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Developing multi-sided platforms for public-private information sharing: Design observations from two case studies
Abstract
Multi-sided platforms (MSPs) represent an active area in economics and electronic markets, but are given scant attention in digital government research. While the body of knowledge on commercial MSPs is steadily growing, little empirical substantiation exists about the series of design choices that stakeholders conduct in order to realize information infrastructures in a public-private setting. This paper investigates the barriers and decisions that influence the public-private design of MSPs. Two public-private initiatives are investigated: (1) standard business reporting and (2) an international logistic information platform. The barriers and decisions in the current portrayal of both cases are analysed on two aspects: (1) the platform governance and (2) the information infrastructure. Research data is collected through knowledge retention projects in which researchers and practitioners reflect on design choices. We found that rather than developing an information infrastructure and demanding that businesses use it, government agencies detach from the classical approach and actively tempt businesses to partner in achieving long-term goals. A cross-case comparison shows that in the public-private setting government agencies need to employ a careful mix of instruments (i.e., business incentives, legislation and standard development) in order to realise successful information infrastructures. Both government agencies and businesses are still learning in terms of employing MSPs for realising change.
... Many factors determine how information is shared between government and other stakeholders (Praditya et al., 2017).We seek to understand how to help the DfT to motivate ports stakeholders; coordinate their capabilities to prepare for unforecastable crises; and better use the vast range of sensors, business IT systems and other information resources that are available within the UK transport industry. This includes data which is increasingly collected by public-private information platforms and international trade platforms (Klievink et al., 2016;Bharosa et al. 2013). Our research question is how and why can ports system stakeholders be helped and motivated to work together more smoothly by sharing information and capabilities in resilience planning? ...
... They can be one, two or multisided with each 'side' being a category of stakeholder. Platforms facilitate the sharing of information and other capabilities based on that information (Klievink at., 2016;Brown et al., 2017, Bharosa et al. 2013). Brown et al. group the research on inter-organisational platforms into three dimensions (2017). ...
... This explained why they would cooperate as well as how cooperation was possible. The act of selectively passing on the awareness of certain options is an additional motivator to the 'visible hand' of law-making and the 'invisible hand' of government incentives (Bharosa, 2013). The power of selectively showing options to others enabled us to better conceptualise the facilitation and the governance aspects of orchestration. ...
Government departments have limited resources but they are responsible for the healthy functioning of whole markets. This tension is amplified by the opportunities to generate, share and use information from new data sources and digital technologies. Huge increases in volumes and types of data produced by sensors and firms' IT systems can potentially be shared between firms which can cause information overload. This paper uses government orchestration theory to investigate the problems and opportunities of the UK's maritime transport ministry as it supports resilience planning for the whole country's ports system. We build on the developing Lean Government (l-Government) literature by theorizing on the differences between government and other stakeholders. We use a case study to investigate how these differences hinder as well as support the role of a government department. And how the special perspective of an orchestrator can integrate and filter information, motivate diverse collaborators and support the use of orchestration platforms in l-Government.
... Other research contributions use case studies in which they interview experts that are responsible for designing and running e-government services [1,4]. Moreover, technological solutions that support t-government's service delivery are also researched: For example a platform-based approach [16,28] to exchange data is discussed but only from a G2B perspective and with a focus on platform governance and information infrastructure. Hence, in existing research with respect to t-government, the individual as a citizen is rather put aside although user-centricity is a widely heralded tenet of t-government. ...
... Active electronic data safes act as an intermediary replacing many point-to-pointconnections and they serve as a multi-sided platform (MSP) to connect individuals and organizationsboth, from the private and the public sector [15] (see Figure 1). Connecting the public and private context via a MSP in the e-government context was diagnosed as an embryonic research area [16]. The simultaneous use of an infrastructure component, such as an AEDS, by the private and public sector makes sense because one organization alone often has too few customer contacts in order to justify the development and maintenance of such an infrastructure. ...
This article introduces and explores the potential of an active electronic data safe (AEDS) serving as an infrastructure to achieve transformational government. An AEDS connects individuals and organizations from the private and the public sector to exchange information items related to business processes following the user-managed access paradigm. To realize the transformational government’s vision of user-centricity, fundamental changes in the service provision and collaboration of public and private sector organizations are needed. Findings of a user study with a prototype of an AEDS are used to identify four barriers for the adoption of an AEDS in the light of transformational government: (1.) offering citizens unfamiliar services having the character of experience-goods; (2.) failing to fulfill common service expectations of the customers; (3.) failing to establish contextual integrity for data sharing, and, (4.) failing to establish and run an AEDS as a multi-sided platform providing an attractive business model.
