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What is digital platform grafting?

By Marcus Holgersson

Together with David Teece and Joakim Björkdahl I have studied platform entry in pre-existing ecosystems, leading to a coevolutionary process of adapting both the platform and the surrounding ecosystem. We call this process platform grafting, a concept inspired by biology and medicine. In nature, grafting merges two plants to leverage their strengths. Medically, engraftment involves the body accepting new cells. Analogously, platform grafting weaves a digital platform into an existing ecosystem.

Platform grafting introduces unique challenges and demands specific managerial responses. We’ve identified hurdles across four key ecosystem dimensions: the actors, tasks, assets, and governance mechanisms. Successful grafting requires integration across these dimensions.

I’m very happy to now see our article that introduces the concept and outlines managerial implications published in the recent issue of

California Management Review.

Available as open access here: https://doi.org/10.1177/00081256241238453

Our researchers attend the R&D Management 2024 conference

On the 17th-19th of June the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) hosted the R&D Management Conference 2024. The theme of this year’s conference was “Transforming industries through technology”.

Our researchers presented several papers to the conference under various themes:

  • “Patent portfolio strategies and valuations – a technological ecosystems analysis” by Ove Granstrand,
  • “The Concept of Open Data: A Review, Critique and Ways Forward” by Malin Petrén and Marcus Holgersson,
  • “Redefining Innovation Speed: Innovating with Speed at Scale” by Rabih Darwish and Marcus Holgersson,
  • “The Economics and Management of R&D Speed: A study of R&D speed in the development of Covid-19 vaccines” by Ove Granstrand and Maximilian Forsell.

Read more about the event here: https://rnd2024.org/

Our researchers attend the 20th biennial conference of The International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society

On the 9th-11th of June, 2024, Gothenburg University hosted the 20th biennial conference of The International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society. The theme of this year’s conference was “Transformation: Creative Accumulation and Creative Destruction in the Economy”.

Ove Granstrand was the chair of the paper session “Technology, science & innovation studies” and presented the paper “Did the Global Innovation and Patent System(s) Pass the Stress Test of the Covid-19 Pandemic? A study of R&D speed and innovation dynamics in the vaccine ecosystem”

Read more about the event here: https://www.gu.se/en/u-gotkies/iss2024

Stuck in the middle of the value chain: The investment company’s role in mitigating its subsidiaries’ circular challenges

By Marcus Holgersson

Congratulations to Julia Lundstedt and Nora Karlsson Kazeem on finishing their studies in Industrial Engineering and Management at Chalmers tekniska högskola! This spring I have had the great honor to supervise their master thesis work on circular business models among firms in the middle of the value chain, entitled “Stuck in the middle of the value chain: The investment company’s role in mitigating its subsidiaries’ circular challenges”.

Their work contributes by providing insights on the circularity challenges and solutions among companies that are positioned in the middle of the value chain, typically competing heavily on price and with limited power and control over what’s happening upstream and downstream. This group of firms is often forgotten when we talk about circular business models, yet we are all dependent on their important contributions in the economy. In this thesis Julia and Nora let them take center stage. These firms are commonly owned by investment companies, and Julia and Nora continued their work by investigating how a parent company can support its subsidiaries in addressing circular challenges. Recommendations are provided to investment companies, enabling them to address sustainability concerns while improving competitiveness.

Supervising Julia and Nora has been a great experience, and I’m impressed by what they have achieved. They have been eager to read up on the relevant literature, travel around Sweden to visit and interview companies in the steel industry, and they really worked hard to carve out their own contribution to the literature and translate that to actionable advice for practitioners. On top of that, every supervision meeting has been great fun and full of energy! My best wishes to Julia and Nora in their future careers!

New California Management Review Paper

By Marcus Holgersson

In a new California Management Review paper on platform strategy, with Joakim Björkdahl and David Teece, we try to understand the managerial challenges and solutions when introducing digital platforms into established ecosystems.

Digital platforms are revolutionizing nearly every industry, serving as the backbone for new, emergent ecosystems. But not all platforms start from scratch. Some are introduced into already thriving ecosystems, presenting unique managerial challenges. Unlike creating a new platform ecosystem, introducing a platform into an established one demands careful integration. It requires navigating and evolving within the ecosystem’s dimensions to enhance existing complementarities and interactions. Consider the healthcare sector, where digital platforms must mesh with an intricate web of services, hospitals, professionals, and patients—each a critical part of the ecosystem.

In this paper, we term this integration process “platform grafting,” a concept inspired by biology and medicine. In nature, grafting merges two plants to leverage their strengths. Medically, engraftment involves the body accepting new cells. Analogously, platform grafting weaves a digital platform into an existing ecosystem.

However, platform grafting introduces unique challenges and demands specific managerial responses. We’ve identified hurdles across four key ecosystem dimensions: the actors, tasks, assets, and governance mechanisms. Successful grafting requires integration across these dimensions, and in this paper we start to outline viable approaches for managers to address this challenge.

Read more in the full open access publication in California Management Review: https://doi.org/10.1177/00081256241238453