal knowledge markets. The project uses the principles of two-sided network theory, information asymmetry, and price theory to design markets. The team will build and deploy actual market systems to seek answers to the following questions: What adoption problems arise during the launch of an internal knowledge market? What incentives motivate participation and contribution? How can we verify contributed information? Can we measure the value of new information resources either directly in terms of dollars or indirectly in terms of increased white-collar productivity? This project will gather new micro-level data based on novel software tools.The studies will employ model building, data collection, tool development, and direct intervention methodologies. Understanding these issues should benefit not only platform firms but also help regulators who seek to create environments that foster innovation.