... Furthermore, some researchers investigated the role of data within platform based ecosystems [59,68,82]. More recent research has dealt with the upcoming phenomenon of data platforms, mainly encouraged by the discourse around big data [13,31,59]. These studies focus mainly on platform architecture technology and data flows. ...
This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 19391 "Data Ecosystems: Sovereign Data Exchange among Organizations". The goal of the seminar was to bring together people from different disciplines (also outside the computer science area), in order to identify (i) a set of research challenges for the future development of data ecosystems and a catalogue of major approaches relevant to the field and (ii) a set of developed use cases of particular interest to the further development of data ecosystems. Towards the objectives, the seminar included tutorials, invited talks, presentations of open problems, working groups. This report presents the most relevant findings and contributions. Seminar September 22-27, 2019-http://www.dagstuhl.de/19391
... It has been predicted that an autonomous pull economy will soon emerge through seamless integration of the cyber world with the real world, and differentiations between products and services, consumers and producers, and production means and production scope will become meaningless [19]. In context of governance, this can be related to the disappearance of boundaries between the public and private sectors and between governments and citizens [20][21][22][23][24][25]. ...
It has generally been well-established, by a number of studies, that the rapid advance and global diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) is impacting the milieu of governance along with a socio-technical transformation of society at all levels. With a growing interest in digital government, the inquiry concerning a common digital model has been raised. To assist public administrators in thinking about new digital government for their organizations, a new developmental model framework is proposed in this article. This model is drawn from value-based analysis contained in developmental policies, and a subsequent policy development process is also proposed. In doing so, the new model would represent accelerated socio-technical transformation with intelligent technologies, escalating wicked problems appearing despite technological advances. The limitations of the current finite state model are also discussed.
... En esta propuesta conceptual, el gobierno abierto puede comprenderse como una plataforma tecnológica. El uso de plataformas en el gobierno no es nuevo (Bharosa et al., 2013;Charalabidis y Loukis, 2012;Hof, 2002), es el uso de un conjunto de tecnologías de información interconectadas a través de un sólo lenguaje o plataforma y permite utilizar todo el potencial de interacción e interconexión que posibilitan las plataformas. ...
La confusión del término anglosajón open government así como del término transparency han traído consigo ambigüedades y creado falsas expectativas. Además de utilizar ambos conceptos como sinónimos, se han implementado políticas públicas para hacerlos realidad en distintos países latinoamericanos sin tener una dirección precisa o un objetivo claro. Esta investigación busca aportar elementos teóricos que ayuden a delimitar los principales caminos teóricos que se han seguido y proponer un concepto que distinga tanto la transparencia como el gobierno abierto. Para lograrlo se han revisado las principales revistas académicas y artículos de los últimos seis años y se han agrupado en tres corrientes de pensamiento para proponer un concepto sobre gobierno abierto. El objetivo es contribuir a la construcción de una teoría general más sólida, que ayude a entender mejor el gobierno abierto, la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas.
... Work on information sharing have been conducted in various domains, including supply chain [12,13], public safety network [14,15], disaster management [16,17] and financial reporting system [18,19]. These studies emphasized several challenges that complicates the implementation and adoption of information sharing arrangements. ...
Governments and companies exchange various kinds of data. The methods to exchange data are evolving and becoming more and more advanced, supported by the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT). Although some research has been carried out on the adoption of ICT-based information sharing, there is still very little understanding of enablers for information sharing arrangements between private and public organisations. Developing an information sharing arrangement often requires complex interactions among parties resulting in negotiated arrangements. This paper aims to derive factors of information sharing arrangements by assessing the importance of factors in shaping information sharing from public and private organisations perspectives. Factors found in previous studies were analysed using the Best-Worst method by collecting experts’ opinions. While private sector’s expert was much focussed on the Perceived Benefits, the public sector’s experts considered Trust, Investment, Perceived Costs and Relationship as the most important factors in shaping the information sharing arrangement between public and private organisations. Identifying which factors are crucial in shaping information sharing arrangements can help in reducing potential conflicts during planning, implementation and usage, and bringing benefits to all stakeholders.
... En esta propuesta conceptual, el gobierno abierto puede comprenderse como una plataforma tecnológica. El uso de plataformas en el gobierno no es nuevo (Bharosa et al., 2013;Charalabidis y Loukis, 2012;Hof, 2002), es el uso de un conjunto de tecnologías de información interconectadas a través de un sólo lenguaje o plataforma y permite utilizar todo el potencial de interacción e interconexión que posibilitan las plataformas. ...
