Industrial Corporation’s Transformation into a Digital Platform Provider: A Case Study on Enablers

Abstract

Digital platforms are among the key drivers of digital transformation. Following the successful example of platform providers within the business-to-consumer (B2C) sector, such as Facebook and Google, B2B companies increasingly strive to tap the potential of digital platforms for their business. Especially for industrial corporations, digital platforms offer novel opportunities to digitalize and to foster inter-organizational collaboration in their networks. Therefore, industrial corporations search for guidance and actionable insights on how to transform into a digital B2B platform provider. For this reason, we conduct a qualitative case study and interview twelve representatives of two companies–an industrial corporation and a start-up–that cooperate to establish a digital B2B platform. Drawing on the dynamic capabilities framework as a theoretical lens, our work identifies seven enablers that foster the transformation of an industrial corporation into a digital platform provider. We find that adopting a service ecosystem perspective supports sensing market opportunities such as complementary service providers to incorporate on the platform. To seize these opportunities and build a digital platform with a cooperation partner, especially social and relational capabilities are required such as establishing a trusting relationship at eye level. Overall, our study offers three valuable contributes to theory and practice. First, it provides empirical insights into B2B platform building and establishing, which is still an under-researched phase. Second, it suggests social and relational aspects in cooperative platform building as a promising area for future research. Third, it equips managers seeking to build digital platforms with actionable guidance with respect to digital transformation and cooperating with platform complementors.