The idea of open government has spread across Latin American countries causing confusion and ambiguous interpretations. The concepts of "open government" and "transparency" have been used as synonyms and have created false expectations, but mostly they have been used to implement public policies and government strategies to accomplish the goal of creating a more open government. The purpose of this research is to provide some theoretical elements to clear this confusion. In order to achieve such goal, related papers of academic journals over the past six years have been reviewed and classified on three main paths of knowledge. From this point a concept of open government is proposed and discussed. The aim of this paper is to contribute with a theoretical framework that supports research on open government, transparency and accountability.
... En esta propuesta conceptual, el gobierno abierto puede comprenderse como una plataforma tecnológica. El uso de plataformas en el gobierno no es nuevo (Bharosa et al., 2013;Charalabidis y Loukis, 2012;Hof, 2002), es el uso de un conjunto de tecnologías de información interconectadas a través de un sólo lenguaje o plataforma y permite utilizar todo el potencial de interacción e interconexión que posibilitan las plataformas. ...
The idea of open government has spread across Latin American countries causing confusion and ambiguous interpretations. The concepts of " open government " and " transparency " have been used as synonyms and have created false expectations, but mostly they have been used to implement public policies and government strategies to accomplish the goal of creating a more open government. The purpose of this research is to provide some theoretical elements to clear this confusion. In order to achieve such goal, related papers of academic journals over the past six years have been reviewed and classified on three main paths of knowledge. From this point a concept of open government is proposed and discussed. The aim of this paper is to contribute with a theoretical framework that supports research on open government, transparency and accountability. Resumen: La confusión del término anglosajón open government así como del término transparency han traído consigo ambigüedades y creado falsas expectativas. Además de utilizar ambos conceptos como sinónimos, se han implementado políticas públicas para hacerlos realidad en distintos países latinoamericanos sin tener una dirección precisa o un objetivo claro. Esta investigación busca aportar elementos teóricos que ayuden a delimitar los principales caminos teóricos que se han seguido y proponer un concepto que distinga tanto la transparencia como el gobierno abierto. Para lograrlo se han revisado las principales revistas académicas y artículos de los últimos seis años y se han agrupado en tres corrientes de pensamiento para proponer un concepto sobre gobierno abierto. El objetivo es contribuir a la construcción de una teoría general más sólida, que ayude a entender mejor el gobierno abierto, la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas. Palabras clave: transparencia, gobierno abierto, teoría, conceptos, e-gobierno.
... En esta propuesta conceptual, el gobierno abierto puede comprenderse como una plataforma tecnológica. El uso de plataformas en el gobierno no es nuevo (Bharosa et al., 2013;Charalabidis y Loukis, 2012;Hof, 2002), es el uso de un conjunto de tecnologías de información interconectadas a través de un sólo lenguaje o plataforma y permite utilizar todo el potencial de interacción e interconexión que posibilitan las plataformas. ...
La confusión del término anglosajón open government así como del término transparency han traído consigo ambigüedades y creado falsas expectativas. Además de utilizar ambos conceptos como sinónimos, se han implementado políticas públicas para hacerlos realidad en distintos países latinoamericanos sin tener una dirección precisa o un objetivo claro. Esta investigación busca aportar elementos teóricos que ayuden a delimitar los principales caminos teóricos que se han seguido y proponer un concepto que distinga tanto la transparencia como el gobierno abierto. Para lograrlo se han revisado las principales revistas académicas y artículos de los últimos seis años y se han agrupado en tres corrientes de pensamiento para proponer un concepto sobre gobierno abierto. El objetivo es contribuir a la construcción de una teoría general más sólida, que ayude a entender mejor el gobierno abierto, la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas
The paper presents the findings from a 3-year single-case study conducted in connection with the International Data Spaces (IDS) initiative. The IDS represents a multi-sided platform (MSP) for secure and trusted data exchange, which is governed by an institutionalized alliance of different stakeholder organizations. The paper delivers insights gained during the early stages of the platform’s lifecycle (i.e. the platform design process). More specifically, it provides answers to three research questions, namely how alliance-driven MSPs come into existence and evolve, how different stakeholder groups use certain governance mechanisms during the platform design process, and how this process is influenced by regulatory instruments. By contrasting the case of an alliance-driven MSP with the more common approach of the keystone-driven MSP, the results of the case study suggest that different evolutionary paths can be pursued during the early stages of an MSP’s lifecycle. Furthermore, the IDS initiative considers trust and data sovereignty more relevant regulatory instruments compared to pricing, for example. Finally, the study advances the body of scientific knowledge with regard to data being a boundary resource on MSPs.
While open data as a phenomenon is rapidly growing up, innovation through open data is still less than expected. Research has shown that in spite of emerging new businesses models, private sector stakeholders are struggling to generate monetary income from open data. This is worrying as open data initiatives might not be sustained if there no evidence of value generation through external use of the data. We suggest that insights from two established theories, real options theory and theory of two-sided markets, might help us create a more coherent picture of the complex relationships between innovation and value generation in the open data ecosystem, and even resolve what we call the open data value paradox. We propose that governments, which openly publish data, are providing private sector stakeholders with the equivalent of a real option. By conceptualizing the uncertain or serendipitous value of open government data as option value, we might be able to stimulate activity and investment in the open data ecosystem. Moreover, we propose that by utilizing two-sided markets type of business models, private companies can use the data as a resource to provide free information and by capitalizing on the resulting positive network externalities, generate monetary income as well. Finally, we propose that governments should provide the necessary nourishment to this ecosystem in order to stimulate the generation of sustainable value.
This article introduces and explores the potential of an active electronic data safe (AEDS) serving as an infrastructure to achieve transformational government. An AEDS connects individuals and organizations from the private and the public sector to exchange information items related to business processes following the user-managed access paradigm. To realize the transformational government’s vision of user-centricity, fundamental changes in the service provision and collaboration of public and private sector organizations are needed. Findings of a user study with a prototype of an AEDS are used to identify four barriers for the adoption of an AEDS in the light of transformational government: (1) offering citizens unfamiliar services having the character of experience-goods; (2) failing to fulfil common service expectations of the customers; (3) failing to establish contextual integrity for data sharing, and, (4) failing to establish and run an AEDS as a multi-sided platform providing an attractive business model. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2015.
E m e r a l d G r o u p P u b l i s h i n g . N o t f o r r e s e a l e . Abstract Purpose — To explore the current use of participative technologies in government, including social media technology, and to identify potential research approaches to examining the use of participative technology in public organizations. Methodology/approach — The chapter is framed using a socio-technological approach to understanding uptake and use of participative technologies by organizations. The framework is linked to the use of participative technologies for participation and collaboration in government. Data used in the chapter are from a new national survey examining the use of information and commu-nication technologies in local government. Findings — Findings from descriptive data analysis document, the rise in use of participative technologies in government, and manager perceptions of out-comes from their use. The chapter also examines the applicability of different theoretical approaches in examining how participative technology may affect collaboration and participation processes in government.
Transforming Business-to-Government (B2G) information exchange is a next frontier for reducing government spending while improving performance. This paper examines two different B2G information exchange architectures that reflect continuing transformations that empower some government agencies to do better compliance monitoring tasks with fewer resources. The win for the reporting companies is the lower cost of compliance. Instead of focusing on collecting compliance information from individual companies, the government agencies in this study focus on collecting information on the supply chain level, allowing for automated data reconciliation. Our findings reveal that pushing controls (automated checks) upstream (in company software and data sources) results in more efficiency, higher information quality and reduces redundant controls. The examined architectures exhibit high levels of compliance by design, meaning that many control objectives are by default encompassed in the design. This requires a well-aligned combination of data standardization (using shared syntax and semantics) and automated information processing (using an intelligent gateway between businesses and government agencies). However, achieving such an alignment is a difficult challenge; especially when taking into account that such transformations require solid governance, trust and high initial investments — prerequisites that are rare in many public-private partnerships.
The field of organization and management studies has a significant and ever increasing published research base, often criticized as fragmented and of limited relevance for practice. A design science approach to management has argued that more room for the development of solution-oriented or prescriptive knowledge would increase its relevance. In this article we discuss prescriptive knowledge cast in the form of design propositions following the so-called 'CIMO-logic', extending previous applications of the design proposition notion. This logic involves a combination of a problematic Context, for which the design proposition suggests a certain Intervention type, to produce, through specified generative Mechanisms, the intended Outcome( s). We discuss how design-oriented research synthesis provides a vehicle for addressing fragmentation and increasing the chances of application. Moreover, we explore how the development of design propositions can result from synthesizing previously published research and illustrate this with the design of high-reliability organizations (HROs).
In this article we theorize about the design of information infrastructures (II). We define an II as a shared, evolving, heterogeneous installed base of IT capabilities based on open and standardized interfaces. Such IIs, when appropriated by a community of users offer a shared resource for delivering and using information services in a (set of) community. Iis include complex socio-technical ensembles like the Internet or EDI networks. Increased integration of enterprise systems like ERP or CRM systems has produced similar features for intra-organizational systems. Our theorizing addresses the following challenge in designing information infrastructures: how to tackle their inherent complexity, scale and functional uncertainty? These systems are large, complex and heterogeneous. They never die and evolve over long periods of time while they adapt to needs unknown during design time. New infrastructures are designed as extensions to or improvements of existing ones in contrast to green field design. The installed base of the existing infrastructure and its scope and complexity influence how the new infrastructure can be designed. Infrastructure design needs to focus on installed base growth and flexibility as to avoid technological traps (lock-ins). These goals are achieved by enacting design principles of immediate usefulness, simplicity, utilization of existing installed base and modularization as shown by our analysis of the design of Internet and an II for health care in Norway.
EXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a revolutionary digital language that “tags” information for business reporting since it represents a universal standard for global business reporting. XBRL usage has a significant impact on auditors – both external and internal and is seen as a tool to implement the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) new reporting model. The model calls for real-time, or continuous, reporting of company information. In order to do so reliably, continuous assurance on the data would need to be performed by external auditors. XBRL General Ledger (GL) is a taxonomy incorporating all ledger functions into XBRL. Thus, company information that typically takes days to create could be available in real-time, anywhere in the world. This article reports on an XBRL survey conducted using accountants and auditors. Results indicate many accountants and auditors have low (if any) knowledge or experience with XBRL and do not perceive the intended benefits XBRL usage provides.
With increasing global trade and growing emphasis on security, enhanced information sharing between actors in global supply chains is required. Currently, the data about cargo available in the supply chain does not provide a timely and accurate description of the goods. To solve this data quality issue, data should be captured upstream at the point where goods are packed for transport to the buyer. Without ICT, it was not possible to get timely access to the original trade data. The data pipeline concept is an IT innovation to enable capturing data at the source. The data pipeline accesses existing information systems used by the parties in international supply chains. This paper explores the data pipeline concept and the benefits that businesses and governments could obtain from such an innovation. This study also identifies the need for a public-private governance model that has to accompany the technical innovation.
The central role of "platform" products and services in mediating the activities of disaggregated "clusters" or "ecosystems" of firms has been widely recognized. But platforms and the systems in which they are embedded are very diverse. In particular, platforms may exist within firms as product lines, across firms as multi-product systems, and in the form of multi-sided markets. In this paper we argue that there is a fundamental unity in the architecture of platforms. Platform architectures are modularizations of complex systems in which certain components (the platform itself) remain stable, while others (the complements) are encouraged to vary in crosssection or over time. Among the most stable elements in a platform architecture are the modular interfaces that mediate between the platform and its complements. These interfaces are even more stable than the interior core of the platform, thus control over the interfaces amounts to control over the platform and its evolution. We describe three ways of representing platform architectures: network graphs, design structure matrices and layer maps. We conclude by addressing a number of fundamental strategic questions suggested by a unified view of platforms.
Companies are required by law to report all kinds of information to various public agencies. Since most public agencies are autonomous and define their information demands independent of each other, companies have to report information to various agencies in different ways. Accordingly, governments are initiating programs that aim to transform business-to government information exchange to reduce the administrative burden for companies and improve the accountability at the same time. Yet little research is available on the type of transformations needed and the role of the infrastructure. Drawing on a case study, this paper investigates the interplay between technical infrastructure and transformation. In this case study an information brokerage infrastructure based on the Extensible Business Reporting Language XBRL was developed providing a one stop shop for companies and public agencies. The case study shows that the infrastructure should be flexible enough to accommodate changes over time but stable enough to attract a large user-base. The increase in efficiency and effectiveness of information exchange processes requires extensive transformation from both public and private parties.
The emergence of software-based platforms is shifting competition toward platform-centric ecosystems, although this phenomenon has not received much attention in information systems research. Our premise is that the coevolution of the design, governance, and environmental dynamics of such ecosystems influences how they evolve. We present a framework for understanding platform-based ecosystems and discuss five broad research questions that present significant research opportunities for contributing homegrown theory about their evolutionary dynamics to the information systems discipline and distinctive information technology-artifact-centric contributions to the strategy, economics, and software engineering reference disciplines.
This paper provides a basic conceptual framework for interpreting non-price instruments used by multi-sided platforms (MSPs) by analogizing MSPs as "private regulators" who regulate access to and interactions around the platform. We present evidence on Facebook, TopCoder, Roppongi Hills and Harvard Business School to document the "regulatory" role played by MSPs. We find MSPs use nuanced combinations of legal, technological, informational and other instruments (including price-setting) to implement desired outcomes. Non-price instruments were very much at the core of MSP strategies.
This paper considers the problems associated with existing performance measures for border management and administration, and also the potential for leveraging supply chain processes to develop new integrated performance measures that are meaningful to business and border agencies. It explores the necessity for clear objectives that support the design of outcomes-based indicators and analyses the characteristics of effective performance measures. The paper concludes that an integrated performance measurement framework for border management can be developed on the basis of existing metrics. There is sufficient commonality of objectives to support an integrated approach that should improve the effectiveness and efficiency of international supply chains and border regulation.
The international trade supply chain has grown in complexity to a point where clear visibility is masked from those who need to know what is going on. International conventions cover the transport of goods between seller and buyer but concentrate more on limiting liabilities than they do on ensuring the accurate description of the goods. The person who knows what is being sent into the supply chain is the person who packed the box or consigned the goods. If the packing list is wrong, not used or hidden from view then the transport documents such as way bills and the manifest are likely to be inaccurate. This poses safety, security, legal compliance and commercial risks. Information required by border enforcement agencies is being asked for further upstream in the supply chain, prior to the goods being loaded. But the consignor, who holds the key to the majority of that information is outside the jurisdiction of the importing country's authorities so they turn to the carrier and the importer instead. Unfortunately, information held by the carrier is not always accurate and Customs hold the importer accountable for goods they have probably never seen. In these days of information management rather than the physical control of the goods, the role of export data is increasingly important. A multilateral, international legal framework with enforceable jurisdiction is needed with more emphasis placed on the point at which the international movement of the goods begins. The consignor and the true packing list play a key role. A new key performance indicator and critical way-point must be created called the Consignment Completion Point. A web-based, seamless, electronic data 'pipeline' needs to link the seller/consignor and the buyer/consignee and the interested economic operators in between. Real-time, accurate data must be assured from the beginning, updated as the goods move, and shared in a risk based, layered approach.
Multisided platforms can lower your transaction costs and increase customer reach, But powerful MSPs like Microsoft, Google, and Apple have also tended to extract most of the value from their platforms, mainly because companies that played with them didn't adequately understand their motives and operating strategies. As a result, firms can easily find themselves ceding control over customers to MSPs or being unwittingly turned into commodities. Hagiu and Yoffie, both professors at Harvard Business School, explore how MSPs can use their power to "hold up" companies that join them. The authors offer guidelines to help managers create an effective strategy for dealing with MSPs, identifying three basic issues that managers must address: (1) Whether to play with existing MSPs, build their own platform, or do both; (2) once they've concluded that at least one third-party MSP can benefit their business, deciding how many to join; and (3) figuring Out how to play - that is, which features or services they should adopt and which they should reject in order to maintain their company's competitive advantage. Some companies that lack the power to influence an MSP's actions may have few options. But many firms - either on their own or in alliances - can make choices that will differentiate them from competitors and curb MSPs' power over their businesses.
A diverse body of research in engineering and the social sciences documents the working of systems that require technical artifacts and social arrangements to function. Single plants, firms, or entire industrial sectors constitute socio-technical systems if technological components and social arrangements are so intertwined that their design requires the joint optimization of technological and social variables. Social and technical subsystems are intertwined and each has multiple layers that are designed and evolve on different time scales. Multi-level systems have been more widely studied by social scientists than by engineers in institutional approaches. Design decisions are made at all layers but the scope for such choices is generally broader at the lower layers. Consequently, in higher layers of the socio-technical system, deliberate design decisions become less prevalent and emergent characteristics become more important. Continuous and specific design choices are made at the operational and management layer. These design decisions are constrained by design choices at the governance layer. Design decisions are made at that layer although the decision-makers typically are different.
Governments from all over the world are looking for ways to reduce costs while at the same time to stimulate innovation. While pursuing both objectives, governments face a major challenge—to operate in a connected environment, engage stakeholders and solve societal problems by utilizing new methods, tools, practices and governance models. As result, fundamental changes are taking place on how government operates. Such changes are under the larger umbrella of ‘lean government’ (l-Government). Lean government is a new wave which is appearing as a response to traditional approaches—like electronic government (e-Government) and transformational government (t-Government), and aims at reducing the complexity of the public sector by simplifying and streamlining organizational structures and processes, at the same time at stimulating innovation by mobilizing stakeholders. In l-Government, public organizations introduce platforms facilitating innovation and interactions with other public organizations, business and citizens, and focus on their orchestration role. Experimentation, assessment and gradual improvement based on user requirements are key factors for realizing l-Government.
The area of electronic government (eGovernment) has received increased prominence and attention over the last few years. In spite of the current developments, many avenues in the area of eGovernment remain unexplored. One such area is the comprehensive assessment of eGovernment projects. We propose that understanding the value of projects drives the assessment process. Assessment of information technology (IT) initiatives is conducted either as an ex-ante (before implementation) or ex-post (after implementation) procedure. In this study, we present an ex-post framework for the assessment of eGovernment projects. Assessment identifies the value of the eGovernment project post-implementation. This paper examines a three-dimensional framework for the assessment of eGovernment initiatives. The three dimensions are eGovernment maturity level, stakeholders, and assessment levels.
This article provides, by means of a hypothetical example, the procedures to be followed in applying the Socio- Technical-Systems Approach to information systems design. The need for this approach was presented in the first part of this article which appeared in the September Issue of the MIS Quarterly. Here the authors provide an overview of the Socio- Technical-Systems procedure and show how it could be used in redesigning an information system used by the circulation department of a large newspaper. The step by step approach is intended to Illustrate the process to those practitioners feeling that more needs to be done in the area of using computer-based systems to improve the quality of working life of the system users.
Computer platforms provide an integrated architecture of hardware and software standards as a basis for developing complementary assets. The most successful platforms were owned by proprietary sponsors that controlled platform evolution and appropriated associated rewards.Responding to the Internet and open source systems, three traditional vendors of proprietary platforms experimented with hybrid strategies which attempted to combine the advantages of open source software while retaining control and differentiation. Such hybrid standards strategies reflect the competing imperatives for adoption and appropriability, and suggest the conditions under which such strategies may be preferable to either the purely open or purely proprietary alternatives.
The paper offers an introduction and a road map to the burgeoning literature on two-sided markets. In many industries, platforms court two (or more) sides that use the platform to interact with each other. The platforms' usage or variable charges impact the two sides' willingness to trade, and thereby their net surpluses from potential interactions; the platforms' membership or fixed charges in turn determine the end-users' presence on the platform. The platforms' fine design of the structure of variable and fixed charges is relevant only if the two sides do not negotiate away the corresponding usage and membership externalities. The paper first focuses on usage charges and provides conditions for the alloca- tion of the total usage charge (e.g., the price of a call or of a payment card trans- action) between the two sides not to be neutral; the failure of the Coase theorem is necessary but not sufficient for two-sidedness. Second, the paper builds a canonical model integrating usage and membership externalities. This model allows us to unify and compare the results obtained in the two hitherto disparate strands of the literature emphasizing either form of ex- ternality; and to place existing membership (or indirect) externalities models on a stronger footing by identifying environments in which these models can accommo- date usage pricing. We also obtain general results on usage pricing of independent interest.
Multi-sided platforms such as exchanges, search engines, social networks and software platforms create value by assembling and serving communities of people and businesses. They generally come into being to solve a transaction problem that prevents agents from getting together to exchange value. An essential feature of these platforms is that they promote positive externalities between members of the community. But as with any community, there are numerous opportunities for people and businesses to create negative externalities, or engage in other bad behavior, that can reduce economic efficiency and, in the extreme, lead to the tragedy of the commons. Multi-sided platforms, acting selfishly to maximize their own profits, often develop governance mechanisms to reduce harmful behavior. They also often develop rules to manage many of the same kinds of problems that beset communities subject to public laws and regulations. They enforce these rules through the exercise of property rights and, most importantly, through the bouncer’s right to exclude agents from some quantum of the platform including prohibiting them from the platform entirely. Private control is likely to be more efficient than social control in dealing with negative externalities on platform communities because the platform owner can monitor bad behavior more closely and deal with this behavior more expeditiously than a public regulator. The courts and antitrust authorities should exercise caution in finding anticompetitive exclusion when that exclusion is conducted as part of a governance mechanism for dealing with bad behavior of some platform users that harm other users.
Multi-sided platforms (MSPs), which bring together two or more interdependent groups of customers, have recently risen to economic and business prominence in many industries. This paper first lays out a simple micro-founded framework which aims to organize academic and managerial thinking about MSPs. It argues that any MSP performs one or both among two fundamental functions: reducing search costs and reducing shared transaction costs among its multiple sides. Using a variety of illustrations, the framework is then used to formulate general principles driving MSP design and expansion strategies: choosing the relevant platform "sides", deciding which fundamental activities to perform and trading off depth against scope of MSP functions.
Computer platforms provide an integrated architecture of hardware and software standards as a basis for developing complementary assets. The most successful platforms were owned by proprietary sponsors that controlled platform evolution and appropriated associated rewards.Responding to the Internet and open source systems, three traditional vendors of proprietary platforms experimented with hybrid strategies which attempted to combine the advantages of open source software while retaining control and differentiation. Such hybrid standards strategies reflect the competing imperatives for adoption and appropriability, and suggest the conditions under which such strategies may be preferable to either the purely open or purely proprietary alternatives.
Stricter laws and regulations demand that companies provide business information more timely and accurately to various government agencies. However, this trend increases the administrative burden for companies and the regulatory burden for government agencies. Standard Business Reporting (SBR) is a program that aims to reduce these burdens. Led by government agencies, stakeholders in this program are working towards a national data taxonomy, a single reporting gateway and a secure electronic infrastructure. Anticipated benefits include reduced time and costs for assembling, analyzing and providing business data to government agencies. However, stakeholders face several hurdles that need to be addressed before such benefits can be reaped. Typical hurdles in this transformation include conflicting public and private interests, legal constraints and high security demands. This policy paper presents seven transformation principles gained from the launch of SBR in the Netherlands. The principles are meant to guide stakeholders in proactively dealing with some of the transformation issues that may manifest when launching SBR. While the current scope of SBR is focused on financial reporting, the possibilities for its future application are broader, opening new avenues for digital government research.
Proposals regarding citizen participation in advisory and/or deliberative processes are still scarce in the e-democracy field, according to UNPAN report [8]. Exploiting social network groups with shared or common interests, can be an efficient way to promote participation. This work brings together guidelines based on software reuse techniques and social network concepts in a project to design a platform to facilitate the development of virtual environments with social networks characteristics for e-participation. This platform is based on a participation model called Government-Citizen Interactive Model.
As user interactions have become more central to specific classes of information systems, design theorizing must expand to support the processes of interaction and the evolution of information systems. This theorizing goes beyond user-aided, participatory design to consider users as designers in their own right during the ongoing creation and recreation of information systems. Recent theorizing about an emerging class of tailorable systems proposes that such systems undergo an initial, primary design process where features are built in prior to general release. Following implementation, people engage in a secondary design process where functions and content emerge during interaction, modification, and embodiment of the system in use. This case study reveals that people are engaged designers, framed by dualities in behaviors including planned and emergent behaviors, and participatory and reifying behaviors. We contribute to design science research by extending work on tailorable systems, investigating processes of secondary design in a highly interactive system suited to support user engagement. We also contribute more broadly to design science research by explicitly extending behavioral aspects associated with the use of information system artifacts.
The various qualities of Google in terms of searching for the most successful combination of usefulness, expansiveness and sustainability is discussed. Google offers a much superior way to search the Web compared to brute-force methods that search primarily for key words and their frequency. Google moved into the business of providing advertizers who will pay for listings to some of its partners such as Earthlink and AOL generating another source of revenue and saving itself money. Google established itself as an example of the power of network externalities with positive feedback loops and increasing returns.
Michael Cusumano shares his views on the way platform adoption can be an important determinant of product and technological success. The development of advanced computers and smartphones is associated with the development of software development tools and applications or wireless telephony and Internet services. The companies that develop these tools need to have a strategy to open their technology to complementors and create economic incentives for other firms to join the same ecosystem and adopt the platform technology as their own. This process will allow their technology to be adopted by the whole industry. Another key factor is that the critical distinguishing feature of an industry platform and ecosystem is the creation of network effects. These are positive feedback loops that can grow at increasing rates as adoption of the platform and the complements rise.
There are many examples of markets involving two groups of agents who need to interact via 'platforms', and where one group's benefit from joining a platform depends on the number of agents from the other group who join the same platform. This paper presents theoretical models for three variants of such markets: a monopoly platform; a model of competing platforms where each agent must choose to join a single platform; and a model of 'competing bottlenecks', where one group wishes to join all platforms. The main determinants of equilibrium prices are (i) the relative sizes of the cross-group externalities, (ii) whether fees are levied on a lump-sum or per-transaction basis, and (iii) whether a group joins just one platform or joins all platforms.
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